Star Eater (Arcade)

In my search for games to review on NewGrounds, very few of the under judgement games stand out. Firstly, star eater's logo was captivating enough despite the unhelpful description which just went "star eater".

General:

Design (2/5 seconds) - I think the concept is pretty cool but there's much to improve on, explained in greater detail below.

Audio (3/5 bubbles) - Overall a pretty simple soundtrack that got the mood going initially but it soon died down. 

Mechanics (2/5 spacebars) - Once again, there's room for improvement. For now the mechanics are smooth though.

Art (2/5 floaties) - The game itself has quite the dizzifying effect with the bunch of "orbs" floating around in darkness. The art could be higher quality, even for a simple arcade game.

Emoview:

What's going on? (1/5 balls) - As I mentioned, I was thrown into the game right away and without a pause or restart button, I had to die and reload before being able to read the description. With that, I would suggest you add those 3 elements to your game (Pause, Restart and Instructions).

Boring Enemy AI (2/5 enemies) - As you go around the map you realize that eventually there will just be three enemies and you also know that all they do is follow you. There isn't anything too difficult about the enemies and later in the game, especially with the boost, they become just more of an annoyance rather than a threat.

Twenty orbs (2/5 orbs) - It didn't make much sense to me that you get such a huge boost right after you collect 20 orbs, Reading the description, I initially assumed you would need to gather them in the middle to get the boost. However, when you put the orbs into the middle you're losing that boost so there's pretty much no point to scoring them in until the last few seconds. 

Spike of power (3/5 sparkles) - I must admit it felt great to have such a spike of power but after the initial 20 seconds or so I took to get those 20 orbs, it didn't seem to get faster or better or anything. The powerups from the boxes didn't seem to have too much effect and the game got pretty plain. 

Verdict:

Overall I think its still pretty entertaining. However, there's a lot of small design improvements that would make the game much better.

Dunk dem stars for yourself right here: Star Eater

Snake Arena (Sports)

Over the weekend, I decided to test my skills at making a very similar game. I called it DingPong and playtested it with my friends just this morning. Other than moving with the typical keys each player can opt to press a button at the right time to shorten the length of the others pong paddle by a little bit. Finding this game was quite a shocking but cheerful stroke of luck!

General: 

Design (4/5 snakes) - I loved the overall concept. However, it could use some minor adjustments here and there.

Audio (4/5 beats) - The music was awesome, from both scenes. It filled the atmosphere of the game well.

Mechanics (2/5 keys) - I believe the Powerup system could be improved as well as some minor bugs that I will mention in the Emoview.

Art (3/5 humans) - I'm really intrigued by the concept art of the game however I find it to be ruined by the "glitchiness" of it. I'll elaborate on that later on in this review.

Emoview:

Powerups (2/5 torch lights) - When getting the torchlight, it should only blind the enemy instead of the whole screen, if not there wouldn't be a point in picking it up. Other than that, food feels awesome but adds way too much, and stops adding after a certain length? Also, maybe the powerups or humans should be timed to make it more prominent instead allowing the players to stroll on and pick it up as they please.

Glitchy Art (2/5 misplaced bodies) - I understand that the bodies may not have been designed to be part of the grid lines but it looks quite out of place and it gets confusing at times especially if you try going around in a circle and it's so separated you cant really tell its a single object anymore. Plus, any game would be better with a more coherent art style throughout rather than without one (basically make all the things in your game look drawn in a single style).

I can't reach it! (3.5/5 balls) - This should be a simple fix, the character was too slow to catch up to the ball which didn't jive well with me.

Interface and concept (4.5/5 pongs) - Both interesting, somewhat spooky and cool. The overall feel when playing if not for the incoherence and bugs was exciting and hyped up.

Verdict:

Fun little game worth trying out with friends. Definitely has room for improvement which I certainly hopes happens since its just in beta now. Keep on going, Mr Developer!

Slither around in your own time: Snake Arena (BETA)

Flight O Flight (Shooter)

"Woah, that's a lot of buttons!" - I said to myself as I checked out the description before diving right into the game.

General:

Design (3/5 tutorials) - I believe a proper tutorial for a game with as many controls as this one is a big deal. Will explain more later on.

Audio (3/5 songs) - Its a lovely soundtrack but I don't think it blends well with the atmosphere of the game.

Mechanics (2/5 bombs) - Certainly space for improvement but it seems like its working like it should which is always good.

