Score: 2

"39 sketches, 21 animators, no laughs"

submission: Sprite TV 3!

date: August 22, 2008

1/5

I like sprite movies. They're in a category of their own on NG.

Sprite movies can be hysterically funny, emotional, goofy and random, or (most of the time) plain stupid. This submission falls deep into the latter category. This is the most elaborately produced example of juvenile stupidity and lack of comedic understanding that I've ever seen on Newgrounds.

I know comedy is subjective, but when you have TWENTY-ONE animators collaborating you'd think something funny to me might slip through. Usually with something this random I'll find a few laughs here and there, but this time... nothing. A few of the sketches came close (the Frogger one, the Princess in the rocket for example) but didn't score. Most of them were painful to watch, especially knowing this would get a high score and get featured just because of the "sprite" factor. That's a problem with NG in general, so I won't go into it.

Sometimes nice animation can make up for a lackluster effort in the writing/comedy department, but it doesn't in this case. And the animation wasn't really that great, to be honest. The bar has been set pretty high in that regard. Aside from the rather cool "create your own sprite" preloader and the clean and simple menu screen, I wasn't really impressed by any of it.

The voice acting was mostly terrible. There's a Voice Acting Club out there that's a great resource for animators. I wish they had used it; instead it makes the whole production sound amateur. Music and sound effects were actually pretty well done on the whole, so no major complaints there. In fact, some of the sound choices were inspired.

Like I said, I do enjoy sprite movies. I like seeing animated video game characters and different people's twist on them. This unfortunately was just a chore to watch. I don't like writing negative reviews either but I made an exception in this case.

(Also, the file size is ridiculous, and I'm not even on dial-up.)

Score: 8

"Clever, challenging gameplay"

submission: MindScape

date: June 11, 2007

4/5

This game really grew on me. It takes a moment to get used to the game mechanics, but once you do, it's a really clever and well-constructed game.

First of all, your graphics are perfectly suited to this concept. They're simple in design and color schemes, which helps keep things from getting too confusing. I've always liked your art style, and the game is really reflective of your work in general. The backgrounds were simple and clever. The main character and the enemies are very clearly delineated and well-animated.

The game mechanics, while a little unusual, become completely natural once you get the hang of things. It's not your typical side-scroller, that's for sure. Later on, the game throws a few curveballs with the different environments and a couple of different activities (the switches and the final race). It's a credit to your programming skills and the game's learning curve that it's easy to figure it out. Probably the only weakness would be the somewhat loose hit detection, especially when rounding corners. I bumped into several enemies even though I seemed to be far enough away. But it didn't hurt the overall gaming experience. The level of challenge was perfect - it wasn't overly easy or difficult.

I loved your choices in music - it really set the mood in each level. The whole game had a great mood and feel. I'm giving you extra credit for creating a nice storyline to frame the events. It wasn't tacked-on or gratuitous, and the ending was surprising yet made perfect sense. Nice work here. I wonder if you got your inspiration from dreams or maybe you're just a little insane. :)

Now after all that gushing, I do have one major gripe and I saved it for last. I was really annoyed by the keys used for the controls. A, W and D are not the optimal keys for this kind of game. Most games of this type would use the arrow keys and/or space, or allow customizable controls. The way it was set up here was awkward. But this is a very easy thing to fix.

Overall, I was really pleasantly surprised by the game. It really grows on you - and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've always enjoyed your animated work in the past, so it was nice to see you put your visual stamp on a game. Great job!

Score: 6

"Great idea behind this, let's see more"

submission: ASCII Animation

date: December 29, 2006

3/5

I really liked the idea behind this. I bet it is time-consuming. :) I hope to see you expand on the concept and improve the animation. You could fashion a creative story around this concept and make it something really special and unique.

A side note: it's not really ASCII code - you're using colors, letters and words to approximate drawings, not just ASCII code.

Score: 8

"Clever concept, well-executed"

submission: Draw-Play 2

date: November 21, 2006

4/5

This game was a pleasant surprise! It's like a cross between a platformer and a building game. It reminded me of Lemmings, which is a good thing in my book. The mouse control was fairly smooth (only a few minor glitches) and the keyboard control was good as well. The learning curve was just right, and the difficulty options and custom level editor give it a lot of replay value.

