Troisnyx's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[INVAZIA]

The music is good, the environment is good.....
...but the controls are unresponsive. I try to move WASD around, and it doesn't work, I try to hit the touchpad to fight (since my left click isn't working anymore), but he doesn't do a thing, and he winds up getting hurt, etc.

Am I missing something? If I remember correctly I am playing the current version of this game. This really looks like it would've been a good game, but the unresponsive controls have damaged my experience.

2.5/5.

[Motorjoust]

I did enjoy this game very much. Having been used to Excitebike and having beaten a lot of the records (except for Stage 5), this came almost naturally to me. Only because this game used a real physics engine, I had to take the damage at the spikes like a champ.

I would like to suggest a Restart option -- because for stages 5 and beyond, it is possible to get stuck in a stage if you make a wrong turn, and then not be able to get out of it. I specifically had this in Stage 5 -- although I've beaten it, I decided to try it again, and sometimes we make mistakes. In this case, the mistake was irreversible and I was stuck.

The music is really good (good on ya, Frootza!) and so was the artwork. The VA reminded me of the few NES games that had voice clips (the only one I've ever played being Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, mind you). The story was simple but quite a solid premise for a motorjousting tournament.

For something assembled in two weeks, this is one of the best games I've seen. It's not pretentious, it's rather realistic about what has been done within the span of two weeks, it has endearing and sometimes hilarious characters, it gives you a sense of achievement when you've beaten each level. If you had no time limit on this game and you had all the time in the world to iron out bugs, etc., or if you're considering making a version 2 of Motorjoust, seriously, go for it. I want to see this game's engine, storyline etc. in its full glory. Who knows? I certainly imagine that it'll have much better prospects -- a lot of avenues will be opened with this game.

4.5/5.

WingDemon responds:

Thanks for playing it! I agree with most of what you said, and if we do make a sequel we'll make sure to do something about it! About the restart button though, pressing the ESC key allows you to exit back to the character select menu from where you can restart the level. so there's that. Anyway glad you liked it!

-Wingy

[DressArmor]

OH MY WORD YES! You added more content since the last time you uploaded this!

The Samurai outfit is still lacking, and would be well complemented with Eastern-style weapons. I like how you added the Crusader, Mongol, Gladiator and Samurai options though -- definitely an improvement from the previous one. <3 (I am partial to the Crusader outfit, but hey!)

Anything for the left arm perhaps? Bucklers, shields? I can understand that the reason for not including them might largely be space constraints, and I mean as far as aesthetics. But if you can, it'll be really great to see.

It's starting to get candy store-ish with these options -- perhaps more, and we'd have a dress-up game we can likely spend hours on!

4.5/5.

[Additional Challenge]

I like the time trial challenge for this game. My only complaint is that the mouse controls can be very slippery, and I'd have much preferred this to be a combination of a math + speed typing challenge. Keyword *TYPING*.

The graphics are alright, the gameplay's fine, but there... really isn't much beyond that.

[Rainbow Sister]

Okay, let's split this out one by one.

GAMEPLAY
Very fast-paced, very enjoyable. It would be great if:
1) there was a longer fall, because these first few missions are short, short, short...
2) there were more bouncy platforms and other incentives to do the level well.
3) the full game were in English -- some things had to be figured out!

As is, it's good -- there are things you can't collect, there is a goal on the number of fruits you can collect per level. Also, I like the spacebar mechanic.

GRAPHICS
They're cute. : ) They remind me of a minigame in Super Paper Mario. What's not to like?

MUSIC/EFFECTS
The effects are great, but the music? A disjointed, rather monotonous loop? Seriously do something about it. Were it not for the fast-paced gameplay, I would have gashed a lot of marks for this.

In fact, for the future: I do suggest this -- make some levels themed, like how Minna no Rhythm Tengoku is. You know, you have your daytime fall and your sunset scene and your starry sky... And perhaps in some levels, even some snowfall and winter! Vary the music along these lines. In this game, we kinda see the same landscape all the time. : ( While it is fast and enjoyable enough to be a minigame for a console, it could still use some polish.

4/5.

[Bubble It]

Lovely game, but there's a glitch in the scores. There are two problems arising from it:

1) The scores and combos of the first click are not recorded AT ALL,
2) Occasionally after restarting a number of times to see if the problem is averted, you may start with 5000 points even if you haven't done a thing.

Please, please see to it.

Otherwise, the gameplay is addictive, the shifting of the centre of gravity is quite an original idea, and I really like the general look and feel of it.

4/5.

[Newgrounds Tetris]

Time to give my two pence.

AESTHETICS
The aesthetics are rather plain -- you submitted this in 2008, but the graphics look like a 2000 novelty. Back in 2008 they had streamlined, better-looking skins than this! While I know you had a yellow-and-white BG on the back for Newgrounds colours, perhaps tone it down a little bit? With all the pictures on the Tetris blocks AND the background, it's kinda hard on the eyes.