Art (3/5 oldies) - The art style certainly brings me back to my GameBoy Advance days. However I feel the art in this game could be put together better.

Emoview:

Teach me senpai (1/5 lessons) - I would suggest the developer bring in one mechanic at a time in a game like this, showing us that specific enemies need to be bombed with specific keys. It would've helped a lot before just throwing us in.

Grounded! (1/5 ground strikers) - The ground launchers were a little annoying to deal with, this was primarily because of how much they shoot and also how immobile the player character is. We can move front and back which means after a certain point, we just can't avoid anything that well let alone destroy enemies that we've passed).

I'm alive! ( 2/5 hearts) - Lives here appear more frequently than health does. No matter how much of a terrible player I am, I could just opt to keep collecting hearts to stay alive. I believe it's important in games to make death meaningful and not give out too many lives especially when there's also health pickups available.

Jazz hands (3/5 keys) - It get a little bit confusing as the game progresses because I find myself going all over the keyboard to press the right button to fire. Having to navigate from the M key to the ALT and then back to the Spacebar is hard work especially when you're also dodging enemy bullets. By the way, the quit game button just isn't working for me so I couldn't pause when I had to.

Effort (4.5/5 hard work) - In the end I truly appreciate how lovingly the level seemed to put together, each ship well placed for the difficulty increase through each stage.

Verdict:

Overall a simple and fun game to pass the time. With fixes and more coherent audio and art, I believe there's great potential. Don't stop making games Mr/Ms Developer!

Shoot all em ships up for yourself right here: Flight O Flight

Buried (Endless)

Simple graphics done with an old fashioned color pallet *Swooon*. All right lets get down to business! 

General:

Design (2/5 rocks) - Simplistic design, I don't find too much appeal to it. Its pretty hard to learn right off the bat if you aren't used to wall jumping in typical platformers. 

Audio (4/5 beats) - Absolutely adored the background music! However, I believe everything else seriously got in the way. 

Mechanics (3/5 jumps) - As mentioned before, pretty hard to learn but the mechanics are easily understood as probably intended in simplistic games like these.

Art (4/5 pallets) - I love the art style, I believe the player could have been drawn much better though. Especially since that's what were looking at for the most part.

Emoview:

I don't understand Q.Q (1.5/5 deaths) - For somewhat of a newbie like myself, it was particularly difficult getting started. Not to mention the keys in the description were bogus. I couldn't understand how I was supposed to jump to the other side without instructions and the pop ups at the beginning were quite misleading, I assumed "Wall Jump!" meant I just used the right and left arrows to jump from side to side. I even somehow double jumped once while in the air when I wasn't trying to (I believe that's some kind of bug). 

Disturbing audio (3/5 rock crashes) - The fact that the effect sounds were as loud as the lovely background music really threw me off. The background music was really captivating all it needs is a little more of the spotlight so tuning the effects down properly would do the game good. 

It's the little things (5/5 jetpacks) - Loved the small little things I saw in this already small game. Loved the jetpacks hovering you over the map when you died. Loved how the background music was coherent with everything going on on screen. 

Verdict:

Could use improvement and added mechanics but overall a lovely simple game that could still be very challenging to some. 

Bop bop bop to the top for yourself: Buried

Plein - Pixelday Preview (Skill)

As the developer clarified, "I'm a musician, not a game developer" so I definitely did not set high standards for the game this time round (not like my standards are too high in the Under Judgement section anyway). However, I believe everyone could learn a thing or two from a "low-quality game" as he/she puts it.

General:

Design (2/5 walls) - I couldn't really tell where the walls were, it could've been intentional but I believe that could have been implemented better. Will explain later on.

Audio (4.5/5 songs) - I really applaud the audio, I thought it fit well and got me really hyped up about it. However, I'm sure the transitions from song to song could be better, especially for a musician.

Mechanics (2/5 windmills) - Pretty simple mechanics all round, nothing too unique but hard nonetheless.

Art (3.5/5 colors) - I believe that the world of Plein could be more coherent.

Emoview:

How'd I die? (1/5 deaths) - This was the most frustrating part for me because I could never properly tell when I died. Not only were the flashing lights too far apart for me to tell what were walls but I also sometimes couldn't tell if the wall was vertical or horizontal.

Transitions (2/5 teleports) - By transitions I mean both the music and the level. The music part wasn't too bad but done properly would make a lovely difference. However, the level transitions made a huge difference for me. It was sudden and sometimes unexpected because there wasn't an end level teleport to be seen before I was suddenly in a whole different environment. Worse of all I could tell that I was due to the hypnotic art style.

