Coop's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[StoryShift]

I have waited a long time for this. Literally years.

Yes, StoryShift has finally arrived, allowing people to read my story and vote on how it turns out. Other people's stories too, but right now, they seem less important, at this moment in time. Give it a few days and things will return to normal.

Did you ever read the Fighting Fantasy novels by Ian Livingstone? Where you turned to a paragraph number, based on your own choices and the adventure played out? Well, that's basically what we have here. Only this time, the story unfolds in real time, where the writer doesn't know what is going to pan out, just the same as his or her readers. It is a test of the writer's skills to develop the piece as much as possible, without tying themselves in knots (This will undoubtedly happen at some stage)

Give it a week and we shall start to see the next part playing out, with the adventures truly beginning to take off. I am already looking forward to writing the next part and I know which of the four options I want to happen and how each one will play out.

Give it a read, give me a challenge. Heck, while you're at it, read some of my friends' stories and comics and vote on them. The future is in your hands.

Evil-Dog responds:

It's awesome to have you in the project :D Can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

[Pixel Madness]

Really annoying!

Seriously, do you have to have the screen flashing on and off like that? As if the game weren't difficult enough, you decided to up the ante, by blacking us out every half second or so. I'm calm, I've managed seven levels, before I declared "fuck it" and gave up.

Alright, I admit, there is a slightly addictive quality to it, because a few minutes later, I was back, polishing off the rest of the levels., but that's not the thing that makes this game good. I wasn't impressed to see that the Level 20 medal is broken, especially when levels after that are just the same crap shoot of trying to get through a ridiculous spinning dervish of black squares, where your only hope of success, even if you are pointing in the right direction is a heap of luck.

Simple and effective, I'd have preferred a mute button and the ability to restart by pressing R, rather than waiting for the screen to exit blackout and having to click when "restart is highlighted", I'd say that this is a decent game, but nothing more than a quick half-hour time killer.

kokos0102 responds:

Thanks for the review. There were some good hints...
But the screen flashing should give a dark atmosphere to the game ;-)

[Lincari]

Needs AI opponents.

A shame really, because it's a good concept, if a little confusing to get the hang of in the first place. I like the way that it looks and I can see that over time, this will become a very addictive little game, if it's developed from here.

Perhaps have an interactive tutorial, as opposed to the instruction book at the start, which was utterly confusing, even to an experienced card player, such as myself. You will pick these games up much better, if you play them and have the rules explained to you, as you need them and play alongside them.

Decent colour sets, decent sounds, perhaps a little thing in the layout could indicate which cards you need to click to finish a trick, just to make it more user friendly.

[Review Request Club]

Kwing responds:

I'm not sure what you mean by AI opponents or 'finishing a trick', so I'm not sure why you only gave me a 3/5 on this. The tutorial could have been explained better, I'll admit that. I'm not very good with the interactive thing, but perhaps an animated one would have worked.

I was at one point considering making a multiplayer version where you and an opponent took turns trying to score points and prevent the other player from doing the same, but i definitely don't have the skill to code an AI that will play cards strategically.

[Avoision 2]

Slow, awkward, high scores are broken, the music is annoying. What more can I say?

I think that this needs a massive overhaul as I can't seem to get the controls to work. I had to press pause so many times, to get the game to respond, it was ridiculous. I tried reloading, as I thought that there was an issue with Firefox, but it kept acting really weirdly. You move your mouse and wait about a second, then the robot flies straight towards where you've moved to. If this is straight through an enemy, then you lose a life for your trouble.

Avoider games are usually quite fun for a minute or two, but this one got old very quickly. I think there might be an issue with the programming, as the whole thing seemed to be running too slowly, to make much sense. I think that if you get struck by an enemy, it should be removed from the game, rather than hitting you and still having chance to hit you again, after you've recovered. Given the way that everything else fits in, this game could be really good, with a little more work.

[Review Request Club]

[Kirby's Cutter Shoot!]

Nothing too spectacular.

So, we've got a side scrolling game that is relentless with the opponents, ambition and progression. It's very basic, with little new seeming to be added. The music is on a loop and as a result, you can get drawn into a trance-like state as the game progresses.

To improve, I'd have some sort of animation between levels, giving us a plot of why Kirby is running along this relentless straight, barren road towards no apparent goal. Platforms could be added to make this more like a classic game akin to Sonic the Hedgehog or, dare I say it, the original Kirby?

