Jojiro's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Run Run Ran]

Ideas for more upgrades that this game sorely needs? Other acceleration of coin-earning methods, for one thing. A stronger wolf for another. And perhaps a zoom out upgrade.

My main beef with this is that the wolf becomes kind of useless rather quickly due to its speed and not being to see anything. As more obstacles clutter the map that are 'impervious', the wolf becomes a double-edged sword due to this small range of vision.

Coin-getting should feel like work, but shouldn't feel TEDIOUS. I was getting 0.5 second bonuses from 3 or 4 runs of getting coins. What kind of reward system is that?

The bounty/achievement boards were cool, except I can't shoot, and therefore can't get half of them. I don't know why it isn't working (even when she has the guns out).

Overall a good concept that is poorly balanced...and therefore more tedium and frustration than fun after the first few minutes.

[Push Me]

Upon beating a level there should be a restart option, in case you didn't get the "Perfect" you were looking for. A 'par' number would also be useful, like with golf.

I wish the game got progressively more exciting beyond just the puzzles. Not necessarily with more gameplay elements, but something aesthetically different. I agree that the music and colors thematically fit well, but after hitting level 20 it was honestly putting me to sleep since nothing new was happening and the music was slow. The rewards are worth it, I guess, but it felt tiring.

Going back to the menu and watching that short animation play over and over in order to redo levels was irritating, and the fonts chosen for the main menu seem really cheesy and somehow cheapen the whole game's polish.

Overall, great concept, great puzzles, honestly that in and of itself should be keeping me going. But the hypnotizing music and choice of using white circles as a background motif, in addition to a few bits where there wasn't enough focus on polish really make it harder and harder to keep going.

[Astrodigger]

A tad laggy when I played it, using Google Chrome and no other tabs. The lag was mainly after clearing a level. There would be a frozen moment of a few seconds where nothing would happen before the game came up with the 'Level Completed' screen, and then another pause before the points started being tallied.

Compared to other digging games and mining games, this one is kind of lacking and not only doesn't match up, but doesn't bring much new to the table. Even 'Dig Dug', back in the day, had more nuances than this game.

The shooting and walking were slow, and I thought it was an odd choice for the astronaut to shoot and then walk with one direction key. It would be more intuitive if I could dig by hitting the key once and then walking...though maybe that was necessary for your puzzle elements.

Overall a decent idea of a game that didn't stretch its potential, was boring, and had some minor lagging problems.

[The Naked Alien]

Charming and smooth game with great graphics, music, and animation.

Game mechanics worked very well together, and the point-to-unlock system was neat as well. The music did get old though, especially as there was a lock system and a changing color schema so I expected new music. The voicing was nicely done, though I'm personally not a fan of the disgruntled gurgle he makes. The flag-raising gets a little tedious. I noticed that it was fairly quick and as soon as the flag was raised, the level ended and there was no needless delay, but either make it more flashy and worth watching or just cut it altogether.

Having a semi-interesting but rapidly tedious flag over and over is just a design choice I'm calling into question at this point.

Regarding puzzles: I feel like a lot of puzzles were more based on a fetch element that true puzzling: that is, you get a power up, and use that to find another power up. There's a general feel that the puzzles are contrived and not scaled up appropriately. The star platform triple tower for example had some coolness factor to it. I could see switch puzzles, or luring enemies by ground pounding at appropriate times to fall with you as puzzle elements. Instead, what I got were lots of fetching, which while it isn't bad, is also not very inspiring.

The boss fight was definitely a highlight. Wish more bosses existed as well.

[Divide]

It's very simple, but somehow not boring because it strikes the mind as novel, and the simple sounds and animations associated with cutting are surprisingly satisfactory. I do wish the game presented more of a challenge, since I breezed through it.

Still, very well executed.

[Desert Journey]

The game itself seems executed well enough and is playable, but it isn't a well-polished game. It has a lot of potential.

For one thing, the spelling on the instructions page needs to be checked: "happiness"?
For another, the music should have neater looping. Currently it ends, and then starts over very abruptly, instead of smoothly looping.
The graphics are not only lacking, but inconsistent. Your cart, the well, and the dunes in the background are done in three different styles.
When the wind starts blowing, existing raindrops don't start drifting, which is just lazy and doesn't make sense.

The game also lacks a goal, benchmarks to beat/reach, powerups, etc...and the difficulty levels don't introduce anything new, just less rain and more lightning. Overall the replay value is low for repeating a game, and equally low for choosing a different difficulty. Play this game at any difficulty for 10 seconds and you've played it all.

[CandynO 3]

Movements are honestly just far too slow to be enjoyable. The level design is also insultingly simple and straightforward. I recognize that later levels introduce things like spikes and false walls, but this should be done far earlier to increase the pace of this slow game. This game offers very little to the platforming genre, and doesn't stand out at all. However, it doesn't have anything too significant holding it back from at least being a functional game.

(You should also correctly spell "kidnapped" in the Author Comments)

flanbit responds:

fixed :P

[Slice the Box]

Considering the simple nature of the game's premise, it's executed wonderfully. The music, slicing, background decor, and fading effects all give the game a kind of unique charm. Even the dropdown menus for credits and options make it feel very polished.

I can't give it a solid 5 since the premise really is very basic, and overall the game isn't terribly exciting, but it's as good as this framework can get. You really did an amazing job with execution.

[Atomic]

Nice novel concept, simple and intuitive to play. Not complex or mind-blowing, but definitely a solid game.

[Colour My Fate]

Wish you could walk faster, or run if you walked in one direction long enough.

Edge detection for platforms is odd, I found myself walking off a platform, and if I turned back, I'd somehow be on the platform again.

Just those two critiques. Beautiful game.