brianthegreat's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Death Unicorn of Death]

Nice concept, poor execution

Pros:
-Liked the retro style. Can't go wrong the pixels.
-The explosions were pretty fluent and well animated, and I dig most of the effects.
-I honestly didn't mind the over-the-top flashes. I mean, we are dealing with Unicorns.

Cons:
-Too slow. The game's style and excessive effects should have been met with a faster pace.
-Boring. This game gets old very quickly. No diversity in enemies or scenery, really.

And lastly...
IT'S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID ENEMY BULLETS. This is the game's biggest flaw, and one that you must have forced yourself to overlook.
Seriously, the inability to dodge bullets made me stop playing after 3 minutes.

C'mon, man.

[Tankmen: Battle 2]

Wow...

Just like the cartoons, this movie is unoriginal and bland. I never though the Tankmen (besides being creatively animated) had any value at all - rehashed dick jokes, 1-Dimensional characters, boring set/setting etc..

Well now I can sleep peacefully knowing the game is just as shitty.

Way to go.

C01 responds:

There must be something wrong with you.

[The Breach]

Great style, lacked flexibility

So i'm not going to review the game based on it's plot, because obviously, most people play FLASH shooters for the gameplay, and the plot is secondary to everything else. Although I will say I enjoyed how the plot unfolded as you went along.

Pros:
-The animation, art, and style were top notch. The effects (blood, gunfire, etc...) were well done, and honestly, the visual aspect to this game was what really made it.
-Atmosphere: Unlike most flash games, this one really took time to develop an eerie atmosphere, and elements such as the flashlight only added to the intensity.
-Upgrades: I didn't play long enough to experience the ENTIRE range of the upgrades, but from what I experienced, the upgrades took the edge of an otherwise monotonous game.
-Environment/setting: Although this shooter took a very linear approach, I felt the different routes you could explore helped provide a somewhat "sandbox" feel.
-Diversity in enemies/characters: The introduction of constantly new enemies was refreshing, and I liked how each enemy had a different weakness/strength. It was an element that kept me wanting to play.

Cons:
-The inability to point my gun in specific direction without jumping around really bugged me. This is a huge drawback, and unfortunately, really lowered the replay value of Breach. I would have liked to see a mouse-controlled aiming interface, or at least the ability to angle the weapon.
-Easy: Although the bosses were pretty difficult, everything about this game was a little too easy. Just AIM, SHOOT, and MOVE ON. Had you implemented a better aiming system, I feel as though you could have added another dimension to the enemies that would have added more challenge.
-Frustrating for the wrong reasons: Although easy, it was challenging in the wrong departments, such as shooting enemies, figuring out where you're supposed to go etc... But again, all this leads back to the aiming factor.

All in all, fun gameplay (although a bit tedious), AMAZING art/animation, unique style, fun plot, and above-average sound effects. Unfortunately, the game had one fundamental flaw which really hurt the experience. I'd definitely like to see a second one, with the ability TO ACTUALLY AIM. Good work though :)

[Madness Accelerant]

This game...

...is filthy. Loved the pacing, detail, weapons, and all around concept.
Needless to say, the animation was great, and the detailed art added a slightly darker tone to the original feel of Madness.

The ONLY reason this isn't getting a 10/10 is because of a few obvious elements that would have made this game even CRAZIER:

1) Because of the length of the game, I can understand the limited weapon selection. But seriously, I think additional melee weapons SHOULD have been a no-brainer. And maybe throwing in a few more guns would have been cool..
2) Not violent enough. Yes, there was blood, but I think you guys should have incorporated REAL Madness violence - as in, dismemberment, blood stains, etc..it would have really added to the feel of this.

Other than that, this game kicks ass. It's got a perfect difficulty setting, and barely a learning curve (for impatient individuals such as myself).

Good luck, hope to see more of this in the future ;)

[Red Code 2]

This game is shit.

Okay, we don't need an elaborate thesis statement attached to a three page essay to sum up this game's atrocious shortcomings. One word easily captures Red Code's essential elements: SHIT.

This is just another example of how flash developers are watering down quality in order to mass-produce cookie-cutter "games" that barely pass as tolerable. If you have any knowledge of the flash-game lease market, you would understand how many developers simply rehash old game formulas, code, and engines in order to make some quick cash. I respect the hustle, so to speak, but the fact that people are entertained by this sort of sickens me. Red Code is another example of how impressive cutscene art and a flashy menu compensate for shallow and unoriginal gameplay.

Wow, you can jump and shoot at moving objects that pose little threat. Snoorrrr...

