Rad's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Eternal Death]

This game is pretty bad, even for a roguelike
If you want random chance then have a random chance for abilities to proc or have randomly generated loot, making the mushrooms on the ground randomly perma raise or lower your stats is insane because the optimal mode of play is just to not pick them up at at all and just rely on the natural stat gain from raising your level.

It's ridiculous to build conflicting ideas into your game and then shrug your shoulders and say "Eh, that's how luck works!"

The art, I can understand. Not being able to have screen presses path your character to the point you click, that's a programming issue, sure, I'm sure you'll figure it out.

I just don't understand why you'd cripple your own game with measures made to frustrate you.

HealliesGames responds:

Obviously you should avoid objects that have random feature, but you can be obliged to touch them while running by enemies or in narrows.
And except some objects, their impact on statistics is not as high. So if you are already untouchable, they will not change your run and risk can only improve you.
I'm not shrugging my shoulders, because the game is pretty easy. Frustration comes from the fact that I did too much floor, and start again is very frustrating, but starting again can help you to find all objects of Encyclopedia.
If it's not interesting it's another thing.

For commands I have not been able to make them comfortable. And I apologize for this.

Anyway, thanks for your feedback!

[Big Shot Boxing]

I just can't get behind the luck based philosophy of this game, even when you play smart, land more jabs straights and uppercuts on the opponent, have them in RED HEALTH and they STILL pop right back up on their feet at a 6 count and knock you down with a lucky flash uppercut, it feels like the game is spitting in your face.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that it is trying to be realistic, I can understand that uncertainty makes things interesting and being able to confirm a confirm a cross into a KO every time, 100% is boring... but I'd rather have that than basically play Russian Roulette every time a punch is thrown to see if my boxer's chin disintegrates. It's like you saw the random critical hit system of Team Fortress 2 and thought. "Yeah, I'll base a game around that."

On the bright side, the dialogue of your coach is truly some of the best I've ever seen, it really got me into the game before I lost hope in it.

colburt187 responds:

I really do understand that people would rather have the classic fighting game experience of who ever lands the most punches wins, if you still have health in your health bar you are safe etc. That wasn't my vision though, I made this game exactly how I wanted it and hoped that a few other people were also looking for this sort of challenge. The thing you described of you beating a guy down and then they pop up and knock you down with a lucky shot, you can do the exact same thing to them. In fact the odds are in your favour to win a fight with a lucky punch. I have noticed a pattern in the feedback since releasing this game, a player can beat an AI opponent with a lucky punch and barely even register, but if they get hit with a lucky punch its outrageous, how can the game treat you like this! I have watched lots of youtube videos of people playing the mobile version of this game and as far as I can see the system is working exactly as I intended. People who box tactically win most of their fights, they can get dropped by a lucky punch every now and then but the chances of actually losing a fight because of the luck based elements remains very low. But it can happen, the fear is always there.

[Launch]

I don't even know what I'm doing.

I can't appreciate the gravity of the situation or the decisions I make if I literally don't know what's going on. I listened to the three letters at the start and all I could gather from it was that I was chosen for a mission to save earth and it was only through the authors notes and the comments below that I figured out an unknown, yet malicious force was approaching earth and I had to choose between launching an ark or 20 missiles at a *thing.*

There was never any explanation about why I couldn't just launch both or if firing missiles at an unknown civilization or lifeform was even a good idea in the first place.

If this was entirely a game about choosing the people to get on-board the ark, and being torn between my family, skilled individuals, government officials, people from all walks of life each with their own stories, it would have been leagues better. But right now we can't even appreciate the severity of the situation because we don't actually know what the consequences of our actions could be.

Where is the Ark actually going to go? Just keep everyone frozen in cryo in space? Is it going to try colonizing Mars? How powerful are the missiles? If I fire all 20 of them, will there be a SECOND ominous force waiting behind the first one anyway? When I first started the game, I actually thought I was being asked to fire missiles at earth itself!

