SubNoctem's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[English Pub Pool]

A Pool Masterpiece

This is, by far, the greatest billiard sim that I've ever played.
The mechanics and physics behind this thing are spot on, giving it a precision that can only be fully appreciated by pool players, which is clearly evident in the challenge shots. Plus there's none of that guideline bullshit found in other sims.
The amount of modes, tournaments and trophies are enough to keep any pool fan coming back for more, and the beer counter was a nice touch. You've only got one song, which could have been a problem if it never got boring, but there's just something about that tune...
It's also a great experience to play with proper english rules, which have always been a bit fuzzy for me. But this has opened up a slew of games that I can take to the pool hall. That is, if I can find anyone that will play them with me.
This is truly a great, great game you've got yourself here. Thanks so much for sharing it on NG!

[Freegear]

Total Nostalgia Kick!

I instantly fell in love with this game for one reason initially; It brings back lots of fond memories of Rad Racer I and II for the NES that I used to play ALL the time when I was a little kid. In fact, Rad Racer was one of the first video games I had ever played.

After playing your game for a while, I realized it was much more then just a re-imagining of that classic game. You have quite a comprehensive racing sim here. The controls, customization, and upgrades are simple, yet good enough to keep you racing for more. You have a good variety of tracks and scenery with the day/night and weather features, and the difficulty curve is damn near perfect. Adding the quick race with completely customizable track specs was a good addition, as well as the option for manual or automatic. Really the only thing you need more of is music, and maybe like a "radio" option, so the player can change the audio track at will.

This is arguably the best racing games of its type around. Great work man!

[The Breach]

Fun Game!

This was an excellent game, easy to pick up, and the story was intriguing enough to keep you interested the whole way through. It was very Event Horizon-esque, especially the part where all the torture images just flashed through his head. However, the unique creatures/cult you've formed was very interesting. I especially loved the parasitic hive-mind quality.

This game also had a good variation of enemies with unique attacks, and the ending was very satisfying. I certainly hope there's more to come in this story line, maybe in movie format, as I'm sure another game is a lot to ask for, and may get repetitive.

Having said that, I found the game to be a bit too easy. After you've powered up enough, you can just run through the levels holding down fire and breeze through them. The bosses were especially too easy, in my opinion. They had far too little health, and their attacks weren't frequent enough to keep you moving. Especially the boss attached to the wall, I just stood in one place and shot until he died without a scratch on me.

On the other end of the spectrum, getting 4 stars was too difficult, I finished...level 4 I think in 2 minutes and some seconds and only received two stars. This leads me to believe I would have to replay levels over and over again to figure out exactly when and where to use the speed boost to finish the levels closer to 1 minute (presumably) to get 4 stars. I think this whole thing could be fixed by varying what the stars are based off of. Instead of determining your rank solely on speed, maybe add in accuracy and the amount of damage taken. This would add quite a bit of challenge to the game, while providing incentive to do more then just run and gun. And, while this didn't damage my opinion of the game, maybe add some stats at the end of each level or the end of the game? Just a suggestion.

Overall, very fun, addictive, and intriguing, Berzerk Studios has always provided NG with some excellent games, and this is no exception.

[Koht:MEM0R315]

Not bad, but needs some improvement

First of all, You've got some good artwork -i liked the background and variety of enemies a lot- and solid programming skills. I also enjoyed your music choice for the first stage, what was it? Also, the combo/special system was very nice, and I was surprised to see a feature of that caliber in this game, I've found 4 different special attacks, very impressive. But, as I'm sure you're aware, there is room for improvement.

I think if you had some solid "lane" definition, this game would be much better. It didn't matter if I was on the top or the bottom of the screen, an enemy arrow would hit me as long as part of it was flying past the main character's body, I realize this is a difficult feature to program in flash, but it's the first thing I noticed.
The controls were a bit sketchy, If i were moving to the right, then up, I would have to let go of all the buttons before the game would let me move to the right again, and you can't move diagonal, but this was a minor setback because it was kind of nostalgic of old beat-em-up control schemes.
The character's running motion was a bit slow to justify the speed he would travel. It looked like he was flying through the air rather then bounding across forest and building landscapes. Having said that, I really liked the hero of this story and his animalistic features - like running on all fours, it fit really well with the special moves.
Also, some kind of health power-up is essential, I could not beat the game, and I wanted to see the rest of the story, but maybe I'm just not that good.

Great work overall, I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to offer in the future, you've definitely got some talent.

famtio responds:

thanks for the feed back it is helpful to know where to start making the improvements! to answer your question I made the music in garge band.

[Hell (is)]

Fucking Hilarious

Took me about 3 seconds to figure out what was going on, but as soon as it clicks you just can't help but have a hearty laugh, and I don't get too many of those from flash anymore. Really funny, original stuff, and the fact that you added a scoreboard really brought it home. Thumbs up.

kaolinfire responds:

Thanks :D I almost added an actual score, like how many seconds it took you to die (or how long you survived), but decided that cheapened the experience. :)

[GOBTRON]

Original and fun.

You've created a great game here, very interesting idea. Excellent balance of power-ups, difficulty, and variety. It's really the perfect storm of a game. I have no complaints other than a glitch I encountered on the second to last level. I used the mystery morph power, and sometime during it, the enemies just stopped coming, and one rocket-copter was left on the screen, but it doesn't damage me, and I can't damage it. Thus I'm at a stand still, and had to close the game. No big deal I guess because of the saving method, just thought you should know it's there. Really good work guys, it was a pleasure to play your game.

JuicyBeast responds:

In fact, we've noticed this glitch while re-playing the game on NewGrounds and we're working on it now ^^
Thanks alot for your comment, it's really useful!!!

[The Last Canopy]

Superb Game!

Extremely fun take on a classic genre. I highly enjoyed this and played it through to the end. Great graphics, fluid animation, a good amount of weapon powerups, and an all around great game. I haven't seen anything quite like this before. The only thing you need to work on is your storyline.

[Castle Crashing the Beard]

A game to go down in Newgrounds Histoy

With the anticipation within the Newgrounds community of Castle Crashers, this game will appear as an appitizer to many. Simultaneously sating the the ravaging need for it and further teasing it. In that regard, it is perfect.

The game itself is a welcome experience. It's simplicity and quality are outstanding, and best of all it's fun! Though a bit straining on my old system, It's too short to become repetative or boring, and long enough to stress the point. Great concept, animation, and gameplay; just a Great game.

[Grid16]

Brilliant Game

This game is nearly perfect. It is a shining example of what micro games should be; Fast, frantic, and fun. Not only does your game neatly fill the above criteria, but it breaks open the boundries with rampant ingenuity.

I loved the grid layout and elimination style games, forcing you to focus on the games you're good at (providing you've played them more then once and know how they work). The seamless continuation of a game was the greatest challenge and my favorite feature. It forces you to remember where you left off and makes even the simplest game incredibly difficult. I thought I could bounce a ball around in a circle forever until I forgot which direction it was going in and lost it to a resounding sigh.

The final scoring method acted as the knot to tie this delighfully sporadic game together, giving it reason. It tested the most basic and ubiquitous aspects of nearly every game out there, scoring your core ability.

I do have a few minor complaints. When the game began to get really fast, somewhere around speed x5, some of the games became drastically easier. For example, the ball falling through the floor literally fell through the floors. I'm also not sure exactly what score is put onto the highscore table. Is it the combo score?

That's really all I can complain about. This is really a great game, and a perfect addition to Newgrounds.

jmtb02 responds:

Thanks for your sincere review. I really appreciate it!

-J