VelvetDarkRocks's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[OCD+]

Wow man, this is hardcore.

The beauty in the game is the challenge- you start, but when do you finish? I started two of them, thinking "Yeah man, I can totally do these." I could, but.. I just don't care enough to try. Definitely for a select few. Respect to anyone who achieves even a single medal.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[LARRY: Gnomergeddon]

Fun but flawed.

A really simple game design- beat down on the enemies using a variety of weapons and combos. Straightforward beat 'em up fun, right? Well, not necessarily. I found that a large part of the game depended on luck- if you were fortunate enough to get a good weapon that balanced speed, power, range and bonus (like a flaming short sword, which I used up until the very end of the game), you could breeze through waves of enemies. The other weapons weren't even worth looking at, not even the massive axes that did 40+ damage. This privileging of certain weapon types made the game too easy for some levels or ridiculously hard on others. It was just a matter of replaying it until you got an awesome weapon early on.

That said, the range weapons added a surprising amount of balance. The extremely limited ammunition but incredible power was a nice trade-off. Their difficulty and time to use was another challenge, but if you could create distance between yourself and the enemies you could pick them off one by one. Very satisfying and well done.

One thing I felt was lacking was magic. I thought that with the introduction of wands might come spellcasting, but I was mistaken. I think defensive and offensive spells would have been a really great contribution to this game, adding a much deeper level of variety.

Excellent graphics and choice of music. A little tiresome over time to hear the same song over and over, but it had this epic battle feel which was satisfying. The absurd cries of the gnomes was also surprisingly enjoyable to meet in battle. Maybe our protagonist could use a war cry or two of his own?

My final and most prudent complaint is characters who knock you down. A giant or one of those furry fast little guys (that remind me of Alien for some reason) that push you to the floor. They're fine one on one- they challenge you to use evasion and timing to kill them. But when there are two of them on either side, butting you backwards and forwards, you don't even have a chance to shield or jump or attack. You can't use rage, you can't move, you just watch your character get beaten to a bloody pulp within seconds after playing for twenty minutes. Please address this, as it was quite an anti-climactic end to a campaign.

Overall, an enjoyable game, though based more on luck than skill. Without a good weapon, there's no chance of getting further than a few levels. Definitely worth a try.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

Jazza responds:

with the wand you can cast a spell, but larry isnt a magician. :)

[Powerfox V.3]

Improved.

The larger variety of weapons added different dimensions to playing style. The simplistic attack and jump combination had its own level of difficulty, and the various difficulty settings added for extra challenge. Taking the best elements from the second version and adding worthwhile improvements.

Still quite simplistic, but enjoyably so.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Powerfox V.2]

Kinda boring, actually...

The whole game could be won by holding the A key and running backwards and forwards. So long as you were standing on (or slightly behind) the enemy they weren't able to hurt you, while Power Fox was small enough to continue thumping them. Not particularly brilliant, but mildly entertaining.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Miami Shark]

More or less brilliant.

A fantastic game if slightly ridiculous. My favourite part was the warning in the author's comments. Very true.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Sydney Shark]

Absurdly enjoyable.

Like the first, ridiculous to the point of brilliance. Not particularly sensical and particularly violent, but that's probably what makes it such a pleasure to play. Sweet music, both when attacking and lurking.

There were perhaps some issues with taking down helicopters (for some reason, tapping down slowly was more effective than spamming it), and it seemed a little pointless to have to dive even a little to attack boats on the surface when the shark was able to jump out of the water already, but otherwise a thoroughly ridiculous and enjoyable game.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Balloon in a Wasteland]

Not particularly complex (nor well thought out).

A very simple kind of defence-game, where the onus is on the player to take action towards leaving rather than "defending" (as the genre might suggest) until the situation changes. While an interesting and unique take on survival games, the fact there were pauses between waves allowed so much time to repair the balloon the game could be passed on the first day. Furthermore, because this was the ultimate goal of the game (with killing monsters as a secondary objective to pass the time) there was no need to engage in any fighting at all aside from the first few waves. A player could simply build a fort and sleep there until the threat passed, when he or she could then proceed to repair the balloon.

The stamina bar was an interesting addition. I liked how it affected accuracy if left for too long, but I felt there was more than ample time to sleep and repair the balloon between waves. Removing the pause between enemy attacks would put more pressure on the player to use their seconds wisely, and forgo making money for the sake of restoring accuracy.

I think the cost of traps was mixed up: single-use mines costed more than their permanent counterparts. There seemed no point in buying them when the money could be spent upgrading weapons or turrets to much more perenial effect.

It was also a little hard to get into- while the controls were seemingly straightforward, what to do with them was not. Jumping didn't seem to have much of a benefit, except to escape a few points of damage at best. Forts didn't seem to be damageable, so spending thousands of dollars on repair tools didn't seem like a very good use of the money. Furthermore, I didn't use my fort at all the second time I played through (except to house my turrets)- I could hold the entire army off with the machinegun, and healing myself on those rare occasions where I got hurt. Not being able to shoot from the top of a tower, despite having a clear view of the enemy and a loaded gun was also slightly frustrating. I think a better system would have been the enemies damage the tower if they reach it, forcing the player to occasionally make trips to the ground to repair it before it collapsed and needed to be rebuilt. It would also help if one could shoot from the vantage point they spent hours building.

The story, while not particularly deep or sensical, was quaint and not too serious. Good for casually picking up and playing.