Le Art (3.5/5 blocks) - Elaborating on what I mean by coherent: The world follows quite a smooth flashing colors style with a smooth looking character. The windmill however felt poorly drawn in comparison. Also, compared to the character, the walls look simply done as well.

Groovy (5/5 would download) - I loved the soundtrack and how it managed to pump up the spirit in such a hard and painful game. Once transitioned properly, the audio would be all around wonderful!

Verdict:

I really hope the developer doesn't take too much offence from this harsh review but I believe it serves a great purpose to all the developer out there. We sometimes learn more from the bad games than we ever will from the good ones.

Epilepsy warning! Totally groovy music awaits~ : Plein - Pixelday Preview

Titans Tower (Arcade)

ARGHHH DIED AGAIN!??! Yes, its one of those games. Before the comments up ahead I would like to say that Titans Tower is one of the most polished games in the arcade genre that I've seen in quite some time. It does resemble Flappy Bird with a few core differences. I hope I am able to rely on my emotions instead of constantly comparing it to the legendary Bird O' Flappy.

General:

Design (2/5 chests) - Could be improved, described below.

Audio (4.5/5 chirps) - Coherent audio throughout the game, gets annoying as I keep dying but I believe that's intended.

Mechanics (4/5 clicks) - As simple as it gets, one click which is very responsive.

Art (4.5/5 verandas) - Captivating color scheme with a lovely style that sits well together. I think the character could looks a little better though. For example, it looks a little strange whilst running upwards.

Emoview:

No fair! (2/5 deaths) - The random generation makes it seem almost unfair. Maybe its too hard, for example, in Flappy Bird or Timberman it seems simple but people lack the skill. The simplicity is what compels them to continue on. However, with all the things to keep in mind right from the start in this game, it could cause players to give up much faster.

Points (2/5 coins) - I didn't feel like I could pay attention to the coins, to be fair I'm terrible at the game myself (my high score being 3, I swear I passed 10). However, with all the random generation to pay attention to, I felt I needed to survive way more than I needed the points.

Smoooooth (5/5 style points) - The game's overall polish from audio to art made me feel like the game was professionally made albeit being a simple arcade style game.

Verdict:

A little too hard for a commoner, but could easily be as addictive as Flappy Bird once was.

If Flappy Bird didn't scar you enough, here you go you little masochist: Titans Tower

Colors (Puzzle)

In my quest to rate and comment on the games which are under judgement, I stumbled across a few. Some of which were, as Newgrounds warned, unplayable and were a waste of time. But I believe this is a diamond in the rough that deserves some attention. With that, this post goes out to the developer of colors~

General:

Design (4/5 green dots) - The learning curve that I stress a lot on my blog was good in this game. However I think there's more potential to be explored with the point system that felt pretty useless in the beginning. Also the idle dots don't seem to play much of a role making them pretty irrelevant (Explained in greater detail below)

Audio (3.5/5 pink dots) - I really liked the soundtrack. It was calming and reminded me of my Maplestory days. However I don't think it fits too well with the overall environment of the game. It could use either a little more calmness or action, depends on what you're trying to push for.

Mechanics (3/5 red dots) - I think they're pretty neat mechanics but, as mentioned earlier, not applicable to many of the other dots.

Art (4/5 yellow dots) - Mostly fit a pretty simple set up, I think the death particles and overall interface could be improved though.

Emoview:

Scoring (2/5 precision points) - I felt unhappy with the meaninglessness of the idle dots. That's because after a certain point, the hardest part was to find out how I could make the best points with the moving dots (which is a great mechanic). However, after those 1 or 2 puzzles were solved in each level, I was left slowly killing off the others. I would strongly suggest a more prominent timer to hype players up to get over even the idle ones faster.

Surprise! (4/5 teleports) - I was pleasantly surprised with the mechanics. I honestly thought, "you can cross over dots, okay.. where could it possibly go from here". Gladly played the game to the end to get the answer to that question.

Sneaky little ending (5/5 death particles) - I really enjoyed how I managed to get 23000/23001 at the end, failing the level. I loved the humor surrounding it and I couldn't help but laugh. Good job predicting that one!

Verdict: 

Pleasantly surprised after looking through some terrible games. Simple as games get but has great potential to be extremely puzzling!

Readers, try out this simple but unique puzzle out for yourself: Colors