Graeme's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Breaking the Bank - Devolved (PARODY)]

A real thing of beauty.
I'm not sure why Puff bothered remaking these himself? It obviously should have been contracted out to the lowest bidder

Kejayco responds:

Clearly that should've been the solution. Low effort is always better than high-quality, painstakingly animated scenes

[Halloween Town Survival]

This is a decent little point and click adventure, but it seems like the plot was pretty absent from this first installment. You laid out a setting and characters, then nothing in part 1 referenced that again. It was pretty paint-by the numbers.

This wasn't helped by the fact that 90% of the art looks like it was taken from clipart. It makes the game feel really disjointed when there isn't a consistent art style throughout.
Maybe you should consider partnering up with someone to make the art for the game, all in 1 style?

[The Pyre]

Team Mammoth

Great artwork!
Excellent soundtrack as well.
I think you guys did a fantastic job in 3 days!

I wish that it was a little more forgiving when you are setting things on fire. Sometimes it feels like you have to be in the EXACT perfect spot for it to work. And then it's a pain to reposition yourself until it works.
The ad at the beginning as also annoying. I have no problem with ads as long as they aren't timed, and forcing you to watch them. But when I started playing, the ad decided to start making sound, and I had to hear all about the new season of Dragonball Z during the intro.

Anyways, cool idea. And great work to the artists for making so much art and animation in such a short time!
Although I did have to turn down the graphics quite a bit. I have a gaming laptop, and this thing lagged like a beast on high quality.

I wish standing by the fire heated you up faster. I don't like being taken out of a game for 10 seconds just standing and waiting. It should be near instant (not realistic) but it keeps the action moving.

[Dravalanche]

Team Mammoth

Well that art was supurb! The character art and the detailed drawings I think Jaxxy did all look great! I loved the smooth movements of the characters and their silly design :)
The ice was a little too plain looking considering that's mostly all we had to look at. But the firey end looked pretty good. So I wish the whole game was jazzed up a bit more like that was.

The music also stood out to me in this submission. Especially when you got to the boss battes. The music amped up, without sounding out of place. So that was well done.

But as far as gameplay when, this game was a little lacking. It was just the same thing over and over. And there were no puzzling bits where you had to really plan ahead which route you were going to take. If i ever hit rocks, then I could just walk away from it very easily, never really trapped.
The boss battle was also very anti climatic. All 3 times it was the exact same battle. I wish you would have atleast add a jump for the character. Then the second time you encounter the dragon he had a move that needed jumping, and it randomized which attack he did.

It might be a lot to ask in a 72 hour game, but it's a shame that a good idea like this with good design didn't have more of a challenge or sense of urgency. Perhaps the screen was always moving, and you have to keep up?

[Escape from ice mountain]

Team Mammoth

Aw, it was so disappointingly short!
I mean, the fact that this was made in 72 hours was AMAZING! You guys crammed a lot of great art and story into here!

I thought the idea of having one person do in game art, and the other do portraits and the opening scene was a fantastic idea! That way the art it both sections was consistent, and it really allowed you to open up a fun and interesting world :)

I was only just getting into the story when all of a sudden it was over. Don't get me wrong, this was excellent for 72 hours, I'm wowed! I just wish I could get more story here. Maybe the ability to use the sun people's powers.

Maybe a sequel is in order down the line? The Saving of Kuldren or something.
Great work you guys! Everything was perfect except the length :(
Props to everyone involved in this one!

MonoFlauta responds:

Awesome, glad you like it :) yeah it was really short, but we propossed that, if we win, yes or yes will be a sequel, if we are in the top 3 we will see then, if not, sorry but no :P

Thanks a lot for the review
and good luck also to your time :)

[Eskimo River Rush]

Team Mammoth

Whew! My hand!!!
Part way through the game I had to switch hands. I played crossed with my left hand on the arrows and my right hitting A and S Haha!

