ChromeShark's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Do you know adobe's icons]

OK idea for a quiz. The dragging didn't work so well as the title disappears as soon as you hit the square, would be better if it stayed inside so you could change your mind. The last level (all blue) was too difficult - I know these products but the shades of blue are too similar to differentiate.

nate066 responds:

If I update the game ill change if so the text can sit on the icons

[Tombscape]

Great but Varied

I enjoyed this a lot, the huge variation of puzzles made it interesting and must've taken a long time time to code. But in a way I also found this to be the games downfall.

My favorite element of the game was the point and click puzzles. Lighting the torches for example, or using the crowbar to remove the boards. I liked the added depth, there were lots of things to collect in each stage and the hidden rooms were a nice touch.

I didn't like the action parts much. I found the blades at the start frustrating and, not knowing that the game would get better, almost gave up right away at this.

I eventually gave up when I reached the join-the-dots. I'm playing on laptop touchpad and found this impossible by the third one. You really should allow for all users, I was disappointed that I couldn't continue after this.

The linear progression was also a let down, often I wanted to go back and have another look in an area. If players could choice which rooms to explore first they could do the ones they like best which would reduce the chance of giving up when they get to one the dislike.

The graphics were really brilliant, every stage looked fantastic. Even small things such as each individual artifacts looking unique were impressive.

This was close to being brilliant, but for me it just fell short on some problems with the structure of the game. The graphics and coding are very impressive though, well done.

Psionic3D responds:

Many thanks for the in-depth review, I will certainly keep your comments in mind for my future games!!

['Geom 3D]

Great 3D Game

That was awesome. 3D Flash games usually impress me and this was no exception, I'd like to try some real 3D in Flash myself one day (I've had a play with pseudo 3D) but wouldn't really know where to start.

I found the first level of this game to be a weak start, the movement of the enemies was far too erratic which made it difficult to avoid them. You had some great ideas here but it didn't really come together.

The game got better when it went to the more track racing style, I still found it pretty tricky to judge jumps but it was generally good fun. The tracks were well designed and must've taken a while to do.

Graphically it was simple, but given that it was 3D I'd still say it looked fantastic. I liked the use of bright colours and strong geometric shapes.

Music was good, a fitting choice. Lack of SFX though, these would've helped the game a lot I reckon.

Really liked your menus and things, this was a well presented game. Especially liked that whoosh effect when you die, felt like something straight from a console game (well maybe DS, not exactly a PS3 level of advancement).

This was pretty much my favorite thing I've found on Newgrounds today, I don't often leave reviews so that must go to show how cool I thought this was. Keep up the good work and I'll look out for your stuff!

Disarray-yarrasiD responds:

Thank you very much :D
I'll try to keep this stuff in mind.

[Vector Runner]

Fast, stylish and fun

3D games in Flash, they don't come along often so I'm always excited to find a new one, especially one as good as this. My attention span doesn't keep me hooked on games long, but I could've played this forsome time if I didn't have better things to do (will add to my favourites and no doubt come back to it later though!).

I'd be very interested to know if this is AS2 or AS3. The sheer speed of it is amazing, when I played it I figured it was AS3 but after seeing your comment about Flash struggling with it I'm not so sure. Either way, the coding is very good to get it playing this well.

I'm in two minds about the graphics. It has a nice style to it, and does look pretty cool when all those red things are flying past at speed. But on the other hand the obstacles look too similar to each other and the ship is a bit boring as just a box. I like the look you've tried for, but I think it could be better.

Can't say anything bad about the sound, fitting music and FX, liked that whoosh when you get close to an obstacle. Always good to see off buttons though, especially as you had separate ones for music and sound, wish everyone would do that.

This is usually where I'd give suggestions for improvements, and although I can think of a lot of ideas for this, in a way they'd all draw away from the games simplicity which is largely what I liked about it. In this sense the game is perfect for what it is, so I'm giving it a 10. I'd love to see what you'd come up with if you did make a sequel though. Great work and hope you get front page.

DigYourOwnGrave responds:

Thanks for the great review! To answer your question, yes, it was done with AS2. I should really port it over to AS3 and see what sort of difference it makes. Part of the optimizing process was simplifying the geometry in the game, which is what gives it the very simple look.

I definitely have plans for a sequel or two. Thanks again.

[Roll]

Really good game

This is a great game, surprised it hasn't scored higher. Maybe people are having problems loading it? I'd be shocked if it's got the score it has on gameplay alone.

I found it very fun to play - fast moving, easy to control, great physics. Graphically it was crisp and well designed. The music was unintrusive and helped the gameplay.

I think I noticed a few bugs, I'm sure I lost a level but was told I completed it. Maybe I missed something though, it was all moving very fast.

It's an original concept, reminiscent of pool/snooker games but presented in a very different way. The gameplay could've been repetitive, but a good variety of obstacles and solutions made it pretty addictive.

Very little reason for my to knock marks off this, I'm only reluctant to give it a 10 for lack of character, maybe this would be better with some kind of theme. I wouldn't like to say it needs a story, but just something to give the player more incentive to be getting the balls down the holes. The name 'Roll' is quite uninspiring.

Overall this is very impressive, especially as it appears to be your first submission. I'll look forwards to seeing if you come out with anything else.

BinaryMoon responds:

The level win conditions are quite forgiving. If you die as a ball is falling down a hole then you will lose a life but you will also complete the level since the balls don't reset so will continue falling.

I shall "try" to add more character to my future games. This is my first submission here but not my first game. It's the first one I have developed outside of work.

