MalTheDestroyer's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Diamond Well]

Kind of annoying, honestly

Here is what annoys me about this game: monsters seem to spawn seemingly at random, and your pipe doesn't move quickly enough to retract and gobble up monsters who spawn at the top of the screen when you're down near the bottom. And even the weakest monster can destroy your pipe in a matter of 2-3 seconds. Thus, whether you die or not near the end of any given level seems to be more a question of luck than skill. I don't like that. If you can figure out a way to balance the gameplay better, I'll give this another try. For now, no dice.

Thunder-Hawk responds:

Just try to drop boulders on the critical spots... helps a lot.

[FPA: World 2 demo]

Fantastic work

The levels are a little less smooth than in world 1, but they're more challenging--a bit like what I'd expect. I especially like the caves (or at least, they give me the impression of being caves) right after the floating platform part. They aren't especially dangerous but they require some clever maneuvering to navigate.

Speaking of clever maneuvering, the controls for the wall jump are greatly improved from World 1--I don't find myself sticking to walls now unless I really want to. My only complaint is the ledge hanging thing--I like it, but I wish there were a way ti make him let go and drop straight down rather than jump off (maybe have the character let go if you tap the down arrow or something).

Anyway, nice work--I like how this game is evolving. Keep us updated!

Note: The relatively low ratings are for incompleteness, measured against the quality of what's there. Obviously, once you submit the full thing, you'll get higher ratings from me. :)

DrNeroCF responds:

Yeah... eh... can't you tap the down arrow to make him drop...? Shoot me a message about that...

[Max Mesiria Chp2 RPG]

Very good!

Good stuff:
--The graphics are just awesome! The most impressive stuff this time around is the scenery, but I still think the characters are very well-drawn and animated. I especially like the animation for when you "pop" a ghost pulse, and when one of those little shadow thingies attacks with its blade arms.
--The music is vastly improved from the last one. The creepy night music in the beginning, in particular, is just beautiful. One sour note: the new battle music is kind of annoying, though at least it sounds like battle music now. :-)
--Puzzles in the train are nice and challenging. Good work on those. (SPOILER: The trap chest was a nice touch!)
--Nice job adding a save function and an in-game menu.
--Character advancement doesn't feel too slow--you become noticeably stronger with each level.

Annoyances:
--The electrocution noise has a popping sound at the end that bothers me.
--You still can't customize your guy when he levels up.
--You can't spend any of your money until you beat the first boss.
--Consequently, you have to "build up" to beat that boss. One of the things that was nice about Mesiria part one was that you could (and did) progress without deliberately walking around in circles in a given area fighting things over and over.
--The opening sequence, while cool, was obviously modeled after Phantasy Star 4. Points lost there in the originality department. :-P

Anyway, bottom line: this is huge improvement over part one. You guys have won yourselves a place on my favorites list. :-)

SnailsAnimation responds:

Mesiria is a tribute to games like Phantasy Star, Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Lufia.. We're actually glad some people noticed the resemblance in the opening sequence. (We're going to improve it in chp3) The "specials" system is also inspired by the "skills" in that game. And in the chapter 3 there will be combo attacks :l But aside that, there will be nothing to much like the ps series. There will be a Alchemy system for humans(a bit similar to Secret of Evermore *since you know old games, I'll throw in some examples like that :)*) You're gonna be able to see the enemies in the dungeons, but in the overworld, it's going to stay random battles. As for char. customisation, I'm unsure of what you mean. If you mean adding strenght, it will be possible, but only with special items like "Power milk" or like "Life bread" in Shining Force :-P, because there will be other characters in chapter 3 and the rest. And we did so because you could end up having characters with the same specs. (we want every character to have it's unique strenghts and weaknesses) Of course, in chapter 1 & 2 you're alone and if the story was to stay that way we would have used a system like that.
About the music, we would really like to have our own musician.. anyone willing to donate his talent and be a part of Mesiria, you let me know. The popping sound might be the sound of Gustave taking a hit, I'm going to check that.

Thank you for the great review!
I noticed that you made a game, I'm going to try it! :)

P.S. Screw Sega for not making Phantasy Star 5 and ruining the series by making a mmorpg out of it!!

