PenguinExplosion's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[GemCraft Labyrinth]

Astounding.

I had promised myself that I would not write a review until I had finished the game, but seeing as I have been playing for days, only completed 55 fields and opened 57, and that still is barely 1/3 of all of the fields, that seems illogical to do... Plus, I have so much I want to comment on, that waiting for a while may cause me to forget what I want to say, I have a horrid memory like that.

The field selection; I LOVE that you can (for the most part) choose whichever way you would rather go.

Graphics; Perfect in every way.

Music; good to have around, barely noticeable when you're working hard to win, and overall, well suited for the game.

Gameplay; super easy, unless you use the keyboard shortcuts, then confusing as poo.

Game Length; Super long, but in such a style that it's perfectly acceptable, and does not get boring.

Sound Effects; Amusing for the most part, nothing that's annoying.

As a whole; *insert expletive here* AWESOME!

This should be a mandatory game that everyone who even checks out a tower defense game must play at least 1 round of. I absolutely LOVE it!

[Aether]

Very good game.

This is a pretty awesome game, and I must admit, I had to restart it time and time again before I got the hang of it and figured out what I needed to do. The animation is smooth, and the coloring is bright, but not so bright it blinds me.

Once I figured out how to move from cloud to cloud, and planet to planet, I was spending much more time exploring the planets than I was trying to solve their issues. The simplicity of the art makes it so very beautiful, and easy to get sidetracked from the ultimate goals of solving each planet's puzzle.

This game has definite replay value, as I find myself re-playing it at least once every 2 weeks or so. The music is so soothing, and it's actually a good game to play at night while I wind down and get ready for bed.

I definitely recommend that anyone having trouble figuring it out, just take a short break, as you said, and come back to it later when they're more able to think. After you can solve all of the puzzles a few times, it becomes a relaxing story that you have some interaction with, that has wonderful music.

[Sushi Cat 2]

Simply Amazing

Music - 10/10 It fit with the theme, wasn't corny like many other games that try to have such music. It wasn't too loud, and it didn't get repetitive.

Sound Effects - 10/10 Not so loud they overpower the music, and not so soft you can barely hear them. They were spaced out enough that it made them fun to hear, and not annoying.

Fun I had while playing - 10/10 At first the game is very easy, and the first thought I had was, "This is going to be a breeze", but it definitely got harder in the later levels, and that made me happy.

Animation - 10/10 Everything was smooth, well drawn, and adorable. I had expected the animation to get choppy the first time he got squished super small, but it didn't, and that was pleasantly surprising.

Length - 10/10 It was perfect in length as far as flash games go. It wasn't so short it left me wondering, "Is that all?", and it wasn't so long that I got bored. It was absolutely perfect.

Gameplay - 10/10 There was no lagging on my computer at all, which is saying something because almost everything lags on my computer. The simple point and click is very easy, and there's barely any use of the arrow keys, except with certain power ups, which makes things easy to remember. The last level, aside from the last bonus level, was a bit hard, but not impossible, and I love that hardness about it.

100%

[Recordshop Tycoon]

Pretty good.

Music - 9/10 The music was actually decent, but it did get a little bit repetitive after a while.

Sound Effects - 8/10 Most of the sound effects were fine, however the sound of either the customer buying the product or leaving, I couldn't tell which as the lag was impairing my ability to do so, was rather loud in ratio to the other sounds.

Fun I had while playing - 8/10 It started off really fun. Reading the manual definitely helped in learning what to do, and increased the fun factor, however when the game got to the point that the lag was taking over, the fun factor went down. Especially since I wasn't able to finish the game because there was so much lag.

Animation - 9/10 Until the lag set in, the animation was smooth, and the different items and people were really a treat to see in the style that they were drawn in.

Length - 8/10 The length of the initial 100 days would be fine if the days themselves weren't so short and didn't just fly by. Being still in the first property when the hundred days were up, I couldn't help but wonder if it was possible to get to the 4th property within those hundred days. The fact that I could play beyond the 100 days was a definite plus.

Gameplay - 7/10 The gameplay is pretty simple considering that the mouse is the primary tool, and the arrow keys are used sparingly. However, again, the lag made it near impossible to click just once on something and have it go through. By the time I quit the game, I was having to click 5-6 times on something to be able to get my desired response from the game.

