VelvetDarkRocks's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Boxhead: More Rooms]

Fantastic game!

Highly addictive, although perhaps not entirely creative. impressive array of weapons, excellent mobility, and somewhat repetitive style because of the identical enemies. The score-system was innovative, and fantastic, but I'm not sure how the weapon upgrades worked. That was, however, also very much enjoyable.

After playing one stage for half an hour then dying under unfortunate circumstances, it really was a pain in the ass to have to get all the upgrades again. So, that said, playing a few games in a few different stages was enough for me. Fantastic work, and a very satisfying feel to it. A time killer, without question, and at the same time highly enjoyable.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Project Validus: Survival]

What a fantastic idea for a story!

Although it's hard to make a zombie game without stealing the idea off Resident Evil, you certainly managed it. Creative inclusion of rats with themes of human greed, the survival instinct and atavism. but without going too far into it, great story! Really high quality stuff there.

Although I didn't get to play a lot of it, I got a good hang of the style. It's a pretty sweet survival game, with a large variety of weapons and upgrades. Nevertheless, in need of a save system. Not really a lot I can say except it's pretty sweet, and once the speed was upgraded, the game became a whole lot more fun. Excellent selection of music that really pumps the adrenaline. Nice work.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Rapid Reaction Master]

SOCOM!!!

ZOMG IT'S A SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND PISTOL! I <3 this game already!

Okay, well, to be honest the redeeming attribute of this otherwise simplistic game is the choice of the firearm. If it hadn't been a SOCOM, I tell you truly, this would be an outstandingly boring game. Clever, creative, challenging even, but so simple there really wasn't much to it. However, that said, I must commend your excellent taste. I'm not really sure if it's possible to fail the game- even when I was still figuring out how to disassemble the weapon.

You probably know a little more about pistols than I do, but I'm pretty sure the slider is called the slide. Maintainence is called cleaning, but the actual act of taking the gun apart is called disassembly. And I'm not sure why attaching the "laser box" (that can't be its technical name. Yet, I think there's more to that "box" than its lasersight) is part of reloading when in the "maintenance" section you made it clear that the SOCOM was reloaded by ammo clips. And, I could have sworn, the most important thing about disassembling a gun is removing the ammunition first, not last.

While there were many technical errors, the minigames were fun and point-blank style. The game itself was entertaining and all about challenging one's self, over a short amount of time. Instead of instructions, an interactive tutorial would have been a better idea for a How to Play section.

Overall, a very enjoyable game that's not particularly educational when instructing the average joe how to disarm a pistol! Nevertheless, very well done.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

PS: Great work making the shooting realistic, moving the screen, bulletholes etc.

[B.L.A.C.K. 2]

Difficult, and with room for improvement.

I stopped playing after the first few stages. I have many requests in terms of improving gameplay. The idea was fine, classic bird's eye shooter. Not exactly sure about story/plot, but the idea and genre of the game was a good choice. Here's, well, a potential list of improvements.

-Make weapon switching faster so you don't have to wait a few seconds in the middle of combat.
-Bullet time was a good idea, but I think it should go up after killing an enemy or finding a bed to rest it or something. If it recharges over time, it's too easy to just stop playing for a little while until the bar is full.
-Don't start the game with every type of weapon unlocked, with ready to use ammunition. Make the players earn the upgrades.
-Make upgrades for speed so you can move faster.
-Don't give the bullets such a wide scope of damage. I was being shot at, and the bullets were hitting the wall behind me about a foot away, but it still counted as being hit.
-Few lag issues, particularly when you get shot and the blood effects kick in. After that you can't shoot back because your computer slows down too much.
-Have upgrades in stage. Like I said, perhaps a speed upgrade, or first aid kit, or kevlar vest. That would be good.
-Have snipers and things- military tactics.
-Give the protagonist a story. Not just a "soldier" who's killing a whole heap of other soldiers. Where's the patriotism in that? =p
-Perhaps a cone of vision, ie line of sight, would have also been a good upgrade, so you can stay hidden from enemies and try and sneak past them.

I also noticed that once you initiated bullet time, and then took it off, the bullets traveled at bullet-time speed. The bullet time itself was a great idea though! Great idea! You just need to work on how it's used a little more.

Well, that's all I have to say. Characters were a little slow and all, but I think this game could really go somewhere if you considered some of the points I mentioned. Fair game though, 7/10.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Emerald Thief]

A challenging game!