[GreenCastle: DoubleExodus]

Below average

I am rating this 4 out of 10 because it is, simply put, below average. The sound and graphics are sub-par, the control scheme is cumbersome, and there is nothing to do except roam around and fight FF-style battles. And even there, this game is sub-par: all you fight are eagles, you get a single uninteresting attack to use, and the healing (er, self-repair) ability is so weak as to be essentially worthless. Even worse, there is very little in the way of character advancement. Not to be mean, but I really don't see how a game like this could end up with a higher score than Kimblis the Blue, Savage, or even The Adventures of Guy.

GreenCastle responds:

If you couldn't get out of the first area, you are sub-par at RPGs.

[Kingdom Fire Demo]

This is awesome!

This game is like a little Flash Diablo, though it actually reminds me more of AD&D in terms of how the game mechanics work. Anyway, bottom line: I loved it. The graphics and animations are great (with one weird exception: characters jab sometimes when they're wielding a war hammer), the engine runs very smoothly, you paid a LOT of attention to detail when designing your engine, there are a wide variety of items and spells...really, there's a lot to like here. It's just a shame that you're going to abandon a fantastic engine like this after only making a short run-through with it.

Nemo responds:

Thanks a bunch! I'm really glad you enjoyed playing this. On the surface, it does appear very similar to the AD&D engine and that is probably because the biggest influence I had in making this game was Neverwinter Nights (which, of course, IS the AD&D engine). Actually, though, when you get down to the actual mechanics of the game it's more or less original. Either way, I think this game needed some vast touching up before I submitted it.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the review!

[Mobile Weapon]

Pretty but dull

It's clear that you put an incredible amount of time and effort into this, and you deserve congratulations on the fruits of your effort. You've done a great job. Unfortunately, this game is a bit like Murloc RPG, in that it's a gorgeous, professional-caliber production with absolutely, stupefyingly boring gameplay. Allow me to explain.

Graphics: extremely well done, and frankly, the best thing about the game by a long shot. The GUI is slick and professional-looking, the backgrounds are GREAT, and I love the overworld map. You get near-perfect marks for this. The character portraits leave something to be desired, though, and some of the enemies look downright goofy (like those things in the jungle that look like giant, moldy slices of swiss cheese with arms).

Engine: also very slick. It gets great performance even running in Firefox browser, and I like that most things in the game can be accomplished in two ways, by either clicking or using the keyboard. The tile-based movement is nice too. One very minor complaint--why can't I use space bar to exit the Victory screen after combat?

Sound: passable. You have some good sound effects, though I question whether you made all of them yourself (the enemy dying noise sounds suspiciously similar to the enemy dying noise in certain Squaresoft games). The music ranges from inoffensive to somewhat annoying (the combat music is in the second category).

Gameplay: this is where things get a little dodgy, in my opinion, which is a shame, because this is really where the heart of every game lies. You get points for letting me customize my character to my liking, but lose them when it comes to the combat and pacing of the game.

Many of us (including me) have been guilty at some point of deriving our combat systems from Final Fantasy, but in a game of this quality, it's really a shame that you couldn't spice it up a little more with a unique spin on things. If anything, though, the battle system in MW is even more simplistic and dull than a straight FF clone. I get only two attack types, and neither of them is at all interesting. As for the pacing, the game just moves way too slowly. If I have to spend more than 30 minutes at the beginning of the game running around and killing things over and over and over without some compelling plot justification, there's a problem.

So, to recap: this is a very professional effort, and I'm very impressed with the quality of the graphics, engine, and general production values. I just wish the gameplay itself were more enjoyable.

TylerProjects responds:

Ok, to prove we made the dying sound, I shall reveal the process!
1. Get the free Audacity sound editor.
2. Grab a suitable noise sound as a base. (Trial around with a few)
3. Apply the "Phase" effect.
4. Done!

:p

[Snake with Balls]

Not bad

It isn't an original game design, obviously, but considering that it's a remake of a classic game...

1. it runs quickly
2. the graphics are decent enough--I especially like the background
3. nice relaxing music
4. it remembers your high score, even if you close the window and come back later

Nothing amazing, but it's not bad either. I give it a 7. :-)

carborundum responds:

Thank you 7 Is a nice Score.
Runs quickely problem me not realising most the coding i do about 12am-3am as i normally working
Graphics are pretty simple I still getting used to flash drawing skills the background was made in Photoshop and imported in as a bitmap image.
I am glad the music was relaxing that was what i was after though i could not find the perfect piece i spent the last 3 day searching for the music.
The High scoring system is a simple 18 line actionscript you can paste in at the start of you script its basically uses a cookie to store the score for you computer if anyone wishes for the scoring code then just asend me a message

Thanks for the review.

