Butzbo's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mouve]

That was a fun experiment! the first seconds it was pretty confusing, but the controls became somehow inctuitive after a while. As others mentioned, I did died at the very beginning of a stage just because I didn't know what was going to spawn.
Maybe this would add unwanted complexity, but it left me thinking if there could be a function where you could click with the mouse to hold still while shooting, or something like that for tricky spots.

StuffedWombat responds:

thanks :)

Yeah, originally you had to press the mouse to fire, which also made you much slower!
I removed it because I like suuper simple controls, maybe that was not the best decision ;)

[Crypt Shyfter: Dreadnaughts]

At last I gave it a shot, this was a cool read!
The story had some fun reveals, and I liked how 'self-aware' the tone was (stuff like "you see the farmer from the beginning of the game").
One thing I kept wondering by my playthrough was if the goods you could purchase actually had an effect on the story/dialogs (like the tattoos) I just read on your comments that there were a few with variations, but still, it would be fun to explore that more detail; In any case, I find it pretty cool to see a dose of those "classic RPG" elements into this kind of games.

Glad to have made a little part for this one, good job!!

CaptainJackTHAC0 responds:

Hey thanks Butzbo! And thanks again for the artwork, it looks totally badass :D

[Ultra Zultra]

Its a fine byte-sized platformer, I think there is potential from their mechanics, it was fun to improvize air combos given the mobility you get by punching in the air and having an additional jump.

On that same note I did have some issues with the attack moves: since the punch also works as a 'forward dash', it leaves you really exposed to enemies/hazards (especially if they come from above, and also agains the 1st boss where it just keeps running towards you) it left me hoping for more variety of attacks, like an upwards/downwards hit.

Vidsneezes responds:

Thanks for playing Ultra Zultra!
Glad you were able to figure out that (kinda) secret extra jump.

I feel you on the more attacks bit also. When i was making it i really wanted to have a second punch, a drop down punch, and an upwards punch.

One more thing on the punching, while in air if you hold punch you actually go into a punch glide killing anything that hits you and you fall a little slower.

[LVL99 Axe Rage BETA DEMO 0.8]

Coolibert demo!

Nicely executed, especially in terms of character animation and presentation, a bit hard to get into at the beginning (it started quite challenging in the platforming aspects, which may be fitting to set the tone, but not so much for a browser build; Had to watch the intro like 8 times) but as I got further, it turned into an entertaining exploration platformer.
Now on the 'review' aspects:
My main concern with the game was the character mobility; 90% of my deaths were due to falling to the depths; I got the impression that the platforms surface 'ended' before it seemed normal to jump and in many cases the jump felt like it was as streched out as much as possible. I was about to quit because of that on the first segments, but thankfully managed to get to the first saving point and see that there was A LOT more to this game.
I also missed the option to hit while ducking and swing the axe upwards-downwards, I somehow 'unlocked' a few special moves, but never understood properly how to trigger them at will, a brief instruction could've helped.

I could get into more detail, but for now it's a solid platformer with a lot of potential.

(Primero vi el ojo de Selknam y pensé... "Hmm, será chileno esto?"... después empecé a ver cosas como el 'Berlin', el 'Completo', y nombres como 'Piolarva'...y fue bastante obvio, chaaa )

[Dead Horizon]

Oh well, it seems like I missed...
Anyway!, this was a pretty entertaining piece of narrative media, I liked how the script was structured and linked to the duels (and the 'gesture' of lowering the mouse to grab the gun was a nice adaptation), and, while short, it worked nicely as a compact story.
I find this to be a pretty unique format for storytelling, would like to see more in this style.
Good job!

Emptygoddess responds:

There's lots of really old really good 'photo realistic' adventure games. You should take a look at them if you haven't. The Journeyman Project is a good place to start.

[Hungry Knight!]

I don't get why the bad overall scores, but after beating the released Hollow Knight earlier this year, just finding this build right here on Newgrounds as the result of a game jam is such a cool surprise!! It's amazing to see the basic principles of the character movement, the premise of masked creatures and even the main character's design having an early presence. Makes me wonder if the eating mechanic was considered for the game at some point, heheh!

Regarding this build, it was a bit though to control, but satisfying nonetheless, it already evolved into a fantastic game, so I guess there's not much to add as a review ;) .

[Fuse Cell]

Good work!, I find the flying shooter to be a bit of an 'exhausted' genre, so it's nice to see new mechanics applied to it!
Now I'll just focus on things that probably weren't of much priority on the jam; for a while I was a bit confused since whenever I absorbed an enemy I would always get 'overloaded', at least I figured it out on the 2nd attempt, but a brief intro would help...
I guess it's a convention on bullet hell games is to focus on the main 'dot' of the ship as a hitbox, although it was a bit confusing since the ship is so big, maybe there could be a bit more clarity on what's the player's hitbox.
Maybe you already have those in mind, that said, the energy mechanic (and maybe variable bullets/skills that make use of it) can make for a cool twist on the genre.

[Omnichronic GCC vertical slice]

This has to be the among the most vertical game-slices I've played in quite a while!
I really missed a bit of sound, but It was fun to follow as a stand-alone and 'self-aware' promotional piece.
I'll be checking for moar aswell.

Mammothtree responds:

Thank you very much for playing!
Moar is coming i assure you, with sounds and the whole shebang!

[Escape3]

This has to be among my favourites of the jam!
The stopmotion was pretty well implemented, especially on the largest animated objects like the spikes! (it made me wish to se more objects animated like that, but based on my experience as another jammer, I guess there wasn't much time for that, heh), I liked how the pieces of this characters had different behaviours with water and light, I'd say there's a lot of potential in that aspect.

Awesome work!

[Royal Cats]

I really liked the work put into the art and animation, the way the cats move and jump gives a good sense of weight and volume which is not seen that much in these kind of games.
It took me a bit to get used to the jump as it felt too short to get over the spikes, but that was mostly practice; One aspect I missed a little was more sound work on the obstacles, the ones thrown at you for the most part, where some sound could work reinforcing the warning.

An endless mode would be fun too :)

Great work on the jam!