boticelly's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Loot Hero]

It's extremely funny to bash out through the hordes of your unsuspected enemies at full charge :) Thank you for making me experience this childlike feeling! But I've found that it also became repetitive quite quick. After this point you have to run through your enemies not because you are having fun, but in order to collect more gold and pump yourself up with new upgrades. The game starts exploiting the very sense of kinetic freedom it produces in order to create seemingly endless loop of accumulation and waste.
This game, just as your other game, Tap Heroes, is wonderful at creating fun, travesty kinetic experiences (in TH it was punching cardboard/sock puppet, here - bashing through the obstacles like a mad ram :)), and retro graphics and music also help at creating this arcade-like experience. But repetitive factor comes in place, and pushes the fun to its excess, turning it into a tiresome chore.

[Tap Heroes]

I think this game's biggest success is its accomplished visual style and sense of humor. The stage-like screen and some textures visual similarity to yarn create resemblance with a puppet or cardboard cutouts theatre show. This resemblance is also complemented by the shaky effect after each 'tap' and a farcical victory sound effect. The overall impression is that of a street farce or a slapstick comedy, which, in my opinion, is a quite refreshing and interesting style for a 'clicker' game.
With that said, however, I have to say that this game also suffers from most of the other 'idle' games drawbacks, like repeatability, lack of content to fill in seemingly endless playing time, and, most of all - gameplay mechanics simplicity, which results in effectively gripping, but meaningless addiction.

[Idle Evolution]

I think game's title - 'Idle Evolution' - is decisive in two ways. Firstly, also this game does not actually requires a lot in terms of gameplay and represents itself as an 'idle' pastime, it nevertheless kept me constantly occupied: when the game was on, I kept checking what element's production do I need to boost with my cursor in order to progress in one of three dimensions - 'Upgrades', 'Evolution/Life' and 'Knowledge'. When the game was off, I kept thinking about how much elements am I gaining at the 'Idle' state and how soon will my stocks will be filled and I will have to revisit the game in order to empty them. So unlike other games, this one has totally subordinated my time to it; I was 'playing' it and it kept my thoughts in a kind of neurotic time-calculating state even when it was not actually on. In this sense, this game is definitely good and effectively addictive.
Secondly, for the game that claims to simulate evolution, there is, in my opinion, a regrettable lack of one. The actual 'Evolution/Life' parts of the game feel more like a shallow mechanics, that does not actually bring much in terms of gameplay variety and sense of meaningful progression. It seems that it's only function is to be the seemingly bottomless resources-sucking pit (that as well can be attributed to the 'Knowledge' section). Paleontological periods differ only in terms of appearance and bonuses they bring (not to mention the resources demand). In the game I never felt like something significant happened when I passed from Archean to Proterozoic era: not a single event indicated that life was emerged somewhere in this passing. In my view, this was a missed opportunity.
Overall, in my opinion, the attracting/addiction inducing mechanics in this game work excellent, but the actual reward in terms of new and meaningful gaming experience just doesn't pay off.

[100% Complete]

Wonderful game! I love the idea to build the entire gameplay around secrets search. This makes space exploration very funny and engaging, while also pushing player to make every effort, to try to apply every game mechanic at each occasion. Thus the game space feels more condensed, as if it's every block and corner has some meaning, in this case - hidden passage behind it. This condensed feeling of space is nicely supplemented, in my view, with game's minimalistic graphics and music, since in pixel art every visual element (every pixel) has a high signifying potential, i.e. one pixel of different color can change the meaning of entire peace.
Also, I think that the core idea begs for further development and for a bigger game, filled with more mechanics and exploration puzzles.

[Epic Boss Fighter 2]

Very engaging and addictive game! The sense of progression is very strong: with each fight I felt like I was getting something, even if I lost. I found some bosses hard at times, but after few fights they were becoming much accessible - due to both character progression and my tactical skills improvement. This two progression dimensions are very well balanced and are, in my opinion, game's core mechanics of attraction. Level/boss designs are great and whimsical, none of them feels the same. I would also note game's graphics and humor, which are also very decent.