I can understand the appeal in making a "you have one chance game" the tone and setting of Launch really wants to make you think twice about your actions. But it just seems like a huge waste of time and voice acting talent if you give a new set of letters after each missile launch, yet stress that the player can launch the ark at any time, ending the game and throwing the rest of that effort right in the trash. What if a player fires a missile, then thinks they are doing the wrong thing and launches the ark? I suppose you just intended for people on YouTube to finish the game for them.

Ah well, nice game, good music, decent art, have a great one and I look forward to your next creation!

zenygweny responds:

Thank you for your review! We always appreciate reviews, especially ones with great detail! We'll take into consideration your suggestions!

[Project Dimentia Bodhisattva]

Well, I finally beat it... It's been a real trip.

I never really liked HTML5 as a platform for games, I always thought they handled kind of clumsily and felt more like someone had to bash a game together out of sheer determination, manipulating it into doing something it was not really built to do, that is until I played your game.

While I'm sure you've heard all about the clumsy (oh god every special attack gets it's own button) controls and shift being jump (where if you rebind it, the floaty jumps you need in Sky Chasm don't work anymore) I just wanted to say, I really appreciate this game and all the effort you went through to keep the game fresh and always subvert the players expectations.

Nisha is a fun antagonist and from the very first fight with her to the final one at the end, It never really felt frustrating, she just loves to brawl and everything she does reinforces that. A boss that revives you for fun? Aw yeah!

I hated the high jump technique, it really feels like a bug turned feature and while it isn't mandatory in any stage outside of the Sunflower one, I just hated having to time my punches, do the ground smash and then immediately jump just to get to a high ledge, I've done it at least 60 times during the game and never actually enjoyed a single one.

The stages are really diverse and fresh, and while I loathed the platforming, I loved the stories woven into each of them. The entire ordeal that was the Sunflower stage made the final revenge combo sequence one of the most satisfying story moments I've ever had in a game.

99.9% Hell gold, fuck yeah.

I loved how you tracked all the jewels and piggies you rescued during the sky chasm stage, just to turn it on it's head and show how ungrateful and greedy they all were.

You made a wonderful show out of playing with player expectations and I think that is really where this game shines, In a year I think more people are going to remember what Nishe does after the final battle rather than actually fighting her where you just crouched underneath her and used your fireball breathing clones to rack up damage and beat her in a minute.

All the characters were done well, I loved the way the music changed immediately to suit what was happening in the game, the way the music immediately became upbeat and hopeful the second you debug your first void was a legit "fuck yeah" fist pump moment.

I'm really surprised this is your first game and that there really isn't anything else by you anywhere else on the internet so far. This is hands down one of the best free games I've seen and if you ever make anything else like this I'd probably pay money for it. I really hope this game doesn't get ignored.

I don't think this game is perfect, I don't even think a keyboard can really handle all the moves you put in, but it has a ton of love and effort put in and it definitely shows. Best game, you deserve some kind of trophy.

Touhou with uppercuts.

TwinBlazar responds:

Thank you for your review. :)
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>>> where if you rebind it, the floaty jumps you need in Sky Chasm don't work anymore
Bug noted.
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[UFO: Blackstorm shield]

I am so sorry, but your game is just too hard. As of this review, nobody can even claim the "Beat the game with no deaths medal" yet.

It's frustrating because this is a fantastic challenging game with great sound direction and good design decisions like letting you demolish buildings while receiving 100% of the money back for them, but the whole thing was built around the player losing and trying again with more resources while at the same time offering an achievement for beating it with no losses.

I appreciate you patching the game too, but this is an insane measure of difficulty.

AleGui responds:

Allright, now the boss spawns about 1/3 of the ships it spawned before, and takes more time to shoot the big red bullets. I hope this helps.

Also try selling all your labs and non combat buildings before fighting the boss.

[Stakes!]

The nails you place can block your jumps upward, there is no reason why they should do this, it makes gameplay frustrating.

[Planets Gone Rogue!]

It's a pretty good roguelike, but I do have some complaints.

