Coop's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mega Miner]

Good, but limited

Don't get me wrong, this is a great game that has frankly huge potential available to you. The problem is that it starts off too advanced. Mining doesn't start with a well set up town and some pretty fancy drilling equipment, then gradually improve the equipment over time.

PERSONALLY, I'd have started off on some backwater asteroid or planet and only be able to mine a few resources from it, either by hand, or with limited extraction tools. When you get the commodities to the surface, you can choose to store them in a warehouse, which will cost you, but the price of your commodity might go up on the international markets. Keep an eye on the news, to see what sort of things are happening out in space and what resources are required, as rival companies step up production or hit snags on their own projects.

Yes, there was a decided lack of end goal to this game, as once you've got all of the medals, you're left with a map that looks like a Swiss cheese, still studded with ores and so forth across the map. I'd love to see the map which you can zoom out on, to see where you have been digging and have a lot still to explore around, as there are pockets like that on the map, as I can't do the "hellevator" trick, until I'm really advanced in the game and by then, it's just become a little boring.

The graphics are fun and so is the gameplay in the early going, though I'd have liked to see you make more of this game, since you're clearly capable. For research, I'd suggest "Diggers", the 1990s computer game, which would be a logical progression for this game to take.

[Review Request Club]

[Madness Lunacy]

Nice, but slow

Don't get me wrong, this game looks like Madness and it seems like there is going to be a good story within it, but you've made the controls slow, clunky and a little unresponsive for me.

The artwork is fantastic, it's not traditional Madness, as you've given us a little more colour than we are used to, but that's how you make it your own style, within a style. I did enjoy playing as both Hank and Sanford, as they both have differing abilities, which really helps to give the game a new dynamic, which I've not seen in other Madness games available to the discerning consumer.

To couple with the slow controls, the idea that you can only move left or right really hampers the game - you can jump, but not crouch and not being able to move in three dimensions within the game area makes the game seem less technically accomplished than Streets of Rage. The speed that projectiles fly through the air isn't up to much and I'd say that everything needs a good dose of tempo, to bring it up to scratch. Working on the control issues will help you, as you could bring cover into play. Sure, all of the mobs of goons don't fire at the same time, which makes it seem like they are lining up for me to kill them.

I have every faith that you can improve this game thoroughly!

[Review Request Club]

Spudzy responds:

Thanks for the nice and honest review.

[OhNoMore Lemmings Returns]

Not really Lemmings, is it?

Yes, it looks and sounds right, but where's the constant planning brought about by the different tools that you can give the Lemmings individually? Trying to draw lines for them to walk along, or cut through the rocks with your mouse pointer just defeats the object of the game.

They had about 8-10 different features you could give them, from umbrellas to rock bashing hands, pick axes to backpacks loaded with slates.

Sure, it's a vague approximation, with the annoying, yet quirky music, the graphics are unmistakeably lemmings orientated and while you didn't use the more traditional "boing" noise as they cleared the level, they still sounded like lemmings.

[Review Request Club]

[Time In Three Formats]

If only...

You should have waited a month and nine days to submit this - Clock Day would have been the perfect time to enter this onto Newgrounds and you'd have gotten a lot more exposure.

Never mind, at least the animation of the clock face looks very realistic. Hopefully, you can come up with some sort of Clock Crew animation and use that clock face scaled down as a face plate for on of the clocks? Antiquated and very well programmed.

A nice test, that shows you've been capable of all that you required. I wish that I could say more, but it's just something you can apply to later projects.

[Review Request Club]

51lver responds:

You are right, I should have waited for clock day. The exposure it would have got would have been enormous, maybe next time I'll see if my project has any underlying themes to any upcoming dates to make the release and them coincide :) Thanks for the review

[Shape Defence]

Rather addictive

Well, this game has all of the things required to make a very good little defence game out of it - the setting is decent enough, the graphics and concept are nice looking, if slightly unoriginal. The music is well chosen and applied, while everything seems to fit together well.

I particularly like the bloodstains that you splatter across the battlefield, when you hit an enemy. While I'd have preferred to be shooting things that look like something advancing towards a position on the battlefield, we have to work with what we're given. Shapes remind me of something akin to markers on a WWII battlefield map, where the controllers move the pieces so we can see who is doing what, without leaving the security of the War Office in Whitehall. Walkers, runners, heavy ordinance and the like could have been used instead - this could give a different dynamic of having things that need to close to a certain range, before opening fire on the position. Obviously, this could lead to snipers, who almost always hit, while some troops get very close and hit you 1 in 6 tries, for example.

