Themeguy's Reviews

[Surprise Counter - Episode 1]

This was delightfully absurd, the animation is also really great as well. The only thing that really caught my eye was the fact that at the end the girl is walking, but she is not moving at all. It normally might not be too much of a problem, but you have it playing for around 7 seconds which makes it extremely noticeable.

[Str1ngle]

When I started this game, I was like "Oh geez, I'm controlling with the arrow keys? This is gonna be a mess." But I was pleasantly surprised as the ball actually controlled really really nicely!

Another fear I had going into this was that it would get too hectic and unfair towards the end, but you also proved my cynicism wrong in that regard. The bonuses you get upon leveling up are really helpful and keeps the game fair going all the way to the end.

Also, the music you used was perfect for this game.

I was slightly disappointed at the fact that I couldn't keep going after getting to level 10. Having the level cap end there and having a survival would have been fun.

Zanzlanz responds:

Thank you very much! I'm really did want to make the game rewarding, so I'm very happy that the controls and leveling helped with that. :)

I made the music for the game. Personally I'd want it a bit more energetic, but I stuck with it anyway. I feared that if I spent too much time making the music, I'd run out of time to finish making the game.

I also wanted it to go on forever, but since I didn't have enough content to keep it going, I ended up giving it a 10 level cap. But if I end up making a sequel, I'd be focusing on endless gameplay :D

Thanks again!

[Daymare Cat]

I really liked the art style and the gameplay, but the game seemed way too short. I know it's not easy to make more levels given the art style, but when I thought it was going to get more in depth, and present a new challenge, a la the music door, the game just ended. Overall the game is great, but it left me wanting a lot more.

[Super Bazooka Mario 1.5]

This game is pretty decent, the level design is pretty good and the visuals are nice. The physics also work pretty well.. However, I'm rating 3 stars because of a pretty noticeable problem that is completely hindering my progress and thus is making the game less enjoyable.

The bomb limit and the moving enemies together creates a big problem. The fact that the enemies move means that even when I make a challenging shot, get the coin, and get the bomb where I want it to be, the enemy merely walks to the left right before my bomb explodes and I have to make the shot again. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but since I only get around 5 or 6 bombs, that makes it a problem, since the enemy walking patterns vary. I've had them walk into the bomb and stay against it for a few seconds before just turning around and moving out of the explosion range, which can basically ruin my progress on a level.

This issue is really prevalent on the first ghost house level. The moving platform requires me to time for the platform in order to get the bomb where I want it to be. But the enemy platforms have spacing for the boo and the dry bones to walk away from my bomb. So when I finally arc it over to the dry bones, he walks away and I have to do it again. There's a 6 bomb limit, and it would take a minimum of three shots to get everything else in the level, meaning that I only have 3 shots left to perfectly get it over the moving platform and hope that he doesn't walk away. Getting the coin there is no easy feat either.

It's also a little harder to be accurate because you have a straight line with a power gauge. This makes it more difficult for me to properly angle my shots, since I have no arc indication. What I think might be good to arc the thing is usually either too strong or too weak. And bringing it back to the ghost house, there is a variety of different shots at varying angles and strengths that I have to make in the level, so I have to constantly switch. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, because I could just fire a test shot to see if I got the arc right, but again, the bomb limit makes it bad for me to do that.

It's pretty challenging, but with the aiming system, bomb limit, and such, most of the difficulty results in you having to fail at the level multiple times and memorizing how to aim specifically since the aiming is rather difficult, rather than just playing the game. It has potential, but falls short because of a few issues working together to make the game A LOT more difficult and thus less fun.

xmorpher responds:

Thanks for your review! We took a lot of time in level design and
we made the game challenging for those who are aiming to get all the coins
but easy enough if you just want to pass the level, but we know the difficulty is higher
than the average shooter... That's why we just included a "Difficulty option"
so you can get additional bombs in the Easy Mode (but will not have coins)
The moving enemies are frustating some times, but its rewarding when you finally blow them up ;)
When you advance through the levels you will tune your skills gradually, in fact,
if you play again the first levels where you had problems you'll notice they're easier

Anyway, thanks for your patience and your review, we appreciate it
Regards