The plasma shot can move way too fast for a human being at the higher upgraded speed levels, the AI can use a speedy plasma shot to hit your planet in the blink of an eye.

I don't like the need to level up to get more starting money. while in theory a player could beat the campaign the first time, it's extremely unlikely vs playing again and again to get a larger starting bonus.

Missiles need to glow either red or blue to let players know if it's their missile or not., I wasted two shields before realizing the missile was reflected and flying on a wide arc away from my planet and towards the enemy. For a weapon so deadly it's easy to not actually see it since it lacks bright colors like every other projectile in the game has.

I like the idea of the railgun, but it's frustrating to fight the AI using one, it hits instantly and the AI has near instant reflexes vs the player. I found my guns getting shot before the enemy railgun was even fully on screen to act against it.

I need a target reticule to help me aim, it's extremely difficult to line up emp and reflector shots while the AI will have no problem hitting a moving target.

Overall, I love what this game sets out to do, and it's definitely one of the better roguelikes I've seen.

OMBG responds:

First of all thank you for taking the time to write all that down! I think you have found excellent "complaints" (let's call them "areas capable of improvement" ;-) ) for your feedback as I

think they are all valid points:

The plasma shot is fast, yes, but it also has a charge-up phase so you are able to prepare for the incoming shot. However you need to estimate where the shot will land when it is accelerating

which is challenging but you have all the time to think about it as the game pauses while you have the shield selected.

Regarding the starting money I agree with you: It should not be the point of the game having to level up first before you stand a chance at beating it. I think I might need to adjust the

amount the player get at level 0 after I have collected more feedback. I don't want to make it to easy either, it would be ideal if you die in the campaign because you made the wrong

decisions, but not because you did not get enough money to get the job done ;-)

I have little to say in defense for the thing you wrote about the missiles. You are absolutely right with this (especially the part of damage vs. visibility!), and I will definetly improve

this for future versions.

The AI is artifically slowed down at the moment to simulate "thinking time", if you watch closely you might notice that it is not using guns even if they would be available. But it definetly

has an advantage when it comes to selecting guns: A Gun is "selectable" as soon as it is visible on the screen, if there is a pixel you can click on, you can select it. Same goes for the AI,

unfortunately the AI is far better at "clicking on single pixels" than a human player. I might tone that down a bit to make it fairer for us poor human beings ;-)

Do you mean having a different mouse cursor for having a "target reticule"? That is a very good idea, it would also communicate "this Weapon will fire now if you click" to the player.

Thanks again for writing all this, it is hard getting feedback for your game, but if you get feedback with detailed explanations and even proposals on how to improve it is even more valuable.

I cannot promise that I will be able to fix all of these points for a future version of the game, but I will definetly consider all of them to make a good decision on what / how to improve.

[Alone: Meditate Existence]

If the game actually had a point, I and most other players failed to grasp it.

[Manamancers]

Like it or not this game is extremely luck based.

Most players on the top 30 list have a win / loss ratio of 1.0, even after hundreds of games. While I do love how accessible and streamlined everything is, skill and planning are always overwhelmed by luck in this game.

Players need a way to force a refresh of the map, a different gem generation sequence to avoid combos just blindly being handed to the player or a way to predict which new gems will spawn in, because at the moment a win can simply be handed to you or the other player by random chance.

Also, I have played 11 games. Please give me some character customization options already. I have no idea why you decided to force players to play again and again just to unlock the chance to buy a hat. This is becoming a grindfest.

Maras responds:

Is poker luck based? Maybe it is if you look at one game, but in long run, it's all about strategy/calculations. Anyway, the best player with almost 4800 games so far have skill ratio 2.3, thats not exactly average...

Thats why many people make living on playing poker and other people lost fortune.

4800 games is more than enough to deduce conclusions - if it would be purely luck based game, he should also have skill ratio around 1, not 2.3

About the customizations: If you played 11 games and think that is more than enough, why do you need to buy new armors if you do not plan to play anymore? All the customizations is available to anyone who create new character, but armors and weapons unlocks at level 9.

:-)