JeffersonTD's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hunters - Stage 4]

Keeps getting better!

GENERALLY:

Once again, some general points before commenting on the level. First of all, I see there are less complaints about the controls now. Maybe some have realized that actually aiming with the mouse would make it too easy. The truth is, that neither mouse nor 8 directional shooting is realistic: it's not realistic that you can't shoot in the direction you want, but on the other hand it wouldn't be realistic either that you could constantly shoot at a certain spot while jumping and doing all kinds of evasive maneuvers. So all in all it's just a matter of gameplay design, and I at least prefer this approach where you (eg. in Boss battles) have to find the right balance between evasions and aiming.

There is one thing I'm missing though. Aren't there any medals for this game? Those would be a nice addition! Then a more minor thing is that I think the rockets of the rocket launcher should act as real explosives and be able to hurt the nearby enemies.

STAGE 4:

Probably the best level so far. Now there is nice variation to the places and they are pretty logically interconnected. As for the graphics (that have received so many complaints from people), I think they were also better than in the earlier stages: the heat effect was nice and I think the enemies are well drawn and animated.

The ninja guy was great and the humour works pretty well too. The new powerup was also a very welcome addition to the gameplay and the last boss was very creatively crafted. Good job!

[Hunters - Stage 3]

If this would have been for sale for the NES...

GENERAL:

If this game had been sold for the NES:

- You would have had lives: once all lives were lost, you would have had to start at least the stage all over. Now that's a double-edged sword. I'm pretty sure most of the players now would find that annoying, but first of all back in the day it would have given this game a longer timespan. In addition one would be more careful and the gaming experience could have been much more intense at some parts, since one would care much more what happens. Of course this would have meant that some of the level design might have needed an overhaul with the potential real repetition in mind.
- You probably would have had a continue / password possibility: if no password possibility would have been represented, the amount of continues might have had been limited: so in case of game over, it's a start from the beginning.
- The graphics could have been more detailed in parts but in many ways also worse - at least in terms of the animations.
- Regardless of what the continue / password system would have been like, I believe this would have done relatively well with the sales.

STAGE 3:

The sewage part was a bit too repetitive like the caves in STAGE 2. I think what would make these kinds of areas more interesting would be some occasional stronger enemies. Now all of them are pretty much equally harmless and get killed with a couple of shots.

It's good that the three weapons are now pretty much equal options suited for separate situations. Absolutely nothing imaginative there though.

Flames, yep, well, it's true that those were surprisingly simple and could have easily been improved, but that ain't a big deal.

Story, nothing new there either, but there seldomly is, and a story is better than no story, and now it's starting to unravel itself.

So overall, the stage was less tedious than stage 2, the flight scene was quite nice, and the story is opening up, so I'll give this an 8.

[Hunters - Stage 2]

Every game doesn't need to be mouse aimed

HUNTERS GENERALLY:

I still don't get what's the big fuzz about the graphics: even if they are simple I think they work perfectly. I think the animations in the cinematic scenes are also quite nice.

What I actually understand better are the complaints about being able to shoot only in the direction where one is walking towards. Sometimes that can feel frustrating, but that's how these kinds of games work - for example there are still new incarnations coming for the Contra series and they still work in this manner. I wouldn't want this to have a mouse aiming scheme, since those games have a totally different feeling to them, and this kind of a control scheme isn't just unambiguously inferior.

Still, there are things to consider to improve this kind of a "classic" control method too. For example there could be a 45 tilt button so that one wouldn't have to constantly move when firing diagonally. If I remember correctly Super Metroid for example already had these kinds of controls. Secondly: if there are bosses or other special situations where the enemy is constantly on the other side the controls could change in the way that one couldn't shoot in the wrong direction.

STAGE 2:

I think the second level was more repetitive than the first one. Fighting all those animals and avoiding those spikes got a bit tedious - and the turtles were annoying. The challenge level was still good - not too easy, not too hard, although I think I prefered the bosses of the first level. That's why I'm giving this a lower score than what I gave to the first stage. Let's see what the next one will be like.

[Hunters - Relic of Stars]

A very nice tribute to the classics!

I appreciate the idea of making an old school platformer like this. Very Metroidish, and that's not a bad thing. The graphics aren't top notch, but who cares: solid gameplay always surpasses visuals in importance.

Pros:
+ I was surprised how compelling the story was for a flash game.
+ The checkpoints were appropriately placed.
+ Map system ok.
+ The challenge system made it like pretty much a new experience.
+ The main boss was well designed! It truly grasped the same feeling as many bosses in similar games before: success lies in the combination of trial and error, learning the behaviour and fast reflexes.

Cons:
- Although too much complexity should be avoided I think the control system or game play mechanics could use some kind of extra spice. Well, who knows, maybe the latter stages will include something like that(?).
- Not a big thing, but some of the walls look like they could be walked through (= they look more like background).
- The map could show the rooms that you've visited before (like in many Metroid games for example).

All in all, as I played the first level through on the normal skill level, I grew to like the game more. At first I was considering giving this a 7, then it rose to a 8 and now I ended up giving this a 9! :) Looking forward for the sequels. Good job!

[The Arrow Of Time]

The upgrade system keeps it ticking!

I think there are many games where the upgrade system just feels unnecessary. Well, in this game it's what keeps the whole game going, and for a while you need to think what would be the best options for upgrades.

This game has a lot of great qualities:
- Great graphics
- Great music
- The different eras keep you interested
- A good upgrade system

I played it through and as it didn't take much time I even collected all the medals except for the dinosaur one.

[Dot Dot Dot - Soundboard]

Love the animation but this could be improved.

A soundboard is rarely as fun as a good movie or game, but due to the popularity of dot dot dot, there was indeed room for this.

However, I have a couple of things that I think could be improved about this:
- At least I would prefer it if the descriptions would contain the whole audio content (eg. not "upgrade" where as the actual content is "all you can upgrade is".
- I think there are a couple of sounds that could be cut better. For example in "A review" the next word "by" seems to be starting already.
- Maybe some shorter audioclips would be nicer, so that you could more easily form sentences. Eg. "pretty good".

Buttens like ; and / should be avoided by the way, since those are more easily keyboard layout specific. But of course the amount of keys is limited, so that's more than understandable. T, Y and the upper numbers are still unused though.

[Desune]

Where is the gravity and inertia?

I find it interesting that even though there has obviously been a significant amount of effort put into the game and levels, no gravity element has been implemented. It's also quite dull as a game.

[Ice Climber Penguin]

Too easy.

It's an interesting and somewhat motivating idea to reach and see the upper planets, but as there is hardly any challenge, it feels like it's taking ages to get there, and you cannot speed up the process in any way.

The challenge level may be rising, but it does it in a very slow way. And I suppose it doesn't matter how you perform on the lower levels, since it's going to be an instant game over for one failure any way.

[TW. The Purple Menace]

Innovative and functional concept!

This game offers the feelings of under- and overempowerment that strategy games also offer. I'm not a fan of the first one, but luckily this is in fact closer to puzzle games than strategic war games: if you've made a wrong move, it's probably best to start the level all over again.

An interesting and fully functional concept all in all.

[Frustra Bit]

An okay dragging game.

You have two skill levels and separate highscores for each, and failures add up to your over all time. Nothing new but it works.

I found an issue though. I wouldn't call it a bug but rather a mess-up in level design. If you hit an enemy on a safe ground you keep spawning back on top of the enemy and dying.

OlegAntipov responds:

In this case press [R] to restart level... :-/