Scel's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Pursuit of hat]

Absolutely delightful.

As has been said by others before, this is pretty damn unique. I can't think of anything quite like it and I find myself hard-pressed to compare it to anything beside Dr. Seuss, which is really a marvelous compliment in the run of things. Musically I guess it has qualities from "The Misadventures of P. B. Winterbottom". Again, this is no insult- that game has some of the catchiest and most amusing music I've encountered in a game.

There are only two reasons I'm taking a point off. That's right- the two downsides are so small they only subtract a single point between the two of them. The first issue, rather humorously, is that I would love if we could somehow make puzzles or if there were a couple bonus levels released somewhere every week or 2 or 3 or 4.

The other downside is that some of the later levels are matters almost of pure luck with little skill or logic required. One stands glaringly in mind where you had to launch your head through a doorway that only opened because you abandoned your body on a button that then would dump your arm and in turn the door would open and move another arm to fire the cannon while the door is open, and it all relied on jumping over the cannon to land on a narrow space of AIR between the cannon and the button.

Consider for a moment how contrived that level is. It took me ten minutes to figure it out, and another 3 to deduce that "air" could be stepped on. Mind you, that's partly skill in getting it all to go off at the right time- but the level where you're launching basically all your limbs in hopes that one may hit the button on the other side is NOT.

Oh- and this game was adorable.

9/10, 5/5.

[Epic Rail]

A Merry Disaster

Challenging, somewhat stressful, and surprisingly amusing. I did not think I'd enjoy this, but it was a fair bit of fun to mess with for a few minutes.

So there's a lot of reasons this good a good score, not the least of which being a simple and solid game mechanic plus attention to little details like "Color Hints". The only reason I took off any points is because the very nature of this sort of game is frustrating. It's easy to make a level overly difficult and simply call it a matter of skill. Now, I'm not accusing you of making any of the levels overly difficult- only saying that I wasn't able to make it very far and thus it's kind of stacked against those that get lost in the tracks and trains and whatnot.

Wow that sounds lazy on my part.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I wasn't able to play for more than a few minutes because although it's well-made, I just didn't care for it enough as a title to try to struggle through the whole game.

That said, 9/10, 5/5.

[Discount Mayonnaise]

Discount Mayhem

First and foremost, "hard" is a severe understatement. This game is a nerve-punishing test of willpower. It gives very little wiggle room, and as it progresses it tightens down further and further on you.

Most developers are entirely unable to pull of "ultra-hard". They make it hard not via intense challenges and situations but via stilted or even broken game design. Somehow, you pulled it off. This game is slick, intricate, simple, tricky, challenging, terrifying, energetic, exciting, and visually splendid.

The level of polish on both the art and the controls is fantastic- love and effort were put into both to make this a genuinely gleeful run-and-gun time trial. It works. With virtually no story and very little reason, Discount Mayonnaise is regardless an absolute gem.

The music, while somewhat standard, fits perfectly with the panicky frantic nature of the gameplay. It is typical, but it works here exactly as needed.

I award this a well-earned 5/5 and 10/10 for creating one of the most blatantly entertaining titles to hit this site in quite some time.

Joelasticot responds:

Thanks! I agree with you - games with "cheap" difficulty are annoying and I don't play them for very long. Games with tight controls & challenging level design are much more fun and rewarding

[Beast Squad]

As has been said before, 'cute'

Is it actually fun? Debatable. It's amusing and it wasted some time, but it's really not something I feel like I can spend more than a half-hour playing. The music gets kind of irritating, the gameplay mechanics are a bit hit-and-miss, and the story is one of the silliest I've ever bumped into. This isn't to say it's bad- merely that it's average. I'm not really swayed by this title, but I'm not really set against it.

So, all things considered, I give this tolerable game a 6/10 and a 3/5.

[Game About Game Literacy]

Short, but nifty

It serves its task well, distilling the metroidvania gameplay style of tight and difficult moves and planning into a tidy, no-nonsense piece that examines the genre as a whole without becoming a tawdry art piece. It is a legitimate purification of a popular genre, and it serves to really demonstrate to people what the genre is basically about.

I played on mute, so I can't really talk about the music, but overall this is a clever game to breeze through, even if it doesn't have a great deal of replayability. As such, I gladly give it an 8 out of 10 and a 4 out of 5.

[Vampire Vision]

A lovely clusterfuck

I really like the premise for this game. I really do NOT like the fact that I have to identify vague little cartoon vampires in a crowd of vague little cartoon people- they all scurry about and it's inevitable I'm going to stake the hell out of half the town.

[Grey Story]

Exceptionally fucking depressing.

So it is ridiculously cutesy and bright. But the actual fate of the character is fucking miserable.

I had to play with my computer muted and unplugged, so it was a bit laggy and I didn't get to experience the music. The animation was beautiful, and going slowly actually made it better so I could take in every detail.

[The Outsider]

Grand and elegant

There's a genuine sense of the Lovecraftian here that could have been poorly done and contrived, but instead worked out to be chilling but not difficult or nightmarish. It struck a balance required for something like this to work, and when it ended it felt natural and as though the flow was correct and well-timed.

getting to the point, you did the father of modern horror proud, and I loved the result. I'll need to go back and read this story if it's like this...

[Lastman3 (World1)]

Extremely difficult

This is not to say it's bad- but more to say that it's unforgiving. There's a distinct difficulty curve I'm going to presume has been inclining since the first game, and it makes it hard to simply jump in.

I was unable to get very far, and the intense difficulty of the game was interesting, but not enjoyable to me personally.

What I DID like, though, were things like the option to simply ride an enemy, the fact enemies stack as they do, and humor clearly present in the game's very design. There's a lot of very clever stuff going on here, and it's a shame that it wasn't more playable for us "noobs".

Overall, a 6/10 and a 3/5.

[Space Arcade(the game!)]

Fun!

So I have the game muted right now, and thus I can't judge anything involving sound, but I did want to say that this is fantastic. It's a fun, relaxing, and mildly challenging shooter that doesn't require me to try and use a mouse (that I don't have because I'm on the laptop).
It's a satisfying little title, and that's all that must be said.