ChronoNomad's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Visit]

I do believe I spent more time in that jail cell than I did actually playing the rest of the game. I think that's stupendous. Short and sweet gameplay + fun and random medals = Success! Well played, sir. Well played, indeed.

Killing the judge? Simply shocking! There's no apologizing that away.

molkman responds:

Yes, jail isn't supposed to be fun and takes its time.

[Love's Cadence]

There's a rough yet radiant diamond here, but one that's also unfortunately more than a little flawed. The idea is thoughtful and interesting; the visuals, music, and sound effects are aesthetically pleasing; and yet there are a lot of glitches that mar the gameplay from start to finish.

Controls are simple, if not a bit awkward...rather like the bizarre story, I suppose. I managed to find more than a few glitches, though; some completely by accident, and others by channeling the innate beta tester within. I managed to vanish outside the scenery a total of twice--once by simply hopping up the mountain at the beginning (whoops!), and again at an area where apparently backtracking is simply not allowed (hint: there's a building and possibly a statue or two). On one of my playthroughs, it was impossible to proceed due to the necessary audio clues not functioning properly and remaining at maximum volume regardless of location. Also, though I played the game multiple times, I never earned either of the two medals. Bummer.

Overall, the game was good, but not great...which it could have been. It's a simple case of something amazing being damaged by less-than-stellar execution, but that's hard to avoid when dealing with such a tight deadline. Thanks for the interesting experience, RedHarvest and Co.

[Eddie's Lament]

I don't know why this game has been voted down so much. Fundamentally, it's not a bad little Point 'n Click. In my opinion, the biggest negatives are the relatively short gameplay and the particularly over-the-top poetry recitations. I was really hoping that the latter would improve after using the cough drop, but...no such luck.

The game itself obviously isn't meant to be an intensely scary horror fest of zombie apocalyptic proportions. What I do like is how the game doesn't take itself too seriously, and in fact leans more towards overt silliness than anything else. The rhymes are somewhat kitschy, but since everything needed to more or less conform to the rhyming scheme of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," I think you did a pretty good job overall.

In conclusion, I personally believe that this game deserves much better than its paltry one-star rating. I find it really hard to believe that it's been voted down so mercilessly just because of the not-so-pleasant gravelly voice reading the lines of poetic verse. Well, maybe people just don't care for poetry anymore, and maybe the game idea is just too radically different from what people expect and/or want. Or maybe you were just another victim of zero bombers. Either way, I maintain that this game deserves a hell of a lot better that what it's gotten from the voting populace.

[Niwit Slide]

I found this game to be pretty interesting and generally enjoyable, however that last level takes the skill needed in previous levels and adds a rather unappealing luck factor. The game isn't meant to be easy, but when you have to replay a certain level or checkpoint over and over again ad nauseum, the overall level of frustration starts to soar. Long story short, the wind effect - while being an interesting idea in theory - is way too cheap and monstrous when you have to rely on near perfect timing to get past obstacles.

That being said, I'm happy to report that I pushed on through to the end, and I'm glad I did. I was able to snag some in-game achievements, max out the upgrades, and earn some nifty Newgrounds medals in the process. While I may have found some of the obstacles to be somewhat over the top vicious, I found the gameplay itself to be fun, in a particularly frenetic sort of way. I even soldiered through one of the challenge levels with the fourth character to earn yet one more achievement before calling it quits.

Playing most of the levels from start to finish without having to restart a checkpoint requires an incredibly amount of luck, but fortunately there's still a chance to claim the silver (or even gold) medal even if you get bounced back once or twice. Except for the final level that is, where I can't really imagine anyone being lucky enough to walk away with a medal of any kind. The addition of four different player characters is a nice touch, but I honestly didn't end up using that many character abilities to get through the levels. The upgrades are a nice touch, but many of them are all but vital for later stages, so that would have seemed kind of unfair if it weren't ridiculously easy to accumulate coins.

Well, in conclusion I have to say good work overall. You've made a game that looks nice, and it plays like it's supposed to--even if it's a bit of a frustration fest at times. Nicely done.

OONi responds:

Thanks you for taking the time to review! People like you will help us make better games in the future :)

[Little Alice Escapes]

A pretty decent Point 'N Click game, and even though it's short it can't be accused of being "too easy." I'd say that most of the actions are fairly logical, but sometimes trying to figure out what an item actually is and what it's for isn't so obvious. What I mistook for a spray bottle of weed killer ended up being a degreasing agent, and a baseball would have made more sense (logically) than a piece of fruit considering what you do with it.

Strange little quirks like that aside, the graphics were very nicely done and the music was cute, if not a little repetitive after a while. The puzzles were interesting, and were probably the most challenging part of the game itself, and while they wouldn't fit in a realistic setting, they work well in the imaginative setting of the game world.

Finally, I'm going to talk about medals. Stuntman (below) says he's sick of people bitching about medals. What a lovely sentiment. His bitching about other reviewers bitching is hypocritical and childish. That aside, on my first playthough the medals did not work. At all. I reloaded the page after I completed the game and...no medals. So I played again, and - lo and behold - the medals worked. So there's something weird with the medals, but in the end I was able to earn them by playing a second time, and it wasn't exactly unpleasant seeing how much faster I could get to the end.

