ShangXian's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Maneuver]

This is first time I feel to give a relatively low score to a game that overall is well done, with a fun gameplay for the most part (first 20ish levels at least), nice sound effects and a lovely music because of an element that I consider crucial in a game, even with difficult games: entertainment value. To me if a game doesn't provide a nice entertainment/fun value despite its difficulty and the thought process it may forces you, then the game failed its goal to keep a player engaged. I will be frank the only reason that will keep me playing the game is the last achievement that is becoming a pain in the neck due to last 8 levels. I am stuck at level 23 and I can't figure out a freaking strategy to pass it despite everything I could possibly image because it feels extremely unfair in some parts (one of them is circled in red):

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/dd447bf0a9abf58dd244babccd3ef0ba

The red arrows are my attempts to find a solution, and this path is the only one that barely makes me rid of the majority of the tiles but then I keep getting stuck because I don't have an extra tile that would allow me to pass the level. I tried to copy-paste the link to the walkthrough but sadly the link is broken if I try to copy-paste "http://www.youtube.com/wa" and if I try to copy-paste the remaining part the link brings me to a different channel with two 3 years old videos named "class video". I tried to remove the "-" next to "cO" in " http://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=-cO_PltLefY" and it says "This video isn't available anymore"

Unless you fix the link and/or recover the walkthrough video, this game becomes extremely difficult to fully solve and right now last achievement was unlocked in November 2023. I will try to solve this damn level 23 and if I ever manage to reach level 30, I will raise the rating to 3, maybe even 3.5 if next levels are a bit more balanced. And by balanced I mean that there must be tiles that allow me to finish a move and not to be stuck. I'm very sorry, but after level 17 I started to lose having fun due to the high level of frustration it's giving me.

I've also noticed the game doesn't save your progress if you want to play it the next day, making it even more frustrating if you want to focus on the level you are stuck....

I truly hope to find a solution to these hellish levels in order to give a higher score because the game deserves a better score, but rn I am not having fun at all, sorry.

UPDATE: the fact it doesn't save the levels you've completed outside the game (in-game I see the level being saved) doesn't help the game's replayability. I've noticed that every time you close NG Player the game restarts from level 1 and this is not a good thing if a walkthrough of most difficult levels is needed. Let's assume you finally reach level 29 but you have to finish the next day because you have to do other stuff, then you have to re-start from zero, and frankly this made me lose will to even try for now. Sorry, my experience with the game ends here. Maybe in future, if I ever want to try it again I might try but for now I prefer not to get frustrated any more.

[In Space]

This was a really fun experience with a very cool background graphic (I particularly liked how the outer space looks like) and the unsettling music that you can hear starting from the third day and the endings you get. One element that I found a bit confusing was understanding how to move around the map with clicks as the cursor didn't change look if I hover it over the thing that shall be clicked. Quite confusing at the beginning but after your first run, getting the other two endings was easy and enjoyable despite the tragedy of the story.

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Well, for those who still struggle at finding Log 1 and Log 2, here the two screenshot I took during my gameplay:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/048f0360a2015569a33130b6cfd195de

second Log:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/4943fc309fc0a7582510a10db3ebb089

Solving the mini-puzzle wasn't that hard at all, but understanding how and where to put some pieces wasn't immediate, here the location of each piece:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/2bb1f8db089db4d533718a1cd0af5f99

Then click repair and you have solved/repaired the damaged part.
For those wondering how to get the third ending, simply after killing the commander and being given the purple key to the escape pod, don't enter there. Just let the spaceship crash and let everyone in there die (the pilot and you since you are the only two living members).

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Medals were pretty straightforward to get, gameplay although initially not that clear, was fun nonetheless, and music was cool as heck! Great job, I love your games. I first discovered you with those Norse mythology-themed games, and since at that time I was attending Germanic Philology course, where we read some Norse sagas and studies its mythology, playing those two games hit differently and allowed me to understand in depth some small cultural nuances present in the games, particularly the first one. Keep it up!

[Bluck dunt]

Very simple game with a graphic reminiscent of those 80s games that enriched our childhood. I like the graphic of the game, particularly of the duck. The only elements that I feel to point out as lacking element is the lack of a music, a chiptune would fit this game, and a more varied background along with more challenging tasks but I understand the game was made in about a day, so I don't complain that much. It's a simple way to kill time (pun intended, lol) and for those who might experience difficulty with the medal, the most important thing here is the login pop-up for the medal API in Newgrounds passport. Without it, the medal won't register in your account. This happens with games like this and my only suggestion that helped me to trigger the pop-up is clicking many times on the game even when it's loading to make sure the passport comes out. I hope this helps, and for the game, cute job.