Sounds could be better utilised and a sense of achievement could be instilled quite easily, so the player feels that they are doing more than just marking time with this piece. Have you considered some sort of animation for the death of Kirby, should you lose a life? You could make a half dozen of them up and randomly select one, which is played when you drop down dead, for example.

Plenty to work on, I want to see it take steps forward.

[Review Request Club]

Lionelion responds:

Thanks for the review! I didnt really think to add an animation for between the levels, but i also dont really see a need for one, as the levels dont change(scenery wise). Adding platforms wouldve changed this from a run-and-gun into, well, a platformer, and that wasnt what i was going for.
I defintely shouldve added sounds, i realize that now. I didnt really think about death animations for Kirby though, only the enemies. Perhaps that wouldve been nice too.

[RAPTUS]

Dark and fantastic.

I love the way that this little game (which could quite easily be a movie as well) evolves. The story did look to have a happy ending initially, but I'm not so sure now, that I've played it through twice and have seen all of the possibilities (at least, according to the medals available, that is!) I'd love to hear what your inspirations were for it and how you managed to get the ideas from your head to your computer. Some sort of psychological thrillers, like Se7en would be my guess, but only you know...

I may have made a snappy judgement, only giving it a three, since you didn't easily place for daily first. A shame, but something that I cannot correct, hence the 4.5 star review. The only real reason I've awarded half a star below max is because I'm incredibly harsh. I kid, it was more because the piece seemed to have more legs and want to go further. Particularly the end of Chapter III, when the subtitle gets amended - we could have potentially seen him go on to kill again, so why not? He could have swam after her and kept her as a trophy, in the more macabre endings to the various sickening films tat I've seen, including Silence of the Lambs, with the killer making clothing out of the victim's skins.

You've barely scratched the surface here and I felt it was a shame not to exploit it further, but what do I know? Still, that said, I look forward to some of your other projects, with great interest.

[Review Request Club]

AlanZucconi responds:

Thank you for your review!
My main inspiration for the storyline was "The Body" from AwkwardSilenceGames.
I was willing to explore the concept started in that game with RAPTUS, providing more details although trying to keep the same dark atmosphere.

My idea is that He's neither a maniac nor a stalker. He really loves Her, even in the end. He loves Her so much that now she belongs to him forever. His love was pure, but after killing her, He couldn't turn back to fix the past. He had to carry on, and do what He had to do.
I left the question of "what happened?" un-answered on purpose. I have a couple of theories, but you are the one who have to fill the gaps. This is why in the end you can decide what to do with his life, as well as with your guiltiness.

However, the original version of RAPTUS was much much much *much* more violent and sexually explicit. But I decided to "smooth" it a little bit. What a shame! :-p

The "frustration" of "He's too slow! Scrooolll faaasteeeeer" is absolutely intended. Something similar has been made in "Pathos" from "BitBattalion". In RAPTUS, you are so frustrated about the slow-factor that you have to release your rage in the first "raptus" scene. Too bad that every click that you have made was bending His will a little bit more every time...

[Champion 21: High Stakes]

Your mechanics are all wrong for this game, I'm sorry. The piece looks bad, doesn't feel like a casino and just seems like you're playing a different game to a normal version of Blackjack.

Jacks are only worth 10, so why did my hand go from 11 to 22? That's poor programming, especially if you know the rules of Blackjack like that. Having to deal your first two cards manually is poor, as is the betting screen to get the ball rolling. Integrate it all into one, so that it looks better for starters. From there, consider adding things like a mute button, to end that ridiculous tune, which only serves to distract. Download some card noises and have the dealer show you one card face up and one card face down for them, so that you can see what you're up against - In a casino, the dealer plays the first card face down and places the second one face up. If an ace shows, the dealer offers insurance, which pays out if the dealer gets Blackjack.

Things like doubling down and splitting need to be added to the game, but you need to get a better grasp of the blackjack rules than you currently have, to make this a viable game.

[Review Request Club]

JackAstral responds:

Thanks for taking the time to review!

I guess who ever taught me Black Jack did a horrible job. :P I can't believe I didn't think to Google the rules just to double check everything- I had no idea it was so complicated.

I'll definitely update the card values and add a mute button right away, then start working on the other things you mentioned.

Thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it!

