SlingBang's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Lethal RPG: War Begins]

Wow, the reviews on this game were surprisingly negative considering how good the game was. I find it sad that people complain about having to PAY $3 to play further in the game. (that's the price of 2 coffees, which will last you 15 minutes, compared to HOURS of gameplay) Instead of feeling like you wasted 2 hours playing a demo, look at it as you got 2 hours of free gameplay on a good game, with a complete story arc. If the game had just ended after the snow castle, no one would have complained at all. So, people are mad because they dislike the 'idea' of paying to play more? That's pretty selfish. Benspyda spent 2 years (I assume) making this game so why shouldn't he get paid for it. If you don't want to pay, leave quietly and go play something else. No one owes you free games.

This game is really well made. It has an interesting design idea, is simple to operate, with good clean graphics and plenty of interesting attacks and enemies. I liked that the attacking order was different than usual, forcing you to plan out your strategy better. I used the Archer's dodge skill and the Wizard's defend spell often causing the enemies to waste their attacks dealing NO damage.The pet having a second attack was a neat idea. The music IS a bit mellow in battles and the characters are a bit flat, personality-wise. That is the only major flaw in this game. Interesting characters can make an average game much better. The dialogue is also fairly shallow, which is too bad because the plot ideas are good.

Playing on normal difficulty I found the game to be quite... normal... in difficulty. I didn't die in battles unless I was attacking new boss enemies. RPGs are SUPPOSED to have a steep difficulty curve to create challenge, team strategy development, and level building. Play some older RPGs and you'll see REAL difficulty like HP, MP, and dead teammates NOT regenerating after battles.

Perhaps, people having difficulty are not aware that you can upgrade your equipment and pets with the crafting materials you find. I actually liked that you can upgrade your first sword higher than the second sword's starting power. It's like a bonus on the first sword.

I played this game for 3 nights, finished the 4 areas and beat the snow-castle monster. I liked the game enough to buy it for $3 and really hope this model of game-funding does continue on into the future. I wouldn't know if I like the game if I couldn't play the demo. If people can't even pay artists/programmers $3 for 2 years of work... I don't want to finish the sentence.

actual rating: 4 stars, +1 star to compensate for all the whiners here.

[Frozen Islands]

Similar to most games of this type, you can't really control your troops, other than the selection and special attacks. Therefore as long as you upgrade all troops evenly and have a generally equal amount of each type in battle, you shouldn't need to grind... at least until the last 3 levels where I had to grind my way to max levels on everything to JUST barely beat the 2nd last island with 40 points left. Then I fight the BIG SCARY BOSS and he's the easiest enemy in the game, beat him with 4000 points left over and watch the REALLY lame ending. Disappointing...

Anyways, the rescued heroes could have been better spaced out since the lack of new strategy makes the middle levels slightly boring. I agree that the 'level estimates' were ridiculously off. Even without grinding I was on level 32 before I ever reached the 11~24 island and I beat the game on level 39 (not 50). Maybe just have them numbered 1~25 instead.

This game included many elements form other game styles such as runners, upgraders, empire builders, but that actually dilutes the strategy as well since there is no specialization. Ultimately it is fun to play and beatable for anyone who puts the time in. The graphics are great and it is a well made game overall.

[Love me, fast!]

so playing this game taught me that I am some fucking kind of retard since I can't score higher than 25 after 10 tries and then I read every other review saying how awesome the game is and they finished it and there is some damn pattern but i can find it and i love run on sentances with no proper punctuation but i really dont understand this game an honestly give it a bad rating but like i said i must be a retard or something maybe some explanation how to win would be nice.

[3 Pandas in Japan]

This is really an art adventure. The background art is superb. It really creates the mood well and is vastly more detailed than was necessary. Also, each level shows a small slice of (albeit stereotypical) life in Japan and creates a really nice feeling. The variety of gameplay styles was also larger than I expected.

Mandatory 5 star game. This is a perfect example of what Flash was intended for.

FlashTeam777 responds:

great thanks!

[Hex Empires: GC]

I really love how you made a fun war strategy game while comically mocking the destruction and hypocrisy of war itself.

I liked the naval moves being improved from the original. You can move the full range on land or sea instead of stopping at a harbor like in the original. Much better for planning naval attacks.
It is interesting that you are only allowed 4 ATTACKING moves per turn but can transfer troops over multiple turns (select and drag to desired location you control) but only pay when you start the move. So, it would be more accurate to say you are allowed 4 new 'commands' each turn.

Hopefully there are 'real-world' maps and scenarios in the full version. That would be fun!

At first I was having trouble reading the army numbers when zoomed out, AND I was having trouble seeing enough of the map to plan strategy when zoomed-in, and I was losing cities that I couldn't see... Then, I went to full screen and it was perfect. Good job! On full-screen (at 1920x1080) I can see most of the map, every important battle, and read everything clearly. Excellent!