NEXT.

BTW, I realize that it's a trend among flash devs to create sidescrolling action games in which the characters and much of the scenery are black silhouettes, but this game uses this art style as an excuse to get away with cheap animation.

[DarkBase 2 - the Hive]

Gots Potential

The one thing that really impressed me with this game was the atmosphere. It's dark, metallic setting made it feel like the set Aliens or Doom. Unfortunately, the environment, while detailed, had very little depth so it was hard to navigate.

The enemies were alright. I liked their overall A.I. (although it was basic, it was very effective).

Like I said earlier, everything is very detailed and the lighting effect was very well done, however, this induced some laggage, and it got annoying at times.
Other than that, great game. Weapons were fun, especially the shotgun.

Keep it up!

[RABID]

Potential, but falls short severely

Before I begin to criticize this game, I'd just like to point out the elements I thought were decent:

1. The art and animation were well done. They were simple, but the color schemes and animation fluency gave this game a high-end feel.
2. The blood effects were definitely badass. I feel as if this element was the highlight of the game actually. That is, seeing all the carnage after 7 minutes of playing.
3. The concept was also pretty good - that is, upgradable battle modes etc... made this feel more dynamic.

Unfortunately, the game falls short in a number of different ways. For one, your robot moved WAAAYYY too slowly, as did his combat moves. Also, the limited (rechargeable) jump feature was annoying as hell, considering it made the game unnecessarily hard.

The overall sluggishness of the characters movement in conjunction with the shitty and ineffective combat moves made this game unbearable to play after 10 minutes.

Fix these things and this might be one of my favs :0

[Armed with Wings 2]

A brillaint work of art

Normally, when a flash game has this much artistic originality and style, the gameplay seems to always get watered down to a certain extent. However, with this game, it seems you've found a healthy balance between fluent, beautiful animation/art, and solid gameplay.

Needless to say, your art style is surreal and brilliant, and the animation is smooth. I like how most of the scenery/characters were set in contrasting colors. I've seen that done before in other games, but you seem to have perfected it.

As far as gameplay, I wasn't expecting nearly as much functionality as it provided. I was pretty impressed with the combat, especially when it came to throwing enemies.

My ONLY complaint was that the jumping really interfered with the flow of the game. It seems everything sailed along perfectly (animation, combat, story etc) except for the fact that you have to nearly come to a complete stop before jumping. Also, I would have liked to seen some tougher enemies that really let you experiment with the awesome combat engine more..

As it is, it's still really beautiful and captivating. You definitely know what the hell you're doing! :P

9/10
5/5

[Hobo Brawl]

Hella fun!

It's nice to see a game that can rival Dad'n Me!

First off, the animation and art were pretty simple, but you managed to create a style that was unique to you. The atmosphere of the game was also well done, and the music really added to the urban setting.

Secondly, the gameplay was fuckin awesome. Nothing too innovative, mind you -- just really fun and original. I like the nasty little ranged attacks you could pull off, especially the flying shit. That was...shocking. ;)

Lastly, the characters that you encountered on the street were all different, which was a nice feature considering many artists take shortcuts and simply duplicate enemies, whereas you made every NPC unique.

My only suggestion would be to make waaaayyyy more interactive objects. I really like how you implemented that capability, but you only had a total of 3 things you could pick up.

5/5
9/10
I'd like to see a sequel - this series could really take off ;)

[Ether War]

Orgasmic!

Okay, this game is awesome on so many levels I'm not even going to try to list most of them. Instead, here's some things that stood out to me:

-Particles/effects: Normally, I find an overabundance of particles somewhat annoying, but in this case, it's an integral part of the feel of this game. The lasers darting across the screen, the beautiful explosions, and the screen jiggles all sucked me into this, better than most games of this genre have done.

-A.I. I loved the enemies would branch off from attacking your base and trail you, only to split off to their original target. Also, the enemy seemed to up it's game as you advanced in powers, which leads me to -
-Upgrades: I only completed the game once, I didn't get to see all the power-ups. But from what I've seen, I was impressed. Also, the fact that you constantly had to keep upgrading added an element of strategy, which complimented the already badass gameplay.

Honestly, this game was pretty epic. It felt like I was playing out a space battle scene in Star Wars.
Keep it up!

P.S. If you make a sequel, which you should, I think it would be a pretty awesome idea if you re-engineered the gameplay so that you could alternate between your teammates ships, and put less emphasis on a lone ship, and more on massive battles.

Kajenx responds:

You'd like the game "Azul Baronis" (going off your P.S.).