[:the game:]

Good game, many laughs :) Some very witty comedy and satire, which was largely given through the game play means ("Capitalism: the game" is my favorite). Some jokes are more clever than the others, but the sheer amount of them, their variety and really fast comedic "editing" compensate and make overall experience so exciting. The game's repeatability of the setting and gamers actions (often only one meaningful action) are the formal features that create the most powerful satire, which even borders with cynicism - not only of the modern society in all its stupidity, but also of the gaming itself as a form of "pointless" activity. I think compositionally this game is similar to a joke that you can tell over and over with different endings: dome basic features always stay the same, but the punch line is always different. The interruptions of this repeatability with some sections that actually require playing are refreshing, but they sometimes drag too much attention to themselves, ruining the editing pace.

[The Deepest Sleep]

Another solid good game in the series! I was pleasantly surprised with some new mechanics (like the movement tracking monsters) and the return of the old ones (like flashlight, which was designed very well in my opinion). The twist ending was a really good way to close the entire series story ark, also the game itself felt a little too short - at least shorter than the previous one.
I also felt that for the game about nightmares it was still somewhat safe, the scares never got any more complicated than regular jump scares. The atmosphere was good, but something was lacking. Let me put it this way: the environment was too surreal and eclectic to resemble any kind of real space, but not surreal and crazy enough to look and operate like a horrific nightmare that it was supposed to be. Maybe the inclusion of more logic and space paradoxes (like the one with the music box) would have made the overall experience even better.
I also admired the video static effect you use frequently in your quests. It brings some dynamism into the otherwise static pixel art visual style, and also creates creepy "found footage" cinematic effect. Few times in this game I've found myself staring into the unlit sections of the screen, thinking that I've seen some previously immobile object moved. But my suspicions were never justified, wich is sad because I think this was another missed opportunity for some great horror-inducing mechanic.

[Deep Sleep]

Good game. It succeeds at creating suspense and mysterious atmosphere, and keeps the tone through the entire play through. I have to say though, that few scary moments was predictable and somewhat ungrounded - sort of the stereotypical scary things and situations, little childish even. Also, given the story premise - you are asleep and this is your nightmare - this stylistic approach could be very well justified. Puzzles are evenly challenging, also pixel hunting might be the problem sometimes (for example, I had problem with finding the switch for the oven and then - with finding proper lever for it). The flashlight mechanic is well done, adding a new dimension to the experience of vulnerability. In my opinion, It might have been used for more environment-oriented puzzles.

Overall the game effectively utilizes traditional point-and-click adventure aesthetic conventions to create fun and scary interactive experience. I can't wait to play sequels and see how initial ideas were developed there!

[400 Years]

Beautiful small lyrical game. The time manipulation mechanics was simple, but effective, it felt fresh. Also, if the game would have been little longer, it would probably have felt exhausting.

The game's simplistic graphics, movement restrictions, meditative music and overall slow pace work well to create an experience of a very slow moving inorganic life. At the same time the time limit and a disturbing story with a mystery create somewhat of an anxiety. This anxiety coupled with the movement restrictions and the feel of slow moving life makes a complex emotional experience, witch, for me, was the game's greatest achievement.

For the future, I'd recommend to develop the core concept further, with addition of more time/environment related puzzles.

[What Do We Do Now?]

Lovely short game. Seemingly simple in its composition, but very well designed. The opening puzzle is great: it plays with traditonal gaming convention (press the "start" button) and transforms it into the minigame in itself. The name of the game provides motivation and compensates for the lack of it's story and setting, while also making kinda ironic reamark on the very essense of any gaming experience. Sound fits perfectly and also gives an a little uncanny feeling. Overall great experience!

seanjames responds:

Thanks so much for playing and for leaving feedback. I'm glad you were able to appreciate how the title set the tone for the game... I've talked with a few people about how important that was in this instance. Since you enjoyed this, perhaps you'll be interested to know that I'm working on an greatly expanded version www.nowwhatdowedo.com (which has a new title, but keeps its purpose very much in tact while still pointing back to the original) Thanks again for playing!!!