johnsoma's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Manorvania]

(Edited my review because I didn't know about how the mouse was used in this game)

The sound, art, and writing are the standout things about this game. There isn't anything telling you this, but moving the mouse guides the camera and lets you control the direction of your scythe and dash powers. Once I figured it out, controls felt really good. Only thing is that moving the camera that way can be kinda disorienting if you move it too fast. And also, yeah, there really should have been something telling you about how the mouse is used.

(Seriously, your art is amazing. Feels right at home in a cartoon, which fits this game perfectly)

Stopsignal responds:

Thanks a lot man!! Glad you liked them, specially the writing, hahaha
I'm not quite tuned to platformers nowadays, so i was surprised when i was told *you don't usually use the mouse*, so i should have absolutely done a better job explaining it in the game, hahahaha.
You use the mouse to aim the scythe! And also, if you are idle, you'll dash where you are pointing with it, as well.
It's kinda fiddly for most people (not for myself but i made it so i can't talk, hahahah)

[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 :)

[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!

[Luminous Edge]

To the people complaining about this being short, it does say "to be continued" at the end. I look forward to seeing what's next, since this game has a great concept that I can tell hasn't reached it's full potential yet.

Only critique I have is that the sound effects are pretty loud, especially when you and your copies are destroying a bunch of objects all at once.

Yword responds:

Thank you very much for playing! And sorry about the sound issue, I will try to apply some fixes for it. Thanks.

[Dead Estate CLASSIC]

(Updated my review because an update dropped addressing everything I complained about)

The game is gorgeous, and the foundation is strong. With the new update, it is much closer to realizing it's potential.

I got the new bowling ball on my first run this time, and that's the one where I ended up beating the game for the first time. The ball tends to clip inside enemies and hit them rapidly. 1st and 2nd bosses died instantly to that. The ball could use some fine-tuning, but that's a nitpick compared to how much better the game feels now.

Jack responds:

i updated the game just now to make all the guns a bit more powerful and the chaser enemy won't show up for a little bit later now :)