Ran-Cossack's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[vel.blast()]

A good game, but a few steps short of perfection.

I truly enjoyed the game, it was a good challenge, and fairly exciting to be quite honest, when massive swarms of bullets are flying at you, while you've got low energy. The game takes a fair amount of reflexes, and alot of quick glances at where the closest bullets are heading towards. However, it wasn't perfect, despite it's very good gameplay, in my eyes. There are a couple things I'd suggest, if you make a sequel, that would make it much more fun.

1. Some form of defense, beyond your shield. The absorb/counterattack theme was very fun, but when you reach level 17+, you tend to run out of energy too quickly, from shield sapping shots, and just an overflow of bullets. I'd suggest maybe adding an upgrade that perhaps gives you a pair of auto-firing turrets, once you've aquired a specific amount of upgrades. Nothing TOO powerful, but something that can at least give you at least a little less stress when it comes to how many enemies are swarming after you. Having them pick off a few for you, would help there.

2. Alternate shield modes. This might go against the simplicity of the absorb/counter theme, but perhaps once you've worked through enough upgrades, you could gain a new style of shield? Maybe one that just bounces enemy bullets off you, instead of absorbing like the standard shield. Perhaps make it cost a bit more energy per bullet, but it would be a nice change of pace, from the standard charge, fire, charge, fire, shield. Or maybe a shield that creates spinning orbs around you, as you absorb more, that could damage enemies they touch? I'm certain there is a variety of other shields that could make this game even better, if you brought them in.

3. Some sort of super-charge weapon. To put it simply, maybe something that charges slowly over time, as you absorb and fire back bullets, that you can pull out as a trump card, in case you're being overwhelmed by enemy fire. Could be something as simple as a bomb that destroys all nearby enemies, or maybe even some temporary homing missle launcher, that blasts near by enemies for a short duration. You could even make it a multi-level super weapon, that gets stronger the longer you charge it, or possibly could be upgraded for a nice chunk of Tech points. It would spice things up, in my eyes.

Those suggestions aside, I really did have fun playing your game. It had me sitting here for well over an hour and a half, blasting back bullets, and watching myself get destroyed once the screen was full of enemies, yet I enjoyed every moment of it, even when I did die. Add a couple more features to your next game, if you make a sequel, and I'm certain it will be a hit my friend. Best of luck in the future!

-Cossack.

lucidrine responds:

Thank you for your ideas and feedback! We'll consider that if we make the sequel later :D

[MinfigZombieTowerDefence]

A good try... But poorly executed.

Well, I have to admit, this game had me sitting here for the good part of an hour and a half, at least, and playing, playing, playing... However, despite how good it is, it is heavily flawed. Most of the towers have extremely variable usefulness, which makes it a tad annoying to play, when you need to put more of a certain type down, but it's range is not good enough to reach the enemy and gain EXP...

SM Missle: necessarily worthless.
This tower is the bane of my existance... It has ok range, and ok damage, for the price... However, it is simply worthless compared to anything else. I'd take a Slow tower over one of these any day... Though they do no damage. Even when they actually "hit" the enemy, more often then not, it deals NO damage! Why, oh why, would you put such a function into this game..? If thats some kind of "miss" feature, then it terribly needs to be removed. Increase the "damage" of these towers, and their accuracy, I beg of you.(I had to replay level 2 about 15 times to finally beat it, because of these dang things..

Ranger: Sniper-esque worthlessness.
These towers are almost a complete waste of time and space... They have insane range, yes, but they can't hit 70% of the time because their shots have to actually contact the enemy to have, A CHANCE, to hit. Just like the SM Missle tower, it is basically worthless. A remaking of this tower is in order, really..

Rapidfire: Multi Targetting Failure.
As with the SM Missle, and Ranger, this tower is also neigh worthless... It shoots at lots of enemies, with as much strength as the SM Missle, and EVEN LESS accuracy, if that is possible.(Hurt my brain so much trying to make them work...) Either make these faster firing with a guarantee to hit the enemy when they fire, or get rid of them. They are basically a waste of 500 bucks...

SM Tesla: Shockingly short range.
This tower had such potential... And got wasted. The attack is nice, it's fast, it's strong, it's effective... But TOO SHORT RANGE TO FUNCTION! I understand it is meant to be short range, but it is so short it cannot gain enough EXP to level, nearly ever! Increase the range, that is all it needs..

Other then that, I have no issues with the towers.. Slow and Drain are fine, but the rest are a waste of time and money. And speaking of money, I hnestly would have to say, please, PLEASE make a cash-upgrade system... EXP is fine and dandy, but late in the game, when you need more defense, and you want to stick some more towers in... You most likely can't put them close enough to the enemy to allow them to GAIN that EXP they need to level... Please, add some sort of cash-fueled upgrade system, so that towers can be upgraded manually, instead of being forced to wait for them to level on their own. I know it is part of the challenge, but it gets a tad ridiculous very, very quickly at times..

Also, concerning your "regenerator" zombies... GET. RID. OF. THEM. I'm aware they are meant to be powerful, difficult to destroy enemies, but 85% of the time, even if you have an entire squad of max level Drain towers blasting them, with Slow beams holding them down, they STILL manage to run on through, and take a bite out of your health. Please, don't weaken them, don't attempt to "balance" them, just remove them... They just bring headaches... They are not needed.

The last thing I would say needs adjusting is the monster running routes, more often then not, they tend to swarm a single side, and only trickle through the other, making it nearly impossible to determine which side you should reinforce before the round begins.. Maybe shrink the lanes a bit, so they have less room to run right out of tower attack range so very often, as they do currently. That would make the game much more enjoyableto play..

Other then those things, you did a very good job on this game, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I wish you the best of luck on your future work, and hope you take a bit of my criticism to heart for this game.

Booyaka, Legoman.

-Cossack.

terrypaton1 responds:

Hi ya, thanks for the very detailed review. I'm now adjusting the things based on your feedback, increasing towers range and power slightly with what hopefully will be better accuracy (a little tricky at times), removed the regenerate from big enemies. Tower experience upgrading will have to remain the same for the moment (not enough time before work), and the path finding will also have to remain the same, but hopefully the changes I've made will make enough difference to make the game slightly more enjoyable. Cheers and thanks again.

[Newgrounds: Old to New]

An interesting view of the old and the new.

I found this movie to be interesting, and I think it was made quite well. It allows those of us that have been around for a long time to look back on the old, and compare it to the new, and let those who are only recently joining Newgrounds to get a glimpse of the past as well, and get a better appreciation of the new upgrades that have been worked on hard by the the many moderators of the site.

A job well done in my opinion, keep up the good work.

-Cossack.

UnknownFear responds:

I appreciate the feedback, Ran-Cossack, and yes, that is exactly why I made it. To let other users get a glimpse at what the old NG was like and the changes that was made to get where Newgrounds is now.