Plasmarift's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Bio Evil 4]

I thought I should comment since people keep saying how hard the game is. It isn't extremely hard (I'm not saying it's easy though, but I've played harder ones). I've beaten it on pro at least three times now; the real difficult part is getting through the game without dying at all with all the gold! It can take a while to beat it on pro, but it's just a matter of memorizing when to jump, shoot, and move, and learning how to overcome obstacles like the scythe throwing guy inside the house. I've included a link to a walkthrough I made if you are interested.

https://youtu.be/6VlfdFAz6hM

As for my critique of the game, I liked it. The pixel art was nice and cute at times, the music is exciting and nice to listen to, there were no glitches I could find (except for the one you fixed), the gameplay was smooth, and, most importantly, it was hard in a fair way. A lot of creators try to make their games hard by including unfair mechanics like enemies that can spawn on top of you, surprise traps that are near impossible to avoid unless you knew they were coming, and tedious, long levels that aren't hard to beat, but take a really, really long time to do so, as well as other annoying things. I do have some complaints/suggestions though:
- In Google Chrome, the game screen is shrunken down to near 1/4 the size it should be.
- I was a little disappointed that there were no secret weapons or secret areas in the game.
- It seemed short, but I understand this was made for a game jam so I can't fault you for that. It's like eating a piece of cake and wanting another slice! (and I'm imagining what the fight with the lake monster would have been like).
- During the boss fight, I think it would have been cute and more fitting if you had Ashley actually shout "Leon!" instead of the talk bubble. It could have been muffled and bad quality like you would expect for the time of the old NES games (it could also sound kind of cute and like a cat, kind of like a whine if you know what I mean).
- The boss fight was kind of easy; the boss only has the one attack where he runs up and swings at you. Once you learn how to overcome that, the fight is a piece of cake.

I hope you will make more games in the future. I wish you luck!

Gypopothomas responds:

Brilliant, man! You have mad skills! Did the sound effects sound like that while you were playing!? Holy shit! They don't sound right at all in the video!

I'm gonna shove this video the throats of people complaining about difficulty! Haha!

[VCR]

I felt I needed to comment to balance things out after the last person's comment. The game is good. I didn't find any glitches and it seems obvious you at least took some inspiration from Portal when designing it, which there is nothing wrong with; Portal 2 showed things from the perspective of two humanoid robots while this one seems to be something you'd expect for construction purposes, which makes it neat to think it has a personality. With the inhumanoid robot, things seemed even more desolate inside the facility.

The puzzles were challenging and you made it so rewinding back and forth carelessly could ruin things for you if you didn't take into account that the blocks won't continue their movement through rewinding time if you aren't there to move them in the first place. I did feel like I managed to beat some levels in unconventional ways; you gave the player a lot of power and that can lead to players overcoming obstacles in much easier ways than intended. Also, I would suggest, in the future, not to have a key control to the game next to the reset feature; I've accidentally reset the levels a few times.

Other suggestions:
- At the end of the game, have a game reset feature so players have the option to replay the game instead of having to reload it.
- Trying to maneuver the cube in small passage ways was tough since you made it so the cube would be a set distance from the player so trying to get it over and around the player is difficult when there isn't a lot of space to work with. It's also difficult to jump over the cube without moving it.
- For some reason, I really liked the fact that you could walk on the cube when time was frozen. I'd suggest implementing that into future puzzles if you ever make a sequel or remake it (you could also make some wacky levels, like having to throw the cubes into the air and then freeze time at the specific point to make a staircase somewhere.
- For the ending, I actually liked it though maybe try making the walk on the surface longer. It felt a little short.

I do hope to see more games from you in the future. Good luck. Also, try getting the game on Armorgames and Kongregate.

brendendeveloper responds:

Thank you. I cant help but agree with both of you on the improvements. also can i just say that this game is not a 5 star game and its not a 1 star game its somewhere in between. Its not meant to be a full super long game. its something I made over the summer for fun. and for that I'm happy it gave some people a good experience. know that I'm digesting the criticism from both of you and I'm not ignoring him because he's negative and just as such I'm paying attention to you not just because you are positive but because everyone's opinion should be taken into account.

[RAKUGA FANTASY]

It could be a good game, but it suffers from a serious flaw; even though you do give the player a hint of what the minigames will be, you don't give them time to process how to solve some of them since you require the player to use the directional keys and the z button (I didn't notice the game listed the keys necessary for each game until I read the direction) and some of the minigames aren't intuitive (for example, like the one where you need to fulfill the order. In my head, I figured I needed to select the things above the menu to win, but that didn't work. I'm guessing I need to make sure only those things in the menu are selected, but why are things already selected when the game begins?)

Also, what was the point of the trapped guy asking for help? I kept failing the minigame so I wouldn't have to kill him, but that did nothing.

I would like to say I like the enemies, characters, and items, though I may have to agree with one of the other reviewers in that the dungeon crawler thing probably wasn't the best choice for this. I wish you luck in your future in game development!

[Reincarnation - When death calls]

The art is simple yet good, the plot is interesting, and the gameplay is simple, but still good; my problem is that it has frozen on me twice now on the same part and since there is no save function or skip button, I have to wait through the same cutscenes and play through the same parts again.

It keeps freezing just after I beat the first part of the cat level (note: I beat the game once already; the only difference in the playthroughs is that I went straight for the third toilet instead of playing through the first and second toilet).

Munguia responds:

Thanks for the comment and play, i just check the game i upload a new version with that problem fixed, thanks for the report

[Paradise Inc]

I like the art and concept, but the plot of the game seems flawed. Why would this Paradise company create a horrible and depressing virtual world for people to live in? Why not make a pleasant one where the people sent there will enjoy it and won't want to come back? The protagonist seemed to be expecting something pleasant. Why would the company even bother copying the minds over into something when it seems more humane just to kill them off in secret while pretending to send them somewhere?

