Thetageist's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Handulum+]

This game has gotten much better since the original Handulum. I really like the new color scheme and structure of the levels, but it also hasn't lost its original charm. Level 2 of "Up" is a little hard to master, though, so that seems like a bit much of a difficulty curve. Otherwise, very much improved.

Edit 4/8/22: I came back, didn't give up, and got all the way to the second level of Weird! And whoOOOOOOOOOOAAAAa what is going on? I love the different ways you explore the concept of a basic "don't touch the walls" game, but with a pendulum! This just keeps getting better!

[Monster Sanctuary]

I love this game a lot! It's definitely one of my favorites, for a lot of reasons. For instance, there's noticeable differences between this and Pokemon, notably its side-scrolling and the monsters' special abilities. I also love seeing how much damage an attack will do, as it allows me to plan out a strategy. Figuring out how things work in combat makes me really proud of myself, as does the nice difficulty curve. My only criticisms so far have been that I don't like having my character's appearance and gender chosen for me, and that I'd like a more detailed explanation of what determines star ratings, as I have a soft spot for eggs. Finally, the Unity crashed the second time I fought the Steam Golem, after I came back with my monsters leveled up. Those are things that can be easily fixed, though. I can't wait for the full game, but please update this demo in the process! The suspense is killing me!

[Detiled]

I like this game! The premise is interesting, the art style is pretty cool and looks like something I'd see on coolmath-games.com, and overall, it's challenging, but getting through levels is really worth it.

[Pixel Box - The Elemental Sandbox]

This looks like it could be a good start to something. I haven't bumped into the particle limits yet, but I'd have to agree with Chiller13 that the box size is a bit small (maybe make the menu for usable things a bit smaller, make almost the entire area above it the play area, and then put an ad for the tanks game at the very top instead of having the background where the tank moves around), and I'd like a couple more things to be able to do, like add creatures to it. Hoping for some updates to make this thing better.

[Attract and Repel]

I'd have to agree with swillguard, the ball kinda slid into the spikes on level 3 without me touching it. The sound effects for going on the X and being destroyed also sound a little weird, likely because they were voiced. There are plenty of places for royalty-free sound effects, why not take a look? Overall, this is a cool concept, and I hope you keep working on this to improve it!

kenningtongames responds:

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to update it soon with some better audio. As for the sliding, that's a little tricky design-wise since much of the puzzles depends on timing the pushes/pulls with your momentum. I'll experiment with some different friction and air resistance values, though, and try to find a comfortable balance.

[Memory.exe]

I really like the concept of this game. I love the art, I love the gameplay. However, it feels a little stifling to only be able to jump one block high at a time. Maybe that's just me. The music also got on my nerves a bit, and so did realizing that I had to wait for the intro to finish after thinking that I could use the mouse and keys as soon as it said "use the mouse and keys", but that's a minor critique. I have a pretty low attention span, but this looks like something I would come back to. Great job!

[Viral LD42]

This game has an interesting concept, and it does seem like a new take on the current depiction of viruses in games, as this is just a "time waster" game and not a horror/fourth wall breaking plot device like in-game viruses are usually made into. It seems a bit hard to figure out and develop a strategy for. Perhaps create a tutorial and/or have there be an easy-to-find virus in the beginning of the game (e.g. right in the file explorer) so that the player knows what viruses look like. That way, you won't have the player being confused and having to figure things out on their feet at the beginning of their first few playthroughs. I love the humorous art style, though :D

BigBossErndog responds:

Thanks for the review and some good critical points made. The best strategy (in my opinion) is to use is to use the usage hud to figure out where the largest virus is (the usage will show growing large numbers - this is how you track the viruses), take it out and quickly return to the root folder to repeat.

But yes, I do agree with you perhaps an easy to spot virus should have been made first to familiarize the player with the viruses :)

As for being just a 'time waster' and not a fourth wall breaking game...... I'll let others be the judge of that ;)

[Climb the Word]

This game has a particularly interesting concept, albeit one that I couldn't see much of. I couldn't even get to the flag because I placed my hook on the left side of the gap and couldn't jump the gap or place another hook on the right side of the gap. Obviously, that's easily fixable - just make it so that the player can place their hook on the right or jump the gap. Also, the player character's hitbox is shaped a little weirdly, such that in certain situations, I'll not be able to get on top of a word via the rope because his arms or backpack will get stuck under it. Perhaps make it a rectangular shape instead of the shape of the character himself. If these get fixed, I'll probably return with another review about the content itself.

Edit much later: I was actually able to get past the point that I was stuck at before. Entire review will be revised soon. One bug I've seen is that the "take flag" thing still shows up even when you've taken the flag. I see you fixed the hitbox thing, if there had been a problem with the hitbox. Another bug: Edwin can hover in mid air via the use of wind resistance when falling. Furthermore, I wish that the game losing focus would pause it, because I'm getting pop ups from my computer and they cause me to be unable to move, but the wind keeps going, which means I lose progress.