Score: 9

"Love and Nature, entwined... [695]"

submission: Oh, It is Love

date: April 4, 2008

I'm a sucker for sketchy/jiggly animations. And yours has it in both the intro text and the characters themselves (thoguh perhaps that's attributable to the wind). And such lovely backgrounds. Fields of green, trees and paths and skies vibrant and welcoming.

Makes me wish I lived out in the hills in an eternal Autumnal shade of orange. But alas.... that's just not possible. Anywhere. ;_; Great flash!

Score: 10

"Death March of the Penguins [694]"

submission: Extinction Friction - T.P

date: April 4, 2008

The above, I believe, would have been an acceptable alternate title. Your flash is certainly the most epic penguin tale since that movie graced the silver screens across the world.

There is nothing more brilliant than dozens upon dozens upon hundreds upon hundreds of pengy's dropping dead along with the classical melodies that enchant our ears.

And armies of them.... and of orca... and then... orca chunks. O_O

Well, it's simply horrific and beautiful all at once. Everything that NG was founded upon (Club a Seal, anyone?). Well done. Kudos. Bravo. Encore? (oh, and since you asked another reviewer that scored it a 10... yes, I 5'ed it the day you released it, and I'll 5 it again now #;-}>)

Score: 9

"Gotta love the fanimutation/filking! [693]"

submission: SSBB Theme Decoded

date: April 4, 2008

Any example of this artform will have the lines of the song where it has to reach just a bit (say a word that most singers wouldn't stretch to 6 syllables under normal circumstances, for instance), but I think you did a decent job.

More importantly, you put some great visuals along with the audio. I loved the randomness (which is always essential), yet sometimes using the same character for a bit more than just the one moment (such as Harry Potter's scar... and then slipping on meat the next moment).

My favourite bits, though, based on just the lyrics/visual combos:

"Me be who!" set to the A Challenger Approaches warning screen... yeah... #;-}>
"They are people speeding... OMELET PREVAIL!" Yes! BEST EVAR LINE.
"We are relieved"/"Tom Fulp" (for sounding almost exactly spot on! It's quite amazing.

Least fave, to be fair:

"hee hee hoo" ... enough said. #;-}>

Score: 9

"Of course we remember ASCII art! [692]"

submission: asciiBot: Binary Invaders

date: April 4, 2008

Hell, I live it! Every single damned day. Well, in my mind, at least...

This flash reminds me on the surface of an old LOLLERCOPTER game, which was similarly ASCII-art based. But while that flash game relied on the humour of teh LOLs, this one just relies on... well, good graphics and gameplay, frankly.

One wouldn't THINK of ASCII art based games as possessing the potential for graphics, but I love the constantly turning treads of your little tank guy... the way he angles to the left and the right as you move him around, the way he gets all.. up in arms and angary when he shoots... but all queasy-looking and scared if he gets hit by any 1s or 0s (accompanied by a nice big 5-sided red asterisk, no less!)

Also, the angling and turning of the green 1s and 0s is far more involving than what most programmers probably would have attempted in making such a game (more of a marching back-and-forth Space Invaders clone). You've put a little twist on the normal Space Invaders motif, and I for one thing that change can be good, especially when there's been plenty of the old way.

The only things I'd ask for would be cooler explosions when you score a hit (or hell, forgo explosions and just have little ~~~~s fly out of the hits!)... perhaps a bit more colour than just the green enemies and red damage asterisk.... and sound (which others and yourself have already mentioned). That's it! Thanks for a great simple game, the best kind on NG so as not to lag up our crappy old computers!

Score: 9

"Oh, the pain... the pain.... [691]"

submission: Buttered side down

date: April 4, 2008

This reminds me of that cartoonist who had tons of animations back in the days of Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead... don't remember his name, but little short animations would play during some comedy sketch show, not SNL... and I don't think Mad TV (but maybe it was).... anyway, he did one on buttered toast landing face-down.... but then his character ate it anyway, hairs-stuck-to-the-butter and all.

It's good to see that your flash's protagonist chose a different.... less digusting path. But then instead of teh humours.... all we feel is teh pains of knowing exactly what it's like. :( inDEED, sir. Well said. Good music, as well (and nicely compressed!).

Score: 10

"Icey and Gloppy and yet... [690]"

submission: Sling Ice Junior

date: April 3, 2008

Fun as hell! I love the crisp white/blue design of the graphics here, first off. Secondly, the gameplay of getting to either sling around the blob as a slingshot.... or to pull it onto an anchorpoint.... or... to cause it to drop to the ground and bounce off the ground (love the physics there).... so many options, so many ways to beat a level, but only a few that will get you a good time bonus.

Also, when doing the primary slingshot thing, seeing a little "ghost" arc ahead of the anchorpoint where the blob will fly is really neat. Kinda like those Billiards video games that give you a SLIGHT cheat as to where your cue ball is going to go, but not infinitely so.

Good sound effects, too, which I had forgotten to mention to this point. And I love using the cannons. Greatness. Oh, and it's not a knock, trust me, the gameplay feels really similar to the slingshot moments in Super Mario Galaxy, which are some of the most fun gameplay moments in that great Wii game. So well done to you, a great game all around! Huzzah!

