Drag0nrus's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Quotidian]

Kinda funny, but has almost no interaction, and could be longer, since the "punchline" feels a bit undeveloped and rushed.

[Antumbra]

I don't even know. The graphical style is good, but gameplay itself is way too inconsistent and heavily relies on trial'n'error. By itself, it isn't a bad thing, since it was well executed in early Sierra games and stuff like Uninvited or Shadowgate. But again, aforementioned games, despite being relatively brutal in terms of hard puzzles and cheap deaths, had some sense of consistency, but puzzles in Antumbra are all over the place, and so are gameplay mechanics. Sometimes you need to choose counter-intuitive options to survive, but other times it will get you killed; sometimes you have to find a hidden active point on a screen, and some screens later, you find a room where doing this seems an obvious solution, but in reality, there are no objects you can interact with. Combining text and point'n'click adventure core mechanics by itself isn't the best idea, what more can I say. And it's not like puzzles in the game are that inventive or unique - most of the them feel more like a chore, since the only way to find out any solutions in many parts of the game is basically to try everything until it works. Even one of the primary ways to get legitimate hints (grinding maggots for a Tooth Lady) is a chore by itself. There are many examples of great adventure games with a lot of death scenes ("Space Quest" and "Shadowgate" are this turned into an art form) and inventive, original puzzles that require a lot of lateral thinking ("Myst" and "RHEM"). In both ways, Antumbra sadly pales in comparison.
As for the good stuff - I really like the art style, and the atmosphere is good too, even if it feels somewhat cheesy in some parts (cartoonish heart in the ending, an option to whistle in the beginning). I see a lot of visible effort here, and you have a great taste in surreal imagery, and since this is your debut project, I believe that your next games will be better and more polished c:

[Badges of Honor]

Can't really understand what this game is trying to be, and what was the reason of making this. Too harmless for a troll game, too unprovocative and unthoughtful for a message, too unplayable for anything else.

[Supers Sports Surgery: Basketball]

Fun little game - a bit on the easy and short side, yet still good enough to kill some time.

[The Deletion Demo]

The execution is absurdly lazy, to be honest. It just doesn't look or play like a full-fledged non-free game - more like some rushed project made for a 48-hour contest, and even those can be more polished. It's not like there is something wrong in submitting a demo (Edmund McMillen did it), it's just not very well made. Maybe on smartphones, but not on Greenlight, seriously.

[Worp]

Pretty good, actually, but really feels like there's more luck than skill involved.

[You Only Need One]

I have to admit that deep inside, I love this game - not because it's good, but because it's just really, really strange, and I really fond of strange games or music. So yeah, I really enjoy that little trip, but I can't really understand or appreciate the message of the game. It's way too simple-minded - "Ignore any enemies, find people who will love you and to whom you can trust" is not a bad advice, but there are many nuances like being tolerate towards others and coming to an understanding with people, and the message itself is just one-sided for me. But I still love this game - just because it's quirky, original and charismatic, and there is not a lot of stuff like this on Newgrounds. And if a cute little game can make me smile in 2 minutes (even not for a reasons that were intended by developer), that's a really good job for me :)

LTPATS responds:

I completely agree, the messages I attempted to express through this game are far too complex to be accurately depicted in what I have presented. Unfortunately the time constraints (1.5 days) made it difficult to really explore the nuances in the message that I would have liked to explore, but I would definitely like to provide a more accurate means of expressing what I would have liked to express in future installments. That being said, the game could be interpreted in many different ways. Thank you so much for your response, these are the kind of responses that remind me why I love being a game developer!

[Feed the Children]

Arguably one of the funniest Newgrounds submissions I ever saw for all 5 years on this site. The announcer's comments are funny, game events are just outright hilarious (I laughed so hard on rainy pianos!), and there is just that chaotic factor - so much stuff going on of the screen that the latter circles of the game easily be used for a graphic definition of pure insanity, and it makes the game even funnier. It is also very good in other aspects - it's fun to play and search for secrets, the graphics are good enough to evoke nostalgia (instead of that "pixelization as excuse for laziness" feeling that I often get while playing many "retraux" games), and controls are really responsive. Trully one of the best things I ever experienced on this site.

DBuck-Eye responds:

You know, it's reviews like this that keep me going. When someone lets me know that they've enjoyed one of my games this much, it's just the best feeling in the world, so thank you so much for all of the kind words and thanks for playing my game!

[Tek Tactical]

Sadly, It's one of those games that I really want to love, but find it hard to. I can see a lot of effort was put into it - amazing visuals and animations (for a flash game), huge amount of upgrades, weapons and customization, and it shows that developers really care about this project, but there is just way too many flaws to fully enjoy the game. HUD takes 1/3 of the screen and is unnecessarily confusing, customization and equipment management are way too complicated, there is almost no ingame-tutorial except for the 5 slides in "Quick Instruction Guide" ("Help" links to YouTube videos? Oh, c'mon, guys!), the core gameplay is just boring (same enemies, same shooting again and again), not to mention various bugs all over the place. The major flaw here for me is an overcomplication of the game. After all, it's a simple browser time-killer, and there is no reason to make it so hard to get into - in this case many players will just stop trying to play this game, it's not rewarding enough. Again, I can see the effort and potential, but there is many flaws to work with. Keep it up!

tedgaming responds:

It's too bad you feel that way but I do see your point. Maybe this will be one of those games where you come back and give it a shot every few months until you gradually learn everything so it's no longer complicated and you can just pick up and play casually. There were a few games like that to me in the past.

[Only One Chance]

Actually pretty good, especially for a Ludum Dare project. But for me it's much better in terms of story and some little funny details (like the Z key tips in the corner - it's cute and hilarious at the same time :) ) than the gameplay. Backtracking can be annoying at times, and the visuals are somewhat uninspired (though it was made in 3 days, so no major complaints here). Also, it won't hurt to show the number of remaining cannons on screen. Anyway, cute game with interesting plot and good sense of humor, but it could be better - Ludum Dare "72 hours" format somewhat spoilt it in my opinion.

johnfn responds:

Fair enough! Though I'm not 100% sure what you mean by backtracking, since you never should have to go back further than moving around in a single level. I agree about the visuals and aim to do better in the future :) Thanks for the review.