EmperorCharlemagne's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Echo Bullet]

Not bad.

Graphics are pretty low-key, and I wish it was a bit clear what your hit-box exactly was.

From the amount I played, the bullet patterns were fairly decent. I wish there was more variety in your offensive capabilities though. Focusing the attack was not really a big step up from normal shot.

I wasn't a fan of the music, sorry.

All in all, a respectable effort.

[DN8]

One word: "Slick"

You seem to have taken a Space Invaders aesthetic and combined it with some wickedly fun bullet pattens. The neat evolving mechanic makes this game stand out from other NG shooters (though the king of NG shmups for me will always be Raiden X... if that's still around, check that out!).

While being a curmudgeony neophyte shmup fan (only really getting into the genre with the purchase of my Sega Saturn), the gameplay I can attest is spot-on. While I would have liked to see what it would be like to move with the arrow keys or something else, the mouse movement works for what it needs to do.

The music, while not entirely my cup of tea, had some genuinely good tracks, and complimented some of the action very well.

The people who say this needs "better graphics" are idiots, plain and simple. The game has an aesthetic, and that's not something "graphics" can improve or detract. I am not entirely sure what the whole procedurally-randomly-generated enemy thing was all about, since after a while i only saw the same types of enemies. I dunno, but hey it sounds cool.

The only real complaint I could possibly have is that in the early levels, things are so mellow that you can pretty much stand still and beat the level. This lasts roughly the first third of the game, until you say, get your pods, or the first 'boss'. Now, the evolving mechanic keeps this from getting to be a drag, but you might lose potential players since it doesn't "start out with a bang", so to speak. If you are worried that this is a problem; don't, if my 9 is any indication.

The later levels are frantic, and I appreciated the inclusion of a screen wiping bomb... and was impressed by the clever introduction of the walls to keep the Redrum from being useful in those lonely bullet-infested stretches.

I mentioned before the concept of "aesthetic." This game has a lot of it. Clearly the creator loves shmups, perhaps stuff by Cave, Toaplan, Treasure, or ZUN (I prefer Taito shooters myself). Heck, the WARNING siren even comes with Japanese underneath it, so clearly you knew what you were aiming for. The little touches like that might go unnoticed, but to a shmup fan, it makes the game irresistible, and a great, short, concentrated experience of fun.

Well done for such a finely-crafted game.

Squize responds:

Thank you so much for this review mate. And yes, Raiden X is the daddy ( I did do a game called "Polarity" which is on here somewhere, which was more a traditional vertical shooter, but too many things were taken out of my hands and it didn't turn out how I wanted it to, so I've pretty much dis-owned it ).

[PixEvo - The Fountain]

Great sense of progression

the jumps are difficult and a little frustrating, but never TOO difficult and out of the way, and the feeling you get as you become more and more powerful and able to overcome obstacles is a good one indeed.

The platforming is for the most part smart, the pixels are well placed, the music is pretty catchy, and the pacing of the game is good enough to where backtracking was ALMOST annoying and boring, but it didn't really get there because you always knew where you could find more pixels and boost your pixel-count.

Great game!

[Coma]

very nice

my only complaint is that using the mouse in tandem with the arrow keys is awkward; I think you could have made the very simple system of scrolling through dialogue regulated to a key button like a or z or something like that.

Still, I very much enjoyed the atmosphere, the music was very fitting, the art style was rather nice.

There really isn't any way to die, which I suppose is alright; though it certainly would've added in some tension if some things very ACTIVELY discouraged you from ringing the Dore Bell.

Note: the NG front page description kinda ruins a lot of the experience by kinda giving things away.

Still, a very nice game; congratulations!

[Space-ninja]

yeah this pretty much is star guard

But not as good, man.

That doesn't mean it's bad, though.

The big problem though is with the controls. How can the controls be so irritating when they're so simple?

Mainly, because you kinda went against the grain of all PC platform-shooters (like star guard) and you switched the jump and shoot buttons. When I want to jump I keep on shooting, and when I want to shoot I jump. I wouldn't complain about controls if not for the fact that nearly EVERY platformer on a computer has the opposite controls you have, which makes things a whole lot harder to just jump in and play. I will say I liked the wall-jumping though. Not too many 8-or-less-bit games have wall jumping, especially for flash.

As well the level design is a little TOO simplistic- there are good bits here and there, but aside from control issues, the game doesn't pose that much of a threat to my character's well-being. Keep at it, though, and play lots of games to find what works and what doesn't.

[Violet: The Platformer]

Did you make Star Guard or something?

Because the hero sprite is IDENTICAL to the guy you play as in Star Guard.
As is the general art style, and level design.

Must be a fan, eh?

Anyhoo, the game is pretty simplistic, and pretty much like a demo of sorts, like something you make while you learn to make a real game.

The guy moved a LITTLE too slow, and trekking back to the shop was a little bit of a drag.

Still, in general, this was not bad, even if you did rip off the art style of a much better game (unless you happen to be the same guy; then I ask "What happened?").

So yeah, keep at it.

[Hit The Targets]

Well hey, can't blame ya

At least it works; it's just what the others below me say: very bare bones. All the same, I hope you can expand on this engine to actually make a game instead of a tech-demo.