Rocketlex's Reviews

[Xombie: Chapter 7]

Very Good...

I must say, this episode felt a little shorter than the others, but the level of quality remains amazingly high. This is fast becoming my favorite series on Newgrounds. Keep up the great work.

[Morphemon Duelists 1.5]

Getting back on track...

I didn't post a review of 1.4 and, though I enjoy this series, I kinda considered it a low point. This episode has restored my faith, as it doesn't rely on random humor as much and is getting back to playing off the quirkyness of the characters (which, to me, is the best part of this series.)

The random and sexual humor has never really done much for me. It's not that I want it eliminated, because it's funny out of the blue and in small doses, but what drew me into this series was how, in episodes 1.1-1.3, the humor came more from the clever spoofing of the genre as a whole rather than simply putting the genre's archetypes in offbeat situations (as usually happens when people do "Collection Anime" spoofs.)

This was a definite improvement over 1.4, but I hope that maybe as the series progresses you'll focus more on developing the story and characters and making fun of the stylistic and narrative cliches of the genre (which, as you have shown, you CAN do quite well.)

I eagerly await the start of episode 2. If it lives up to the tremendous potential this series has, Morphemon Duelists will BE the coolest.

PiGPEN responds:

It's gonna be a long while before episode 2 because while the script is done (you wont be dissapointed) the voices are at 0% complete and because of the planned change in style for episode 2 i need to get a wacom (so expensive T_T).
Episode 1 was meant to be the second most random episode and the one with the least depth...you'll be completely full and sick of depth after seeing episode 2.

[Morphemon Duelists 1.3]

A great submission!

This is probably my favorite new series on Newgrounds at the moment. This is the slickest and most clever parody of "monster collection" anime I've ever seen, and it only got better with this episode.

The voices are probably my favorite part of this. It's too bad you had a falling out with the guy who played Kit, here, because I absolutely LOVED Kit's voice this time around. Whoever it was really nailed the exaggerating, somewhat unnatural voices you hear in a lot of english anime dubs (especially dubs aimed at children). This is not to say the rest of the voices weren't great, too. My only real problem was with Barber's voice, which just sounded a little too genaric, but even he fit his character well. (By the way, although Kit's voice stole the show this time around, I've always loved Phallimon's voice. Anything he says with that loud, robotic monotone is funny.)

As for the spoofing itself, I liked this better than the last two simply because the jokes were a little more subtle and unexpected. With parody, you don't necessarilly need "jokes," but can make audiences laugh just with slight exaggerations of common elements of the genre. You do this very well, from the character designs to the environments to the overall format of the story.

One question, though. When you're done with episode 1.5 (which I believe you said would end episode one) do you have any plans to edit all five pieces together into a single episode one? It might be kinda cool. I dunno, just a thought.

Keep up the good work. Can't wait for 1.4.

PiGPEN responds:

The guy who played Kit in this one will be in 1.4 and 1.5 (he already recorded them all) he just wont be credited...mwahahahaha! *evil*
And yeah when episode 1 is finished i'll stich em all together and i guess make it available at my site.

[Blang]

Very good, and another suggestion...

This is a great game and more addictive than many puzzlers. Here are some suggestions I have on how to improve this for the final version...

-As it is, the in-game instructions are rather confusing. An honest-to-goodness tutorial would be nice, if only because this works a lot differently than most pozzle games.

-Agreed with the last guy that there should be some code in place to ensure that there are always combos. Perhaps the addition of a "wild card" gem which can be combined with anything else would be helpful. Alternatively, you could simply have the game continually check to see if there are available combos and, if not, give you to option of randomizing the board.

-One way to add challenge in higher difficulties is to give customers more complicated demands, such as "Use this AND this stone" or "At least 10 gems long" or "At least 2 combos." Stuff like that.

-It would be nice if you could use the money for something. Perhaps, between "levels," you could buy upgrades like more expensive jewels, longer chains, and other bonuses.

-Building off the above, extending the single-player game into a sort of campeign mode would be cool. It would be separated into "rounds" where you have about 20 appointments each and then between rounds you can buy upgrades for your store with the money you've earned. (Of course, this might be way too much to add.)

So those are my thoughts. It's a great game on its own though. (Like a guy before me said, in beta it's better than many full version puzzlers.) Can't wait for the final version.

ReduxGames responds:

Thanks alot! These are great suggestions and will definetely make it into dx ver also :)

[Keep your V.L.]

Very nice shooter...

I really enjoyed this game. However, I do have some suggestions to make it better next time...

-Hit detection felt a bit off, both with enemies hitting you and you hitting enemies. The first boss in particular had a glitch which would make him unhittable at times you should be able to hit him.

-More shields would be helpful. To balance it out, you could make it so that the shield no longer damages enemies but just passes through them.

-The missiles actually felt LESS useful than the sonic waves, seeing as they had a smaller area of effect. Maybe make the missiles bigger.

-In general, the ship felt a tiny bit sluggish, especially in later levels which require quick movement. A little speed boost would help a lot.

In general, though, I love the game. I hope you make another.

BoMToons responds:

Thanks for the review. I'll try to take your suggestions into account for my next game.