Score: 8
"That was a pretty cruel thing to make fun of..."
date: May 20, 2006
...which is why I absolutely loved the idea :D I'll be honest with you, there was a period in my life about two years ago during which I had a lot of thoughts about self-harm and suicide, and although I wouldn't characterize myself as emo, I do still suffer from depression. Yet I still find this flash hilarious! I think it's a shame that there aren't more people with my irreverent, morbid, sick, twisted, immoral sense of humor and/or the ability to laugh at themselves, they're really missing out on a lot of funny things (like this game, for instance).
As for the flash itself, I have very few complaints. Though the graphics don't appear to have taken much work (since you chose to use mainly photographs), they don't have any glaring faults, and I feel that they fit the stylistic mood of the flash pretty well, too. I particularly liked how, as you started slashing the wrist, you could see the first drops of blood beginning to line the razor blade before the stuff began to splatter all over the screen. The "victory" image of the bloody arm was also pretty neat. Your music selection was also very good, not because I liked the song so much as that it contributed well to the overall morbidity of your game. I appreciate that the sound quality of the music was pretty good, yet did not make the file size overly large (which seems to happen with too many animations/games containing music these days). It would have been pretty cool if you added a sound effect for the splattering blood, but the absence of such a noise is by no means a detriment to your flash. My only real complaints are toward the control scheme, and a couple of grammar/spelling errors. In terms of controls, they work fine, but lack the kind of creativity that makes a game truly immersive or absorbing. It might have worked better if you could control the hand with the blade by wiggling your mouse back and forth, as if you were really making the slashing motion that is generally required to make a gash across one's own wrist. Regarding the spelling and grammar, there's just a few mistakes that should be removed or changed. However, I'm not going to outline them all, in the hope that I can avoid the risk of sounding like an obnoxious, nagging, know-it-all.
The true shining point of this flash is the humor. The idea in itself is pretty funny, and the blatant criticisms of myspace are much to my liking (I hate that site with a passion, it's like the very embodiment of superficiality in my eyes). The "puffy" sad-looking kid is a relatively amusing sight, but the real reward is the "try again? - real life" screen that you can access upon winning the game. As soon as I saw the sharp objects (the scissors and compass), my mouth spread into a wide grin, and I broke out into hysterical laughter an instant later upon reading the suggestion of listening to some "happy" music such as My Chemical Romance. I thank you for a great laugh.
It would be pretty cool if you added a couple more possible endings, maybe even just one more that is happier than the puffy kid (such as someone who expresses jubilance that borders on insanity, I would find that rather comical) for those who are not very good at cutting. In the future, I would love to see you take this idea further, maybe by creating one big game that includes several smaller self-harming mini-games (like hanging or burning, among others).
Nice work, and remember: there will always be those who appreciate your work, no matter how sick it is ;)