I thought this game was lots of fun!
One interesting thing is when my team was pitching ideas, something about thawing out animals came across the table. But that was as far as it got, we couldn't build off it well enough.
So this game feels kinda special because it's a creation of what could have been!

As always, Molkman's art makes me laugh! Your goofy people are my favorite. With their silly expressions, and movements :)

I'm glad you guys were able to pick up a second artist and finish, because this really did turn out great!
Plus I enjoyed being able to save a mammoth at the end ;)

molkman responds:

Cool, thanks.

[BearBound]

Team Mammoth

A very unique idea! I like the fact that non of the endings were really win/lose situations. I mean sure, being a model is preferable to getting eaten, but hopefully my point is made.
I like that it was just kind of free roam adventure :)

I know there was the 3 day limit, so you can't expect perfection. but i would have liked a view small details. Like make something other than the badger chases you out of the burrow sometimes. Or the odd thing you can run into in the snow. One that doesn't end the game, but just gives you more too look at.

Overall kudos to Turkey for the lovely art! The background was seemless, and at first I thought you actually had to handdraw the WHOLE thing, not just segments that were pieced together haha.
Sorry to hear Night-Mare couldn't join in :(
He really hasn't had the best Gam Jam experiences so far.

JackSmack responds:

Yeah I wound up making the map out of pieces that Turkey drew. I worked for a solid 14 hour stretch on it trying to make sure that the bad bits were all covered with snow and the wall hits worked correctly.

We wanted to add more to it but you know how the time limit works. By the time we got to this point we had 4 hours before deadline and we were all beat. If we had added more it would have been half baked and the game was solid so we decided to submit it.

It turned out well though and it's kind of experimental, which is something that is nice about game jams. You get the finished game without a month's commitment.

[[RESPAWN]]

Lots of fun and just the right amount of difficult

A rather simple idea for a game, but I was very entertained!
The gameplay progressed at a very reasonable speed. Every few levels a new little catch was added. Once we learned we could carry the respawn point I realized this was going to get tricky soon :)
Then you threw in more colours and the walls, and we could carry those too!?
That's when I really started enjoying myself here!

Excellent sound track. Nice and simple graphics. VERY enjoyable gameplay. I think for this just being you messing around with an idea you thought up one day, this turned out great!

There were a few times a wish I could pick up something when I was on top of it., that seems like it might have made it a bit easier in a few cases.
I haven't played through to the end yet, so I'm not sure if this is here or not. But a death counter perhaps?
Just little niceties that aren't necessary.

I loved it! Thanks for the time killer!

JonBro responds:

HEY GOAT-MAN

I actually thought about a death-counter, but considering the many ways you can die repeatedly in one place (like respawning next to spikes, falling down a wall of spikes, etc.) I decided it might be too faulty and perhaps too much work for what it would be worth. ...or something.

THANKS

[RagdollSpree: Players Pak]

Kind of an eye sore

A pretty decent ragdoll game. It's a pretty generic genre these days, so there wasn't a ton of variety.
Alright for killing a bit of time. But my main complaint is that the game looks like it was designed by 4-5 different artists. Nearly every aspect of the game looks different! The menus, characters, backgrounds, objects, the cannon. Everything looked different!
Next time I just recommened staying commited to one theme, or if several artists are involved be sure they all agree on a specific style.

[Jeremy Bongstarr]

No contest?

Definately a stand out favorite of the Game Jam!
To think you guys made this quality game in 2 days is mind boggling!

I love the simple character design, and the detailed backgrounds. The animations of a dried up weed growing into a full grown tree was very smooth an captivating.
This game just kind of captures the imagination and draws you in.

The jetpack of water made me think of Mario Sunshine.
I'd be interested in seeing Jeremy's next adventure! (just saying)
Although I say keep the same concept, and just build on it. Because it definately worked this time around. Taking this game to the commitment of full game development would be amazing.

Great work.
I'm voting Team Monkey for sure :D