It requires either a lot of skill or a lot of patience. Unfortunately, I am blessed with neither. Reminded me, just a little, of MGS. Pretty cool game, although I didn't get very far. I think some sort of checkpoint would be very much appreciated.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Rail of War]

Great game, in its own respects!

It's really sad that a game this good receives so little reviews.

It reminded me of the good old days when I played with toy trains rather on computers. Man, that was forever ago. Although a few bugs here and there (like being able to reach bonuses and drop-off/pick-up points by driving on the rail next to them), a well designed game! The Minimap was hard to find at first, but it may have given a little too much away about the level. There's less trial and error when you know the route you have to take, although I'm grateful it didn't show where the enemies were, so there was still some element of surprise.

Fantastic idea in general- driving a supply train and all. Although everything was well designed and executed, I am reluctant to say I found it tedious after the first stage alone. Once the magic had worn away a bit, the game became exceptionally slow, and a mistake when selecting a track could lead to a minute's worth of travel to correct it. The different speeds were a very good idea, but in general I have to admit it was far too slow. That's not any fault of yours, just the way the game was made.

Overall, no real problems except I found it to be almost stagnant. It takes an exceptional amount of time to play, and even two levels will keep you occupied for half an hour. Perhaps not action-packed, but well made nevertheless.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Deflector]

Talk about challenging!

Now this is an awesome game. Creative, brilliant idea, such simple enemies that cause such an enormous challenge! It was incredible getting just the right angle of deflection to nail an enemy while being fast enough to deflect all the other projectiles! I spent untold time getting up to level 6 where I finally admitted defeat. Bravo, bravo! The music got a little repetative, but that was fine. A pause function is needed, and maybe upgrades per level but I'm not sure if that would ruin the challenge of the different levels. The setups of enemy formation were also fantastic and very challenging. A highly enjoyable game, well worth playing! Be warned- it's addictive!

~VelvetDarkRocks~

freeworldgroup responds:

thanks : - ) hmmm there is a pause - hit 'P' or simly click on the menu button bottom right - will pause the game.

[12 Days]

=)

"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring… except the bad assed sniper with his .30 cal rifle."

You got that from Die Hard, didn't you? :P

Great intro for the first mission! I loved that accent. The guys with the wicked accents are always the bad guys. Love that!

This game reminds me of that sniping stick-game. Unfortunately, as wonderful as this game seems, I don't have the patience to identify the necessary targets. A high level of detail involved with impressive graphics... Not really a lot to say, considering I tried Level 1 a few times before giving up impatiently. I apologise, but from what I did see, I admire. Perhaps not my style, but a very good style indeed.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Dragon Fist 3]

Great game!

Chinese martial arts cinema. That's a good way of putting it. Some familiar faces there, costumes, even variations on famous names (Bruce Lee = Billy Lo). That made me smile. Although one thing I do disagree with is that ninjas used ninja-tos, not katanas as their primary weapons. Well actually there are a lot of contradiction in weapons/special moves. Very happy to see such a wide range of fighting styles though- drunken boxing, different forms in kung fu, not too sure if Billy was doing Jeet Kune Do...

So much to do, no time to do it in. A hugely expansive game with much appreciated familiarity of characters. Kicking ass feels so much cooler when you're Bruce Lee, doesn't it? Anyway, great game. Little choppy, but with that many characters, who can blame you? Music could have been upped a notch, but otherwise very good.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

DJStatika responds:

Billy Lo was the name of bruce lee's character in game of death! also in Enter the dragon his character was refered to Mr Lee, so thats what i put in the game

[Prison Escape]

Hm.. Fair enough!

Not a bad idea for a game.

The graphics were a little bit scrappy, but you focused on powerful images rather than fantastic animation. That's a good technique.
The shadow wasn't always following him, but it showed the level of detail you put in the game.

Music wasn't entirely appropriate, but it was all right in terms of atmosphere.

One of the major flaws is that there's no clearly defined movement. It's free-range, he can move in four directions. Yet, with the ice stages sometimes he would go whizzing past a block and sometimes it would stop him. The movement needs more rigidity for those kind of stages. Also, although the puzzles required some level of thought, they were abstract and had nothing to do with the storyline.

MGS-style feel to the game, overall not too bad. Could be a bit more variation on sneaking- distractions and things like that, but in general, pretty well done.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

freeworldgroup responds:

rankyou