Unless the point of the story is to say that a virtual world can never compare to the real thing (even if it is full of strife) or that without struggle, life isn't worth living, then the story makes no sense.

However, I do like the way the story is told and I kind of wish it was longer and the process of escaping the virtual world was more complex. I'd have liked to meet more characters and really see more of the darkness the virtual world had to offer (I know you only had a short amount of time to make this so I do understand why it is so short).

I hope the game did well in the competition and I wish you luck in your future of game design.

Criobite responds:

Thank you for playing, and for the feedback. I definitely agree that there are quite a few plot holes. I guess that just shows my current limits when it comes to writing a compelling story within a short amount of time. If I eventually revisit this idea (or at least something similar), I'll definitely put more time into thinking everything though! :)

[AntiTerrorism Department]

On the off chance you visit Newgrounds again, I'll leave this comment:
- I can't pick up a weapon; the keys "page up", "page down", and "end" are not on my computer. It's always a good idea to create a menu option that allows players to change the controls of each action or at least assign each action to more than one key.
- Adding AWSD as a movement option would be a good idea.
- Whether or not the bad guys die when you hit them seems random (though I'm never able to kill one that has noticed me). When they didn't die, they'd just stand there and wouldn't move.
- There was no animation for enemy guns shooting and no indication I was losing health other than a quiet sound and the small health bar in the corner going down.
- When doing the first mission, I got sent back to the beginning for failing the c4 part. That's kind of harsh.
- I can't say whether or not the graphic have been ripped off, but they look okay, especially for when this was made.
- The sound effect could use more work and should be increased in volume (it shouldn't sound like the music is drowning them out).

I actually would like to see this fixed so I could play. I wish you luck in whatever you are doing now.

[You Are Undead]

It's a cool zombie game. I've always wanted to play as a zombie going around eating people (too many games go for the "zombie swarm" approach or overpower the zombies you control). Still, the game has many flaws.
- You don't inform the player about the different abilities of the zombies you allow them to choose from. Although it is fun to figure the zombie's abilities out, it gives the initial impression that there's nothing special about them, but aesthetic appeal.
- You need the fourth zombie (the strong one) to break through some boards on an early level to get all the humans. If you don't choose the strong one, you can't get three stars on that level, which means if you want to try the level again with the strong zombie, you need to go back to the previous level, beat it with the regular green zombie (which is extremely tough sometimes) or beat a level farther back and work your way up to that level. Since that early level where the strong zombie was needed, I've always chosen the strong zombie, even though I'd like to use the flying zombie, but I needed the flying zombie in a later level.
- If you want to fix the above problem, allow the player to choose the zombie they want based on the previous level's star count, even when entering the level (have a button or prompt that leads to the selection screen). Another benefit to this system would be allowing players to experiment with different zombies on the increasingly difficult levels.
- You don't list the level number anywhere on the level. If you are still advancing through them in order, it will be pretty obvious from the stars, but what if you want to play a specific level that you found fun. You might not remember which one it was.
- There's no pause button.
- You can't tell what the field of vision is for the enemies. You can slightly estimate it, but on many of the later levels, you need to be almost literally just outside their field of vision to get to the humans before they turn around.
- When you get to the last person on the level and attack them, you automatically get three stars and can move on to the next level. Was this intentional?
- Why not just have the player hold down the down arrow instead of rapidly pressing it to eat the person.

I do like the fact that you can't be seen at night unless you are under a light and that when you are eating a human, you can move in and out of buildings to avoid being seen. I wish you luck in your future creations.

fabioecco responds:

Man, if I could I would pin your coment in the top of the page. There are many good points there that I could have used.
Not telling the habilities: on purpose, I loved how a guy on youtube reacted to the skeleton zombie hability.
The bulk pink zombie: Since the stealth mechanic is limited to doors and lights I wanted a zombie which could easily navigate through house's debris, unfortunately I'm not the best level designer around there. Your solution (total stars count) is excelent.
I didn't think that level numbers would matter, but you're right.
I don't know how to code a pause function (it's my 2nd game). I'm serious. hahah
Hide the field of vision was a design choice, I think otherwise would be easy to avoid them.
Last person on level: Why force people to tap the button till the end if the victim can't escape?
Tapping, not holding button: The faster you tap, the faster you finish eating. Holding would take a constant duration (random durations would be odd).
Finally someone mentioned the "hide the body" mechanic! But I can't complain because I didn't make a proper tutorial due to the time constraints I took.
I'm curious if you got to the storm level. Thanks a lot for the amazing feedback!

[Crown Dungeon]

I agree with the others when they say this game is inventive. I like the art and the puzzles. The game is just fun overall.

However, I had to try playing the game on three different browsers. The reason being because when I played it on Google Chrome, the white gloved mouse didn't always match up with my computer mouse, making it difficult to click on some things. On Safari, there was no sound (I checked to see that the music option was on. It was and there was still no sound). It worked fine on Firefox. I'd suggest in the future testing the game out on different browsers; even if you can't fix the problems, you can warn players not to play on those browsers in the description.

I look forward to your next creation. Good luck!

Drawmaneater responds:

thanks for feedback. I add this in the description

[The Last Apple]

I liked the game when I originally played it long ago and I still like it, though I have found some serious problems with it:
- If I attempt to jump on a sleeping guard, I lose. Your tip says that I can jump on the enemies. Is this a bug?
- I've reached the apple twice and after each time, it tells me I lose. Am I supposed to kill all the guards? (If so, I will need to jump onto a sleeping guard). In one of the previous comments, you said you were going to work on this.

Even though it's been awhile since you've been on Newgrounds, I hope someday you might fix these things.