Butzbo's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[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! :)

[Salad Fingers: Where's May Gone Act 1]

I think it's a great concept to explore; the Salad Fingers world is a pretty intriguing and dangerous one,; So it works nicely with the pacing of the point-and-click genre (may also be a cool way to introduce this series to new generations).

Some things that could be improved:
- I'm relatively familiar with this genre, so I had no problem with the "crafting" system; but it may help to offer a little basic help at the beginning on the matter (or just highlightning the buttons on the right moment on the first segments).
- Most puzzles were intuitive enough with enough experimentation, although the one about hanging the doll seemed too cryptic (I discovered it when I was running out of options, but didn't felt too 'logical').
- I think the sound work could have a really important role setting the atmosphere of the game; most sounds were in convenient places, but there could be some more/varied atmospheric sounds (and of course, would be amazing to have it voiced!).
That's what I have for now, looking forward to future versions ;)!

GEG responds:

Thanks, those are some great suggestions. We intend to put in a guide system to guide beginners.

[Skullz]

Nice adventure game, while I can't say I understood the story completely. it was certainly great in terms of experience and atmosphere.
My favourite part of the game (If I understood well) was the moment when the "player" character is gone, and the game makes it look like "you" were an illusion of a skull; it kind of breaks your 'protagonist' condition for a moment, I think it's a nice example of the narrative posibilities that can only be explored within the particular nature of a videogame.

In terms of gameplay it's pretty straightforward; for the most part it's "GO/TALK somewhere", which in this case serves the game's narrative properly, but I think it could eventually include some "puzzle" elements, to make it feel less linear and make the player interact a bit more with the environment, making the user interaction a bit more relevant (and maybe helping to reinforce the atmosphere), just an idea.

Good work, I'll be looking forward for more!

Pizzamakesgames responds:

Thank you for the kind words and analysis, it goes a long way helping me understand the various do's and don'ts of video game design. Very much appreciated!

[Deadly New Zealand]

YEEAH;
I really like this sort of fast-paced "story-driven" games, you don't see them too often.
It's like 50% watching a demented cartoon, and 50% playing a bizarre arcade game. Pixel art was consistent and I'd say it achieved this arcade-cartoonish vibe.

The part about pecking insults was a nice activity by itself, although I wasn't so sure about what was the relationship between that stage and the rest of the story (although the other stages seemed a bit more involved with the 'plot').

I have no idea about the process of making this game, but it left me expecting some more; maybe there could have been a space-shooter stage where you're actually pilloting New Zealand; I think the absurdity could have gone even further. Just dropping some random ideas here.

Anyway, it was a fun little experience and I actually see potential in this style of gameplay.
(also, I liked the idea of having a "Pee break" button!)

Surn responds:

Yeah, I probably should have had a 4th level where New Zealand fights the concept of rugby (which reveals itself to be a Wizard). Glad you liked it.

[Mishapened Identity]

OHWELL

As said by other reviewers, i also died A LOT before getting to know what was going on, specially when you die on the first half of a second of the game due to unexpected TNT. it could really use a little tutorial, or not having to use the SPACE bar to 'activate' your moves.
Also, on the 'Help screen' keep the order of the buttons as they are in the keyboard -> ASD, as "ADS" as they are now it's quite confusing to look at first.
Anyway, ignoring that, graphics, concept and even the music were fun.
Hope you can fix it because it has POTENTIAL.

Poopoothegorilla responds:

Yeh the TNT is extremely hard to get past, I just changed that ASD ADS thing so hopefully others wont be annoyed haha!
as far as the spacebar goes we were debating whether to have that at all, but then we thought the game would be rediculasly easy... and decided space!

Thanks again for the review and good suggestions!

[Seven's Second Adventure]

Lol "Secret Eggs"

Even if the "Story about a lonely zorse who meets a strange velociraptor" was better than the game itself, it was a 'nice' experience.

Magical-Zorse responds:

sweet

[Back to the Cubeture 1]

Cuboy!

Woah, that was GREAT!, i finished it 'the nice way' and i'm PLEASED.
'Good (/random) POINTs' :
-VERY funny dialogs, voices, and entertaining overall... i'm probably going to watch the series now that i have some kind of clue...
-The music is Super'b, enough variety, and very experimental, every theme had its 'thing'!
-Even if the gameplay was very simplistic, and the challenges weren't hard (just some 'space-timing','button mashing' and 'common sense' skills...), just clicking, hearing the voices, and getting the 'experience' was good enough to not get bored. even if i got stuck for a little while!
-This game took me like one hour or something like that to finish, it "felt a little shorter" since the 'world' is very small, although that's not a bad thing. maybe if it had like 2 or 3 more places to go, it would have been a little tiring (or not... ... ...whatever)
-Padrino-Cat-Guy wasn't hard at all, i agree with some complaints about the 'bomb-timing-thing' but not that much,i actually "got it" after missing like three times.
Also, extra points for the extremely original "Insulting Ultimatum"
OH well, have a nice day!

EdibleCastle responds:

thanks very much, very kind words. I notice you like papercraft, you should check out our cutoys on the ediblecastle website.

[Sneaky Snake's Adventure]

Sneaky snake teaches advanced sneaky turbo typing!

I haven't played that 'metalgearsolid' 'yet', but atleast this one is worth playing ;)
(wow!, i'm number 177 in this worldwide game!)

DAIRYDOG responds:

woah you're amazing!