Xopods's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Amorphous+]

The very best

This is the only game I've found so far on this site that manages to remain fun for more than 10 minutes. I've probably spent more like 10 hours on it so far, and have to keep reminding myself that I'm supposed to be here for research, and should probably play other games.

I think it's a bit too hard to encounter the harder glooples, though. In all the time I've played, I've only ever seen one queen, one horror and one of the flaming guys... maybe that's because I'm only playing on Nest mode, I don't know.

[High School Detective]

It's all in the implementation

A good point and click game has thorough implementation and a nonlinear storyline. This one is all dead ends and non-interactive decoration, except for the route the author wants you to go. Why not just make a flash movie instead of trying to pass this off as a "game"?

[< lightBot >]

Good idea, gets boring a little too quickly

Love the concept... I've always felt that RoboRally should be a computer game. The idea of functions could also be really mind-opening for non-programmers.

It's just a little lacking in the fun factor. I got bored around level 7 or 8. Here are two ideas you might consider:

1) Make (some of) the height 1 blocks pushable, if you walk into them instead of jumping. Adds another puzzle element with no added overhead in terms of commands.

2) Instead of having just two functions, maybe allow the user to define as many as he likes, but with a limited total amount of memory? So you could have a bunch of little "move forward three" or "do a U-turn" functions, or a couple of longer ones, depending on the situation.

The interface also needs a bit of work. Just clicking a command should add it to the end of the main routine, without having to drag, for instance. Dragging a command onto another one should swap them, instead of deleting the other one. Clicking a command already there should delete it... etc.

I'd also like it if the commands lit up as the robot executed them. Would make "debugging" a lot easier.

[The Necronomicon 2.0]

Fun, but utterly lacking in balance

Okay, first off, this game is fun. I can't deny that.

However, as a game designer myself, I can't give it better than an average score because the cards are hopelessly unbalanced. The update helps slightly, but nonetheless, if the opponent's good cards are at the top of his deck, and yours are at the bottom, strategy doesn't factor in - you're just dead.

I like the sanity concept, although the different kinds you can get are also unbalanced. Some are almost meaningless, while others are game-destroying.

Make all the insanities bad, but not completely game-destroying, and up the sanity costs for the powerful cards until you'll think twice about casting them early! Add extra effects to the lame ones. Allow an option to skip your turn to discard and replace as many cards from your hand as you want. Etc...

You've got a good concept, now balance it out and make it a more strategic game!