Score: 10

"I'm speechless"

submission: William and Sly

date: September 20, 2009

I've played a ton of games before. I've played ones that require a great deal of twitch reflexes, thinking, and problem solving. I've played ones that have tons of gore, killing, and violence. I've become so jaded that rare is the game that can phase me. This one freakin' MOVED me.

Forget best flash game on Newgrounds, this is the best flash game ever. You've broken down a game into exactly what it needs to be: relaxing, accessible, and most of all: fun. Where do I even begin? The art here is positively amazing, with every bit of the environment teeming with life. The sound is brilliant as well, immersing the player even deeper into the word that already seems so vibrant and alive. What really struck me as amazing, though, is that you didn't settle just for that. Now, we have alternate motives: sidequests, and they even unlock medals!

Everything from the ability to fly to the last area and even the fox's den makes it was clear that you left NOTHING undone, and for that, you deserve every bit of praise that you can get. The only complaint I can possibly muster is that it felt too short. It left me wanting more of this beautifully simplistic gameplay formula and a derise to explore every inch of the world that hosted it; from snowy peaks to rocky caves and maybe even a moonlit hill.

I'm going to go as far to say that this is better than some console games I've played in the past. Thank you. Thank you for brining this masterpiece into existence. If you ever decide to make a sequel, you can bet your life that I'll be playing it.

Score: 7

"Not bad"

submission: Vietnam - Guiles Story

date: April 18, 2009

The animation was pretty solid, but it felt like it could be just a little tighter somehow. Also, the fact that the normal soldiers just stood there and didn't even try to fight back kind of broke the immersion. The music here is really good, as these songs were made specifically in that era to protest the war. Combine that with the realistic background and the fact that Guile just looks like he fits there, and it all plays off each other very well. My only problem with that, though, is that you reused a song. That's a huge no-no because there are few things that break the immersion better than familiarity.

The introduction where he was running was also a little long, and after a while, I almost thought that this was just going to be a loop of him running. The text boxes were also a bit unintuitive. I would have appreciated it if the text appeared instantly, and I had control of when we moved onto the next part of the conversation. All in all, you have some great elements here, so you just need to work on making them all come together.

Score: 6

"Hmm..."

submission: -Special Delivery-

date: April 15, 2009

The main problem here is that this isn't a flash animation. Newgrounds was specifically made for flash animations and games ONLY. If i wanted to watch real people, I'd go to youtube. Here, I want to see stick figures, platformers, and people getting creative with new art styles.

As for the movie itself, though, let me point out a couple things you could have improved. When he's talking to hs friend, it sounds like the guy in the car is having a conversation with himself. Also, why is the music tense while he's driving? Nothing crucial or drama-building has happened yet. I mean, there was that woman coughing up blood, but that was a totally different scene. We're elsewhere when we're in the car, and nothing strange has happened there yet.

When he gets there, I was confused at first as to why he wasn't more questioning about the gun. Another continuity problem is why he didn't ask him to clean up the blood, not to mention if she was shot, she would have fallen backwards, not forwards. What also confused me is to why the killer just shot her and left her suffering instead of finishing her off. If he did shot her again while she was on the ground, we should have seen that in the opening. In fact, that probably would have added to the drama.

I wish I could tell you more, but I honestly stopped watching after he told him to "just go", because I lost interest. Neither of the voice actors were convincing, not to mention the guy chosen to get rid of the body didn't seem suited for the task. He, himself, didn't seem rough or involved in that type of lifestyle, which left me wondering why the guy on the phone chose this dude to do it. All in all, it's okay for an amateur flick, but nothing really stood out to me as particularly good.

Score: 7

"A couple things are missing"

submission: Snowballoid

date: April 9, 2009

Most notably is the lack of music. You're one of the rare breed of NGers who actually uses sound in their submission, yet you don't have any music to match the chill, wintery feeling of the game. What's up with that? Also, the game gets repetetive really fast. This can be attributed to two different things. The first is the fact that there's no power-ups. If you're going to make an arkanoid clone, you NEED to at least put in a laser power up. Where's my multiball, or fire ball, or paddle enlarger? They're not here. Also, the ball stays at the same speed the whole time. In other games, the ball very gradually gets faster, keeping you on your toes, and encouraging players to clear out all the blocks fast, before they get in over their head.