There were a few drawbacks. First and foremost, I found the graphics very unappealing. While I understand the need for simplicity in a game like this, it really could have used some character and some color. The stick man doesn't cut it. The animation frame rate was nice and smooth, though.

Also, I found it very easy to cheat my way through a lot of the levels by going over the top of all the obstacles. As long as you don't jump over the top of the screen, you can walk to the goal and avoid a lot of the traps/spikes/etc. Maybe this is a feature, not a bug. :)

It would also have been nice to be able to duck. The stick man moves when you hit the down key but he doesn't duck. I don't know if this was something you were planning to implement but didn't - I just noticed, that's all.

The music choices were good as well, although I would have gone for something more catchy and video-gamey. But that's just a matter of personal preference.

This was an excellent game overall, and I would love to see an improved Draw-Play 3.

Score: 7

"Great atmosphere"

submission: Scenes From A Memory

date: September 6, 2006

4/5

You created a very nice atmosphere and feeling with your animation. It looked beautiful and the music you chose fit the scene well. My only complaint would be the speed of some of the objects and backgrounds. The stars in the night sky and the rocks on the ground were moving too fast and it took me right out of it. With a few tweaks here and there, this would be a 5. Great work.

Score: 7

"Very different than usual NG fare..."

submission: Through Eyes of The Moon

date: August 18, 2006

4/5

I've enjoyed your previous work - it's always a welcome breath of fresh air from the usual stuff I find on NG. This was no exception. No blood and gore, no sprites - just beautiful scenery and music to match. Your designs are excellent and the effects were nicely done. I do think the movements and transitions were very stiff and artificial. If you worked on the tweens a little, it wouldn't be an issue. But I still enjoy your work and hope to see more.

Score: 7

"Nicely done, but a few issues..."

submission: World 2-4 Retaliation

date: August 18, 2006

4/5

I was pleasantly surprised by many elements of your animation. I thought it had a nice sense of pace and style and the music worked really well. I also appreciated the use of custom sprites. They were well done and a much-needed break from the norm.

Now to my annoyances. :)

I recently had a mini-rant on the NG forums about common things that annoy me in Flash cartoons. Your cartoon is a good example. First of all, I am so sick of Mario movies, especially ones that take place in the world of SMB and feature large-scale battles and major character deaths. It is getting old fast. Yours, while done well, sadly falls into that category of "been there, done that".

Second, I'm tired of overly long credits. Yours weren't *too* bad, and at least there was that last bit of animation at the end. But still, credits should be kept to a minimum. Most people won't sit through them.

There were a few minor technical issues as well. The rain effect seemed off to me. And the Toad sprites looked like they only had one eye - was that supposed to be a side view? But, like I said, these were minor issues in an otherwise excellent animation.

I really enjoyed this, as well as your previous work. I just hope you can find a new twist next time, or try something from a different game again. (I mean, you did a Clu Clu Land cartoon! Now *that's* something you don't see every day!)

Score: 5

"Interesting concept"

submission: Vending Vendetta

date: June 15, 2006

3/5

I really liked the concept of the game. The graphics and sound effects were average, and the controls were decent. I would definitely expand on the idea, add more options like bigger machines with more items, etc.

Score: 6

"Good idea, but kind of quiet"

submission: Sugar Rush!

date: June 14, 2006

3/5

I liked the idea behind this. Hopefully not entirely based on real life. I also liked the music (of course, since most of it was mine :) )

There were some issues though. Voice acting would definitely have improved this. The dialogue bubbles were good and well-timed, but no one wants to read an animated cartoon. The music was also a little on the quiet side, and the lack of sound effects was noticeable. The pacing could have been a lot snappier.

But these are minor issues that can be easily fixed, and I look forward to your future work.

Score: 7

"I wonder what it all means..."

submission: Ambulance

date: October 4, 2005

4/5

Now here's a Flash that makes you think. A perfect mixture of bizarre, nightmarish imagery combined with a dreamlike song to create something very unique and interesting. And like most dreams, I wonder what the meaning behind this animation is. Of course, we may never know. But that's why it's so interesting. Good work, and keep on dreaming!