CaligoIgnis's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[GRAND ADVENTURE!]

Oh, cool, you made a thing. It's been a while since you made a thing. You should make more things.

The game was neat, but I felt like there's not a lot to review since it had little things going on. It was pretty linear and simple for most of the time. The eerie atmosphere was well done, but I felt like you paid too much attention to narration rather than gameplay. And narration suffered a lot from... Well, Atari.

My honest impression was that my first run felt okay-ish, but the thought of having to go through it all over again several times, hinted by all the items I could possibly get, was annoying. The events you presented; as in fearing being eaten by dragons/spiders, slowly getting flashbacks as you walk to a boss room, or lighting up candles to reveal a mysterious figure; the way they those were implemented were simplistic at most: Mashing a button, or walking. What's great about them is that they make you face dangerous situations you didn't expect before, they makes you jump, and that's exciting. But, in a game that's supposed to loop, these situations lose their tension after the first time. You're only left with the implementation, and because of it, those parts of the game become a chore.

Also, the whole orbs ordeal... Dude, don't make your players check tile by tile to see if something reacts, that's so mean... I know your game is Atari-like, and that's its thing, but there's no need to copy that dickery. Luckily there's some nice in people in here that leaked the info. God bless you all.

So, okay, I know these sounds like I hated your game. Being overly technical, I feel like it had a lot of faults, but the most important part is that it made me curious enough to beat it 5 times in a row. And I've dropped a bunch of games for way less. It's a darn shame there's no ending, though. Games that are this cryptic, and rely on the player discovering the truth bit by bit, are worth for their ending... Since the punchline is missing I can't help but feel dissapointed, even if you pointed that out from the get go. Funny thing, I've recently played a game with a similar premise to yours, Clockwork King and I didn't get to the end either, the last boss was a major pain in the ass. Guess I'll never know how these time traveling stories end...

Anyway, guess that's about it, I'm hoping to see more from you in the future, dude, cheers!

Emptygoddess responds:

Cheers.

[Proxy]

The mistery is quite shallow, to be honest. There's nothing subtle about the hints given. A couple of reviews below mine, Hawk gave some valid points you should take into account. There's little more to be said about the game.

Now, I understand this is a test, but I love these kind of games and I'm sure you do as well, so you'll probably want to make another mistery brain tease in the near future. So, yeah, heed everyone's advice, come with a super cool mistery and blow our minds, dude. (BTW, have you played Detective Hearst? It's pretty sweet)

[A Dance of Fire and Ice]

Jesus, man, i can't get past 1.3x, this is so infuriating! And I've found out, reading the reviews, that some people got to 1.6x? That's crazy!

I think you got a lot of feedback already, so I'm just here to say the game idea is great. Although, choosing which speed to play would be nice. I logged in to review and i lost my progress, so... Yeah.

Are you planning on expanding this game? It would be interesting to see a non-jam, more serious version of this, I would totally want to play it. Anyway, good luck with your projects, dude.

fizzd responds:

Sorry about your progress being lost - the whole increasing speed thing was admittedly just trying to artificially lengthen gameplay while trying to finish it in time for the 48 hour competition. The new version does save now, it keeps track of which world you've unlocked since there's finally more than just one lol. Thanks for the well wishes, best of luck to you too.

[Don't Escape]

Boy, i always end up using walkthroughs to do these...

The game is really intense... I think you really nailed it with the atmosphere, (Like usual) and the way you implemented the multiple-playthroughs was great! Since you could do many things to keep you trapped you always missed something and had you wondering what to do next. Oh yeah, the Recipe was a bitch, no wonder they were 4 ingredients!

[Hyper Pixel Man]

It's good man. It's tricky at first, but after a bit playing it you kind of get used to it. There some really fun levels and it's fun, so, thanks for making it!

Now, music is really torture-inducing. Once you die dozens of times, and you just keep hearing that retro loop over and over... I'm not totally against it, though, it just strikes me as a funny thing. Difficulty wise...I wouldn't say it's that hard, really. Comparing, we have quite an amount of "Hop and Bop" games way harder than this one, even if we count just those on Newgrounds. Yet i've read so many complains about how hard it is. I think the game is not unfair, it's just odd. You just need to get used to it. And that, at least for me, is a good thing, since it adds some spice to platformers.

That should be it. Good luck with your future projects.

[CrateRun]

It was fun. The over-the-top slip of the controls was kind of too much, but at least it gave the gameplay a fresh feel.

I felt that difficulty curve was bad. The 16 level (Pillars of Creation) for example was the hardest level for me and it's in the middle of the game.
About the level designing in general, it's good, nothing to really point out. I enjoyed best these: 19 (Outer Space, 'cause it's was cool to thinking through and timing it), 25 (Equilibrium, easy, but fast and enjoyable) and 26(Aiming wall jumps. Awesome) Worst, these: 13 (The Well. With the slippery controls, not probably the best level to make. It's just annoying), 24 (Wrong Key. The way to the key it's too long. It seems to be there just to make space, like level 30), and 29 (Hidden Danger. The idea was cool, but the way it was implemented it was just boring. Just walljump 'til the end) Also, props to levels 16(Pillars of Creation), 26(Equilibrium) and 27(King of the Mountain), because (Probably not on purpose) they exploited the odd control, in a way it made you calculate the jumps and stuff. Which is both good and bad.
Graphics do their job. Though i've seen the square thing leaving sparkles behind an awful bunch of times. Music fits.

And that's it. More precise and stiff controls would be apreciated. And if you're going to make a game with this kind of control, adapt more the game to it.

[No Ammunition]

Haha! First in "All", let's see how that last though...

The game is quite fun actually. I was surprised to see that it still went on after the boss, but i soon understood that it would never end. You could make it harder bit by bit though, because if you can beat the first part, the difficulty is basicaly the same all the time. It becomes a "just keep playing until you screw up."

