Jollesax's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Scriball]

Very fun

The idea is great, the game itself challenging. The only thing that kept me from giving it a ten is the fact that there are only few elements in the puzzles. It's those mines, and that's it. Some more stuff like walls, gates, ... would make this a top game.

Mind you, I loved the game, wasted almost an hour on it. And I'll be back for more.

[Tycoon Jones]

Nice, with room for improvement

It's a nice game actually. Very fun idea. Once you get the drift of it, there is really quite some stuff to do. It's just difficult to figure out with the few hints you get. Keeping up both health and happiness is pretty hard with the food available in the beginning. choosing between gaining happiness and losing health or losing happines and gaining health is frustrating

I didn't manage to get very far, and the 4 players is really something I didn't even consider trying yet.

What definitely need improvement is the animation / interaction. It will keep people from getting bored. I couldn't play for longer than 15 minutes (after two earlier tries) without feeling completely lost and giving up.

Also the game info should be better arranged. Think about making a section somewhere at the side/top/bottom with bars indicating happiness / health / money and current investements for example. Make some "newspaper" at the beginning of the day with stock info, vacant jobs and other important information would be a nice add. You give some info, but it's very basic.

Days until you have to pay the rent would be nice info too for budget planning. An overview of items you bought is necessary as well, your current education status, etc... you get my drift.

Another thing that is a bit bugging, is the absolute lack of info on how long some stuff takes. This really makes you end up without food half of the time because you don't have time enough.

Also the randomness of the prices and gain/loss points is a bit annoying. They can change, but now they really change too much. Off course that does not count for the investments and the stockmarket.

If you fix those things, you have a very good game. Add a few tasks to complete and/or clear up the level system (you have levels actually already in the education, but you can do more with that) and you have a fantastic game.

Because of the effort and the very nice idea, still a 7.

PS : didn't have problems with the salary. If I went to work and actually worked, that is.

[20XX]

unplayable

The game looks nice, the idea looks nice, but the demo is unplayable. Car goes offscreen very fast, disappears at the bottom, game rushes incredible.

I would suggest to first check the functionality and then worry about extra functions. Or even post a demo. It's worth developing, but it needs quite some work still.

[Karoshi:Suicide Salaryman]

WICKED!!!!

says it all. incredibly inventive, I would give 11 if I could. It was a fun hour of being amazed, surprised and fooled. Keep them coming!

[Tri Towers Solitaire]

Simple and fun

Graphics are nice, idea is very good and game flows smoothly. A more extended sequel would be very much appreciated

[Kill The Pacman]

Nice and not easy

Good idea, nice game, easy control and nice increase of difficulty.

Only (strong) minus : once you do the adventure, it's not possible to go to the main menu again to take some more training. It would be nice if that one is added too

[Besieged]

Great game

It's a bit hard in the beginning (got the loser achievement, there goes my confidence...), but once you get the grip of it, it's a very fun game. After the first level, the difficulty increased nicely and the levels were nice variations on a theme. The first level was for me impossible to win before getting the loser achievement. Tried it a couple of times, didn't succeed.

Some remarks and ideas :
Probably the biggest nuisance was the game freezing. Mine froze right after building the second landmark. I noticed that the landmark was fully built at the same moment an enemy entered my castle. Didn't try again if I could pass that one. Those bugs shouldn't be in a game.

The enemies disappear actually right before the arrow shoots. Synchronysing and displaying the actual arrows would be nice. The impact on the enemy should be more visible too. Now it's impossible to know which tower fires at which enemy. Especially for the dark blue ones, you can hardly see where they're aiming.

I agree with others that more difference in the towers and interactions between them would be great.

All in all loved playing it, it's a great idea and a nice start to a finished supergame.

[Raid Gaza!]

simple game, strong message

The game itself is pretty errrr... well, you know. The message however is quite strong.

Apart from the fact that Israel indeed has a right to exist and that Hamas is a criminal (mind that I said criminal, not terrorist) organisation, the blind agression of Israel is absolutely horrifying and stupid. For a number of reasons :

1) Hamas lives on instability in the region. This gives them a free hand to do whatever criminal activity they want to deploy (and those are manyfold). The Palestinians are the first victims of this.

2) the absolute lack of discrimination between the organisation Hamas, its sympathisants and the palestinian population shows the complete ignorance of the Israeli governement. Instead of getting to the organisation, they frighten a whole population and strengthen the image that Hamas is their only survival. What you might not know : Hamas has a very strong "aid" departement, especially for the families of martyrs. Right now, Hamas is all the Palestinians can turn to for food or any kind of help. All they ask in return is... you get the picture.

3) The fact that Israel is also attacking buildings of neutral third parties like the UN, the red cross and doctors without frontiers, is a strong violation of international law. Plus, it diminishes the last bit of influence these organisations have. If the Palestinians can't turn safely to neutral parties, all that is left is... indeed. Hamas.

4) The fact that the western world can't get through to Israel, enhances the belief that the West is implicitly agreeing with what Israel does. Hence, this makes the friction between two civilisations only bigger. The problem is not only the Gaza strip.

So for all those counting on the "right of self defence", think again about how you would react if you were confronted with body bags filled with your little nephews, nieces, brothers or sisters. Would you believe that those saying they protect you are in fact the problem?

This attack is not a solution, it's creating more problems. How to do it then? I don't know, I'm not the prime minister of Israel. But the adventure in Libanon should have been a wise lesson in how NOT to proceed. Unfortunately, things are forgotten very quick these days.

One thing that would help, is at least letting the international aid organisations do their work and respect the convention of Geneve. Neutral is neutral, not target.

[Battle Gear]

Great, but....

I didn't make it to the end yet, not because I won't be able to, but just because more of the same gets a bit boring. There are some nice multi-troop battles, where you can combine. But then you get a whole range of battles where you can just use one troop. That's just too much repetitive.

But I spend some days on this one already, so it has to be good!

[DotVille deluxe]

FrUNstrating

I've played the game to the end many times, especially trying to get those crazy high scores. Didn't manage.

The game is quite easy to grab, and once you realize that the market places are the money makers, life gets easy. I tried different strategies, and quite some of them work actually, albeit with a different score.

One downside : it gets a bit repetitive when you start with the market places as money makers. The last 5 or 6 turns, there was nothing I could do but buy some food and cash the cash. It would be nice if you could add some extras in there.

Overall superfun game to keep you busy for a couple of hours

finefin responds:

thanks for this detailed review!
but see, I made this game 2 years ago.
I'm amazed that people are still playing dotville
and are having fun.

I actually started to make a sequel
but it really is in its infancy...