[Super Brick Duel]

Not the best

I think that you need to make the controls a lot more responsive, as otherwise the computer can beat you at lower difficulties, with ease. I like the way that the two games come together with brick breaker and pong, but you need to work harder to get the blend right.

Try having different coloured blocks and put the powerups in there at random positions - having them float down the board for the players to catch with the ball is ridiculous. Hit a certain block and get multiball, for example, which in a game like this could really work. The other interface thing I didn't like was the fact that you can kill yourself off by missing the ball by a fraction of an inch. Have the ball pass through the paddle on the way back past, otherwise stretching to reach it could be game over.

While I can see the entertainment value of 4Play, that's something that I can't really test as a single player / reviewer. Needing 4 friends to crowd around a single keyboard is nearly impossible, so getting 4 players on 4 different computers would save a lot of fighting, but would cause a programming headache, no doubt.

A mute button would be nice as well. That, or some sound effects for the balls bouncing off the paddles and then different sounds for the blocks etc.

[Review Request Club]

JPB responds:

Controls: are you sure your keyboard is working? :P I guess the speed of the paddles could be bigger
Blend of games/Powerups: I see what you mean, should've thought out the game more, I do happen to be slowly recoding the game (have in mind this probably wont ever see the light of the day), and am trying out other ways of implementing the powerups, I was thinking about making a slot machine for the powerups (a la sonic casino night zone)
Multiball: Why did I forget multiball!!!111!!!1!1!1 that would've been some epic chaotic fun
Mute button: there is one (below the scoreboard, I'm pretty sure you can also press M, I dont remenber if I put this in this game or in another)
4play/online: I looked into smartfox server, NOPE.jpg

Thanks for the review!

[Gravity Bob]

Nice game

A bit of a concept that I've seen done before and a little more basic, if I must say so - the gravity only reverses two directions, as opposed to 4 ways in certain gravity flip games that I've seen before, which, while making the gameplay and the programming harder, they also offer a lot more of a challenge.

I like that you've offered us a plot for this piece, though between levels, it seems absent, which was a shame - the start of the game built so much around there being black holes and this being a quest to get through as many of them as possible, to find the way to the end, so putting a little more in there, perhaps every other level, or even every five levels or so would have given you something much more to pass the time with and flesh the game out.

Nothing makes it stand alone, which is a shame, but the game is there and it is a reasonably accomplished work, of which I'd like to see more from you.

[Review Request Club]

ProfessorFlash responds:

Well from a coding point of view the gravity that would go 4 ways isn't any harder to do, but I felt the controls would get too complicated that way. With two side gravity I can use one button to change, with 4 ways, the changing gets little more complicated from the players perspective. So I didn't wanna tackle that problem with this game.

Thanks for the review, and you will see more from me next year :).

[William and Sly 2]

Fantastic!

Okay, so now I'm going to have to go back in time and finish William and Sly, but that's beside the point. This is a major graphical boost, compared to W&S, since everything looks smoother, the gameplay is sleeker, with the ability to double jump / fly being somewhat prevalent, after you've unlocked it.

Overall, I feel that with the loss of the darklings to divert or distract you in this game, it seems a lot easier to play now, with just the problems of remembering where all of the chests were that you spotted earlier in the game. Because it's only flashed up on screen and I've not run past it, apparently, it won't show up on the mini map, which seems odd. I can understand hiding some of the journal pages, which are in the more difficult to reach locations, but hiding a chest which I've seen in passing about a dozen times, because I can't find enough keys to unlock the chest of the Water crystal spirit from my sight wasn't the nicest of mechanics. I found this odd, seeing as you appear to have made all aspects of the game easier to play.

I love the new graphics and it's really something that's raised the bar in your latest venture. I love the puzzles and that now we can see into these additional cave areas, because that was one part that really got my goat with W&S. Now we can see where Sly is, though I'd have liked to see more of William in the piece. Some of the journal pieces could have been made into some sort of FMV, perhaps with a voice actor to play William, as he narrates it all. Why not have a set journal piece for each location and the story could get jumbled up, as you collect them? Perhaps it's just a piece, illustrated with images and read out at the end, who knows? A special ending for completing 100%, perhaps.

[Review Request Club]

Kajenx responds:

Thanks for the review! Lots of fair points. :)

Also, thanks for getting all the metals, now I don't have to play through for the 10th time today. :#