You're not meant to just hit it with the sides - you need to actually move the paddle WHILST hitting the ball. So you sorta 'swipe' at it.

I think the problem with this game is that the concept's tricky to understand, then once you work out what you need to do, no interesting choices arise.

I'm almost embarrassed by it now, but glad I made it and glad you liked it somewhat.

Stay funky!

I rate aspects from ----- to +++++.

Anything '+' I really thank you for and find useful. Anything '-' might be a complaint or me just being greedy. Remember that I try and always give some constructive criticism, just like I ask you to do. I'll try and find something to criticise in the very best review.
=====================================

: Another simple game...

Another summary that...
++: summmarises
+: leads into the first sentence.

: but, yet again, strangely addictive!

++: comparative praise

: Having to speed up the ball through slicing added a bit of a challenge to the game, changung it from just another version/variation of Pong.

+: praise
+++: elaboration

: Unfortunately, because of the slowing ball, I couldn't get higher than 16 which is a little disappointing.

+++: precise

: Perhaps you can have the ball slow down at a less quickened pace. I like the idea of it slowing down however it did so after only 3 ricochets, which is a little to soon.

++: criticism implied by suggestion
+++: more exposition.
++: (Fairly specific.)

For the record: it will slow down after 1 hit if you don't move the bat. If you slice it each time, it will never slow down and will move possibly faster than you can handle.

: Overall, not a bad game! Looking forward to the next!

++: summary
++: encouragement

: 6/10

?: Again - why? It's highlighted in red at the top right.

(note: I rank these 3 aspects in the following order from most to least important to me in a review.)
constructive criticism/suggestions: 6
exposition of experience: 5 (how many times did you play? Did you get time-outs or ring-outs?)
praise/encouragement: 8

clarity of expression: 9
elaboration & being specific: 8
coverage (how much): 4 (could have mentioned graphics, absence of sound, ease of control... just quickly mentioned your opinion)

overall: 6

It could be a fatter calf, but as it is, it's big and strong. The meat is tasty. Thank you for the gift.

Stay funky,
- Bez

: Very average.

+ good summary

: Although pretty addictive, like your last game, this wasn't all that crash hot in my opinion.

+: reserved praise
-: I'm not sure what you mean by 'crash hot'.

: It was pretty fun to play after about 3 games, as once again strategy came into it once you fully understood the controls.

+: praise
+++: exposition of your play-experience

: The graphics were dull and simplistic - couldn't you atleast have coloured in the paddles and ball!?

++: criticism
++++: specific suggestion

For the record, I decided to make it all B+W to look more 'retro'. I was gonna add some static or grain, but couldn't get that to look decent.

: - there was no audio and it got boring after a couple of minutes.

++: criticism
-: Are you saying it got boring because of the lack of audio? I'm not sure.

: However, I did enjoy playing this game for a short while, and I managed to ruffle up a score of 46 by the end of it.

++: exposition
+praise

: At the beginning I felt that if I just kept the ball moving at an even pace which I could easily control for the entire 30 seconds, I'd get a good score - the 'out' feature was very good - and this proved to be a formidable strategy untill I got the hang of handling the X and Y axis in unison.

+++: exposition of your thoughts
+: praise
-: I'm not sure what you like about the feature. Elaboration would have been nice.

: If you want to get into detail, the only thing you need to do in this game is move the mouse in a circular motion that agrees with the direction of the ball. This way, as you are aiming the paddle that the ball is coming to, you can prepare the paddle on the other axis for the next shot, and so it goes around in a circle. I'm sure you're aware of this, but I just thought it was nice to know that the motion could be tamed through a simple technique.

++++: exposition of observations and thoughts

: This did, however, jeopardize the gameplay of the game, as it then only became a matter of circling the mouse again and again when playing.

++: criticism of simplicity
++++: thorough

: As I said, the graphics were dull, and after a few rounds, the game becomes so, too.

+: nice comparison. Lovely use of language.
+++++: Great summary of opinion

: Pretty good actionscripting, but no match for your first game :P

++: encouragement
+: comparative criticism.

(note: I rank these 3 aspects in the following order from most to least important to me in a review.)
constructive criticism/suggestions: 9
exposition of experience: 7
praise/encouragement: 8

clarity of expression: 8
elaboration & being specific: 9
coverage (how much): 8

overall: 8

Only real criticisms are the 2 slightly unclear bits. And some slight room for improvement as hopefully shown by score above.

The level of detail you got into when telling me about your thoughts re: ball hitting was amazing.

Overall, another brilliant review.

As this is your last review, I just wanna thank you for all your excellent reviews. All of them were fun to read and your scores seem really realistic and sensibly judged.

I always like as much criticism as possible, when it's constructive.

Yours all is, but I assume that went without saying.

Stay funky,
- Bez

Praise, constructive criticism and a quick summary in the title.

Some feedback on your personal experience/progress would have been nice.

I like the way you give the caveat, " I know the challenge of the game was to get the ball to move faster," before making your valid suggestion.

A dense review, in terms of info.

Good work.

5/10