Drakonais's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[XENO TACTIC]

-1 star for an unbeatable last level

Way to make an addictive game for no hope of survival. I would like to see any formation on budget that can beat mission 6. When the +50000 health planes came out at level 86, I thought "You're such a jerk."

[TentaDrill]

Good, quick game

The evolution idea keeps you playing. Honestly, would've been amazing if there was a 10th evolution only reachable by maxing out EXP on all levels. Seems like something obvious that was missing.

[Whiteboard Tower Defense]

Fun, but difficulty incline is too steep

Beat easy after considerable difficulty. The upgrade system is nice, especially since the last upgrades are such a bonus. Max cash turret + max electric floor = safe bet.

Problem is, when I switch to normal, I always lose by the third or fourth round, no matter what formation. For kicks, I tried hard. Please, show me a single formation that could even survive the first rush.

Other than that, good fun.

[The Rise of a KING]

Potential, but not quite

Pros -
The attack and magic system work great. I like the freeze, poison, burn, shock effects. Good, solid system with a lot of potential. Too bad it didn't deliver.

I like the options of being a prick or a valiant knight. Too bad it didn't change anything in the long run. At least make a variable that adds up and gives you your good knight/bad knight title at the end. I was hoping that the use of either the good best sword or evil best sword could also add to this variable (I don't know much about coding in Flash, but throwing some +1's in there couldn't be too hard).

Con -
Weapon/Armor/Magic cost is way too low. I had the best sword and armor before the first mission was even through. Even though the game was short, I might play a little longer if I was aspiring to buy a sweet looking expensive scythe.

The weapon variance for damage and/or effectiveness is little to none. Mix it up: slow, but kickass mace, bow for distance, pike for multi-enemy hit, your choice.

All the vendors sold the exact same thing. Spacing items/spells out between towns would make for more variance. Hell, even make a spell or item a unique reward for doing something great.

Switching between armor/shields/weapons was completely unnecessary. Especially for the armor/shields with special elemental defense, seeing as there was one element-using enemy for each type in the entire game. If, say, I were entering a volcanic den, with all kinds of fire attacks, I might switch armor. Maybe make some armor heavier than others (decrease agility, but raise def)? I do like the blocking aspect of the game, but there was hardly a reason to do so.

Enemy difficulty was pathetic. The only reason I changed up my strategy of "push forward while swinging" was to block a fire hammer or jump a lightning bolt. All other enemies allow the hero to run behind their swings. I would eliminate the first backward swing in the combo to enhance difficulty. Or, hey, make only one weapon do the backward swing to increase variance!

Was there a limit to the number of potions you can carry? If there was, it was way too high. Should've been about 5.

___________________________
I only bother to say all this because it certainly had potential. I mean, granted all my criticism, I still gave it a 7 because had a lot of good in there. Good animation, makings of a decent system, but failure to apply effectively. I look forward to playing a sequel.

SeethingSwarm responds:

You have some good points there, and I have to say I agree with all of 'em. Thanks man, inspiring me to improve on my creations. In this game there were a lot of firsts for me. This was the first game for me with a shop system, a money system, a conversation-tree system, a pause button, a save option and the ability to switch armors, spells, swords etc. All this was the first time I've done any of those. Now that I've got them all under my belt, I can try to improve on them all as well as on gameplay. Oh yeah, and with the enemies, damn, I have always struggled to make proper enemies, and I try to improve every time off course. Hopefully next time I'll make some decent ones :)

Thanks for the review, very informative.

[Amorphous+]

If you are reading this...

For the love of God, play this game. It is amazing. The controls are simple but allow for the joy of smashing for multiplier points, and unlocking awards can buy you a suit of armor or a helpful turret. Seriously, this game is absolutely incredible and I can't stop playing it. Creator should market a mobile version for blackberry or palm, it's so good.

[MindFeed]

Can't see anything

I'm using the latest IE and when I open the animation, the background is white. I found the begin button and watched all that initializing stuff, but then it's completely white. Would've liked to actually play this.

K-Guare responds:

Try opening it in a Pop-Up, i think that worked
for somebody with similar problems.
Thank you for your error report, though! :]

[Blue Custom!]

Evolution

I was really excited, because the game is really sleek and I thought I could grow my fish bigger and take on bigger game. Still cool and addictive, but without an incentive besides high score, it gets old fast. Evolution would make this game 10/10.

Oh and if you get the big powerup then get the flight powerup right after, you stay big even when the flight ends and even if you die and restart. I think you keep the speed and capture box, but you can still get eaten by the big fishes. Just a glitch I found.

[Shen Long - Spirit Dragon]

Controls are the biggest downside

Fun concept, but the mouse control isn't as responsive as the button controls, yet the button controls are too tricky to get the hang of. You should make the controls more like GTA, where the left arrow would spin the dragon counter-clockwise and the right arrow would spin the dragon clockwise. This is done in most top-down games and it easy to understand for most players. Good concept though!

[The Last Stand.]

Good game

The ability to move the shooter presented a new level of difficulty. Maybe more weapon variety would've made the game more interesting as well.

Two words: Flame thrower.

[FPA: World 2 demo]

Great elements, got everything is right

But right now it's just elements and is missing the body of a full game.

I like all the tactics though, the physics and the wall jump make getting places a puzzle and a challenge. Things like the loop that utilizes the physics system really shows off the style of the game.

You could also add activational power-ups like temporary float and wall climb to add even more diverse strategy. Not to say I'm not happy with it as it is, but could get boring. Might also have to do with the lack of a driving plot.

Great job so far, I'll be looking for the full release!