[Max Mesiria Chp1 RPG]

Nice job!

This is a nice, solid RPG. Here are my thoughts on the graphics, sound, and gameplay:

Graphics: really nice! The whales and icebergs drifting past during on-ship combat were a great touch. I especially love the hand-drawn style, though I thought the speech bubbles looked a little wonky, and the water in the beginning looked just slightly radioactive. :-)

Sound: not bad. The sound effects were generic, but they did the job. The music was generally pretty nice, though I found the battle music repetitive and not entirely appropriate (the boss music was a little better). Also, a hint: import your tracks to the library as .wav files and let flash convert them to mp3 itself to avoid that little pause at the end of the track where it's supposed to loop.

Gameplay: generic RPG battles with a single character, and no control over your character's advancement (either skill-wise or plot-wise). Clearly there's not a whole lot of versatility here, but for what it is, it's well-done. I don't know what your plans are for the next chapter (and indeed, you say it's already nearly done), but if you haven't already done so, I recommend adding in a greater variety of abilities, other characters, and/or a more flexible system of advancement. Any of these would boost the interest level of the gameplay considerably.

Anyway, good work, and I look forward to seeing how this series progresses. :-)

SnailsAnimation responds:

Thank you for the good review!
We are currently searching for some music for chapter 2 (a lot of people didn't like the music of the small battles)
Thank you for the tip! It really makes the track loop perfectly. :-)
CHP2 - There will be a real statistic system (STR, END, INT, SPD, DDG (dodge)) and also the ability to change equipment.
New party member joins in chapter 3 (the story goes that way)
Hope you will like it! Chp2 should come out next week! (only the sounds/music and some sketches to add)
:-)

[Fancy Pants Adventures]

Wow, this is superb

I found this game through the History of the Portal page. When I saw a stick-man platformer on there, I admit, I was more than a little skeptical. Boy was I ever wrong! This game is wonderful--the animations are smooth and realistic (so much so that it actually doesn't bother me that the main character is a stick figure with billowy pants), the controls are close to flawless, and the gameplay is like a winning combination of the 2D Sonic and Mario games. That, plus the really enjoyable background music, make this game a lot of fun to play. Just by exploring, I've gotten three of the trophies so far, plus the secret wall jump move (which takes some getting used to, by the way--I find myself sticking to walls now when I don't want to be).

The only thing I'd like to see in a sequel is a slide attack. As it is now, there's never a reason to duck or slide while running (that I've seen, anyway) and this game isn't as forgiving as the Sonic games about the angle at which you jump onto an enemy. If you could knock off enemies by sliding into them after going into a run (M. Bison-style), that would be incredibly cool, and would enhance the fun factor even more.

Anyway, enough rambling--you've done an excellent job here. :-) This is already on my favorites list, and deservedly so.

DrNeroCF responds:

Hey that's funny, I just put a slide attack in World 2 a little while ago... you should be proud :D

[-=STEALTH=- [X-MAS]]

Not bad!

Reminds me a little of a certain flash game I made and submitted here a few months back. :-) I think that a lot of this is much too easy. What would increase the interestingness of it and boost this game's score is if you could add new elements to it: for example, different lighting levels throughout each area. If you're in the shadows, your stealth meter depletes as usual, but if you're in an illuminated area, you're dead the second they spot you.

I can also tell that you did what I did in making the levels: you motion tweened the sentries to set them on a loop. Now I can't program AI for the life of me, but if I were trying to make a game where it was all about outsmarting guards, I'd want to have some sort of AI to interact with. Maybe you could give the player some things, like a limited number of coins, to drop and figure out a way to make it "distract" the guards. Or, alternatively, maybe there could be certain "triggers" throughout the level that will attract guard's attention, or cause new guards to appear if the player walks over them (security cameras, perhaps, or maybe just something noisy).

Anyway, this has a lot of potential. I'd like to see what you do in the sequel!

Axlenz-FlashElite responds:

wow thanks for the insight, i'll be sure to incorporate that in my next game