In fact, I might as well be bold enough to say that the entire layout of the game looks like a website from between 1998 and 2000, when everything was running on HTML1. That kind of design normally warrants games no more than 2 stars.

SOUNDS/MUSIC
This is where I gash the most points, unfortunately. HOW MANY VERSIONS OF KOROBEINIKI DO YOU WANT IN THIS DARN THING?!

Korobeiniki was the default theme and evoked a lot of nostalgia, sure, but there were *other* themes that invoked nostalgia, you know. Comparing the Nintendo and Tengen versions (for NES), we had Korobeiniki, Technotris, Bradinsky (which would've been nice!), Karinka, Troika... and the list goes on. The only other theme I ever saw was Technotris, which was great to hear, but other than that... the music selection has been left completely wanting.

Now granted, I know StencylWorks didn't exist back in the day. If you had Stencyl, you'd have been able to insert more MP3s rather than bulk the game up with WAV files. But taking into account the limitations you had then, surely you'd have just capped it at *two* Korobeinikis, and look for other classic Tetris themes?

Also, no sound effects when the lines are cleared? No drop sound effects at all? No fun. It's even less fun when the music has to be turned off just because of these versions of Korobeiniki that I'm hearing to no end, it makes any gamer fed up.

PLAYABILITY
It played like a normal Tetris game..... except.... far laggier and far less exciting. I've noticed that hitting the Down key makes a hard drop, but here's the problem: *THE HARD DROP DOES NOT PLAY LIKE A HARD DROP.* It's just a slightly sped up version of the soft drop. If someone were to speed-play his way through a Tetris game because it calms him down, or because it makes the game more exciting.... well, this game fails on both counts.

And in addition to that, the lines clear very, very slowly -- and WHY THE BLAZES are they clearing one after the other? Is there no script to clear all lines at once?!

I have to gash even more points because, from what I read in a response you posted, you simply reskinned Gauss' Tetris game. You did nothing to make it better. And that's why a lot of Tetris games (with the exception of Mario Tetris and Fliptris) are simply not memorable. Now don't give me the old chestnut about 99% of Tetris games being slow and sucky, and that you decided to follow suit -- it doesn't make your programming or your skinning stand out, it only puts you in the light of a bad coder.

And on an equally serious note, the loading for this game was terribly long and drawn-out. What on earth is the file size of this thing?!

VERDICT
Long, drawn out, laggy, unexciting, uninspired design, too many uses of Korobeiniki. Overall, it's quite a chore to play this game.

Tackle all these issues, STARTING FROM THE DESIGN (since you skinned it!) and perhaps I could consider adding a few more points.

1/5.

black-father responds:

didn't you waste your time writing all this? :P

plus this is a flash tetris.. do you expect it to be as great as PS3 tetris or gameboy tetris? definitely not, and its not worth ranting

[Intuition keys]

Tough luck, mate. I won.

And that being said: is this supposed to be a variation of the Red Button game, where you're expected to keep pressing that button until it goes around in a complete loop? If that was what you were going for, congrats. If you were thinking of inciting rage with this game, boo, you fail.

For my part, I remained calm throughout the entire game, doing the entire 26-alphabet sequence every single time until the right letter was hit. It helps that I type like a pianist.

Now if this game were meant to be like the 'Press that button' game, you probably don't need sound to trigger someone's rage. Good call, I guess, by not putting in any sounds: you helped a calm person play much calmer.

4/5.

wertolet responds:

Yeah, first idea - it's a rage game, but i make it more easer and calm for players. So now it's just a find a button game.
Thank you.

[NG-Duelled]

The shooter-Bejeweled idea was great, and the music was awesome. I like the idea of a duel based on how many pairs you can match up.

That being said, I think the fun ends there:

1) Alien Hominid, the Madness mascot and Snake are pretty much the only aesthetically-pleasing characters.
2) The controls are very finicky, you have to press a particular target twice or three times before the white ring shows it's selected. It's AWFUL when it comes to the battle against Fulp himself, because it is unrealistic to fight with sticky controls and watch the timer at once. And it's equally a chore for the battles before it too. This, I'm afraid, is where I gash the most points.

If I'm finding it difficult to control while playing in Arcade mode, imagine Endless mode!

I'm with the others when they say this game needs a tune-up. It *seriously* does. The finickiness of the controls, especially, needs to be checked -- and once this thing moves smoothly, it'll be a very, very enjoyable game.

3/5.

53xy83457 responds:

I was really hoping to die without ever hearing the words "tune up" again especially considering the last two suggested were, make last boss easier (never tire of that one) and add instructions that are already there. What you're describing however would require a... (sigh)... tune up but I'm having no such problems. Don't suppose this could all be your computer/browser/mouse's fault?

[Spellcreepers Prelude]

Graphics are pretty solid, and I like the idea of match-6 combined with turn-based battles: you've joined two regular styles to make this game your own.

My only complaint -- and a major one at that -- is that this game is almost completely luck-based, and even the rainbow spell only does so much to a person's damage gauge or your own health gauge, you're better off dealing whatever damage you can normally.

3/5.