johnsoma's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[VOLTARMS]

Excellent! Story is definitely more serious than Arcane Maiden, but you really pulled it off! Gameplay is kinda basic, but stylish animations kind of disguise it. You've got something here, and, if the ending is anything to go by, there's room to do more with this setting. Great work!

MidNightMaren responds:

Arcane Maiden had a different charm to it. So much so the main character never says a word the whole game.
It is basic, I tried to make up for it with everything else; animation, music, fast paced gameplay and a 1 hour playthrough. It is a flash jam game after all.
Glad you liked it!

[Duck It!]

This is just silly and fun. The air dash is a little clunky, but that's my only real issue.

(You get your dash back when you kill an enemy. Nothing in the game requires that, so I'm pretty sure it's a bug, but it's pretty fun to mess with!)

squidly responds:

Nope, that's purposeful, just thought it was too complex for the scope of the level, but it's cool someone noticed!

[Hell Fight]

It's simple, but the gameplay is solid, and there are enough enemies and abilities to keep things interesting. I do not understand the logic of having stamina regenerate slower near enemies, though. I think it's supposed to encourage strategy, but it's mostly just frustrating when there are enemies moving all over the screen.

MaryPaku responds:

Hello, thanks for playing! Check out the newest 1.1.1 version update, I think the new powerup: Deflect are going to changes the whole strategy about stamina.

[Radiance Hearts]

Presentation is on point with this game. Art and music make it feel like a grand adventure, even though the actual gameplay and puzzles are simple. I couldn't figure out a control scheme that was completely comfortable for me, though. Boss was a lot harder than the rest of the game, but I still enjoyed it. Also loving this ongoing story throughout your games about these two swords fighting each other. Great work!

(There's a bunch of blue lanterns hidden around the game that you can break. Seems like something should happen if you find them all, but I'm not sure.)

Yword responds:

Thank you so much for playing! And sorry about the controls, I will try to fix it in future updates. (And it does support controller too!)

[As one against our end]

How do you keep coming up with awesome ideas like this? It's not the easiest thing to wrap your head around, but it is brilliant chaos once everything comes together. Nice work!

adriendittrick responds:

I actually had this idea for quite a while on notepad scribbles, but then decided to take it for a ride on the GMTK 2021 jam!

[Newgrounds Snowboarding]

On the one hand, I love this as a celebration of all things Newgrounds. Those character bios and links are a great way to introduce people. On the other hand, the actual snowboarding is pretty shallow. Two ideas that might help with that: Giving a score bonus based on how many tricks you perform in a sequence, and implementing some basic physics when spinning in the air to make it harder to stop. Both would make the snowboarding much more engaging and rewarding to master.

MSGhero responds:

Thanks for the feedback! There is (or should be...) acceleration in the air, but it may need tweaking.

[A Pico in Time (demo?)]

It could use some sound effects for the various interactions you can do, but that's the only real issue I have with the game. I can tell a lot of passion went into this, and I can't wait to see what comes next. (no pressure)

toffeescoffees responds:

thank you so much! we will def add sound effects in the future ^_^ im glad you enjoyed the game!

[MADNESS: Off-Color]

It's definitely based on Madness Interactive, but the small things, like being able to block and see your health bar, make all the difference for how the game feels to play.

Stepford responds:

We took a few elements, and then did our own thing with them! I'm glad you had fun!

[Gun Orphan]

It's just plain fun! My only critique is that the text for the difficulty selection is pretty small and hard to read, but that's minor.

RatThing responds:

Thanks! Fair critique, I've increased the text size for all the menus now.

[Noir: Deinitialize]

It's fun and polished, even if it wears it's inspirations on it's sleeve. The black sword is especially fun to use. I gather there's a secret if you beat the game with both swords, but I haven't figured out how to activate it.

Yword responds:

Thank you very much for playing! And I'm very sorry because there are no more secrets after completing the black sword mode... But if there is a chance, I would like to expand it into a full game too.
And thanks a lot for completing the game too!