Thanks for the great review :)

[[Borealis]]

An interesting game

An interesting take on the classic avoider type of game. Although it was graphically simple I liked the look of it, white on pink gave it a nice mellow atmosphere.

The reviewer below me said there was no real point, and I can kind of see where he's coming from. After surviving for as long as I could there was no real incentive to give it another go. A series of stages, or even something as simple as a ranking, would make this more replayable.

I wasn't too keen on the choice of music here, I'd have gone for something more mellow to match the graphics, without being too slow. Could have been a worse choice, but I don't think it was the best.

What I liked about the gameplay was that there was a lot to concentrate on, thinking about where to move for the most stars whilst keeping an eye on the meter and where to create the next bubble. Some may say it was a little too much, but I enjoyed it.

Although I thought it was a good, original game I can't help feeling that there's something missing, so I can't go higher than a 7/10 here. I'll be fiving it though and I'll look out for what you come up with next.

icarus responds:

Wow thanks for the awesome review, much appreciated.

[Paperplane Madness 2]

Well made game

Not many games keep my attention for more than a minute, but I enjoyed this for a while. Although the gameplay itself isn't entirely original, I felt this had quite a unique feel to it.

Graphically it was good, not up there with the best but it didn't need to be. The only tiny thing I would improve is the powerups - the coloured blobs looked a bit amateur. The rest was fine though.

Pretty good choice of music, created atmosphere and a sense of excitement without being too overpowering. SFX were simple but functional.

I've played games with controls like these that frustrate me by sending my character off with a small mouse press, but this one seemed responsive and accurate. I only found them to be not precise enough when a powerup was located at the very top of the screen, which leads on to my main criticism of the game.

Energy bars might be done to death, but the one-hit kill system here got annoying. Getting hit near the end of a level and sent back to the start was what made me stop playing. I think either the plane should respawn where it's hit, or some kind of energy bar should be added.

The levels also got a bit repetitive. Games like RaidenX are so successful because of the constantly changing situation, this game will struggle to keep a players attention when they're dodging the same kind of enemy for long periods of time. There was good variation between the levels which is more than a lot of games, but still room for improvement.

The two powerups gave added interest, but the system wasn't developed enough to really improve the gameplay. For sheilds, when one is equipped it became unnecessary to concentrate on dodging enemies at all, I think a one-hit protection sheild would have been preferable. The laser powerup was also overpowered, a charging time between each shot would require more skillful usage of it. For a really great game, a range of weapons (possibly an upgrade system) would work well here.

Hope I haven't come across as too critical here, I thought it was a very fun game to play and have fived it, could make front page if you're lucky. Lots of potential for a brilliant game and I hope my suggestions are of some use to you if you decide to make a sequel.

chillyphilly responds:

Thanks for the review and it was definitely not too critical. It's long critical reviews like this, good or bad..or both, that authors love to receive. I appreciate all your suggestions and critique and should help me improve on any of my future projects.
I agree with most of the stuff you said, and will most likely take those suggestions into consideration if I do decide to make a sequel.

[Toast of War]

Without doubt the best toast game ever

Maybe it's just my unexplainable love of cartoon toast, but this is one of the best games I've played. The graphics were brilliant, the toast itself was animated very well, the backgrounds were well made, and the way the enemies splat all over the screen when killed with the chainsaw was a nice touch.

I don't often play games all the way to the end, but this one was so varied throughout it was hard to stop. I was a bit disappointed with the end, not sure why you'd submit the game unfinished. I'll have to do it all again now to try the boss, too bad you didn't include cookie saving. I could play it many times through though just to see him flip around when the toasters pop up.

I'm not sure what the enemies were supposed to be (butter?), I think they're design was a weak point of the game, they were a bit simple and easy to kill. I really liked the puzzles towards the end though, the fire one took me a minute to figure out (as I didn't notice the solution, it was well hidden, in a good way). The raft ride was probably my favourite bit of the game, it was a good original idea that made use of the toaster feature.

Even with the final boss added I think the game is a little on the short side, but I'd sooner take quality over quantity any day, and I'm sure each section takes a long time to draw.

Overall I can't give this game enough credit. I hope everyone else likes it as much as me and it goes on to be very successful.

10/10 ^_^

sinaiman responds:

Wow, thanks very much! The toaster on the boat was actually one of the trickiest things we came across to make it work, we were planning to take it out due to the problems we had, but made it work in the end. I'm really glad to hear it was a real strong point to the game!

We couldn't add the final boss in the submission because we were cutting it close with the deadline, but it will definitely be there soon, along with the ending to the storyline.

Really glad you enjoyed the game, and stick around for the update.

-Reza

[Go Squirrel Go!!!]

Nice idea

Really liked the idea, pretty original. Reminded me of R!SE which is my favourite game on Newgrounds.

I think this would be better if, like R!SE, when you fall you don't die straight away, you just keep falling until you find a cloud that hasn't been popped on the way up, then you can try and use that to bounce back up.

Also not to keen on the clicking thing, didn't have enough of an effect considering the damage it does to the score. If i made this I'd give a squirrel a rocket on his back, and clicking makes him whoosh up a fair bit (but it takes a while to charge up so you can't use it in quick succession).

Graphically this was fantastic. Well drawn with great effects.

Instead of going on forever, you could add multiple levels with an aim in each, like reaching the moon or something. Higher levels would have smaller clouds, but you could also add things like planes and other obstacles to make it harder.

Just playing this is making me feel all creative, it's given me a few ideas for some games of my own.

Nice work, just the kind of game I really like to see on Newgrounds. 9/10.

TheGameHomepage responds:

Wow, thanks for the great review. You've got some really good ideas there, esp. the rocket - that's just awesome!