Score: 5

"Great while it lasted"

submission: Samurai Jack

date: June 20, 2003

The art was good, true to the style of Samurai Jack.

As you know, this is WAY to short - but it looks like a preview, so as long as you plan on adding to it. I doubt this will pass judgement, but if you make a longer movie out of this, with some plot and what-have-you, it should do VERY well.

What worries me is that this 5-second movie is almost 300 KB. At that rate, a minute movie made out of this would be 3600KB - try to optimize a little bit.

So, great animation style. Now, using this, make a movie, and make it good (and optimize it)

Score: 9

"Excellent completion of the Beta"

submission: Defend Your Castle (Full)

date: June 10, 2003

The beta version of this was great in of itself, and this one is far improved. First off, I am pleased mostly that you fixed the right click -> play cheat method (in a humorous fashion, I might add ;p).

And while the beta was great, this full version is tenfold better because of the new additions and improvements. Just the archers were fine before, but having kamikaze men, wizards, and craftsmen add greatly to the fun.

Suggestions:
• Change the upkeeps from their current linear calculations to be exponential, so that, the more men you have, the more punishing it is to get more beyond that.
• Consider weakening "Detonate"
• Consider adding more units (such as a knight that takes multiple blows/drops to knock away his armor and kill him, or siege weapons)

My only complaint for the game: Make the upkeep deductions faster. I got to level 33 my first try (only try, so far, and I haven't lost yet, but have simply not resumed playing) and it takes a considerable portion of time for the upkeep deductions to be counted.

Also, archers seemed to behave in a slightly odd manner. About half-way through rounds slightly before (and probably indefinitely after) round 30, I could stop playing entirely and let the archers take over, but they took that long before they really did anything noticeable, either.

Either way, it's a great game, simple in graphics, yet extremely well executed in action scripting. I hope this isn't the end of it, and that you either update it minorly here, or enter a completely revised version (such as this to the first beta) to the portal.

For those interested, I created what I hope is an informative thread about this game, entitled "Defend Your Castle Guide" - it's URL is as follows: http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=72707

The Guide I created is lacking in some numbers (such as equations for how fast craftsmen work at various damages or numbers, or the efficacy of archers or whatnot), but covers the game well and mentions, among other things, upkeep, points for killing, why units die, functions of buildings and the units they create, enemy descriptions, etc...

Score: 9

"Great Game!"

submission: The Cave of Death

date: May 23, 2003

Simple, yet very entertaining. I've made games like this on my calculator, but not this cool ;p

My high score is currently 1537. See the thread the previous reviewer posted for the screenshot.

The controls were really hard to get the hang of at first, but I figured them out pretty quick. Do the walls keep narrowing, or is there an end?

Score: 10

"Just gotta love it..."

submission: A Gamer's Life

date: April 30, 2003

'cause it's so cool and true. I love SSBM and I pley with 3 friends a lot, and each of us correlates to one of your characters ;)

Drawings could be better, but the content is awesome.

Score: 10

"Fantastic"

submission: Ronin-Spirit of the Sword

date: April 23, 2003

But you hardly need me to say that when it's currently the #1 flash movie/game. However, I would like to add my two cents.

The game is great, fun, very interactive, etc...

The sword wasn't easy to master, but this is no fault of yours. The only way I can easily see to improve upon this masterpiece would be to make movements flow, and add more levels/items/enemies.

There's not much I can complain about, but the "password" can be deceiphered with a little study. I would give it a check-digit, adding a 30th character that is chaotically dependent on the previous 29.

For other users: A list of gallery girls' names, as well as "the best password," and how the password works, can be found in this thread:

http://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic.php?id=64908

Score: 9

"A Masterpiece!"

submission: A sponge

date: April 23, 2003

What it lacks in graphics/sound, it makes up for by far in style! The sound was actually a good choice because it contributed well to the overall effect of the movie. The graphics weren't detailed, but they were skillfully done. The facial expressions were simple, yet very descriptive.

This is a relief to see such a good yet simple movie. It's been awhile. Thank you, and please grace the portal again!

Score: 8

"Ignoring the disparity from expectations"

submission: FDA - ASSWARP

date: March 28, 2003

... it was good. I thought that it was well done, but had so many people not spent so much time, it would have really been sad. The song is only good because it's the same as Time Warp with 3rd-grade bathroom humor combined with college-level sexual drive and perversion. The video was weird at best, and only through its diversity and effort put into it was it good. The file size was atrocious. Frankly I was let down. It seems like the work of an average NG user, only who spent a lot more time on it (what I'm saying is this: the quality isn't very high, but the quantity of it and the time taken to make it compensates for that). Of course, 'original' audio makes it more appealing and creative, however it's basically weird al gone wrong. It (the lyrics) was funny for about 5 seconds, and then it became redundant and slightly annoying. The greatness of the music from "Time Warp" did help, of course, but this cannot really be credited to the creators.

However, I don't bother thinking about most flash movies/games this much, and neglecting it's file-size, it's one of the better entries that NG has received. I think it was overly hyped, however. All in all, it was great as far as the average portal entry goes, but as far as professional work (the degree to which it was hyped), it left much to be desired, in that regard. Again, I'm not saying I didn't like it, merely that it would have been difficult to match expectations, which it didn't, for me.

It was good, worth watching, and I appreciate all the time and effort that went into it. Good job.

Score: 6

"Well"

submission: monster! part 2

date: March 18, 2003

It was good - I like stop-gap motion videos, but it was a little short, and the filesize was obscene for how short it was. Anyways, I still liked it, just try to compress your videos (or rather audios) better, and maybe make it a bit longer :D

Score: 0

"What's more sad than this movie"

submission: deletedh09

date: March 16, 2003

is the fact that it will be protected.

Score: 9

"That was cool!"

submission: Master mario

date: March 16, 2003

Nice integration of sprites and flash effects (as well as sound), my only complaint that it could have been longer, but that's only because I liked it so much :D