Score: 10

"The stuff a great animated TV series is made of"

submission: King of the Flies

date: March 24, 2003

And that's where the characters featured in this belong. Such a rich flash, full of things and people and creatures you want to learn more about than is allowed by the short duration of "King of the Flies."

Technically, the shading is gorgeous, the colour-scheme really sets the tone of this world and its populace... the sounds aren't the greatest I've heard, but they fit, they work, and overdone sounds such as in the tongue-stretching portion add to the humour of some scenes.

Hell, even the final credits rock. You've done very very well here. Great job.

Score: 8

"Wow... G.W. Bush is actually Mr. Mackey from SP!"

submission: The Prez Sez

date: March 19, 2003

I can't believe I didn't notice it before! thanks for this educational flash. #;-}>

Anyway, I enjoyed it very much, but it could have been longer. Highlights for me were the no war people (though they should have been cut away from before they could go "duhhhh", thus symbolising the silencing of the critics)... umm... the Nazi-ish salute Bush accidentally does.... and finally "this can't end well" ending.

Saddam wasn't as fleshed out, but what little there was was funny. More Saddam, little longer overall = PRICELESS! Good job!

Score: 9

"Bet yer gettin' a ton of extra creds for this"

submission: American Racism

date: March 19, 2003

Cause it's not only good, it's actually informative. And although not entertaining, that's certainly a valid aim of a flash movie from time to time, so it's welcome.

I have just one comment about the content, though: although blacks have received shitty treatment over time, their situation is getting better within the past few decades, looks to improve further, and didn't start until colonisation had gotten well underway centuries ago.

And so I have to disagree with their history in this country being the worst example of racism in America, because of course, the native population endured much worse at European immigrant hands. While they didn't have to deal with day to day discrimination as much in the 20th century, they suffered far more deaths, and even more damaging from many of their faiths' and beliefs' POVs, they were robbed of their land, natural surroundings, ways of life, and so forth and so on. I'm not saying black slavery was candycanes and sunshine, just that the natives got the shaft from the moment the first colony was established, and are far worse off (what's left of them) today, in 2003, than any other group.

Score: 8

"It may have been done before..."

submission: Mahjongg

date: March 5, 2003

and maybe the people saying most NGers don't appreciate this game are correct... but when the flash I've spent the most time viewing/playing in the past 2 days is this one... I have no choice but to conclude it's a worthwhile portal entry.

I am biased, since I already liked the game, but I liked the tile graphics, the menus and layout choices, pretty much everything. About the only thing I didn't like was the sound when you clear two tiles, in fact! And if that's the only bad thing I can think of, it must be pretty good. Kudos!

Score: 8

"Yay! Everyone loves penguins, right?"

submission: Winter Wear Dress-up

date: March 5, 2003

You gotsta show some love for the pen-pens. Love the art style, too. The rainbow-coloured mittens, the hats for both sexes, everything. But my favorite bit is the scarves, he/she looks pretty bitchin' in them.

Only ONE thing missing: a tuxedo bow-tie type outfit, and some sort of footwear! Add those, and you'll have the ultimate penguin dress up. Heh. Good job, Freaka!

Score: 8

"I love the visual texture of this..."

submission: remove3

date: March 1, 2003

From simple things like the way you blended red fur into white fur on the foxes to the detail of a knot in a tree trunk, everything is richly imagined visually. And the shading is just perfect. The forest comes alive because of your great use of shaded trees surrounding the doomed animals.

And even the plot itself has a few nice touches, like one of the humans not giving a damn, seemingly, when his fellow man gets taken down (and presumably out) by a wolf.

The only thing I can suggest at all would be to let the ending be a little longer, it seemed to zip by way too fast on my screen, had to play it all again to watch it again... and... well, text and sound wouldn't hurt, but you've got a touch of music and wonderful visuals, so who cares?

Great job! Look forward to more.

Score: 9

"I love playing Go"

submission: An Introduction to Go

date: February 22, 2003

...and also reading anything about it, so this flash is perfect for me. Although you can't actually PLAY the game in it, you can do everything but.

The little touches, like having one character unenthusiastically reading from a script, are perfect. And the style/look of the overall flash is unique and so refreshing after watching a load of bad flash and okay but typical flash tonight. THANK YOU, scartol. I liked cowgirl, too, BTW, so I can't wait for another submission from you. Keep up the good work!

Score: 8

"Better this time than last time it was submitted"

submission: TAXIMAN V. 0.3

date: February 19, 2003

I especially like the addition of the map, though it's not quite centered. It's a little laggy on my P2-266, but on low qual, it runs relatively well.

I've got just one main complaint where there's room for improvement: the collision detection, I guess you could say. While it seems to be fine with regard to the edge of the map and buildings and light poles (tipping them over is a nice touch, BTW, thanks), and it seems to be ehh... okay with regard to clipping people... it seems to be very imperfect with regard to other cars. I've come near cars but not hit them and it shows them getting busted up and my damage amount going up.

So, defining the edges of the cars better would be very helpful. The way it is now, you can hardly ever pass them without "hitting" them on the narrower streets. Good job overall, though, I look forward to more in the future.

Score: 6

"Great concept and plot... not so good execution"

submission: Flash in Heaven

date: February 19, 2003

I really liked what you tried to do here. For one thing, the idea felt kinda like the natural extension of "Feeling Glum" (check it out, if you haven't, it's about what happens to flashes when they get submitted and go out to play around on the portal's green hills). The plot was nice, the graphics weren't great, but I don't care personally. But here's where the problems come up:

First and foremost is the lack of any sound at all. Dialogue would be nice. Sound effects would be nice. Music would be nice. Missing one of those would be okay. Missing all three? Not really acceptable. You gotta find something out there, or at least record your own stuff a BIT.

And secondly, though perhaps not as important: it starts off so promisingly with the scenes of flashes playing in heaven, and ends fairly humorously with the reincarnated flash #84099 (nice touch) dancing around with the other flashes on the portal's flash-killing banner.... but the middle section... hm... the argument with the guy was all right, but then the constant fucks and shits as he falls back to earth. They just weren't funny. I love cursing when it's funny, and it just wasn't. Way overused, too. Cut back on that section, or at least make them sounds instead of text, and I think your flash's reception will improve among the viewers. Good luck in your future endeavours.

Score: 7

"Tony Blair?"

submission: Bahgdad Bop!

date: February 16, 2003

I thought that WAS Jeff Goldblum. If it was supposed to be Blair, please explain to me why his skin was darker than Saddam's? Heh. That's really weird.

Good idea for a video for that song, though, and I liked that the heads weren't just sprites bouncing around but actually could be viewed from different angles. Next time, though, perhaps some text introducing the dancers would be useful for determining just who's Jeff Goldblum and who's Tony Blair. #;-}>