Xaotik's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Silly Sausage]

Love the retro theme and the whole setup and concept of this game. But as the review below mine indicates, the controls system is very unforgiving, and I feel like this possibly set the bar a bit too high.

I would suggest a little bit of a tolerance for reaction time errors. This generation of gamers just isn't suited for the reflexes old 8-bit classics required. One thing I could strongly suggest in the way of tolerance would be slowing the dog's growth rate down a bit, or providing controls schemes to do so. Another thing that would probably add to the quality of the game would be to make it so that a tie between the dog's ass getting hit by a moving obstacle and the dog's paws gripping a new platform went to the player. This would add what I feel is just the right amount of give.

Even if the controls scheme and timing is off, this game is still an impressive labor, and from what I can gather from your other works, it is a labor of love for 8-bit and old-school arcade classic styles. Best of luck on your next endeavors.

- X

[Meaty Boner]

Decent...

I have a lot of good things to say about this game.

First of all, the title is very clever.

The idea behind the game is a nice touch to the age-old platformer. The beat-em-up style is really cool, and the storyline is funny, especially the Dot Dot Dot references.

I was going to put this game in my favorites, but...

When I got to the third- and second-to-last levels, this game just fell apart in front of my eyes.

To start things off, those castle levels are too similarly colored, they're hard to see, maybe just lightening up the foreground could do the trick.

One thing that really set me off though, was those stunning enemies, the red/yellow-ish ones.

They would begin shooting at you as you jumped between platforms, seizing up your controls, and making you fall.

Thats it, boom, all the upgrades you earned are gone and you need to start from noob status again even though the level is significantly more difficult than the first level.

After several tries, with little success, I decided that was it for me and this game.

Great game, but it really just shoves a giant middle finger to the player towards the end.

6/10

- Sage

[SnowmanGame]

Unfinished...

This is really an OK game.

I see it's your first submission, so, its a nice start you've got here.

Some things I think you need to add, to finish this game:

- Increasing difficulty is a must for raising playtime.
- An in-game controls screen and the option to use A/D instead of just L/R.
- Sound effects for taking damage would be nice, it would make it a little easier to focus.
- A better game over screen, because a big X over the game, while it's still running, and no Replay button really makes it a hassle to try again.

Good Luck.

- Sage

[Radical Fishing]

Fun enough game, addictive, but...

Well, let me start out by saying this,

+ When I first started playing this game, the control scheme seemed awkward, but it actually fit the game quite well
+ This game has an incredible addictive factor, as Globex said in his review, it gives you that "Ok, only one more time" feeling, over, and over...
+ I really liked the pixel artwork for the fish, I wasn't big on it at first, but as I looked through the Fishopedia, a lot of the artwork was really nicely done
+ And as for the Fishopedia, it really added to the game, reading the witty comments on some fish, the tips on others
+ The upgrades were way out there, and they did make me want to keep playing

BUT, and this is why I'm reviewing this as a 6...

- When the game starts up, theres a 20 second delay for the ad, 20 seconds is about 5-10 times the amount of time it took the game to load for me, had this not been front-paged, I would have left at the sight of the ad timer. Purposely adding a delay for the ad does not make anyone want to click it...
- I felt like a large portion of this game, probably upwards of 30% of it, was just an advertisement for the sponsor website, like the button with the site watermark in the actual play area, the restricted highscores, and the restricted content, restricting parts of the game that make it fun to play is just low... Even if there was restricted content, don't show it in the shop with the regular stuff, the same shop littered with links to the sponsor site

Really, this game, which could have been a 9 or 10 based solely on how fun it actually became, has lost almost all respect from me because of the blatant advertisement being flaunted around. All this game says to me is "Give us some cash, come visit our site", and that's just not right. As a developer myself, I believe game development should always be because of the enjoyment games can bring an audience, and because they're fun to make. As far as I'm concerned, I don't believe advertisements of any kind should ever, ever, EVER, be forced on a player, it just disgusts them and ruins the fun of the game.

So now I have to say Boredcom, I'm not going to play any games sponsored by you anymore, and I certainly will not visit your site.

[xStream Fishing]

Fun game...

This game looks pretty decent, and it kept me going for a while. It seemed very fun but there are glitches that need to be hammered out.

I never got to earn any power ups except the second fishing rod, because, when I bought it, I got a shot that was maxed angle and maxed power, and used a rocket...

The result was a fishing line that snowballed out of control and got stuck flying through the air indefinitely.

I just stopped it as I began this review, with a distance of around 40,000 and about $30,000 stashed up.

Other than that glitch, this game seems to have some good potential, good luck fixing it.

- Sage

[Shipwreck Survivor]

It's Very Nice...

This is very well done, and even if the graphics aren't the best in your opinion, they still please the eyes.

The music is very good.

Also, this isn't really the same as some other games that are just a test of the maker's abilities, its actually worth multiple play-throughs because it has an interesting line of questions.

My only suggestion for next time, less intro, more game.

Good luck on your future work.

- Sage

Lare responds:

I have a fetish for long intros.

[1-Button Platformer]

Its OK...

Honestly, this concept is very nice, but it could be a lot better, and you have a nice base to work with.

First off, the spikes, and for that matter, the mute button aren't the easiest to see, maybe changing the colors would help a little bit.

Also, I noticed that each spike-strip is composed of 4 spikes, which occasionally led to spikes hanging over platforms, that somewhat interfered with the jumping ability, and it caused a lot of deaths, for me at least.

And on the note of jumping, the rotation that occurred during a jump was not really eye-candy, it in fact proved to be a distraction, whether or not this was intentional, I suggest changing it.
Another note on the jumping, the jumps were not very well spaced, because they would more often than not result in my character hitting a spike-strip.

And the last little thing, the character really had no graphics at all, he/she is a square, and being as wide as it is, presents a bit of an issue during jumping.

All in all, this game is a really cool concept, but it still needs fixing, best of luck if you decide to fix this up.

- Sage

[Jetstream Penguin]

Great game...

This game was amazing, the artwork was very clean and streamlined, the music fit each stage perfectly, and its a great time waster.

My only complaints are that the controls were a bit too sensitive, the difficulty of the game could have increased at a little bit of a smoother pace, and the speed boosts were more harmful than helpful at times.

Other than those minor issues, this was a great little game.

[Invisible Runner]

Very Nice, could be a bit better...

The sketchy graphics fit the theme of this game very well. Also, the music and sound effects are near flawless to accompany the theme. However, there are some things that do need work.

One major issue I noticed is that the jump height/gravity do not leave a lot of room for error, whether this was intended as a challenge or completely unintentional, I feel that it gives a very artificial level of difficulty to the game, and it doesn't really need to be as difficult as it is. And also on that note, the placement of floors was a bit too far (vertically) in some cases, which leaves me, and probably others just endlessly jumping at an attempt to reach the next floor.

Still, all in all, I can see that a lot of hard work went into this game, and the medals provide a very nice variety of challenges.

Good Job, 8/10

-Oldsage10