netherleaf's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Evening]

Frustrating and boring.
The graphics are very simple but nice, especially the colorful sparkles the player-dot leaves behind when moving. At least that’s what I thought until I realized the ‘clouds’ are all just random broad lines that were probably made using the brush tool. There are also parts were they appear disconnected, like one on the bottom left of the starting area. The music is okay but do I hear birds singing? In space?
The game plays a lot like a mouse avoider, except using keyboard controls. This makes it a bit clunky, for example I can accelerate to insane speeds but that will most likely get me killed. To make it worse, I have to click every time I loose, which means I have to keep the mouse pointer inside the game window (proof that it might have been intended to be a mouse avoider). Pressing space will bring up the game over message for some reason.
The ending was a bit of a lackluster, all I got was a “you win” message after moving in a light circle and aside from reading a poem (which I forgot by now and I’m not starting over to reread it) there isn’t much of a story here. Maybe you’re just trying to be “artistic”, but that won’t get you any extra points from me anyway.

Wituz responds:

Thanks for your compliment on the graphics. The background is in fact just random broad lines that were made using a brush tool, but I thought they worked quite well - But apparently some people notice it and the atmosphere is ruined. Will try to update that. You're very right about the birds tho, my thought was that the melody fitted so well, that the birds were alright. Also, the game was not meant to be a mouse avoider game. Your clever finding about spacebar. It was originally a debug feature, I simply forgot to remove it. Will be fixed in future updates. :)
I know that the ending is a bit de-motivating, but the game was intended to be about the poem (did you get the whole context?). Yes - I am trying to be artistic, and it might not be everybody who likes the style I'm trying to achieve. At least this is a step on the road.
Thanks for the review.

[nowhereship 2 (Unkown Stars)]

Your first game was better.
The ships and upgrades don't look too bad, at least they seem to be original. The background is just empty space and stars, which often form clusters that make them look like worms, I'm not sure what those are supposed to be. The music is pleasant to hear, though it doesn't loop well.

The controls are as described in the author's comments section (there is no in-game tutorial by the way) and honestly, I can't say I like them. What is the point of having to use the mouse to shoot when you can only fire upwards? there are no alternative controls either. All enemies die in one hit so there is no reason to use the special attack. The only difference I noticed after playing for a while is that enemies become faster and appear more often. There is no story whatsoever and since I don't care about points I have no reason to keep playing.

This looks like it was made after going through a basic stencyl tutorial and without adding much of your own. It works, but it wasn't fun for me at all. I will still rate it 2 stars though, because I don't think it should be blammed.

mehdiRF responds:

Some changes happened
I hope you have fun with this one :)

[BulletHell Adventure]

Graphics: 1 star
Arguably the best part of the game, all areas look amazing. The humans look awkward but I don't consider it a problem, they don't appear often anyway.

Sound: 3/4 stars
The music is catchy and fits the game well. One minor issue is that I can easily tell where the music loops, the track that plays in the level select screen being the worst offender. There also seems to be only one battle theme, from the first level until the final battle so, while it isn't bad, it can become annoying. The voice acting isn't the best but it's passable.

Gameplay: 3/4
Controls are the same as in most shooters, I have no complaints there. The difficulty seems to be based more on grinding rather than skill though. In bullet hell games you generally have to get used to enemy attack patterns and find the best way to avoid them, in this game I mostly had to avoid the enemies themselves while projectiles came in very simple patterns. The first boss battles, after the random enemies stopped appearing were my favorite parts, despite being easy. The biggest challenge for me was trying to spot the stars during levels.

Story: 3/4
Simple and horribly cliche, I can't say I hated it though. The characters talking during boss battles was a nice touch, even if their lines were forgettable.

Other: 3/4
The game can be a fun time waster, my main problem with it is that it felt repetitive and the boss battles were a bit dull. My advice would be to focus more on giving enemies (especially the bosses) more complex attacks instead of just increasing their numbers.

Frozennnn responds:

Hi thanks for the feedback and review i will have all those improvements in mind

[Fal·lopian v1.0]

Graphics: 1/2 stars
Nothing spectacular but they are okay. I liked how you animated both the player character and the enemies.

Sound: 1/2 stars
There is only one track but it works well and doesn't get annoying for the 2-3 minutes the game lasts.

Gameplay: 1/2 stars
The controls are very simple, you just move left and right so it's not very exciting, but I haven't found any problems with them either.

Story: 1/4 stars
There is a theme to the game, but no story and since it's an endless runner there is no conclusion either. I think I'm being generous for giving you 1/4 of a star just for managing to stick to the theme.

Other: 1/4 stars
You can see everything the game has to offer in less than 10 seconds and it will be over in 2 minutes. This is actually a good thing, it may be boring but it won't waste much of your time. I'd like to note that screens typically have a greater width than height so doing the opposite for your game is not a good idea. Always make sure your game window is smaller than a computer screen.

Overall, I'd say this a subpar game that I would not recommend to anyone. It's not terrible though.