VelvetDarkRocks's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hedgehog Launch 2]

Fantastic game!

My girlfriend and I very much enjoyed the first one, but this one was even better! Great new additions in terms of what you can buy and what the new items do. So glad there were purple coins, and the limits were not merely space, but far into it (though even that I found not challenging enough). Thus comes freeplay, which just sheer rocks. All the hedgehog, none of the limits. That's the way it should be.

I loved the adorable animation, the ending sequence, the style of the game... Innovative, creative, cute and highly addictive. Pretty much full marks in my books.

One hint to players is to save up and buy the higher levels of an item rather than getting the lower levels and working your way up. It costs the same to buy a Level 10 Height no matter what you start off with, so save up and buy big!

Excellent, excellent game.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Plazma Burst: FTP]

Really hard...

You die a little too quickly, even with awesome weapons and armor. I guess I'm just not skilled enough to pass this game without getting lucky.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Super Smash Flash]

Holy freaking hell.

I can't believe it took me three years to find this. Given its day, this was a legendary rendition of one of the greatest multiplayer games ever invented. Excellent, excellent work! Seriously amazing work, pre-empting many of the features of Brawl at a flash level. Not perfect, but seriously amazing game. I'm just blown away by how much effort went into this. Nice work!

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Spewer]

Excellent.

There are a lot of good puzzle games out there, but this is certainly one of the most innovative and entertaining. Creative idea, addictive gameplay, tireless music. Excellent all round.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Medieval Rampage]

Great game!

I've played this game for a few hours now, and it doesn't get old very easily. Huge variety, just the right level of challenge (it was a little hard at first, but once you start allocating your points properly it's more managable). Fantastic variety of enemies (and a very amusing, if typographical beastiary. You praise even the peons! I suggest ordering them in terms of appearance/difficulty though) and a healthy mix of bows and arrows (though the fire arrows seem twice as costly as the ice, and no less effective). It was a great idea to increase the price of health as the waves increased- if you weren't careful you'd end up losing money rather than saving it. It was a little annoying at first, but a challenge I eventually rose to meet.

A couple of major (and minor) bugs that really need fixing.
-Health upgrade doesn't upgrade your health- it just makes the health refil heal less!
-I was at Wave 23 and had defeated all the enemies on screen, but the meter at the bottom said there was one enemy left. I shot everywhere but couldn't find him and eventually had to quit game and start over.
-Restarting the game turns the music off.
-Game finishes before all enemies are dead.
-Exiting the shop makes you fire an arrow (or three) automatically. Not a big deal but it kind of annoyed me.
-I got 100% accuracy (after many tries) in the first wave but the achievement didn't come up. Jipped!

In terms of general improvements, might I suggest a save or autosave function? It would be MUCH appreciated.
Also, it seems cruel to have achievements such as maxing out all the bows when they all cost the same amount to upgrade. Perhaps the lesser bows could be cheaper somehow?
The Time Played option might be better displayed in the shop or menu where it can actually count.
I also felt the boss battles were a little too easy. Minions were a good idea to mix it up a little, but you could basically hold them at bay just by shooting them and wearing them down. They only had one very predictable attack (and a slightly less predictable pattern of movement) which made them quite easy to dispatch without loss of health or expensive arrows. You might consider adding more attacks, including summoning higher level minions.

The story was a little generic but an appreciated fill-in. Artwork was simple but attractive, the graphics decent enough to make an enjoyable game but not so intense as to cause extreme lag. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable game (though I lack the dedication to collect all the achievements). Couple of bugs to fix, a save function needed, but all up a great way to spend a couple of hours.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Epic Battle Fantasy]

The best flash turn-based RPG on the web.

Truly excellent, borrowing strongly from Final Fantasy (but what turn-based RPG doesn't?) but with many elements of originality. Great artwork, addictive gameplay, excellent choice of music (so glad you put the credits in! I KNEW I heard Matoya's Cave somewhere. Final Fantasy I, what a legend.

Anyway, fantastic enemies, great attacks, unique specials. I found it interesting that the characters started off with maxed out stats, so I thought it was a tutorial and wasted all my MP in the first few rounds lol. Guess it's kind of self-explanatory? I wish it had a save function, or a "return to shop" option.

Little things like the pirate accent and the cute things the characters say when they win/get hurt make this a charmer. Fairly generic, but still amazingly unique. I give it 10/10.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Ultimate Assassin 2]

Great!

There is some superb satisfaction from sneaking past guards, nearly right under their noses, killing their boss (or VIP) and bailing before they even turn around.

A difficult game made all the more fun by the randomised paths of the guards and the targets. Different every time, requiring (as you mentioned) lightning fast reflexes to avoid being sighted. It was interesting that an assassin would go in without killing any of the guards and using only a small knife, but I suppose that is what made the game so uniquely challenging.

One problem I did have was that the guards sometimes saw me even when I wasn't in their cone of vision. If I stepped out next to them when they'd walk past they'd turn and shoot me, even though they could only see straight ahead. Slightly frustrating, but a little more realistic.

The trail of bloody footprints initially worried the hell out of me, but the guards more or less seemed to ignore it and run around frantically. It was a cool idea but didn't seem to have any effect.

Also, it was supposed to get increasingly harder, but I found some of the earlier stages to be infuriatingly difficult. More guards and fewer entrances do not necessarily make a stage more difficult if there is more cover to take.

If I might make two recommendations, just for kicks, I'd give the option to use a distraction of some sort. To throw an item that makes noise, or to leave behind a small grenade or something to draw the guards' attention. Secondly I would recommend that the target react if the alarm is set off by a guard sighting you- security around him/her might increase for awhile and they might stick to one area rather than wandering about the stage. It would make the game a lot more difficult, but that slight bit more realistic.

Overall, a surprisingly satisfying stealth game, though some sort of reward (unlockable content perhaps?) would have been appreciated for becoming the Ultimate Assassin after trawling through 18 levels.

[Domo-Kun Angry Smashfest!]

Finally, some closure.

I played this when it was first made and only now have I returned to it. Ah sweet vengeance. A classic, which I dearly love.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Madness Regent]

Uncharacteristically easy.

But enjoyable :)
Some sort of health bar/recovery would have been nice, but it worked fine. Quick ten minute game = thumbs up.

~VelvetDarkRocks~

[Red Moon]

A good platformer.

Although not to my tastes, an excellent platformer. Very standard move, jump and attack, but some surprisingly creative uses of the stages and orientation of the enemies. Not much more than a very repetetive hack'n'slash though. Cool sound tracks and voices, but the story itself... While a cool idea, very corny delivery.

Combat was a bit weak. I never used the strong attacks because I never needed to. Get an enemy up against a wall and they were done for, or alternatively, let them fall to their deaths as you stand on the other end of a spike pit. Repetetive and not wholly satisfying, though the boss battles were a nice challenge with some much needed variety.

Some insanely difficult stages towards the end there, probably not worth passing the game for.

I thought the ending was weak and confusing- the silhouettes, while cool, confused me. The characters didn't seem believable or well-developed and the whole thing came across as fairly generic. Not particularly satisfying, but an enjoyable and award-driven game.

~VelvetDarkRocks~