Backspin's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Best Friends Forever 2]

a few serious flaws on an otherwise great concept.

i liked the logic/puzzle element of the game a lot, however i thought that most of the real challenges arose from jumping controls and lack of key responses. Of particular note was level 27, which i gave about 300 tries before finally closing the game. that's just not what a game like this should be about. besides that, i guess i kill like, 2500 seconds playing this game, which is definitely saying something. good job.

Skeik responds:

Thanks, it really changes my idea on game design when I find out that people are actually spending time on the game :)

Like, all through the development I thought only a handful of people would be patient enough to get anywhere near the higher levels, and it's nice to know a lot of people did.

I understand what you're talking about with the platforming problems, and this game would greatly benefit from better level design.

Thanks alot of the review :D

[Create a Gun V2]

I hate games like this...

And yet i loved this game.
a little scary.
anyway, the looks were good, no great graphics, but more than tolerable.
the sounds were incredible and the selections of firearms is also very broad.
i think i only have three minor things to mention for your V3 (if you happen to read this/haven't thought of them already)
1. a reset button. dragging all the items back in to place kind of sucks.
2. you have what appear to be suppressors in the game, yet there are no silenced firing sounds.
3. a couple of the guns are particularly awkward to build around, particularly the receivers that look like a mac10 and a p90. none of the other parts fit quite properly to give the p90 much of a barrel, and the mac10 has absolutely nothing going for it.
I guess the next step for you would be to team up with a dress up style game maker and produce "Create-a-paramilitary V1". Hell, you're half way to a pay to play MMORPG.
Keep up the good work!

[Quarantine Defender]

I think this is a bit under rated.

It's a very solid defense game. i love the death "physics" (or at least the many different deaths of the oncoming waves). i have a few comments that aren't totally positive.

- gun shots are repetitive.
this one's tricky to get around, but i thought that you might make the upgrades actually affect the sound of the firearm. for instance, say the player starts with an MP5, but if you upgrade the ammo capacity it becomes a P90, if you then upgrade the accuracy it becomes an FN FAL, you know, that kind of thing just to change it up a bit.
- upgrade the type of airstrike
taking a page from COD4 on this one. the first level could be a simple strafing run, the 2nd level might be close air support from a helicopter, and lastly you get support from a gunship. that said, the airstrike doesn't need to kill everything on the screen all the time, particularly if its an on-station sort of thing, it could just be a temporary backup shooter, if you will.
- more forgiving gameplay
a save point, even if it's every 10 levels would be very much appreciated.
Other than that i can't think of many flaws. i loved the shaking screen when you fire, and i liked that the gun actually gets less accurate (or appears to). the game has a very high level of intensity considering it's simplicity as well.
Good job.

[Dogfight: The Great War]

Incredibly entertaining.

I loved it. I mean, it's not often a game like this calls you back to play it 3 times or more, but totally worth my time.
The backgrounds were great, the AI was reasonable, and i loved the ground emplacements.
If i had to criticize, i'd say longer, it must be longer.
beyond that, i mean, you could make it more in depth, you know, missions where you fly as a bomber style plane or have certain objectives besides destroy all enemies (strafing runs, anyone?)
Seriously, though, this is a great little stub of what could be an epic win.
My only real complaint, or maybe it's already covered and i didn't notice, is about my unlimited machine gun capabilities. i feel like the shots should get weaker as you fire it more, or it could overheat, or whatever, something to discourage the player from just holding their gun down as they fly circles in the air.
I really hope you decide to work on a similar game, i really do.

[Lone Survivor]

quality shooter!

totally worth while.
a bit repetitive, but besides that, i loved it.
weapons selection was limited, and AI was a bit weak, but not to such an extent that i couldn't stand the game.
the bullet time was a nice touch, the sounds sound incredible in it as well.
if you look towards building on this idea, i would say non-linear levels would really add to the game play. objectives and goals are always a nice touch. i'd also note that the weapons reload REALLY fast and that seems kind of silly, particularly with the pump action shotgun, there should be a balance between it's power and it's weakness, the reload time. while the crates some times provided limited cover, i'd have to say i got tired of smashing them open only to never find a health kit inside. the enemy damage seems a bit awkward too, by way of a for instance, i must've taken like 10 or 12 bullets in the chest, but then at a 1/5 health a bird hits me once and i die...
i'll end with my strongest opinion, as there's obviously a lot of potential in your own personal goals (i love that you stated your objective in the author comments section): i noticed a couple of reviews crying for auto-reload guns, but in reality that's the only player-based factor in the game right now (besides aiming and movement). the fact of the matter is that if you want to neglect your ammo count and "click" your weapon at the enemy a few times before realizing you need to reload, it's your own problem. i guess what i'm saying here is that auto reload is for suckers. also, if you introduce reload times, there may be points at which i DON'T want to reload my gun. ie. i fire all my shotgun rounds at enemies and then want to use my pistol to clean up before i reload everything.
enough ranting, good job. i'll give you a 4/5 (it's not quite "Last Stand" material yet ;) )