Anyway, congrats on making a fun little game that also had some impressively challenging aspects to it. Since it's just a game, I won't comment on how inappropriate it is that you're actually helping a little girl run away from home. ;) Oh, and you might want to change the mislabeling of "Action - Fighting - Brawler" for the game style if at all possible to avoid possibly misleading other players accidentally.

[Aero Crusher]

I battled my way (mostly with the controls) all the way to the end, but the experience wasn't particularly satisfying besides being able to say that I never gave up. Sometimes it's fun, but most of the time it's just tedious and even painful, trying to accomplish something that requires not only large amounts of skill, but also a nearly astronomical level of luck. The good kind, not the bad, because that's already in great supply.

I think what you have here is a really good base for a game, but it needs some serious tweaking to polish it up into something truly playable. My main concern is that most players will probably cut and run after getting their butts handed to them a mere handful of times, and considering that I probably fought the "Tricycle" boss three dozen times before finally succeeding, that doesn't bode well for anyone who gets frustrated easily.

Nevertheless, I pushed on and on and on even when all I had were expletives for the little ship-and-wrecking-ball that failed to react to my commands far too often, and while I can't offer particularly high marks for something that should be more polished, I can give you a solid 2.5 stars and a vote of 3.

As I sit here and type out my review, the mindlessly repetitive music is slowly driving me mad, so I'm going to have to leave you with that. Oh, and for the reviewer who said the Expert Player medal doesn't work, I managed to earn it with a total score of 155,215. That being said, please consider giving players a running total for all levels when adding a medal like that; adding the level scores ourselves to check is a real pain.

[Nutty Mania]

This game may not be the most original thing out there, but so what? Overall, it's quite fun--when it doesn't go from being enjoyable to being frustrating. Case in point, besides getting hung up on level 19 for a while, I was able to pretty handily nail down all the three-star goals. Until I got to the last two levels, that is...

Suddenly, on the next to the last level, strategy goes almost completely out the window. Sure, you get a pretty good idea of what you need to do almost immediately, but actually doing it? That's a whole other matter. Lucky bounces became the name of the game, and I found myself really disappointed that what had been mostly a game of skill and strategy had become so cheap all of a sudden.

Regardless of what I would consider to be a bit of an inconsistency, I very much enjoyed decimating your game with a perfect score and earning all of the medals. My frustration served to increase my determination, and when certain levels stopped being "fun" they became a personal challenge. I was going to vote 3.5 stars, but just for bringing out the unflinchingly merciless gamer in me, you've earned an extra half star. Congratulations, and nice game! The graphics, physics, music, and all that jazz are rather decent. It's really fun until it starts getting frustrating, and then I guess it just takes a certain level of dogged determination to soldier on. I'm glad I did.

[Johnny Upgrade]

The game itself is pretty short, but who doesn't love a quick upgrade game? That very first death came as something of a surprise (as I'm sure it does to most folks), but that's all the time it takes to catch on. Just upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! Then find a weapon and upgrade that, too. The graphics and animations work well in this cartoon style, which all felt very appropriate for the title. The music was pretty cool, too. My one and only issue is that I played through the entire game, start to finish, and never earned a single medal. Ah, well...so it goes. You might want to check that out for future players.

Also, to anyone who thinks that this game is nigh unbeatable, think again. After learning the pattern of the end boss, it's not actually that difficult to avoid every single shot. Then again, maybe that's easier for someone who's played a lot of Bullet Hell shooters. Anyway, I completely disagree that the upgrades are insufficient for beating the boss. There's a really easy way to shave a lot of time off the clock, for one thing. And by using the jump and shoot technique when the boss tries to crush you, it should be quite possible to take him out in three waves.

whileworking responds:

All medals are working now, have another try ;)

I actually like the fact that you can play this game in different ways!

[Burrito Bison Revenge]

I was really enjoying myself, playing this excellent sequel to the original Burrito Bison! Then I had to go to work, and when I came back I was chagrined to find all of my time and effort had been wasted. I've read other reviews, and this seems to be a common issue. Why does this sequel not save data like the previous game? I'm afraid that's a bit of a deal breaker under the circumstances, so what could very well have been a five-star experience gets bumped down a notch. Color me disappointed.

[Cuboy: Cubeture 2]

This is the ultimate game starring the ultimate hero...Cuboy! It's fun to play, the plot is appropriately bizarre and witty, and it both looks and sounds amazing. Obviously a lot of work went into this, and it shows. The silliness factor is basically off the charts, and I love the spoken dialogue! David Firth as Hades was simply an inspired choice, and huge kudos to everyone involved for creating such an entertaining and polished point 'n click.

I have played the game through twice, and I have experienced issues with the medals like most other users are reporting here. The first time through I only got two (Ram Buster & Ram God) before I somehow stopped earning them. This time I earned several more, but once I got the Nymphy Blessing secret medal I was again unable to earn the ones beyond that point. I played the game all in one sitting and never left it idling, so I don't know if that helps or not, but...good luck fixing the medal issues! Regardless of that, the game easily earns top marks. I'll be looking forward to the third chapter. :]

EdibleCastle responds:

Thanks so much for your kind words!

And thank you for the bug detail. I played the game on my personal account and also found some medals didn't appear in the end. I'll keep passing on info to Tom and hope you're not too disappointed about not having those medals!

Thanks for playing.