All in all, this game looks nice, but the gameplay could use a little tweaking, and definitely add music, if you can find any.

Score: 7

"Why?"

submission: Mims the Mime

date: April 8, 2009

This is the second looney-toons style cartoon video I've seen tonight that is absolutely devoid of sound. It's not that hard, people. You just import the file to the library, go to the frame's properties, and tell the flash to play the sound you imported. It's so easy, yet, so many submissions are completely missing any kind of music or noise, or what have you. Which is a shame, because animation like this one would be much more entertaining if I could actually HEAr what was going on. I have a policy that states I can only give, at most, a 3 to any submission without sound. If you're only going to give me half the experience, I'm only going to give you half a score.

Score: 7

"Not bad"

submission: Shoop-O-Meter

date: April 5, 2009

This is actually kinda charming because of how simple it is. It actually takes some skill to master all of the guages, and after a while, the best I could get was just over 200k. However, I have a couple complaints. The first is the fact that the lazer itself doesn't look like a normal shoop, and instead like a statc beam that just flails around like an epilectic. If it had the waving effect that it does in the original animations, then it would be a bit better.

Also, there's no real goal once I fire it except to get a high score. When playing this, I thought of how cool it would be to fire s shoop-da-whoop so powerful that it actually tore through some famous sites such as Newgrounds, Youtube, and even the dreaded /b/. In fact, if you had something like that, it would make people keep coming back just to see which site they got to blow through next. I know I'd like to tear that forum a new hole.

Also, the lack of sound kind of bugged me. Shouldn't each guage have it's own kind of sound effects that play when you activate them? It also kind of sucks that you don't have one big bar that measures how much of the total possible power that you've saved up from the guages, which adds a lot of guesswork into how high your score can actually go. It's the little things like that that could have made this a classic on NG, but you've got a really good base for an incredibly simple, yet incredibly fun tool.

Score: 8

"Aw, man..."

submission: Tony vs. Steve

date: April 4, 2009

It's too bad that you had to end it like that, because this could have been a great series. You see, this video had something that a lot of other stick videos don't: personality. We got to get inside the heads of the two fighters, and it made us forget that there was no real reason to this madness, just the fact that they wanted to beat the hell out of each other. You've also got some pretty decent animation here, as well as a firm understanding of what kinds of music fit where. I also like the simple humor that you implemented, and it all worked together to create a stick video that actually felt unique.

Like I said, it's too bad that it ended there, because I would have loved to see these two go at it again and again if the next videos were as good, if not better than this one. Good video.

Score: 7

"This is pretty good"

submission: The Shining

date: March 31, 2009

But there's a problem: it's not a flash submission. The portal is made specifically for flash animations and games, not for anything else. If I wanted to see stuff like this, I'd go to youtube, not here. Here, I want to see unique art styles, stick figure fights, and people getting creative and creating unique games. I don't want to see things like this. Don't contribute to this site eventually turning into youtube; don't post anything other than flash creations.

Score: 7

"There's no sound T_T"

submission: Shitty Ninja

date: March 31, 2009

That's seriously disappointing, because if this had matching sound, it would be classic, and mayb even earn you a trophy. The premise is simple, the animation is great, and you're actually telling a story, but it still boils down to the fact that I can't hear their sword clashes, there's no music to set the mood, and there's not even a fake japanese voice calling out the names of their techniques. I have a policy that submissions without sound can only get, at best, a 3 from me. I really wish I could award you more.

Score: 3

"This game...isn't finished..."

submission: Stickman Travels Debugged

date: March 31, 2009

I can still see his hit-detection boxes for crying out loud. Plus, I didn't even know I had a timer until I reached the top-right corner of the screen. THAT'S NOT GOOD! I doesn't even look like I'm standing on the platforms, I'm just kind of...hovering above them. What bothers me more is that the hit-detection on the enemies makes it look like they're actually walking instead of just floating, so you obviously understand the concept. Not to mention there's barely any sound. You have one sound effect (which deserves thanks, because I can't tell you how many games I've seen that are totally silent), but there's no music at all.

I have no choice but to give this a 0. When you submit a full game, I'll give you a full score.