Score: 8

"Addictive game"

submission: Crush the Castle

date: May 12, 2009

I've been playing this game for the last few days or so just getting the hang of it. The learning curve that you've put into it is appropriate considering the weapon upgrades that you eventually get after a certain point while playing it. It is rather amusing to see just how easily the "hard" castles that took multiple attempts to destroy are felled once you get hold of more powerful weaponry later on. It's a shame that it doesn't have an achievement system seeing as this is one of the few new games that I've seen that would deserve such a feature.

For those that are interested, here's a creation of my own if you wish to have a go at destroying it.

0~fl_w:1178.35,413.35|fl_w:976.7,411.
65|fl_w:775.35,411.5|fl_w:575.85,413.
15|fl_w:375,415|w_i:287.65,349.15|w_i :326,349.9|w_s:306.5,350.4|w_i:288.35 ,226.65|w_s:306.4,227.15|w_i:326.75,2 26.2|w_i:346.65,350|w_i:345.6,226.8|w _i:383.65,193.75|w_s:366.1,227.7|w_s:
366.65,348.35|w_i:385,350|w_i:567.9,3 51.8|w_i:566.65,193.7|w_s:586.9,346.5 |w_s:584.7,223.3|w_i:605.8,346.25|w_i :605.6,224.2|w_i:624.8,346.25|w_i:625 .65,224|w_s:645.35,345.5|w_s:645.65,2 21.6|w_i:665.65,346.35|w_i:665.5,192.
8|fl_i:476.75,284.25|fl_s:477.1,271.7 5|fl_i:474.7,260.4|fl_i:756.85,280.6|
w_s:857.7,344.4|fl_s:756.2,268.65|fl_
i:756.55,258.65|w_i:840.85,347.4|w_i:
875.9,347.65|w_s:858.7,221.45|w_i:878 .5,195.1|w_i:840,191.65|fl_i:475.7,12 5.6|fl_s:477.25,113.55|fl_i:475,103.3 |fl_i:751.7,125|fl_s:753.35,113.3|fl_
i:750,103.3|fl_i:968.85,281.5|fl_s:96 8.35,270|fl_i:970,261.65|p_t:330,140|
w_i:1060,348.35|w_i:1063.4,195.8|w_s:
1080.15,344.75|w_i:1098.35,346.65|w_i :1119.45,346.15|w_s:1140.1,345.85|w_i :1160.65,346.5|w_i:1100.45,223.45|w_i :1120.35,224.15|w_i:1160.3,223.1|w_s:
1080,221.65|w_s:1140,223.35|fl_i:970,
128.3|fl_s:971.7,116.65|fl_i:970,108.
3|p_t:1123.35,138.3|w_i:685,191.65|w_
i:820,191.65|w_i:900,195|w_i:1045,195 |w_i:404.75,193.25|w_i:548.35,193.05|
w_i:406.65,351.65|w_i:548.35,351.65|w _i:686.7,346.65|w_i:820,346.65|w_i:89 5,348.35|w_i:1038.35,348.35|c_k:988.8 5,371.95|c_q:773.9,371.65|c_p:515.1,3 73.4|c_p:987.5,220.5|c_p:775.05,216.9 |c_s:939.55,369.25|c_s:947.95,222.75|
c_s:725.45,219.1|c_s:725,373.35|c_s:4 45.7,373.65|c_s:450.35,221.65|c_p:496 .8,219.25|

Score: 6

"Good, so far as it goes"

submission: Youda Farmer

date: January 23, 2009

I have to admit that I'm not usually a fan of farm-sim games, thus the reason that I tend to avoid the Harvest Moon series. However, I decided to try your game on the basis of a whim once I saw that its overall score had managed to gain it either a green or blue background. The game itself, I find, is simple to play while still retaining a certain degree of a challenge. Towards the end of the game, I began to notice that it was getting harder to meet the challenges set, but not enough to make it frustrating.

I'm rather fond of the idea of building up the farm over time rather than starting with everything already in place. Again, doing so allows you to increase the difficulty level without it becoming too hard at any one point.

However, I cannot claim to be overly impressed with the fact that, as many people have already said, the game is a demo. Yes, I realise that I should have realised that from the start as soon as I saw Totallygame appear on the screen, but that in itself is actually a shame seeing as it has given you a reputation that I am sure you would wish to avoid.

The other game of yours that I've played through to the end would be World Domination II. While that was also a demo, I found it worth replaying quite a few times simply because it still allowed you to play through to the end of your goal - conquering the world. In that game's case, the extra material that you could gain by going premium extended to more characters, weapons and abilities. This was perfectly acceptable seeing as we were still left with a fully formed and intact game. Essentially, it's the gaming equivalent of releasing a few additional chapters for an already finished book.

