TheWanderingShadow's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Super Shogun Ninja]

I'd be willing to look past the blatant ripped assets from LoL and the similarities to House of Dead Ninjas if the jumping wasn't so darn clunky. Every downward smash, the ninja takes the time to go through a landing animation, which sticks you to the ground for the duration. How is that beneficial at all to a high speed, twitchy game?

[The Blind Swordsman]

The idea is very impressive, but I spent maybe half an hour on the first level until I realized that my headphones made "center" sound more like "a little to my right". I can see what you're going for with the difficulty, but I need more than vague often innacurate hints to help me learn the ropes. It would be nice to have a representation of where the enemy was relative to you when he killed you, AT LEAST FOR THE FIRST LEVEL. Doesn't need to be a full-on tutorial, but more feedback is needed, so I can tell exactly how I'm messing up and learn more for next time. And maybe whether my headphones are screwing me over :)

[Koan]

I really like the zen atmosphere of the game. I didn't feel like I was getting these lessons shoved down my throat, I felt like I was actually experiencing the lessons through the gameplay and levels. Coupled with the solid and interesting platforming, it is a very good game.

[Forbidden Arms]

This is one of the most complex, responsive, and well designed brawlers I have ever seen on Newgrounds. The story is coherent and interesting, and a decent amount of effort can be seen in the many cutscenes. I loved every skill that I unlocked in the game, and how much each one enriched the combat experience and kept it from getting too repetitive. The only complaint I have about it is that the game is not that challenging, even on the hardest difficulty. It's a wonderful game, and an immediate favorite. I am excited to see what you do next!

[Idle Farmer]

It's good for the idle game it is, above average even. But through the whole time I played I kept wanting something more, some story, some dialog, some goal to continue playing to. I thought it would happen once I got married, but no, the wife just contributes to another system in the game, never speaking a word. The game's wears its Harvest Moon influences on its sleeve, but it's missing the character and story. without that, it just ends up being a soulless grind. It's only satisfying on the basest psychological level of watching numbers go up, and I just can't approve of that, no matter how polished it is.

[House of Wolves]

There's very little challenge, you could probably win the game by spamming nothing but spearmen and settlers and rushing the enemy. However, it's got a very polished and complete feel to it that I can't fault.

[Final Slam 2]

When reading the comments waiting for the game to load, I knew it was the flash game I've always wanted to see. The game did not disappoint. The art style and animations are not that impressive, but they're consistent and get the job done. Besides, they allow for the amazing character creation. Seriously, the variety and amount of content you put in there blows my mind. The ability to adjust the ai of the characters is well implemented. The mechanics of the engine itself are very solid and allow for significant depth as well. After I worked out how to do those special moves properly, it was great fun to fight. It makes me so happy to see a solid fighting game on newgrounds, especially one with such love, effort, and fighting game "feel" in it. I am excited to see what you plan to do next!

josh-tamugaia responds:

I agree with you. The art style and animations are not that impressive in order to allow for the character creation. Since I needed to literally chop up the body parts so that they could change, instead of drawing nice SNK/Capcom style sprites that only allow color-swapping. But! What I plan to do next is to make this creation mechanism work with even nicer artwork. Plus more power moves and game modes. Hopefully in the next sequel. Thank you!

[Blade Rush]

It's a very clever idea, and it's awesome when things come together. But the controls are quite unresponsive, especially when you're trying to jump off of a corpse properly. Plus, a game this twitchy is not served well by consistent lag. Perhaps you should tone down the blood fountains, or have an option to turn them off. Otherwise, it's quite the satisfying game.

[Fireworks]

It would have been nice to have better feedback like a sound when you are placing a firework, because mashing x too fast while touching two firework spots often gets you started on the next firework when you'd rather be trying to get out of the way or punch someone. Besides that it's a fun and frantic game with a nice amount of content added by the upgrade system.

Schulles responds:

Yeah, there is a very quiet sound that somehow drowns between the music. Thanks, man! :)