Score: 7

"Great movie, subpar game"

submission: Stoneage Assassin 2

date: September 21, 2009

Both Stoneage Assassin games are very stylish and well-produced but neither make very fun games. Their prime selling points are the strong voice acting, the great atmosphere, and the cool cutscenes. That's why they should have been made into a movie and not a game, as the gameplay sequences make up about 2% of this flash if you don't count the tedious waiting periods where you don't do anything. Overall, I felt like it was more a slightly interactive movie than an "action filled shooter" as you put it.
5/5 for the cutscenes
2/5 for the actual gameplay

Score: 7

"Unrealized potential"

submission: Curse Village

date: July 10, 2009

This flash starts out so nicely and seems to hold so much promise. That Ring-like little girl icon, that creepy opening music, the decent visuals, it's all great. Then I started playing and a bit of disappointment set in.
Yes, let's get it out of the way: it's a Last Stand-inspired game with a few different features. Instead of a main character stuck behind a barrier, you play a disembodied weapon that can move to any point on the screen. You can still use traps, but you have to "buy" survivors and guns instead of finding them.
Although the selection of weapons is nice, most of them become useless after a while since they're so weak and enemies will need two or more ROCKETS to kill. Some are also tricky to use. I'm not sure what the katana's hit range is, as it doesn't seem to be that red slash that appears when you use it. Not being able to hit what you want (and subsequently cutting enemies in half instead of killing them) is annoying to say the least. As mentioned, enemies become really tough to kill and the most powerful weapons have such little ammo (laser) or are so tough to aim (grenades) that the game turns into a chore.
That's what the game seems to lack, a healthy progression. It didn't really keep me entertained very long even though it's not really a bad game. It's got a pretty high production value and I can recommend it to fans of the Last Stand who might enjoy it more than I did.

Score: 7

"It's a decent follow up"

submission: $00pah NiN10Doh!

date: June 10, 2009

I was a fan of the original NiN10Doh compilation so I had high expectations for this one. The first time I saw this new $00pah version, I didn't like it very much. Subsequent views did elevate my opinion of it, but since everybody's sense of humour is different, I guess it's expected that some parts will fall flat. It's strange that some of the best and worst skits are written by one person, though.
I guess I'll just talk about what I liked. The Starfox, Four Swords, and the last Pokemon sketch (with the suits, not the camera) were all well-written, well-acted and prime examples of what "parody" means, something that other flashes didn't seem to get (hint: crude d!ck jokes aren't automatically hilarious).
The Kirby skit started out strong as well, poking fun at the games and the main boss superbly, but the second part didn't have a single funny moment. It's like you just ran out of good jokes but kept animating anyway.
The shorter one-joke skits were hit-and-miss, ranging from chuckle-worthy ("heh, that's not bad") to head-scratching, like "was that supposed to be funny?"
I only ended up liking about half the sketches, so I'm not quite sure what to rate this. If it's only based on what I ended up laughing at, I'd say the project deserved a 9 easily, maybe even a 10. With the other ones thrown in, I can't really give this a high score anymore.
Good work on the project as a whole though. Pierre Jackson and David Smith both deserve special commendations for some great animation. I can't say that I wouldn't be looking forward to another collab in the future, as Chris seems to work well with those two.

Score: 8

"A good sign of things to come"

submission: Drakojan Skies Mission 1

date: May 25, 2009

As with OmegaDragon3000's other Drakojan games and the perfect tease that was Forgotten Rites, this first submission in the Drakojan series looks beautiful for the most part, and its high overall production quality makes it stand head and shoulders above most flash games. It's not perfect, but it's done superbly well and that helps makes up for some of the minor problems.
It is incredibly short, as advertised. This is "Mission 1", and the entire length is little more than the average span of most shooter levels. Thus it can't really be reviewed as a full game, but more as a beta or demo.
The gun powerups are all over the place instead of a steady progression. By that, I mean that your shot changes from upgrade to upgrade, sometimes having less coverage than previous versions and sometimes seeming to be more of a downgrade as a result. The upgrades are also piled up near the end of the level instead of spaced out appropriately. I actually took more hits in the beginning of the stage and ended up not needing the later health powerups.
The game did take a bit of time to get used to. At first, it seemed way too hard, but as you begin to memorize your enemies' patterns, you finally start being able to dodge and shoot effectively. The "bosses" aren't terribly difficult to beat, although they take a lot of shots. Not being able to hit the turrets and fighter on the last boss is also annoying, as I was caught by a cheap laser beam that left me no room to maneuver.
Anyways, overall it makes for a good demo and does succeed in making you want to play a full Drakojan game.

