johnsoma's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Labyrneath II]

This one definitely focuses more on the platforming than the first game, which is great, since the platforming is so smooth. That does mean you die more often, but that's also why there are more checkpoints and faster respawning. Mixing the forest and the temple adds a lot of visual variety that was lacking in the first game. And there's hints of a bigger story in play as well, without being shoved in your face. It's a huge improvement from the first game, in my eyes.

[Labyrneath]

The platforming is buttery smooth. I can't find any real problems with this game, but it's also lacking that 'extra something' to make it stand out from the crowd.

[THERE IS NO GAME]

Everything about this not-a-game is excellent. The nonexistent puzzles are creative and ramp up reasonably and the imaginary narrator adds a lot charm. Great work!

[No More Gods]

This is a very imaginative setting that asks a lot of hard questions about what it means to exist. It does what it sets out to do, I just feel like it could have done more. Perhaps exploring the worlds to learn of their fates instead of having to told to you when you visit. (To be fair, that narration is really good)

RainyG responds:

Thanks for the review and feedback!

I totally agree - I would have loved to have pushed the ideas and gameplay further. In future, I hope to come back and build on the ideas here.

This is my 2nd game made with GBStudio (and I've only made a few games before). As I built it out, some of my ambitions were beyond my skills. I was glad I got it finished though and that some of the ideas connected with you!

Thanks for playing :)

[HEAL ME PLZ]

Really funny, very relatable. Little awkward to get used to the controls, but I figured it out. Always remember to thank your healers!

[Start Powerless]

Cool concept. Puzzles are fairly basic, but get the job done. Jumping is extremely finicky, but that little quirk where you can jump after walking off a platform helps with that. Not bad.

[Elementalist: 0]

Since you've mentioned that you want to make a larger game based on this, I thought I should come back and give a more serious review.

As said in the original review, the controls in this game are some of the tightest I've experienced from a free online game. Moving, slashing, jumping out of the slash combo, spraying fireballs to stay airborne, dashing, wall-jumping. All you'd need is being able to reset the double jump with a melee attack and you'd have a discount Devil May Cry! The little screen shake when hitting enemies goes a long way towards how good the game feels, too.

With that said, the game is very basic in it's current state. It takes a very long time to do one run of this game, upwards 10 or 15 minutes, which is a long time to be fighting, even in the best of circumstances. Having only four basic enemy types and one arena makes that long fight quite repetitive over repeat runs. And since you have to get currency to buy upgrades to make it further, that repetition does set in after a while.

I want that bigger game to be as good as possible, since you've got a great base for it. That's why I was harsher with my review this time. Great work! Can't wait to see what comes next.

Franuka responds:

Thanks a lot!
It's great to see people would enjoy a bigger game based on this, that's my next goal :)

[Newgrounds Arcade]

I grew up with flash games, and I can't run the Newgrounds Player on a Mac, so this was a great nostalgic romp. That said, the games here are pretty basic, and some here are definitely better than others. Madness Arena, in particular, could use something. I'm not sure what exactly, but it doesn't feel good as is.

larrynachos responds:

I appreciate the honest feedback! I won't deny the games are basic, but I thought madness arena was one of the more fun ones! It was certainly the most fun to design! Madness Zombie Survival on the other hand needs some major work!

[Karrion Killer]

Controls are smooth and responsive, but that's about all the good I can say about this one. Green enemies that shoot green bullets and explode into green splatters that do not go away quickly makes it impossible to tell what is going on. Nothing hints at that 'end your combo to gain health' system, and I didn't know it existed until I saw it in another review. Thankfully, these aren't the most difficult problems to fix, since the foundation is good.