Score: 9

"Fun "Build a Machine" sort of game [689]"

submission: Wheel Of Death

date: April 3, 2008

Incredible Machine, as a previous reviewer mentioned.... That's the game, from the 90s, I think, that started this whole genre of puzzle games. This is a great addition in the flash area in that genre.

The drag-and-drop gameplay for getting the "Wheel of Death" to the target block... is quite smooth and easy to learn. I like all the stats, from score and lives lost under the current level in the corner... to all the level complete stats once you're successful in each level. I originally played this the week you submitted it, a couple weeks ago, and I can't remember to which stage I got, but there had been several levels in a row with piles of cars to jump the wheel over. And some weight-triggered switches and so forth. The amount of levels where I looked at the props available and thought "no way... there's just not enough!" yet still managed to figure out a way, especially when you have to take the wheel UPWARDS for quite a ways, with just a few ramps, springs, and so forth... to spare... are great, in particular.

Great level design, great engine, well done all around!

Score: 9

"Ah, what a great simple game. [688]"

submission: BioLabs: Outbreak!

date: April 3, 2008

I played this when you released it on 3/17, St. Patrick's Day, but have been meaning to get around to reviewing it for a couple weeks now. Happy to finally do so now.

At first, I wasn't sure how to really... play this. Because I figured that making a huge drop would use up the entire syringe of antidote.... but then I discovered that your coding of the syringe's fluid level basically values number of dispensations... over VOLUME of dispensations. Meaning you can pop a few HUGE globs onto the playing field for a whole lot less antidote... than 10x as much TINY droplets. While not exactly super-realistic, this makes for easier gameplay. Also, I love the sound of a dying virus. It's an awesome sound effect.

Of course, the challenge comes in when more and more virii outbreak... and after one or two huge bubbles of antidote... you're no longer free to just make it as big as the space will allow... a virus will surely touch it before you're done releasing it.... and totally ruin your bubble and waste the fluid you just committed. So.... it's a great balance you have to have.

Well coded, no bugs that I can see... awesome game! I would only add one thing to it if I could. That would be a little indication on the virii that the space they're confined in has gotten small enough to cause them to wither and die. Granted, part of the challenge might be that you need to make the spaces only JUST confining enough for that to happen.... but wasting a bunch of fluid in one half of the screen only to find you don't have enough for the virii on the other side of the screen... kinda blows. And related to that, if you run out of antidote while squirting out a final bubble that will kill the final virus or virii... I don't think you should instantly get a "game over" screen. It should wait for 15 seconds or so to see if the virii die or not. If even just one virus still lives after they've been moving around in the confined space.... then boom, game over at that point. It's also weird how you have to go back 1 level when you play again, instead of playing the same level again (argh... I just beat level 12... yet when I fail level 13, I have to do level 12 again? WTF? #;-}>). But those three things aside...

Great job, I hope you make a sequel or similar games in the future. Thanks!

Score: 10

"Speaking as someone who wants Orange Box... [687]"

submission: The Orange Flash Box

date: April 3, 2008

This flash was too good to pass up. The fact that I've already been spoiled on Portal time and time again.... was the deciding blow. Anywho... excellent video, sound fx, dialogue editing.... all that good stuff. Paris Hilton headshot? Hot indeed. And that's just the start.

Hahahah. Halo/Gordon Rocks/Sucks taggers... running back and forth. You know, I've never played a FPS where "tagging" was even an option. I'm so behind the times. Quake 2 and the original Half-Life... plus System Shock 2 and Oni... are about where my desktop computer left off, due to obsolescence.

Human breathing holes! You will enjoy it! Heheheh. But why the BLEEPing censorship? That blows. ;_;

"Well, I'm period'ing right now." Hahaha... glad I watched the deleted scene. Delicious.

Score: 9

"Japanese people! OH MY GOD! [686]"

submission: Wii Are Sold Out

date: April 3, 2008

Heh. Showing up at houses randomly... we would like to be playing.... flailing arms around.... leads inevitably to... DO YOU HAS ANY WII IN STOCK?

Oh.... NOE. Those are some extreme freakin' ANGARY eyebrows on the video game store employee's face. Absolutely awesome. Plenty of 360s and PS3s on the shelf right behind him, eh?

Anyway, without even having read your author comments prior to reviewing, I knew you were a retail worker. However, as a consumer, let me give you the alternate perspective here (most consumers aren't used to having to do SO MUCH WORKS to get their desired product, yanno.... unless they're beanie baby fans from back in the day, I guess): I started trying to get a Wii for myself and my gf back in April 2007, and one weekend my local Best Buy had some in stock, but I arrived too late that Sunday (by about 20 minutes, it appeared, from the line of people getting their Wii still). Fair enough. I kept asking through the next few months, when I would come and shop and PURCHASE other items (I spend a looooot of money at that Best Buy) when they expected to have more Wii in stock. I never got a straight answer for awhile, finally in August they gave me another specific date, a Sunday a couple weeks from then. I arrived that Sunday, and it turns out the Wii supply had been sold out the day before, on a Saturday. So.... yeah. That kinda blew that TWO separate people at the store had told me the wrong day.

I ended up finding (and buying) the last two Wii in stock at a nearby Target two weeks later, gave the other one to my parents. And I've been playing it every single day since the end of August 2007, for over half a year now. THE END. Happy ending FTW!

Long may Wii play.