I ..
dont get it ... i ran around and theres no way back up but it is nice n boring , frustrating nothing happens or is happening in the game...
Reviews for "The Powder Keg V2"
EventHorizon responds:
I know the game is difficult
Really lacking
The gameplay is alright but there is no real plot of why you are exploring the mines. Why would the player want to enter the mines to their death? I ended up restarting a few times because I got trapped in a few places where there was no way to jump out of it.
The pixelated art is really about the only good thing that happened in the game since I've enjoyed quite a few other pixelated games here on Newgrounds and almost all of them had a storyline to them as well.
The music was alright I guess. It seemed pretty fitting but after about five minutes of playing this game I became rather bored with it since I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing down in the mines other than exploring until I died.
Overall, this is an OK game but there is a lot of room for improvement as well. Make a storyline and give the mines a bit more of a purpose and it could be a good game.
Review Request Club
I hate to review a game so shortly...
~ First Comments ~
I really hate to review a game so shortly after playing, but I found so many faults with it that I found it too annoying and distracting to play. No this game isn't hard. A hard game is something that is challenging, this was just poorly programmed in my opinion.
~ Animation/Graphics ~
The artwork is good, but like usual very boring. There are bad pixel artist, mediocre pixel artist, and great pixel artists. You could be a great one, but you have to work on some detail before this happens. Details, details, details! The smallest amount of detail could make this go from another boring game visually to something that Tom puts on front page because it looks great.
For example, the opening scene was very detailed. Once you got down into the cave it was just dirt, hole, dirt, hole, dirt, hole. Have you ever seen an underground game or cartoon? I always loved seeing the cool things that they stick in the soil. For example, the generic dinosaur bone, the UFO, and other generic things, but this is your chance to have some fun and be creative. Add some cool things buried in the dirt and you've turned this from mediocre graphics to great graphics just like that.
You also need to code two different animations for the walk cycle. When the person is walking then use the cycle that you're already using. When they are standing still you should simply have a standing graphic. He looks like a douche walking in place. :P It probably wouldn't hurt to add a different jump animation as well such as one of the arms being up in the jumping stance.
~ Story/Content ~
Well it basically has no story. It would be nice to add one, but it's not always necessary. In a game like this it is nice to have some sort of plot. As for the content of the game, I'm sure it was good, but I'd never find out because I couldn't get more than a couple of seconds into the game.
I just can't jump over the holes. It seems like (from both playing the game and reading reviews) that it's more luck then it is skill to make it over a hole. A hard game involves skill a bad/poorly programmed game takes luck. I think you either need to make the hit detection a little different or have the guy jump further. Maybe making the tunnels a bit taller will allow the character to jump higher and make these jumps.
I really want to see what happens in the game, but just can't make the jumps needed to no matter how many times I attempt it. I usually don't take points off for me being bad at a game, but I seriously think it's the game that is making me bad and not just me not being good enough.
Now that I've voiced my opinion on the content of the game let me make a suggestion of how the story line could go if you decided to use one. (If there is one I apologize, but it's not possible for me to figure out without being able to beat the game) I suggest having this guys friend trapped down in the mind and he needs to save him. Something personal that would make people want to try or relate to in someway to give it that extra touch.
~ Audio ~
The audio that you picked was perfect in my opinion. In fact, I think it was the best aspect of the flash game. It really gave that feel of having to complete a task before the time runs out or before it's too late. That's also why I think the theme of saving someone would go really well here. A great choice in music.
~ Overall ~
Sorry for the negative review, but I do think that a lot needs to be worked on before this is enjoyable. There needs to be some work with the animation when standing still and jumping, the graphics need more details to really get the player involved in the scenery, some sort of plot would be amazing, something needs to be done to make this game playable by getting rid of the luck aspect and make it about skill, and the audio that you picked for this submission was perfect.
This score is more of a 4.4 than it is a bottom line 4, but I felt it's faults should slightly bring it below a 5 for sure.
~ Review Request Club ~
Serious issues
The game concept is great and I totally see what you were going for, but I believe you missed your mark with this one. The drawings are great, I love them. The animation is pretty good too. The whole concept of the game is good, but somewhere along the line it tanked...hard.
The main problem with this is that it's way too hard, and it's to the point where the game isn't enjoyable. It's not the difficult game kinda hard, it's the badly made game kinda hard. The underground maze does look a bit shoddy, and it doesn't seem very orderly. There seems to be a glitch where you can't really walk up where you need to and you just have to keep jumping. That's the first thing I noticed, and that just doesn't make the game look good at all, so I would definitely look into making the game more smooth to where you can walk wherever you need without jumping up a slope.
The second issue I had, was with the way it was designed. There's no way we could know which path to take without trial and error and continually restarting. That's just not a fun idea for a game at all. There should be some rhyme or reason to why some path leads to a place where you'll just get stuck and another leads to a path to further you in the game. Getting stuck in a hole you can't jump out of and restarting just sucks. I'd remove that aspect entirely and think of something else to be totally honest.
I eventually gave up because I ended up at a hole I couldn't jump over. I restarted, went all the way back, and tried to jump over it and still fell in the hole. It's just not a good concept in my opinion.
I also just noticed that if you do finish the game, you're just brought to a fail screen with no option to replay. So I'm supposed to refresh my browser? That's no good.
If I were you, I'd revamp the game entirely. Tighten up the controls a bit so we can actually jump over the holes we need to. That, or give us some head room to jump over them. Even make them skinnier and easier to jump over. That would make this game FAR more enjoyable and playable to the end.
I do like your drawings quite a bit, I like the music, I like the animation, but the game itself just really wasn't up to par. This has a lot of potential in my opinion, you just need to make it happen.
I hope this was helpful. I'd love to see this game re-done. Keep at it.
-RRC-
A real shame
There is great potential for this game - I feel that it's absolutely gutting that there were so many pitfalls, which stopped me from enjoying this game the the full extent of its potential.
As you walk along in the mine, there are idle pockets that give the impression of a maze game, but with one fatal issue - you can't get out of these holes. Why not have ladders in there, or more likely, a precarious looking wooden bridge across it, that you might have to repair, lest it cave in and then trap you good and proper?
Some issues with the controls did give the whole thing an issue, as you try to walk along a straight line and the guy seems incapable of walking up a slight gradient in a slope, which does make it annoying. Combined with the other issues within the game, it does even go so far as to become monotonous.
I would suggest a complete overhaul of the mechanics of the piece - why not have tanks of oxygen lying around, to give you more time in the mine? Collect them like powerups, along with things like drills, precious minerals, clues, more tools, which will help you build parts of the mine back up, as you might be trying to rescue some of your friends and / or colleagues. A plot is a must for a game like this, as it would give people some idea of what medals they are trying to get hold of.
Throw in a space bar command, where you can use tools, such as the drills and see what this will lead you towards, since there is so much potential, with games such as Minecraft making a stab at the modern games industry.
[Review Request Club]