I feel borders are unpleasant-looking as dotted lines. A solid line or a light solid color over all your terrain would be more appealing. Also, I agree there should be some game calculation that automatically assigns neutral or enemy territory to you when it is entirely surrounded by your territory and there are no other units on it. On every map I play there are many 1~3-tile-areas that are still 'owned' by the enemy even though there are no units there, after many turns of being completely surrounded by me. These areas should be conquered by attrition or something.

Another detail missing is some notification when you are attacked or lose a city. Since ANY battle has the explosion sound,It is hard to know if you won or lost a city/battle each turn. I have 4 fronts going at once so can't watch them all. You could add a simple pop-up or text detailing what battles you won or lost OR perhaps don't play any sounds when enemies are killing each-other. Or even have option to play battles in sequence rather than at the same time. Or pause each time a conflict occurs...

I agree that the 'capital-city-conquering-equaling-instant-death-and-loss-of-all-cities' is very odd. For an example that just happened to me: I am Blue. I attacked Red's capital (it has 800 troops) with 900 troops and 500 troops on the same turn. At the same time Green had 300 troops attacking Red's capital. My 900 unit reduced the red capital to 50, then Green conquered the capital with it's 300 unit and instantly all Red's territory (10 cities) became Green. Then I took the capital with my 500 unit and got NONE of red's territory (except the capital) Note that this all happened on one turn, so basically at the same time... This is a ridiculous outcome for the battle. This reduces the previous turns of strategy to silliness. A more realistic outcome would be to just have the Red player lose 50% morale or revert to neutral territory. ON a side note: To make this even more comically ridiculous, I also had 2000 troops near Green's capital so attacked them the next turn, conquered their capital and instantly HALF the map converted to blue... This is just too ridiculous an outcome. The game is awesome other than this weird flaw.

This game is definitely worth 5 stars. On a side-note, I've played Hex Empire 1 regularly since it came out and I never even knew there was a second Hex Empire game!

-SlingBang

[Max Mesiria Chp2 RPG]

That stupid key in the snow was an epic fail. I searched for 15 mins and found nothing. Then, I read many of the reviews for 15 more minutes. I went to the red and green house near the train station, and there is NO sparkle anywhere. I methodically clicked on every inch of the screen for 15 minutes and no key... THEN, after wandering around for 15 more minutes, I realized there is an entire other screen to the LEFT OF THE DOCK screen... with another red and green house... and oh, look a sparkle and a key... over an hour wasted.

really annoying... maybe a MAP would have been a good addition, so you could at least see the entire village in the first place.

the game is 5 stars but that design flaw reduces it to 4.

[Collapse It]

@twentyonegigawatts: While I agree with your synopsis, it isn't just the idiot conservatives. Liberals are just as stupid and extreme. Look at feminazis. The problem is cultural not political. It's the american attitude to glorify mass murder and vilify sexuality. It's not a new phenomenon either. It's likely some vestigial remnant burned into the culture from its religious past.

I found the game to be a bit boring actually. Although it's well made, It's not a new idea in any way.

[One More Line]

To the whiners who can't figure out how to play. You are supposed to grapple almost every node not shoot up the screen like an arrow. You die when you try to SKIP a node and shoot up the screen. DON'T DO THIS. Use every node and plan your release to connect to the side of the next node.

There are 3 ways to play that I found:

1: If the node is farther away: Spin around the node continuously until you can see the next node and can judge you release correctly. Time your release to aim to the side of the next node and grapple it. repeat. If your circle is too small just release and re-grab the same node to increase the circle radius. Avoid making too big a radius as you might hit another node, especially the one below you.

2. If the node is close or medium range: Spin around and release when you are in the middle point between the node you are on and the node you want to grab. Meaning if you drew a line connecting both nodes, release when you cross that line. Immediately click again to connect to the next node. This eliminates any chance of hitting the sides but won't work if the next node is rather far away.

3. If the nodes are spaced far apart or you are feeling risky: Try to grab the outside of the node and release as soon as you spin halfway around so you are pointing inwards. grab the outside of the next node and spin around to the inside again and release. This makes an 'S' pattern and requires precision timing and reflexes but feels really cool and you move up quickly!

I use a combination of all 3. I passed 50 after playing about 15 minutes. Then I played for another hour an only made it to 60...

[Night Rider Turbo]

I love how his left arm is just casually hanging out the window as he smashes to death.

5 stars for awesome absurdity.

[Cover and Smash]

Really fun and funny.

Could you please move the "GO" button away from the RESTART button. It's really annoying to accidentally restart the level when I was finished it...

Logan-RRR responds:

Sounds reasonable. Ok.