[QD Collection: PDS & CH]

This was a really fun game that truly tested my reflection skills. I love games like that when it comes to combine both mental and physical skills. You have to coordinate both the finger, eyes and mind to mentally calculate how to beat each enemy, even if for me the real challenge starts with Bitey because how fast he is (in PDS) and Robo Jesus (Cyber Hell). I will replay it to better figure out how to beat main characters but in the meantime I share some tips on how to beat some of the hardest bosses in Cyber Hell:

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To beat Robo Jesus you have to wait for the second "DRAW" to appear. If you click spacebar during the first one you will lose, once the second "DRAW" appears, click spacebar as fast as possible.

To beat P-Bot (which was pretty easy for me) you have to wait mentally for 2 second before pressing spacebar. You will initially lose a lot but gradually if you manage to mentally calculate 2 seconds you will beat him easily. Doing so helped me to beat him first try. By the way I liked seeing him in the game, nice addition^^

As for Megazord press spacebar very quickly, almost immediately to finish him off, then enjoy the sequence.

Curiously killing robots was easier than PDS characters because relying on the colour of the cross helped me way more than waiting for a black writing to appear since I'm a visual person.

If you want to get the secret deaths, play PDS and beat respectively Strawberry Clock, Bitey and Stickman.

-Strawberry Clock
After beating him, click on the grenade.

-Bitey
After defeating him, don't immediately click on "CLICK", but wait instead for him to fall and get impaled.

-Stickman
After eliminating him, click spacebar to get the third secret death.

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Really nice game, I enjoyed it at lot, challenges were interesting and pretty tricky in the robot levels but that's what makes this game very enjoyable. I don't care about the simple and basic graphic, the game managed to reach its goal: testing your skills.

I wish for NG and this game to last decades and decades so I can re-test my skills once I'll become an elderly person and see how fast I can react. Nice job!

[Aliens Hurry's Home]

I can say it was a wild ride going through each level, especially after collecting 50 stars where levels became more challenging. I loved the physics behind them, even the physics of the alien where its wobbly body structure forces the player to stay focused on surrounding dangers. In some levels you had control where the alien went in order to avoid touching the traps. Each level design is well studied and well-made and combines with the progressing difficulty. Difficulty is another element I liked a lot because it was balanced and never unfair, even if there was a level I truly hated and made me almost rage: level 21.

The fact I had to carefully move each box to left corner of the level to make sure the red button is pressed while, at the same time, I had to constantly check the laser and avoid the saw, made this level true hell. This was particularly true during first tries where I had to test different strategies before finally finding the right one. I hated it but I also loved when I finally beat it, because remaining levels were a lot easier to deal with.

I liked the balanced nature of the difficulty and the easy learning curve for each level. The combination of hand coordination and mental strategy makes this game one of my favoruite of this category so far. The stars are thankfully easy to get even if in later levels it becomes more tricky due to the combination of more traps (razors, lasers, buttons, electric barriers), nothing too impossible at the end of the day though. Besides the gameplay I also found adorable the alien design. He's so cute with that big eye and round shape. Music is nice too.

Overall a fun, challenging but not ragequitting inducing game. Nice job, keep it up :)

[Is It Pico Day?]

A really short game with nothing much to do besides answering yes or no, but I understand since it's more like a joke game than a serious one (even the tag tells it) so I won't complain that much. Maybe adding a different animation for Pico when answering yes or no would have made it more interesting. Besides this, it's an easy game to get medals and I will tell you how to do:

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This is a game made during Pico Day so:

-You lose hahaha
Simply answer "No" during Pico Day, this is a day-dependent medal, meaning that you can get this medal only during Pico Day.

-Pico Day Let's Goooooo!
Answer "Yes" during Pico Day. I didn't test it today so I can't tell if this unlocks only during Pico Day or not, but I think it's very likely it unlocks during that day, since the medal mentioned above behave like this.

-A Winner Is You
Simply answer "No" during other days that are not Pico Day. I was wondering why Andrey20 managed to unlock it first (even before the author of the game) but others no and then I had the epiphany; he's Russian so he's one day ahead of the other players.

additional note: if you click "Yes" in a day different from Pico Day you will get the lose screen, meaning that these medals can be achieved in specific days

ERRATA CORRIGE: thanks to @andrey20 it is found that you can get the medals even in days different from Pico Day by changing the date on the computer. Thanks for this info!

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So that's it for the extremely quick guide to get medals. Little game, easy for medals as long as you play it in the right days ;)

By the way happy Pico Day!

[Two Colors]

A rather challenging and difficult game in some points, especially in the third level where you have to jump down and memorize the map well to avoid falling on the spikes. The game's graphics are very simple and minimalistic and I like the use of few colors to better focus the player on the task to be performed. Despite being a difficult platformer especially from level 3 onwards, it manages to counterbalance the learning curve of the pattern of each level well. Unlike other very difficult games in which it took me even days to get the medals and understand how to optimize the strategy, in this game, after 3-4 attempts, you can understand how to use the controls, how to exert the right pressure to jump across obstacles without dying immediately and memorize quickly the map.