Sadly, however, this does not apply to Youda Farmer; there is no justifiable manner in which one could claim that the game was finished by the time the demo stopped. To extend my previous book metaphor, it would be like reading through a good novel, only to find that the publisher stopped about halfway through, and left the rest of the pages blank. There is no sense of completion, and thus, no real sense of replay value either.

I appreciate the fact that you may need to rely on the premium upgrades in order to make a living to some degree or another. However, this is the wrong way to go about doing so. As I said previously, you have acquired a reputation here on Newgrounds for releasing, with precious few exceptions, games that do not allow the gamer any sense of completion or achievement. If you wish to go about the lines of premium upgrades, do so in the fashion of World Domination II. Release games that allow people to actually finish what they start, and then give them the option of additional missions, characters, tools, weapons, or whatever's applicable thereto. I strongly believe that your present strategy will only result in you shooting yourself in the foot financially.

You are capable of making very good games when you put in the effort; by adopting your current business plan, you are only selling yourself short when you could be doing so much better.

Score: 9

"Well crafted"

submission: FlashTrek: Broken Mirror

date: January 15, 2009

Judging from the various reviews found below this one, it would appear that I won't need to go into any kind of detail where cheat codes are concerned, thus allowing me to actually critique the game itself. I've been playing this game on and off for quite some time now, and I find that it offers a great deal of replay value. In the beginning, you're almost certainly going to be going trade missions of various sorts in order to build up the funds for your own projects whatever they may be.

However, I am certain that most people when playing this game will tend to gravitate towards the idea of empire building either for themselves or for their host government. In my case, however, I must confess that I find the idea of fighting against a planet even with the best of ships and a fleet to match to be somewhat tiring, for which reason, I do so using the Borg cube. Speaking of which, I don't believe I've seen anything in the recent reviews on how to access that, so I'll put that here.

When selecting your race for a new game profile, hit the Tab button on your keyboard until it's gone past the various species already mentioned. Once you do so, you'll find that the small yellow box will select three areas in the screen that wouldn't suggest any reason for attention. The first box will be the Borg, the second will be the Dominion and the third will be the Cardassians. To select which one you want, you will need to press the Shift button on the keyboard while clicking to access it. Of these three, only the first two are really worth considering in my opinion.

The Borg cube is the most powerful non-uber ship in the game, and is capable of destroying fleets by itself. However, you are also hated by everyone, so using the "everyonelovesme" cheat at the beginning is advisable so you can get various additional weapons. Additionally, its recharge rate, assuming power sufficiency, is fast enough to make short work of anything you care to mention. Should you decide to use this for empire building, I'd advise simply parking it over the planet in question, and turning on auto-targeting with the apostrophe or # button (I can't remember which); you'll achieve your goal much faster this way.

Playing as the Dominion will also make you hated by everyone, barring the Cardassians, so using the everyonelovesme cheat might be a good idea. I say that this is another option worth considering due to the comparatively unusual weapons available to their ships.

In the game menu, you'll be able to find an option dealing with plug ins; these are specialised pieces of coding created by other users that allow for customised versions of the game; the best being the uber-ship one that allows you to simply buy the most powerful ships - ones powerful enough to tear even the Borg cube to shreds. The plug ins will be found at Vex's website, and must be copied correctly to work. However, I've found that they work much better if you play the game from his site rather than Newgrounds. I suspect the reason for this is due to the game and the plug in coming from the same server rather than two completely unrelated ones.

In short, much to everyone's relief, no doubt, this is a game that will provide an awful lot of replay value for anyone who's interested in this genre of gaming.

Score: 10

"Very interesting"

submission: Zelda - Gerudo Valley (remix)

date: February 8, 2008

While I cannot claim to be any great expert on music, I would definitely say that you've done an excellent job on giving this song (one of my favourites) your own unique twist, yet keeping what made it good in the first place.

Score: 10

"Unique"

submission: Zero Plays Golden Sun!

date: January 20, 2008

Another rather unique interpretation of the Golden Sun theme. I must confess that the Zero elements threw me off for a bit when I first listened to it (about a year ago), but it's managed to grow on me since then. It actually manages to make me think of the early stages of the game in which even the weakest of enemies posed a challenge for some reason.

Score: 10

"Reminds me of the original"

submission: Golden Sun: Jupiter Lighthouse

date: January 20, 2008

A rather pleasant and simple melody that doesn't require anything overly complex to achieve what it wants. The background beat combined with the "wind" like elements in the foreground make for a rather interesting blend. Naturally though, that's to be expected given the fact that the same elements were present within the original as well. Over-complication can be a problem, but thankfully, that's not an issue here.