Also, i really didn't see the "No ammunition", nor the "Few bullets", because it was really easy to get them. It's just kill everything that is on screen and collect. It's not so bad though, since that way it becomes a normal shooter, but it would be interesting to play one with the anxiety of the waves of enemies coming to kill you while you don't have too many resources to waste. Still, the patterns were good, the dificulty was average and the flow was nice. So, cool game.

(Oh yeah, commentwise, like my "Haha! First in "All", let's see how that last though...", your "Features: Blablabla" seems a bit forced. For example: "Different Enemies with different types of movement/shooting"... Well, yeah, right? It's supposed to. Might as well put "Menu" and "Controllable Ship".)

[TimeLine Runner]

Nice game. I found the execution could be handled a bit better, particularly talking about the random placement of some objects, but the result is still a really fun and challenging game! Haven't beat it though, halfway through.

Ok, starting with the bad things. I'm sure the random placement of obstacles must been a pain in the ass to make (idk), but it can be a bitch sometimes, almost impossible to pass (Sometimes the opposite). It wouldn't bother me that much, if it wasn't because they are like that at the beginning of the game... It's also weird that the music just stops when the time freezes. It's natural, but it's just really weird. It would help if at those moments it went super slow, or something like that, but cutting of all the sound...

Well, let's leave that aside. Good things. I'd say controls are perfect. Everything is necesary. It's imposible to beat it with keyboard, though. You wouldn't be able to control your jumps well, because calculating the height of the line you draw with mouse it's essential. Also, i found the stopping time while jumping and sliding, GENIUS. It really adds a lot of thinking to the run.

Overall, those two points (Jump and Time Control) are the key to the game, and while being added rather strangely, they work well making this game "stand out", gameplay wise. Plus, the sound and atmosphere don't fall short either... It's just really good! I really liked your game. Brings a lot of "Ohfuckwhatdoido? and "YUUUSSS" moments.

So... Yeah, good luck.

[Uirdz]

MAN, THIS IS SO REFRESHING.
I rushed through this game so easily i can't believe other people think it's hard. Feels good.

Okay review, well, you probably won't read this so technically i't wouldn't really matter. But here you go.
I think there are two things where you nailed it with this game. First, it's the concept. Quite original, and a nice way to combine platforming with puzzle elements. Adding new words to play with after some levels, and with others which had a really interesting idea.(Like the huge ****, or the triple bomb) Overall, you had cool levels, cool gameplay and you mixed them with a cool flow.

Now, the second thing, which is the true "way of winning", to say the least, it's the "pixel grid", where you place your words, and where the platforms are. Maybe it's just a way of cheating, and just to avoy errors while putting the words, but it added a whole new perspective to the platformer, where you would never just jump, drop or flip without knowing before hand if your placement of words was correct, making the puzzle part more interesting and the platforming part less annoying. (Like... How to flip without dying. How to fall from a block and get pass a group of spikes. Where the bomb would make most danger.) So, cool.

About the bad stuff. Well, too short... And.. That reminds me i still haven't beat the boss. What the hell are you supposed to do? I tried lots of things but i always end up dying.

Well, there you go, i wrote some stuff, hope you enjoyed it. Oh, yeah one last thing, when trapped by three blocks: above, below and side, you can STILL make a jump and rise. I remember a level where i thought you had to do this twice, but at the end of the level i had some words unused, so i guess i was supposed to just jump and those spaces where to put words...?

Ok, now i'm done. (¡And Cool music!)

paste42 responds:

First, thanks for the great review!

To answer your question about the boss, there's a moment where he leaves himself vulnerable; a carefully placed word may damage him then.

As for the level you were talking about, you are right; those are places to put words, but there may be a circumstance where you'd have to make one of those type of jumps...

[Detective Rain EN]

Ok! The case was somewhat good. At least, i was able to enjoy it, i mean, it had you a while thinking and . Personally, i love games like these where you take the role of a detective, though here in newgrounds there aren't as much as i would like to (Grimoire, Hearst, and a few others i don't remember), so i totally encourage to keep making these kind of investigation games.

Ok, now, here is the part where i critic the things i didn't like. First of all, the resolution of the case. The way "Rain" presents it, it's too rushed. I mean, i agree with the part where you have to write the main proof and suspect, it's a nice system, but then when Rain explains everything, he literally knew more than i, because i didn't think half the things he explained. Even though i "had" the suspect and the proof, i really didn't imagined every scenario behind the crime itself and... Well, the motivation. Basically, try to close more the things Rain knows and the things the player knows, i don't know, put more questions of the details of the crime or something, but try not to make it that "easy" either.
Second, you REALLY need to polish the translations. Because i'm speak spanish as a first languague, not english, as you may see, and even i can see mistakes such as "Chief" instead of "Thief" (or "Theft, damn, i don't remember now) or "Poliman", insted of "Policeman". Ask someone to check your mistakes.
Third, graphics, ok, i won't bother too much in this, because i think you already know and i drawing is something you learn and get better at it, so, yeah, practice at it.
Uh... Oh, yeah. The presentation itself, graphics aside. Everything it's... Kind of messy. You know, the text that sometimes is bigger or smaller, depending on it's size, and the different kinds of the button sizes, and the fact that you start "talking" with someone you didn't know who it was from nowwhere and also that yo have to find everything and talk to everyone in order to frame someone. (And that when a window opens you can still click behind it) All those things are just not appealing and make your game look bad... So try to be more careful with that.

And... That's all i guess, don't thing i didn't like the game even though everything i said, it was nice, but it's far from perfect and. Ok, now i'm done, good luck in life. (And sorry for making you read this much... If you actually read it)

rainssong responds:

I read two times, thx!