Along with the fairly rapid learning curve, the music is another strong point of the game. I like it a lot and it fits well into the sense of danger (also represented by the colours) and urgency. I like how smooth the controls are, the character's movement is fluid and natural but precisely because it has these characteristics you have to carefully calibrate the strength of the jump, the pressure to apply when you are about to jump and also the horizontal movements with the arrows keys. It happened to me on more than one occasion that I moved too quickly next to a spike and had to restart the game due to the very fluid movements XD.

I initially gave it 4 stars because of the ragequit element, but since I wanted to play another game and I enjoyed it much more, after having mentally memorized the maps, the types of movements to make and the pressure to apply, I increased it to 4.5 as way to show my appreciation for the game as whole. I really appreciated you added arrow keys, because I am left-handed and I have extreme difficulty with WASD keys, so thank you.

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Here the location of the secret area to click with the mouse in 1st level:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/e9288874998112ac862237327bee100f

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Nice job, keep it up!

[Particle Accelerator]

I admit this was a very challenging game despite its simple graphic and lack of music. I played the original one mentioned in the description and I enjoyed it too. Both games have their own charm, in the original one I appreciated a lot the fact red balls can bounce against each other, giving a very natural feel (btw I lasted only 81 seconds XD). Whereas in this one I appreciated the challenging aspect of balls appearing one after the next making you think "oh I can adapt to this movement" just to be beaten by the physics of the next ball. The only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 is simply the ragequit aspect it made me experience since I can become pretty competitive if something challenging stimulates me enough. Otherwise I tend to be very casual in approaching games. I wanted to test myself and I'm glad that after almost 20 tries I managed to get the medal.

I will try to give some tips to those who are struggling with the medal, hoping my little guide may help.

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The game is based on dodging skills, you are a blue ball and you have to dodge the red balls for long as possible. I noticed that every 12 seconds or so a new ball appears, so my first advice is to study the pattern of the first ball, then when the second one appears start with its pattern while keeping in mind the pattern of the first ball. For a while the balls will follow their own pattern but over time, due to the physics of the room and the distribution of kinetic energy, even the first balls will start to change trajectory slightly.

This will lead to a change in strategy adaptation. I noticed that focusing on the blue ball does not help much in the long run because you lose sight of the overall view. So my advice is to focus your view on the white screen and watch all the red balls. Focusing on their movements helps to have an overview on how to change strategy (blue ball movement) in time and resist to unlock the achievement.

You will unlock the medal at 47 seconds.

Another advice is to keep practicing and study the random patterns as much as possible. I know it can be frustrating especially for those like me who love patterns and a well-defined scheme.

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Games like these test more my patience than my skills XD
Nice job nonetheless.

[Start Powerless]

This was an extremely lovely game experience. The combination between strategy and new abilities gained through power-ups make the overall gameplay enjoyable and well balanced. This is the type of games that combine challenge and relaxation at the same time, and this relaxed me even when I had to retry some levels (level 3, 12 and 15 actually) because there are no frustrating elements that prevents you from going on. I managed to finish it in a single run but because I liked it a lot, I wanted to replay other times just to enjoy the atmosphere and the nice graphics. After you memorized the pattern, playing it a second time is a lot easier. I liked the basic idea: starting powerless and then gaining abilities the more we go on but to do so we must study smart, not hard. In a way this game is like a metaphor for life where we all start powerless and gradually we gain abilities to overcome challenges.

As I briefly mentioned the graphic is adorable, simple and pleasant to look at with its bright yet simple-paletted. I liked the artistic choice of using dark and dull colours for background and environment while the character and power-ups have vivid colour to make them stand out nicely and help the player focus on.

Another element I liked is how levels are designed. Each of them is well-designed to increase in a fairy way the level of difficulty without getting annoying nor frustrating. This element adds a nice intuitive level when grasping how to solve each level and gives an actual feel of progression which is not always that easy to achieve in games like this. I admit I am glad there is no time limit because I tend to take my time to study a level before solving it.

I liked the characterization of each power-up, the one that "scared" me the most was the double, yellow-coloured arrow power-up that can be used in level 12 and combined with the high sensitivity of the controls, makes it the most "difficult" to master but after a few tries one manages to control it decently.

Reading from the updates, I see the game was a bit more difficult but I'm glad you listened to feedback and balanced it, I love when game developers listen in a proactive way players' feedback. Despite I might give suggestion to improve I actually think that this game doesn't need any suggestion with its current state. It's perfect the way it is^^

Nice job, I truly loved it. 5 stars from me! Keep it up.