Reviews for Gravity Bob

[shrimpchris]

Not bad.

I think the best things about this game are the excellent grahics and the cut protagonist. not the cutesy I've seen, but he's still pretty cute.

As others have said, the gameplay isn't the most original idea, but I personally think you pulled it of relatively well. The mechanics are really common in this type of game, but the level designs you have are the things that help the gameplay out the most.

I like your choice of music, but the loop gets a little repetative after a while. Maybe you could've benefitted by changing the song every 10 levels or so?

Overall, Good graphics, decent gameplay and song, fun game for the most part. Good job!

<Review Request Club>

ProfessorFlash responds:

I understand that one track can get repetitive, but I have to also keep in mind the filesize and going over 4mb already I didn't want to add more file size. At least there's the mute button :). Thanks for your review.

[Haggard]

Good game

Well, there are quite a few gravity related games out there, but I don't think none of those games has such a cute main character, lol

I really liked the music in the menu. Sounds awfully familiar, maybe I heard this track in the audio portal or in a different submission, or maybe the menu music was inspired by some other gameing related track which I just happen to know.

The in game music wasn't that appealing to me, but luckily you added a mute button. I always appreciate if a flash author adds a mute button, because even the best in game music can get annoying after a while. So it's always nice to have the option to turn it off.

The gameplay itself is pretty good. The controls are very simple and they work very well. It takes some time to get used to the gravity related acceleration, but after a while I was able to manouver Bob through most of the levels. I haven't beaten the game, but I think with some practice even a "no continues" playthrough would be possible.

Overall, while the game idea isn't that original it is at least executed very well. Good controls, nice graphics and a very nice main character.

{ Review Request Club }

ProfessorFlash responds:

I like Bob as well. I originally wanted him to be a furball, but when the artist gave him fur he looked like a hobo who needed to take a bath :D. So fur had to go, but he still looks cute :).

Thanks for the nice review.

[EmmDubya]

I like it, but this premise isn't too original.

The first thing that struck me upon opening this game was that the character artwork didn't seem too impressive, however looking around the fill for the scenery definitely gave me good vibes, with a nice calming look and later on little subtle details like small pairs of eyes in the walls and such that I believe gave a nice ambience to the visuals. One thing regarding them that I wasn't too keen on was the absolute lack of player animation. I know as a blob kind of thing, it's pretty difficult to make an animation, but the fact that there's just nothing wasn't good for my first impressions. It struck me that you're likely a programmer and that animation may not be your forte, and if so then perhaps collaborating with one of the countless great artists this site has to offer could be a good idea. You're certainly not half bad with stationary art, however, so this may not be a fair conclusion to come to.

It sounds slightly odd, but one qualm I have with the flash is that the UI feels a bit too... 'floaty' for my preferences. I have no suggestions as to how you could improve this, but it's something I noticed and now I'm not quite able to put properly into words. There's a lot of transparency going on and the buttons don't, to me, feel like buttons. I won't elaborate further on this as my thoughts are jumbled as to how to put it across properly, but make sense of this if you will and I will be thankful.

Out of the audio the menu theme, although barely audible due to how quiet it is, and very short, was my favourite piece. It gives a sense of tension and makes it feel as if an important event is brewing and coming nearer and nearer. The in-game music is definitely very different in that it's far more energetic and I think this fits the lighter side of the game eluded to in the character art and such, as opposed to the darker feeling the background art gave me, which reminded me of the third instalment in the DooM series somewhat in the darker sci-fi sort of area.

This clash of two different themes: the vivacious one given off by the in-game theme and character artwork against the slightly creepier and tenser atmosphere of the backgrounds and menu theme, to me detracts slightly from the overall experience. It feels rather mismatched and muddled, where at any given moment you're receiving both of them at the same time.

The concept of a platformer that swaps gravity around has been around for a while, with my own first experience being the Shift games, which I wasn't ever particularly fond of, although they were rather fun. Since then, I have seen it done over and over again. I think that you carried it off pretty well, although as I said, the fact that it has been done to death in the past reduces the score for unoriginality.

Last but not least, I'm going to come onto the gameplay. The first thing that struck me was the left and right movement feeling rather bloated and sluggish, and sure, perhaps that fits the whole space theme of the game, but I believe that slightly speedier movement would be an asset. As I previously mentioned, the idea of a gravity-switching platformer has been done often in the past, however one thing that I haven't noticed in other people's flashes (not to say it doesn't exist)is the ability to swap in the air, which was present in this. This is what I believe causes this submission to stand out slightly from the rest, albeit not much. In my experience with it, it allowed for more tactics and some levels were even based on getting the balance of each one in mid-air perfect, which definitely took advantage of it.