Certainly worthy of stealing a morning from me, but there's room to take this game further. I'd love to see new versions of this game spring up. Let me know and I'll review them as well.

[Review Request Club]

51lver responds:

Thank you for your review, I'll take what you've said into account and definitely let you now of any sequels to it :)

[My Favorite reviews (BB)]

Needs better formatting

I know it can be difficult to get the piece sorted for when you're publishing screen shots of a game, but there is one major issue here - the larger reviews get all squashed up, thus giving more face time to the short reviewer.

I'd have made the screen bigger, to accommodate the largest review and then used blank space (Newground background colours) for the empty space on the smaller reviews. Spending a little time marrying the review to the standard background could be useful as well, as it makes it look better.

Have you considered a voice actor to read out these reviews? I think that I could do a few voices for these reviews, which would make the experience sound a lot better, so that people can get a more encompassing presentation.

[Review Request Club]

BanglaBoy96 responds:

I'm a voice actor but I thought about reading out the reviews but I guess I left out that idea.
Thanks for the review

[Stealing the Diamond]

Very good

A highly stimulating romp through the world of our "master criminal", who is trying a get rich quick scheme this time around. Many hijinks later, when we find out where all of the medals are, wipe a tear from our eyes and let the dust settle, we look back and see that the game is absolutely hilarious, from start to finish.

From the writing of the little quirky messages on the failures, to the pop culture references of Portal, metroid, Super Mario etc, you've done really well in capturing the imagination of the audience. I thoroughly enjoyed playing it and I'll be recommending it to friends to have a bash at, to see if they are sneaky, aggressive, or indeed EPIC. For the record, I was sneaky.

I dread to think what the next thing will be for this quirky little fellow, but you can't just give up on him now, especially with what he's been through. Where to next is the main thing, to which I have no idea, so it's going to be a real surprise. I'd suspect it might be a surprise to you as well.

[Review Request Club]

PuffballsUnited responds:

This review is awesome! I'll be making a sequel at some point, and I have a few ideas rolling around, but mostly I guess it will be a surprise :p

[Gap Monsters]

Very enjoyable

Well, this is a well constructed little game. Granted, with user intervention and not just the "I want 30 levels which require no thought, because I want my medals" user generated content, this could become a very big game.

From the user levels, I would hope two things. Firstly, that the levels are moderated and the really shitty one creature already in the box, so you win as soon as it's loaded levels get pruned out. Second, that there is some sort of "players pack" of the best levels launched, perhaps incorporating some sort of plot into the proceedings, where there is a Doctor Robotnik style character, that enjoys making little animals suffer and you're totally helpless.

Of course, it could be that a second version of the game would involve choice, making your progress entirely down to the discretion of the player. You could kill the creatures (easy) or save them (harder) on each level. Are you a corporate slave, or a hippie? Who knows, you might just be a corporate slave, but in that camp, because it's an easy life and you can play solitaire, while you should be working.

On the user generated content, you should be able to pick the sounds you creatures make when they die. There was one level I saw with a tune to it that would really benefit from this sort of thing, of course, that's abstract and a little sadistic, so I'll leave that thought hanging.

[Review Request Club]

Nutcasenightmare responds:

My hope was that people who DO want a challenge from GapWorld,
Will click the Challenge tab, to get the most challenging levels as voted by players.

My hope was that the medals would help encourage an intrinsic motivation to solve puzzles.
I only award Medals for playing levels you did not submit to GapWorld, so people don't create 1Block1Monster levels for Medals. So the people who did create such levels, did it because they really wanted to, for some reason?

My hope
My hope

Alas, "Hope goes 'crunch' when squished."

[Cute Critter Carnage]

A little repetitive

I can see how some people can get obsessed with this game, since all of the floating animals seem to follow exactly the same pattern. It's not the best of mouse shooter games that I've ever seen, neither is it the worst, so that's good.

What I would say is that there are a few bits and pieces that I'd change, to make the game better. Gravity, i.e. I'd have the spikes at the base of the image and I'd drop the animals onto them. The game surface could be made bigger and so could the targets, just to make it slightly easier for the beginner - do you need half a screen dedicated to the stats, time remaining and so forth? Finally, I'd add a few more breeds of critter that is falling to their doom - you're trying to put them out of their misery, before they get made into some sort of roadkill pie, so why not have badgers, raccoons, skunk and the like falling alongside the squirrels?

A good effort, but I'd love to see a new version, with bigger targets.

[Review Request Club]