MLScherbatov's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Project Hacker]

cool idea, but it's so hard to find the first few items that i quit before long... Consider putting some kind of graphic hint as to what you need to click on. (cracks in the wall, ladders, etc... ANY details would be really nice.)

one big issue i found is that the areas didnt seem to respond until 30-45 seconds in, so i found myself having clicked everything in the image to no avail, only to find that the first object i clicked was in fact the one i needed.... especially because the graphics are so lacking, this was both incredibly boring and incredibly frustrating.

[Mr. Fish]

interesting concept... if you mean to make fishing a weapon, you need to either make it much faster, or you need to reduce the number of worms. It is literally impossible to win this because i was immediately swarmed by 20 friggin spiked worms, and a maxed out fish would only take a sliver of hp... on top of this, i didnt even know you were supposed to kill them using the rod, because if found that you could kill them about half the time just by hopping on them. This is a cool idea, but it's terribly imbalanced.

viper2024 responds:

Hum... please note that this is a score based game, so the difficulty is based on how well you do against others. There's no ending ;-P

[Undead End 2]

great concept, but i quit pretty early because i was sick of walking so slowly... the game was well animated, and i liked the variety of weapons, but i thought it was a bit stupid to even have a reticule if you can only shoot things which are lined up on the same horizontal (I missed hundreds of shots while clicking exactly on the head of a zombie, because i was one step up or down from where they stood, and this doesnt really make any sense to me. Also, the character stopped reloading after performing a melee attack or kicking, which made it impossible to get out of close quarters situations if you were on a narrow walkway. Good job, but this still needs a lot of work if you want it to be enjoyable... I really dont see how so many people could be giving 5 stars.

[Planet Wars]

great game, but mobility needs to be at at least twice the speed to start with... it moves really slow, man.

[Swarm Defender]

great game. really did bring me back to those old TDs. I did like how you made it rapid fire, but i have to say that some of the later levels were incredibly difficult, and that the AA seems to be very weak. consider adding units made for fighting flying, cus some of these levels were way too hard because so few towers attacked air. The difficulty wasnt really a bad thing, but it did make me really learn how the game worked, so i guess in that sense it does open it up for sequels/ more level or tower packs.

^^^those are just some thoughts. my real issues with the game were that the prices for upgrades were frequently innacurate (one of them says 10 every time but costs 250), and that the personal upgrades did not build up over time (they were so small that making banks or science buildings would do more, and i ended up with tens of thousands of research points that went nowhere)

Great job, i hope i didnt sound too critical. :)

[Hobo 4 Total War]

the game plays well, and i figured after denouncing your newest release which is under judgement, i'd give a couple of the games a try. I think its fun, but i still dont agree with your concept

SeethingSwarm responds:

Thanks for having an open mind and for appreciating the gameplay. I do not expect everyone to like or to agree with the subject matter of this game and I respect your opinion :)

[Hobo 5 - Space Brawls]

I'm sure this game is fun, but i cannot bring myself to play it based simply on personal beleifs. I have quite a few friends who are either homeless or have been homeless, and i was cast out onto the street at age 15 by my alcoholic/ mentally ill parents.

The use of the word hobo as a derogatory term, and the stereotype of a homeless man as a drunk/drugged out social outcast is neither true nor fair to the masses of people who have legitimate medical/mental issues, or have simply chosen not to participate in mainstream society due to personal beliefs or experiences.

What you are doing here is much the same as blacksploitation movies or racial and ethnic stereotyping in the media. You are perpetuating hate, prejudice, ignorance, and suffering, and just because you grew up in the suburbs eating fucking cheesy poofs doesn't mean that you should make fun of those who are less well off.

perhaps you think this is no big deal, but consider how ignorant the average child is in america nowadays. Think about the fact that the next 12 year old to play this game will probably laugh and point at the next homeless person they see, and almost definitely ruin their day, if not drive them into further drug use/ seclusion from others. Just think about how you looked at media as a kid, and how little you questioned it when you were told something by the television or the internet. Given that you choose to mock the homeless as the main subject of this game, I should think that you have not done so.

I think you should go to the mirror and take a good long look at yourself, then really decide whether you think it is a good idea to keep these games up... I don't mean to make you feel bad, and im sure that you mean no harm in making this, but the idea that the poor and unfortunate are to be mocked is one which contributed, for instance, to the fall of the roman empire. I know you're just having a laugh, but you mus recognize that there are not enough honest, respectful, or wise people in this world, and you are just perpetuating and worsening the issue.

SeethingSwarm responds:

I understand your concerns, but just because I portray the main homeless guy called Hobo in this game as a disgusting and ultra violent person does not mean that I insinuate all homeless people are like that. On the contrary, all the other homeless people in this game are non-violent until they are provoked, just like a lot of the other non-homeless characters in the game.

Should the Stephen King movie "IT" answer for manipulating millions of children into thinking that all clowns are evil beings bent on destroying them, causing thousands of people to lose their occupations as birthday party clowns?

[GigaBuddy]

an ok game, but i felt like the accelleration was a bit ridiculous/ i found even the first few levels very difficult. perhaps consider slowing things down a little bit, or giving the player a few more levels to get used to this before introducing difficult platforming such as level 4. I had quit by lvl 9 due to issues with acceleration and movement in midair becoming overly frustrating

there is no impetus to the character's movement, so many times i would let go of the forwards key in order to keep from walking off of the platform, but simply end up falling short despite seemingly having momentum. i know you are trying to emulate retro platforming, but this old school of a system simply doesn't really have much of a market with games like n and super meat boy around.

i like it, but i really that in this day and age, making the player deal with outdated programming as a way of making the game harder is simply not efficacious or enjoyable. Reading the reviews, i see that many people have given up before even reaching the 2nd row of levels, which leaves you programming new features in which are not even being noticed. Keep up the good work, but remember that user friendliness is a lot more important than personal style when it comes to flash games (most of the kids playing this are young, and wont have ever seen retro games like this to be able to appreciate them)

[Speed Farming]

i gave this a 2 because i had no idea what i was supposed to do even after reading the tutorial, but i assumed that there was some way to harvest your crops, and i just couldnt figure it out. please either fix the game or include a better tutorial, cus it looks like it might be fun.

[Space Croissant]

I like this a lot, and I dont know why VVVVV people VVVVVV would be hating on this if games like realm of the mad god are getting famous right now (IMO this is a much better game).
I have 3 suggestions, however.
1. Change the level up menu so you have to click in the corner or something. I found that due to rapidly clicking for maximum damage, i would end up accidentally just choosing whichever option the cursor was over.
2. Add some sort of gold system so there's a little more to do, and maybe a couple rooms which are shops that sell special abilities.
3. Perhaps add new classes, but the aforementioned shop idea might help with this issue of repetitiveness.

great job. This is one of the few games that i feel actually deserves a frontpage recently. keep it up :)