Pogobeta's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Tiny Evolution Adventure]

This game REALLY makes me want to go back and replay Evo. As soon as the first level started I began thinking of Evo.

This is a nice little game in a short amount of time, and I understand the notion of making last minute changes, but for the Lizard stage I would've filled in a few of the bottomless pits or changed the big leaves into solid leaves since there's no flying.

As somebody else pointed out, it's a little harsh that the eels kill you no matter where you touch them. The great thing about Evo was that you could attack enemies that are way too strong for you as long as you bite them someplace away from teeth, horns, etc. I would love to see a larger version this game in the future. Maybe still always a dragon-line but with some upgrading or something.

Anybody who enjoyed playing this, if you get a chance, try to find a game called "EVO: The Search for Eden" on super nintendo. It's a similar concept but you can upgrade your creature's parts and guide it down different evolutionary paths.

AdventureIslands responds:

The game is indeed a bit rough around the edges, I didn't have much time to properly test the game. But glad you enjoyed it. It was inspired by EVO you mentioned, that was very good game!

[Burrito Bison Revenge]

Very fun, very polished launcher game. I didn't know what kind of game it was when I first opened it, but I'm glad I played.

There are some things that I would like to have seen different, but I think they were intentional so I'm not "taking off points" for them. It's also possible that they were in there and I just didn't find them.

I like the different types of upgrades instead of just "bigger launcher, and bigger bounce on an obstacle, the end" that is so common in launcher games.

I'm sure that the slow impact mission was intentionally placed to make life incredibly difficult after upgrading lots of stuff, and it certainly was.

Once you have everything upgraded, the game plays itself. even if you intentionally botch the launch in Survival, you're pretty much guaranteed to get pushed all the way up to fiery at LEAST once. In normal mode, after launching, I didn't click anything but made it to the end in 45 seconds. It's great in the sense that I can leave the game running and just have it collect money, but certain missions that require precision are more frustrating.

Still, it's incredibly well-made and I had a great time playing.

[GLave]

I'm a little torn about the notion of choosing one specific weapon before a mission. Obviously there are reasons to want more than one option throughout a level, but I do kinda like the "choose wisely" aspect, even though you don't know what you're getting into beforehand (which is why I'm glad there's no limited lives). Like the difference between "Select Your Turtle" compared to something like Metroid or even Gunstar Heroes.

I'm a sucker for ricochet weapons, but this one felt like it was only useful when you were forced to jump down into contact damage with an enemy, and even then, only like 1 bullet in 20 would hit any enemies on the rebound. I would've liked it more if there was a specific series of angles so that you could make informed shots. Like maybe if the initial shot didn't go straight out, but went up or down (or both!) at 30-45 degrees. The upside would be better "trick shots" from safe (cowardly?) positions, but the downside is that when an enemy is coming straight at you, you HAVE to do an angled shot from a pretty specific distance/location.

Maybe the first couple "artifacts" could've been the weapon mods. Like, get the Big Shot at the end of stage 1, then applying the Big Shot automatically as you enter stage 2, in which you collect the Piercing Shot, etc.. until you have all four. Honestly, it wouldn't even have to be split up into four levels, but it works nicely with the "collect treasure objective, exit level" principle. It could all be one introductory level with four locked doors (I was about to suggest special mod-related switches to open these doors, but that's dangerous territory because it adds another game mechanic and would almost require the ability to change mods mid-level). Arranging the first few sections in linear order, automatically switching to the newest mod before starting the next level, and tailoring those first few levels specifically to showcase each weapon's strengths and weaknesses, basically forcing the player to try each at least once. I used the piercing shot once, screamed about "WHY ISN'T THERE A CROUCH BUTTON" but then remembered that it was an intentional limitation with the weapon, and changed back and moved along.

Money comes in a little slowly. I haven't replayed any levels I've previously beaten, so I dunno if there's really any newly-accessible areas, although I assume there's a few jump-accessible areas. At any rate, money doesn't accumulate fast enough to enjoy the upgrades. I'm sure it's possible to just grind already-beaten levels until you get enough money, but cheaper upgrades with smaller improvements still keep the player engaged with a feeling of accomplishment.

The pop-up orbs that come out of the floor in sk1 are kind of obnoxious. They seem very random and at first I thought it was a bug, because at the time I was also experiencing the "bullet permanently suspended in air" bug. It should either be easier to tell where they're going to pop up, or they should take longer after appearing before they shoot.

I had fun playing it, but once i got to the "sk" levels it turned into kind of a chore. I'd love to see you take on this type of game again, with more levels, a more fleshed-out weapons system (maybe the ability to upgrade each mod individually, even though they're free to switch), and a little more polish in the art.

[Pixel Purge]

Beats the hell out of Geometry Wars

I had a really good time playing this game. Really easy to pick up. I didn't grasp right away that the twinkling "stars" in the (perceived) background were actually the loot I needed to pick up in order to gain EXP, but that's my own damn fault for not reading the instructions.

I'm one of those people who has to collect everything, so I automatically went for a Pixel/Magnet upgrade combination, until I found out that it makes it more difficult to get certain trophies.

I didn't care much for the Score boost upgrade, it seemed like it was really only worth getting for the 1 million point trophy, but I forget sometimes that many people are interested in leaderboards and stuff, so the score still ostensibly has some value.

One thing I wish I could have seen (not considering it a flaw necessarily, just a personal preference) is a way to indicate that the edge of the screen is approaching, aside from having the scrolling stop. Or maybe instead having a marker of some sort near the center. Once you really get in deep, you're whipping around so fast and changing direction a lot, and suddenly you've painted yourself into a corner. With a parallax background (which looks awesome), the added depth perception makes it harder to track your position in 2D space. You can kinda get by if you check the closest layer of the background, but it's easy to lose track when the enemies really come at you.

Still, these gripes I have are really minor, and the game is rad overall.

Is there a problem with medals being awarded? I finally got double stars in my menu but I'm still missing a couple NG medals afterward.

I had all the in-game trophies except Chain1000 and Vessel King, and then the All-Gold and All-Plat trophies. I managed to get the Chain1000 first, then built up and died, and in my next playthrough I got the Vessel King trophy, which then cascaded with AllGold, AllPlatinum, and Master trophies. I dunno if this messed things up because it's logical that I'd have the Vessel King first (and therefore get all the gold before I got Chain1000 etc), but either way, I have all the trophies in-game but I'm still missing the medals that require Chain1000 or Vessel King, as the sole objective or as a prerequisite.