Score: 3

"A solid effort"

submission: Exploding UFOs

date: December 19, 2008

But there's just not enough here. I'll first mention the glaring inconsistency between the title, which promises exploding space ships, and the game, which has us shooting down asteroids. Which is fine, but the misnomer irks me.

The sound design is lazy and the lack of music is overt and noticeable. It also isn't clear why the asteroids break into rubble after a certain point, or what affect this has on the game- it seems a needless visual effect.

As far of the game itself, the controls feel slow and sluggish and there just isn't a sense of action or peril that makes the game fun. Everything moves so slowly that most of the challenge vanishes.

It would seem that giving the planet a health meter is a mistake. Games like this are usually one-hit-kill in that if any asteroids connect with Earth it's over. Frustrating, yes, but that sense of challenge- that desire to come back and beat your high score, is what makes games like this good.

I would suggest removing the planet's health bar and instead of automatically rewarding the player with defenses and mines make them purchasable with the points they earn.

Score: 3

"A stocking full of problems"

submission: Christmas Room Makeover

date: December 19, 2008

The visual presentation is crisp and clean and its far from painful to look at. The interface itself is a bit too small and it's difficult to see exactly what you're clicking/dragging at times.

One of the largest problems is the lack of sound and interaction. With these elements missing it doesn't feel like the player is doing anything more than staring at a static window. A bit more to keep a player entertained and engaged would have gone a long way.

Score: 8

"Better than expected"

submission: Jitters

date: December 19, 2008

Despite it's rough exterior there is actually a lot to love about this short. The animation, while simplistic, has an artistic element and a sophistication that makes itself apparent the longer you watch.

At times the story becomes cluttered, and some aspects of the story telling style need to be refined, but overall it did not fail to get the point across; which can be difficult without voice work.

A very good submission that should not be underestimated.

Score: 7

"Fun, but lacks balance"

submission: Trever's Street Walk

date: December 11, 2008

This is a very enjoyable game and I found myself hitting the replay button more than once. However, the sheer frustration puts a cap on the fun. As the game progresses the number of enemies on screen turns the experience into a frenzied exercise in futility.

One of the game's strongest features was the opening cut scene and I would have loved to play as some of the other characters.

Score: 6

"Just keep swimming..."

submission: Save The Fish

date: December 10, 2008

Not bad. No real problems save the snail crawl pace. Up the speed and include a leader board to keep players coming back.

Score: 5

"Hmm..."

submission: Hellsing: A sly intruder

date: December 9, 2008

Hard to say what my exact feelings are on this one. There are some strong points, but its hard to look past the bad ones. As far as the good goes, the art is better than I had expected and the voicework isn't terrible (though there's some strange background noise whenever a character speaks) but far from stellar.

The animation, however, is a large drawback. The choppy camera movements and minimal character movement makes the entire thing feel stiff and unpolished.

The plot is a mixed bag: I'm interested in the cat, and what its purpose may be, but the scene is so short and so little is explained I felt frustrated at the end rather than eager to learn more. Overall what's holding this back is a lack of content and an unpolished feel in both the animation, the story and the characters.

Score: 5

"Fitting title"

submission: Pointless Stickman Fight

date: December 9, 2008

There's a few too many random stick fight animations for my taste, but this one wasn't awful. Flaws holding back are the frame rate, which creates a choppy, gruff feel to the animation, and the sound, which doesn't seem to be in time with the action.

Fix those few flaws and it will be a perfectly average stick fight.

Score: 7

"It's Very Elusive"

submission: Where's the Clitoris?

date: December 9, 2008

A very nice pseudo film noir style lends itself well to this tongue and cheek mystery. I would have liked to see more done with the chosen style. No silhouettes in the fog, no gritty internal monologues and other staples of the genre are noticeably absent.

Beyond the under used visual style, the main problem with this mystery is the lack of mystery. The game was a little straight forward. Go here, do this. You're even told where to find the cash in case you happened to miss it. I'm not saying a hint system or something similar isn't bad, I'm just saying that there wasn't much to puzzle over.

Other than that the only issue was there wasn't enough game. Never a bad thing, by the way, when the complaint is for more game. Too short and lacking sound and a few other essential element holds back the possibilities.

Lets hope part 2 puts the pieces together.

Score: 8

"Not Much to Say"

submission: Cannon Defense

date: December 8, 2008

There's little to criticism here. You made a solid defense game with good gameplay good visuals and good sound. I wish I had something constructive to offer, but there just doesn't seem to be anything wrong here.

Score: 5

"Hmmm...."

submission: JUS Intro

date: December 8, 2008

Well it accomplished an opening's primary goal: It piqued my interest.

There wasn't anything wrong with the animation. Both the characters and the background were lively and visually capturing. The music, however, while not bad in and of itself, seemed to lack the 'punch' to successfully create the sense of impending action I believe you were striving for. Perhaps go back and find something with more powerful audio queues.

The camera needs work. The very first scene takes too long. While the guitar riff may repeat twice but there's no need to use the primary colored outline visual effect twice over. The same visual trick where a different character flashes to the foreground is used over and over again. Use this maybe twice (for the two groups of principle protagonists) and then find a different way to introduce the characters. I would also suggest some smoother movement. Each time the camera moves it seems to cut away, creating this cramped, compartmentalized feel.