Overall, I did quite enjoy playing this, although admittedly it didn't captivate my interest for too long, possibly as I've played so many similar games. I really liked the soundtrack, however at any given moment the audio and art direction for particular objects seemed to be giving conflicting ambience out. The movement was slightly sluggish, but I can look past that.

7/10. 3/5. I definitely enjoyed playing this, and hope that you expand on this formula further in future.

ProfessorFlash responds:

Wow, thanks for the long and detailed review. I can't take credit for the graphics as I didn't make it. I did collaborate with an artist but he doesn't have an newgrounds account as far as I know so that's why I'm alone in there :). You can however check the credits page in the game to see info about all the people who were involved.

I set out to create a fun platformer, and originality was something I was willing to sacrifice. I've spend too much time thinking about original concepts and not getting anywhere because it's hard to come up with something original and fun :). I hope people enjoy the game despite it not being that original.

Thanks for your thoughts and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[NekoMika]

A bit different

Not the most original idea but unlike most other gravity games this one allowed you to change the direction of gravity in mid-air which is real helpful but sometimes your speed doesn't slow up or change either. The game is still pretty interesting though.

The graphics here were pretty good, the only bad thing is the Bob creature, I think he could have taken on a different look altogether but not really too bad for an art attempt. You could try doing a collaboration with some other authors on here though. The creature peering out of the walls from time to time was pretty cool, not sure what it was though. Is it after Bob or what?

The game play itself seems to be really nice as well. The gravity kind of annoyed me at times since I would try to keep good speed and make it to where he was almost not moving at all in air so he wouldn't hit spikes but later in I kind of found it a bit harder to do since I still hit spikes anyways when trying to enter the portals at a slow enough speed.

Began to encounter those problems at level twelve as well. From there I could see the game was getting a bit more challenging with each level I got to. Level thirteen made me feel pretty annoyed so I took a break for a bit and then came back to it and eventually beat the game which took awhile.

The audio used here was actually pretty good. The music at the menu felt a bit soft but still audible and then the music playing during the levels seemed to make you feel pumped and ready to keep on playing which is good to keep players interested in seeing how much tougher it gets before reaching the end.

While the game doesn't exactly fall under the most original or best game category, it does have something most other gravity games don't and that's allowing you to change direction mid air adding to the fun and challenge of the game.

I think you did well for a good gravity game and adding the ability to switch in mid air was a great idea. Although I didn't like how you kept going in the one direction for a moment when switching the gravity. Then again I think it helps if you try to hit the space bar a bit until you're slowed down enough to have enough control of where you are going in the air in later parts of the game.

Overall, not too bad, different from most other gravity games I've played. Good job on this game.

Review Request Club

ProfessorFlash responds:

Thanks for the review. Good to hear that people can beat the game.

[Gimmick]

Meh

I found the game good but it wasn't the most original idea, I say. There are plenty of gravity based games like these out there, and what does this have that makes it stand out from the others?

The art: The main menu artwork was good, I'll give you that. However, the ingame art was....disappointing. I see a little ball with eyes and I wonder "Is that supposed to be an alien?" I don't know if "Bob" is an alien or not, but whatever it is, it's not drawn very well. The walls are just regular shapes with a background. Not good. The black holes and the explosion, however, were good.

The animation: Smooth. The explosion animation, however, was a bit choppy. I can't really say much else because there's not much left apart from the explosion and the black hole animation.

The music: Not bad, it's actually good, but it's a bit repetitive and after a time it gets irritating. The sound effects are drowned out by the loud music, but they're not bad, if you can hear them.

The concept: As I said before, the game's concept is not original. There are plenty of other gravity games out there, and this is no different. To answer the question I asked before: this game has nothing extraordinary, nothing surprising, just your average gravity game.

The gameplay: It's rather simple, just using the arrow keys and the space key to switch gravities. Sounds simple, but as always it gets tougher. Some levels took me a long time to finish and made me frustrated when I almost finished but had to restart. I don't know much, but the fact you could swap gravities while in midair meant you could do a lot more than you could with other gravity games where they switched on contact. I'm still wondering whether this makes it easier for the user or not. Maybe a limited amount of switches you can make in a level...?

All in all, not bad, despite the fact it's no different from any other gravity based game. And yes I have been harsh :)

~~ Summary ~~

~~ Good points ~~
1) Smooth animation
2) Simple gameplay

~~ Bad points ~~
1) Repetitive music
2) Relatively unoriginal
3) Rather basic art

[Review Request Club]

ProfessorFlash responds:

I can appreciate constructive criticism so thanks for your review. I'll keep your points in mind if I do a sequel.