SergeantLuke's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pico's School]

A true classic

Obviously, by today's standards, Pico's School is short, fairly easy, and nothing special. But the sheer number of revolutions this game introduced into the flash development community cannot be overstated. Even 11 years later, this game is good fun and great for a laugh. A legend.

[The Fall 1]

Rather unoriginal concept, good execution

Admittedly, physics-based puzzles are nothing new. Although the idea of being unable to move your characters is new, to the best of my knowledge, there are really very few original ideas in "The Fall".

Despite this, I actually found the game itself entertaining. The puzzles are well-designed and quickly get rather intricate. Many of them had me scratching my head- some of which seemed obvious once I finally figured it out. That said, it gets pretty old after a few levels, and the music is repetitive and annoying.

[p.i.g]

Fun concept, fun gameplay!

When reading the words "portal inducing gun", I expected a 2D Portal clone. I only partially got it. p.i.g. is an interesting twist on that formula, and it includes a lot of platforming and physics puzzle that get quite devious at times- I've got a feeling I'll be working on this for a while! The inclusion of a parallel world underneath the floor gives some clever added depth to the proceedings, and some extra challenge to the puzzles.

I have to say, though, the graphics are kind of bland, and the music I found merely okay. Those factors hardly make a game, however, and p.i.g. is a very fun one!

[Depict1]

Boundlessly clever

How do you make a typical platformer game and make it new and fresh? Simple: Have it flat-out lie to you.

Depict1 is a fantastic concept, and lots of fun. The difficulty comes not from the likelihood of dying (which does happen, often, but it's rarely anything other than a minor setback), but rather from having to figure out just what the game wants you to do. Nothing is ever as it seems, and you essentially have to think backwards to progress: the space bar kills you; dangerous-looking spikes are helpful weapons, while friendly-looking gems are deadly; enemies cannot be killed; and other such things. Admittedly, Depict1 is rather short, but for forgivable reasons; there are only so many gaming tropes to brilliantly subvert.

[Carious Weltling]

Disgusting but Awesome

I haven't seen a game grosser than Carious Welting in a long time. The main character is a hideous mass of sinewy skin, the enemies are either blobs of sewed-up flesh that barely holds together or a cactus monster that wants to cut you apart, and your main attack is to vomit your own blood.

That said, there's something oddly charming about just how vomit-inducing the whole thing is, and though the game is a little slow to get interesting, once it does it's amazingly addictive. Every time I'm about to get bored, the game throws something new at me, like nails that obstruct your path, the aforementioned cactus enemies, or a super power-up that lets you devour everything in sight. There's not a lot of depth to Carious Welting, but it sure is some good arcadey fun.

[Clubby The Seal]

A fun but overly brutal beat-em-up

Clubby the Seal is a LOT of fun at first. Nothing's more satisfying than mowing down hordes of baddies with a club. The graphics are nice and colorful, with excellent animation and lots of deliciously sickening gore, and the sound effects are lovably goofy.

Unfortunately, for all its entertainment value, Clubby the Seal is simply too damn hard. The enemies are relentless in their singleminded pursuit of destroying you, and since they always attack at least two at a time, you're almost always going to be attacking while simultaneously getting hit. I was initially under the impression that the levels were randomized, which would make it more palatable to play through the same levels over and over again, but it seems more like there are simply two different "level ones" that are cycled through with each play.

I must confess that I haven't really made it that far in this game. Even after over 2 hours of playing, I've only made it to the very beginning of level 3 before dying. Perhaps, later on, the game becomes more varied in its enemy types, combat style, level design, and overall fun; however, at the point I'm at, Clubby the Seal is simply too monotonous and difficult for me to try and get further.

[REDDER]

An excellent mix of gameplay styles

I'll admit, at first, I had my doubts about REDDER. It seemed that it was going to be a Metroid-style game, which, though generally excellent, are very difficult to pull of successfully. As I began to delve deeper into the game, however, I discovered that it was not a Metroidesque: it was more.

It's a puzzle game, and a fascinating and ingenious one, too: you have to plan your next move carefully, or else you'll have to walk all the way back to where you started. The game world is big, VERY big, and many of the gems are quite hard to find, so I have a feeling I'll be working on this one for a while. The music and graphics both do a fantastic job of conveying a mysterious atmosphere, not unlike its inspiration. Great game!

[Road of the Dead]

Best Zombie Game Ever Made

The Zombie Apocalypse genre is so overplayed these days that I thought it was impossible to take it seriously anymore. But you guys proved me wrong! This game is an intense experience, with fantastic voice acting, heart-pounding music, and omnipresent doom. I love how you handled the civilians; their panicked voices and behavior made me genuinely upset when I accidentally hit them.

If you were to imagine a driving game with zombies, the thing that instantly comes to mind is mowing down whole hordes with a heavily armored car. Not only can you do that in this game, but boy, is it fun; despite that, it's not just mad violence, you actually need to use strategy to stay alive.

And the graphics... well, nothing really needs to be said about the graphics: they're fantastic and I can think of no ways to improve them.

[Nyan Cat FLY!]

Quite Fun

I can't say I'm normally willing to listen to the Nyan Cat song for minutes on end, but if it means playing this game, I'll take the plunge! The concept is clever, and the game is challenging without being too much so. Excellent work!

[Chalkboard Pong]

Great concept, programming DOES NOT WORK

Alright, I'm giving you a 6 for a great concept and the possibility of a fun game. However, it's fundamentally broken: only the first ball bounces off the paddle. The second and third balls just fall straight through it, making it impossible to get any further. Fix this grievous error, and this game gets an 8, as it sounds like fun and I'm sure I could waste a lot of time on this.

Gimmick responds:

*ahem*
Which mode did you choose? Hard? Medium? If so, READ THE DESCRIPTION.