Score: 7

"Great! Simple but fun"

submission: Card Game!

date: November 16, 2009

It took me a long time to figure this out. I searched through the internet trying to find rules for a game like this only to find none, and so I took the brute force approach of trying to learn the game. I really do think the instructions should come with it.

However, after I learned the rules and beat my opponent, the game really started becoming fun. My only complaint is that it took me so long to figure everything out.

Score: 6

"Extremely fun, extremely buggy"

submission: DarkBase 3 - Phoenix Team

date: November 16, 2009

I think this game could be an 8 or 9 by my book (and I don't rate games highly very easily) if not for the bugs. I had the same bug as Fappy below many times over for missions where I had to kill N aliens where I cleared the entire map (not an single red dot left) and it still showed that I had 20+ enemies to kill. Retrying the mission can solve this sometimes but I once had this bug occur twice in a row!

To be unable to complete a mission due to bugs like this can ruin even the most fun game, and I think this would be the most fun game otherwise.

If this bug could be resolved, I might take a look at this game again. Until then, I'm too frustrated to keep playing.

Score: 7

"Bit of a Grind"

submission: Dragon Boy

date: November 15, 2009

This is a very fun game, but it is quite a grind. I'm quite certain everyone will agree with me that it is practically impossible to beat the game without repeating maps and powergaming your way to at least around level 30 (which requires a couple of hours of just fighting the same enemies over and over) to beat the final boss.

I'm not very fond of the control sheme. Using the mouse cursor to orient attacks is more confusing than beneficial in my opinion when your character is restricted to melee attacks. Quite often I found myself attacking in the wrong direction because my mouse was point slightly more down than left, or something of that sort. I really think it would have been more effective to simply hit a button to make the character slash in the direction he is facing.

All in all it's still a fun game. After seeing all the glowing reviews though, I thought I'd take some time to point out how it might be improved. The idea of growing your dragon is very fun and it's one of the highlights of the game, and though it is quite a grind, it managed to keep me doing it to see what's next.

Score: 7

"If only..."

submission: Video Poker Jacks or Bet.

date: November 15, 2009

The ability to change cards twice drastically changes the odds of the game. If only casinos allowed that, I would be a rich man. Pretty fun variant on the original game.

Score: 7

"Fun!"

submission: IndestructoTank A.E.

date: October 14, 2009

I really like this game. It reminds of trying to bounce off of enemies in Super Mario games to try to get as many points or 1-ups as possible. It's very simple but suitably so.

My only complaint is that my tank can run out of fuel and explode in mid-air while in the process of getting some super high combo. I just died earlier in the middle of a 58 combo chain and I was just about to hit another enemy for the 59th combo. I think if I landed on the ground, that was sufficiently enough exp to get me to the next level but because I was in the middle of executing the chain, I wasn't awarded the exp or at least the exp counter itself doesn't reflect the exp gained until the tank lands on the ground.

Score: 8

"Barf"

submission: The C word

date: September 30, 2009

This would be a good game to promote abstinence. :-D

Score: 6

"Very Silly, but still a little bit fun"

submission: Vorago

date: July 23, 2009

I have to agree with neskind except for the "little silly" part which I thought was a bit too mild. You don't have to misinterpret the Bible for an excuse to make a silly horror game.

As far as a point-and-click adventure goes, the puzzles aren't too bad though they get quite ridiculous at times. "Oh, there's a shiny object but I can't get at it because there are bear traps everywhere. I know! I'll use a remote control car!" If the game didn't take itself so seriously, it might have worked much better.

The game attempts to interject some drama into the mix but it ends up having little more than comedic effect since there's little time spent fleshing out the characters.

Overall, it's all right.

Score: 6

"Demo!"

submission: Youda Sushi Chef

date: July 23, 2009

I'm not sure if this was fun or just plain stressful but it kept me going for some reason only to find out that this was a damn demo. There should be a bit more emphasis on the DEMO aspect of the game, like including it in the title.

Score: 6

"Silly"

submission: Mobster Roulette

date: July 22, 2009

Kind of a silly game. With 10 minutes to win the money, it's not going to make for an enduring round of smart gambling. I did the standard 2 tier bet (64.8% chance to win) and beat it within the first two minutes. Still it's mildly amusing.

I think it would have been more entertaining if you had to make $100,000 or even $1,000,000 with a whole lot more time to make it.

Score: 6

"Big Deal"

submission: William and Sly

date: July 22, 2009

The game consists of unlocking runestones by collecting fairflies which randomly spawn throughout the map. That's pretty much it. Walk and jump around and find fairflies and then go to a runestone to unlock it. Once you've unlocked all but one, you'll face a boss where you do the same thing but with a giant image moving across the screen which you'll want to avoid (otherwise he'll take away the fairflies you've collected) while waiting for fairflies to spawn.

The controls are as basic as it gets for a platformer. You can run left, you can run right, and you can jump. That's it. At no point in the game are you really challenged to make use of the controls to the fullest (no difficult jumps, no moving platforms, or anything of the sort). There's also no way to die in the game as far as I see. If enemies hit you a lot and you run out of fairflies, then you've just lost the fairflies and you can get them again when they respawn. Getting hit with no fairflies does nothing. Since there is no way to lose, winning is inevitable unless you get bored and quit first which is something I wish I did.

In terms of presentation, the game is quite lovely. The graphics are clean and well-drawn and the music lends the game a lot of atmosphere. That said, even if this game had graphics which put Crysis to shame, it would still be the same game where you spend your time running around tediously collecting things. Even biblical, pornographic, and educational games often have more involved gameplay than this.

To improve on the game, I would suggest that there's a way to lose for a start, and that the game challenges the player. There's nothing wrong with a game that offers no direct way to attack, but then the movement controls should be interesting and the map should offer a lot of challenges in terms of moving and jumping skillfully (more things to dodge, harder jumps, etc). There should be more of a consequence to making a mistake than just, "*sigh*, I have to collect a couple more fairflies now."