The in-game achievements also seemed easy to get. I think more acknowledgement should have been paid to maxing out all the weapons or turrets or using all the traps. These things were superfluous to the achievements, which was a shame. It would also have been good to see some newgrounds medals coinciding.

Two bugs I'd like to point out. Somewhere along the sixth day (and 25th wave) it stopped showing when the next waves would be coming until several hours later. Despite an empty time-bar, supplies and enemies still came at regular intervals.
Secondly, the music of game-over overlapped with the music from the starting screen.

Although somewhat harsh, this review is not without praise. Though simplistic, there was something undeniably satisfying about buying the machinegun and mowing down waves of enemies. It is this addiction (and the drive to max out everything) that kept me playing for somewhere near an hour. Unless you're particularly motivated to upgrade everything, the game can be passed in five minutes or so. Nevertheless, addictive and enjoyable, but probably not worth playing a third time through.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Infectonator : World Dom]

An enjoyable game, despite first impressions.

Simplistic graphics, ancient music and difficult navigation with little instruction first led me to view this with suspicion. But I ended up playing it for somewhere around four hours, unable to stop until I had conquered the world. Regrettably, I was so efficient I wasn't able to complete all the upgrades, but there was something indescribably satisfying about unleashing a hoard of superzombies on the world.

One thing I found endearing was the personality given to each country. It added a sense of charm and humour, giving unique music and characters from around the world. Stereotypical and not entirely historically accurate, but amusing and entertaining.

The game itself is hugely repetative- click, hope that click spawns more zombies, and wait. Occasionally using a bomb or a hero when forces overwhelm the standard zombies. Reap rewards as quickly as possible. Over and over I did this without any real challenge- the hardest part of the game was starting off, with one infection click and no upgrades, just hoping for the best. Once you got another click or two, the game became laughably easy (but no less satisfying or addicting).

The music really could have used a change- listening to the zombie-infection song the first dozen times was all right, but a hundreds of times later it was getting a little trying. An impressive number of things happening all at once (zombies moving, eating people, being shot at, civilians screaming, blood gushing) with fairly little lag by comparison.

A little unsatisfying to pass (no real reward for getting the achievements, and an inability to get all the achievements in the first place because you can't repeat towns you've already destroyed) but most certainly satisfying to play.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Dead Frontier: Outbreak 2]

Beautiful.

I really admire the voice acting. Although perhaps a little husky and overdone, it set a beautiful tone of solitude and rough living- a voice hardened by suffering and difficult choices. And what choices they were! I wasn't sure about the nature of the game when I started, and when I realised it wasn't an action game I was the slightest bit disappointed. But then I realised the depth and quality of the story and how it was unfolded, decision by decision. Fantastic! What an incredible journey, with just the right music. The writing itself was impeccable- such descriptive narrative and evokative language. You paint quite the picture. Also worth mentioning are the images in the background- each was created to paint a vivid picture complementary to the narrative. The fading in and fading out of focus added an appreciated touch of surrealism. Beautiful colour tones created a dark ambience apt to the story. I especially liked the subtle touches like naming the mall "Feastymart", and having Safety written in red on a sign nearby.

Lesser, but still appreciated points of the game were the choice of fonts, colours and pace. Neither too fast nor too slow, and with regular saves (which didn't always help- for instance, because I didn't properly investigate the basement of the mall the first time through I had to restart the game before it saved when I met the survivors).

One suggestion I might make is putting time limits on some of the decisions. Some of them should be made within a few seconds at most, others can be deliberated on. This would add just a little more realism and tension to an already magnificent game.
Aside from that, the only other improvements I'd make are ensuring that the dialogue matched the transcript and vice versa. A few errors (like loose rather than lose, leaver rather than lever) and general typos tainted the delivery of an otherwise brilliant story. Also to note is that the last decision (regarding the car's engine) didn't gameover if you chose incorrectly- it went straight to the successful ending.

Well done to everyone who took part in the project- it was certainly a brilliant, if unusual addition to the zombie genre.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Mushroom Madness 2]

Excellent game!

I really enjoyed playing this, which surprised me, and I spent unfortunate hours on it. I really was surprised at how addicting it was and how much joy I got out of it. Simple but entertaining. A little too simple, perhaps. When you got into a rhythm with maxed out weapons, there really was no way you could lose- I played Survival until Level 60 hoping it would end. I could have continued indefinitely, hour upon hour until I got carpal tunnel syndrome. It was *too* easy, defending a small area of mushrooms with dozens of traps, dozens of weapons (so that clicking anywhere on the screen would provide you with a firearm of some sort) and no chance of losing any mushrooms. All I can suggest is to make the enemies move faster as the levels increase.

It was great to see a variety of sub-games as well as the main story. They too had their faults- with ridiculously pimped out weapons, there was no challenge. Although rewarding to level up, perhaps the money could be spent buying new weapons rather than increasing the strength of old ones? The only challenging levels were the ones with ristrictions- the whack-a-mole type levels, or defending the vault from spiders that can run through traps without setting them off. The rocket gun really did take the challenge out of many stages.

Cute music, fair sound effects, sweet animations. Particularly the moles- if they weren't the deadliest of foes, I'd find it hard to smash their tiny skulls in.

An enjoyable game that took far too many hours of my time. Achievements were satisfying to meet, but perhaps Survival mode wasn't quite worth the effort.

~VelvetDarkRocks~