Score: 9

"The best of the series so far"

submission: Zelda: UO Epis:7

date: February 26, 2009

From the excellently-produced menu interface to the cliffhanger ending, this shines as the series' highlight up to now. The character art has gotten better, there's less of that annoying speech volume problem, and Diggs is a great sidekick character (I cracked up at that "You're the one with the weird thing on his hand" line). The music is also appropriately chosen and queued up at the right times, so good work with too.

Score: 8

"Glad this isn't the final chapter"

submission: Zelda: UO Epis:4

date: February 26, 2009

Scoot, you do provide a lot of excellent action shots and camera angles, although they're overshadowed by the (lesser) quality of the artwork. What's up with Saria's voice? It sounds like you recorded her part with the actress way too far from the mic. (Kudos for switching up her name pronunciation from the first two episodes, by the way.) Anyways, great use of game footage for a flashback, and the humor is still a welcome addition (although there is less of it this time with more concentration on action). Looking forward to watching the rest of these!

Score: 9

"Definitely getting better"

submission: Zelda: UO Epis:3

date: February 26, 2009

Although the artwork and low speech volume keep holding this series back, this episode was still very fun to watch. I liked that manga flashback, the laughs, the short bits of 3d animation (which are great by the way). This one also feels more complete than the first two, with it being longer and more self-contained.

Score: 8

"Not bad, shall we go again?"

submission: Zelda: UO Epis:2

date: February 26, 2009

You're not quite doing the series justice (due to the crappy-but-decent-for-a-flash artwork) but overall this flash gives off a good impression (so far). The voice acting is good, although the volume settings need to be adjusted a bit (especially Link). I like the little bits of humor thrown in (that really elevates this out of mediocrity) and the animation is fine. But man, it's not pronounced "Sar-eye-ah", that just caught me off guard and made her name sound too biblical.

Score: 8

"Pretty good zombie defense..."

submission: SAS: Zombie Assault

date: February 8, 2009

It's not really that much different from many other defense games out there, but at least it's done pretty well. It has a lot of potential, but it's lacking in some areas and could use reworking in others. Graphics were adequate, the sounds fit the game very well, and there was a good array of weapons (as always, wish there were more though). The controls were alright except for one thing: that mouse-controlled camera screws up my aiming a lot. I mean, it's nice to be able to see farther, but in tight spots, I'd prefer a stationary cam. There was a bug where one of the directional keys would get stuck (so for example I'd keep going up until I pressed W, etc). Also are some enemies supposed to get stuck to you and you can't even shoot them? That was not cool. I liked the idea of repairable walls but in practice, they're so hard to maintain in later levels (especially in hard and nightmare) since your "base" is rather large and awkwardly shaped. I don't even bother upgrading the walls past the second level, as most of them get destroyed completely by banshees while I'm busy with a swarm of other enemies. The difficulty was fine, no real complaints there. I mean, nightmare mode ain't no joke, but hard is still challenging without being impossible. All in all, it's an above-average effort, but some changes are in order. Looking forward to a Zombie Assault 2, if it's coming.

Score: 10

"A classic example of 'Mickey Mousing'"

submission: Shoo Fly

date: January 15, 2009

This was a great demonstration of how music can bring life and even humour to a piece. The artwork is fantastic, and I love how you managed to blend in anime-style sword-fighting with the feel of old Mickey Mouse cartoons. I would have liked to see this developed into an actual cartoon, where we follow that lady around for the day or something and this is just one of the things that happen to her. Wishful thinking, I know, but the short length is the only thing to gripe about for this flash.