MLScherbatov's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[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.

[Mars Colonies Demo]

this game is great, but ive run into huge issues with controlling the colonists properly... i left this sitting here for 30 minutes straight with everyone set to build, but my workers still hadn't finished building one segment of electrical wiring, effectively killing everyone in my colony or forcing them to desert for lack of food/ oxygen. It seems as though they spend much more time just wandering around doing nothing than the actual jobs they are supposed to perform.
Also: even when every unit was set on guard, i found that the combat was incredibly luck based and shots fired seemed completely random/sporadic. Essentially, i think this is awesome and i had a good time, but you really need to make sure the colonists are actually within the player's control. after playing a couple of levels, i started to just leave every job on for every colonist, because otherwise i found that it took a ridiculous amount of time to accomplish anything.

[Slime Laboratory]

i found it incredibly difficult to balance on small platforms, and sometimes the jumps were unresponsive/ the physics didnt seem to hold up right. I'd get momentum going on a swing to make a longer jump and find that i would just level out to the normal speed upon leaving the ground, effectively canceling out any kind of impetus i would have accumulated