[Lockdown Tower Defense]

unfortunate bug, but a game with serious potential

I like the mobility factor in this "tower" defense game. it's definitely innovative, and i think with further refinement (ahem, sequel?) it could set this game (series?) apart from other tower defensers.
as it stands, i noticed the "white screen" bug when i "lost focus" on the window, as it were, and went to itunes and then came back to it. you can still see the units, the map is still usable (ie. i can airlift to the points that should be airliftable, etc) but i can't really see what's going on, and can't see the menu either. after the level finished i tried clicking where the "start wave" button should have been, but to no avail. Given that problem, your score is lowered. as it stands, i'll give it a go without switching windows and see how it goes. i think this is a game worth revisiting, and i will be doing so later on in hopes of seeing updates and all.
oh, i'm sure some people will be crying for music or whatever, but if you do add it, also add an option to turn off the music (but leave the sound on), because that's an instant 5 in my book. ^_^
Good job, over all.

[A One Level Game]

i guess you could call it innovative

but that's probably the only positive thing you could lie about.
maybe this is personal opinion, but i think that games should be fun, first and foremost.
this annoyed me in a matter of seconds.
and i'll be completely honest, i didn't get far because it was a hassle to keep clicking the screen after i died each time.
the whole idea is just... damn it's annoying man, sorry.
i'll give some respect for your use of the seatbelts' music (which i'll note was uncredited, from what i saw), but your actual game is just a troublesome bother.
at the same time, here you are with a 3.61 at the time of this writing, so who am i to judge, huh?

[WhiteboardWar: ChopRaider]

great game, a classic remake?

even if you didn't intend to remake firehawk for the NES, you still did a damn good job! but really, this was great, through and through, difficulty was just right, though i thought the timers were a bit low.
if there could have been a bomb targeting reticle, that would have been swell, because they were kind of awkward to make strafing runs with sometimes, particularly if you were looking to drop them on the smaller guard towers.
i don't know if there's anything much i can recommend about this game, besides a sequel (with online cooperative play) heh heh.
great job.

[The Equator]

definitely good...

i think the people giving you shit reviews are entirely in the wrong.
it's definitely good, but yes, could use some tweaks. it certainly isn't so off as to warrant some of the 4 or 5 out of tens that i've seen in the reviews.
increase the combo time, decrease the drop time (even by a second) and maybe add a save function that disables high scores.
it's good, but i'd almost say it's a bit too hardcore, if you understand my meaning.
also, your music seems too intense, i always do worse if i play with the standard music turned on, as if i'm getting nervous and i slip up, ya know? it's like defusing a bomb with that suspenseful stuff on.
good game, don't get me wrong, in some ways it's just a bit too much though.

[R.O.B.O.T.]

definitely a great game.

certainly the best "first flash" i've ever seen.
i would say that the aim could use a bit of work, the angle is just a little tad off, it feels like. other than that, i give you extra score for having separate music and sound toggles. that's glorious, to be sure, and the upgrades were interesting in that i really felt like it seemed logical (ie increased damage meant increased heat, etc). a good job all around.
now let me get to my one complaint, i was playing, maybe 7 levels in, and suddenly my robot continuously moved down and left. i don't know if this was an enemy attack (if it was, it's a terrible feature and it has to go) or a bug (seems more reasonable), but it got me killed quite quickly, as i could only move to the corner of the screen or stand still. i've been trying to create the conditions for something like that but i can't get the glitch again. you might check in to it though, because it's my only reason for voting 4 instead of 5 =/
all around, though, great job. i hope you have some other great submissions like this in the future.