Butzbo's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hitting Stuff at a Building]

Wow, hadn't seen a Barfquestion thing in quite a while! :)
A fun arcade style game, I found it pretty 'mindless' in a good way, if that makes any sense. just running really fast through the screen hitting a ball or something with your racket and bringing chaos into the building. I really liked the fact that the ball was then replaced with the stuff you fonund, and the fact that it had boss battles and related cutscenes kept it fresh.

If I had to point out an issue, it could be that at some points the pacing is a bit lost when there isn't much left to do in the level but you still got to take care of it, which means there isn't much 'danger' or anything that could treathen your control of the ball (or whatever you're using), I found this more noticeable on the first levels, since it became more diverse later in the game.

[The Epic Gang]

While It does feel like it could use some more polish in a few aspects (mostly the combat), for the while I tried it I found it fun to explore and travel through.

I won't get into as much detail as other reviews, but I think one of the critical aspects, which seems simple but I found troublesome enough was the game's interface. Most of the gray 'shadowed' text was hard to read, specially in a pinch. and I was never sure if I had a potion left, which is critical if you're poisoned, those numbers could stand out a lot more, and maybe darken the potion icon if you don't have any available could help aswell, my two cents.

[Shword]

Superb!
I think the concept works really well, and the multiple ways you can approach each puzzle give the game a nice level of depth.

It kept me wondering if it would have been better to have to fight against enemies first since is the most expected thing to do with the swords, and after that give away the main feature of the game which is the warp powers; Just leaving the thought, and that's up to testing.

I think the shword-warping warping mechanic has a lot of potential for a complete and longer game, it reminded me of Portal, but it can also be used for pretty different results. The last fading room was a pretty fun challenge as I kept discovering new ways to make my run more efficient; It was a cool way to end the game, but it also kept me wanting to play more levels of that kind.

Good work!

[Abyssal Dream]

That was a fun exploration!
I liked how you made it possible to change the legs, independent of the arms; I don't easily recall another 2d game doing something like that. I see a lot of potential on this idea, since it makes room for really varied puzzles where you have to figure out the specific combination for each situation.

I finished it, and the biggest issue I had was the commands to swap parts, It was a bit strange to use the same direction buttons to morph while I was making a quick action (specificly on the part where you have to get the tires, then quickly get the legs to jump again while paying attention to the timing of the lasers...) maybe if there was one button to swap between the different legs, and one to swap between the different arms, it could be more inctuitive.

That's what I have for now, still a cool ludum dare game :)

esayitch responds:

Yup, I agree it is a bit weird to use the left right buttons. For a post-compo version I might revise it to only use the up and down keys or something xD

[Super Gonad Smasher]

Ouch!; I mean, amazing work guys!
It's been a while since I've played one of these 'boss' oriented platformers; It felt short BUT at the same time I assume that helped to make it pretty polished, and of course a really cool take on the Sack Smash concept. quite a team you have here!

PestoForce responds:

was tons o' fun!

[NG: Zero Hour Demo]

Coolibert take on Pico! I see a lot of potential in this!
Since its a demo, I still have some thoughts and ideas;

The artstyle is looking great so far, specially on the complete illustrations of the characters as they talked; I also have to mention a surprisingly great distortion effect after the first fight with Cassandra.

I like how you took the aim for a boss-rush-oriented sidescroller. which left me wanting to see some more variety in the scenarios, specially considering the good mobility you can get from the Dash; Maybe some fights could include different kinds of platforms and interaction with the scenery and objects.

I found the boss battles to be for the most part pretty diverse and inventive by themselves, but they also left me hoping for a final phase on each boss which could include all of its attacks in a sequence of some sort as a 'final test'.

I also agree with the need for a command to 'aim still' at the enemy, since sometimes you don't want to move out of a safe spot.

Well, that's what I have for now; looking forward to future versions!

(this is completely unrelated; but I may have recognized a few Chrono Trigger sounds at the menu screen...Maybe?)

TwinBlazar responds:

Thank you for your review. :)

[AXUO]

That was a cool (and unusual) puzzle game;
At first I thought it would move with Qbert-like controllers, (which can get really confusing if you're using non-diagonal arrows). But the solution you had here worked pretty well for the isometric perspective.

One of the issues I had with it was the 'change blocks' mechanic (to swap between "normal" and "spiked"), which had me killed a few times because of dropping an spiked block and stepping over it by accident, heheh- but after that phase I had fun solving the different block roads.

Some thoughts/ideas: If you're planning other versions: After my confusion with the 'change block' mechanic, I realized it was well explained on the in-level dialogs; but I found it hard to pay attention there when a timing was running out and I also had limited lives; Maybe the timer could appear after the basic mechanics are explained, so the player can start with a little less pressure and pay propper attention.

And a minor detail is that sometimes I wanted to have a button to go faster on the 'box-face' dialogs between the levels, but couldn't because all the buttons I tried skipped right to the next level.

Well that's what I have for now, it may be a cool game to have around for a road trip!

Pizzamakesgames responds:

Hey, thanks a lot for the insightful review!

Accidentally placing a spike block, especially when you run out of regular ones had me killed a lot, too. Couldn't make up my mind on whether or not I wasn't gonna auto-switch the blocks because of that. Starting the timer after the initial 10 levels is a pretty good idea.
Skipping dialogue was intentionally left out to give the dude a bigger sense of individuality, also I like to make the player wait.

Hah, that last sentence! Road trips are the only time I ever really played Game Boy games <3

Well, effectively just fixed everything about the game that you mentioned on a whim! :)

[Theropods]

Superb!, really cool proposal, art and animation were really well polished, specially the first 'action' segment.

In terms of gameplay; I may not be too used to games of this sort, but I found the last 2 screens to be a bit cryptic, at first I tried the 'logical' approaches I could think of (like luring one of the dinosaurs to the honey or guts, or trying to use the stone or even the guts to hit the bee hive. I couldn't understand what was the spiky object the small dinosaur was eating, so it made it hard to properly plan what to do). But since I was still motivated on seeing what came next, I eventually got to the point of trying a lot of things until something worked which led me to see the quite inventive plan this girl had with all these objects.

A pretty entertaining little game, would be cool to see evolving (also; kicking things was pretty satisfying!)