Overall - 81%

[Icy Gifts]

Wonderful

Music - 9/10 It got a tiny bit repetitive after a while.

Sound Effects -10/10

Fun I had while playing - 10/10 Level 32 was the most challenging to get every single thing off of the screen, but entirely doable.

Animation - 9/10

Length - 10/10 Long enough to not leave me asking, "That's it?", short enough not to bore me.

Gameplay - 10/10 One button to play the whole game, very easy.

96.6%

[Doodle God]

One of the best

Music - 10/10 Perfect ambiance.

Sound Effects - 10/10 The correct combination sound effects began to get a little repetitive after a while, but that was balanced out by everything else about the game.

Fun I had while playing - 10/10 One of the more frustrating games, it would be so easy to just find a list of the combinations and go from there, but it;s much more fun to actually play the game and see what you can get on your own.

Animation - 10/10 The animation was smooth, well drawn, and just all around wonderful.

Length - 10/10 It's a tiny bit long, but with the type of game it is, the length makes it even more wonderful.

Gameplay - 10/10 No glitches that could be found, very simple controls, click and drag, made it an easy game in terms of configuration.

100%

[Lofty Tower 2]

Pretty darn awesome.

Music - 10/10 It was a soothing relaxing music that actually served to help calm me down when I became raged that my tower had fallen for the umpteenth time.

Sound Effects - 9/10 With every action, picking up, letting go, toppling, winning, there came a sound effect reaction that wasn't annoying or loud. You get minus 1 on this because I have heard the sound effect for failure of a level in many games before.

Fun I had while playing - 9.5/10 By level 20 it had began to get challenging, and by level 25, I found myself cringing when my tower fell at the difficulty of it. However, that same difficulty made me want to complete the game even more than had it not been there to begin with.

Animation - 10/10

Length - 8/10 30 levels is a great medium between too short and too long. For me, personally, I would have preferred it end around level 25, but again, that's my own personal preference, and I have the attention span of a goldfish.

Gameplay - 10/10 Very simple controls, WASD + Mouse worked easiest for me, and having a combination like that allowed my brain to not have to work harder to try and remember what moved what where.

94.1%

[No Time to Explain]

Super fun.

I will never understand why so many people think perfectly good games "need" medals. If they have them, good for them. If they don't, good for them. Having medals does not improve ANYTHING in the game itself, it only makes the user feel special for earning virtual points. (Myself included.) Anyways, on to the actual review.

Music - 9/10 It fits the game wonderfully, but it is a tiny bit repetitive.

Sound Effects - 10/10 Not too loud, not too low. Just right.

Fun I had while playing - 9/10 The main thing I enjoyed was the commentary from future self. I truly should have seen that coming.

Animation - 8/10 It's pretty simple animation, and several things look kind of pixily, but the style suits the game.

Length - 8/10 It could have been a bit longer, and I would have still enjoyed it. It's still a pretty decent length for a quickie though.

Gameplay - 8/10 WASD + Mouse is a pretty common configuration, and there's nothing wrong with it, because it works. However, I found that sometimes the beam would just stop while I was still holding down the mouse button. It's a tiny bit annoying, but can be easily remedied with another try.

86.6%

[Kamikaze blocks]

Pretty good.

Music - 10/10 It fit in perfectly with the game.

Sound Effects - 10/10 The sounds were wonderful. They weren't sudden, as when you make an action, you expect a reaction, and that's exactly what I got. The booms were quite a nice addition to the groovy tunes.

Fun I had while playing - 7/10 When I began the game, this would be considered a 9, but as the levels wore on, it dropped to a 7. For those of us with short attention spans, these games with abundant levels tend to take a toll.

Animation - 10/10 It ran smoothly, the colors were bright, but not so bright it hurt my eyes, and

Length - 8/10 It's a little long, and I got bored by level 26. However, I trudged on as a completionist.

Gameplay - 10/10 How can you go wrong with just one button? The mouse being the only thing you have to use made this game super easy to figure out how to play. The target on the mouse also made it super easy to pin-point exactly where I wanted to hit.

91.6%