ShangXian's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Friday: The Game]

This was a really fun, pixel, text-based game to play and I liked to experiment different commands to get the easiest achievements. A command was particularly funny when typing it (SPOON, the message is "the spoon grows arms and legs and starts dancing. No, not really"), also typing BOWL gets a funny message. Graphics is fun, the music is very fun even if I liked to mute it and play in the background Rebecca Black's Friday XD to make the experience more immersive and fun. While listening to it, I've noticed some parts of the lyrics are put in the medals' names. Nice and fun reference. I am a relatively fast typer so getting the "Everybody's Rushing" achievement wasn't that hard (my current score is 00:00:37.49) but the problem was to get the right combos to complete each of the three main tasks (feeling stylin', hands washed and you had cereal) to get to the party. So after experimenting I finally found the combination of actions to perform in order to get the achievement.

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Let's first start with the easiest ones, those that imply a simple input to get the achievement immediately:

-Suicide
just type DIE or SUICIDE anywhere in the game

-Oh poop I
pretty straightforward, type POOP anywhere in the game

-Derp
just make 5 typos

easy achievements that require extra commands to obtain the medal:

-Oh poop II
type BATHROOM, then TOILET

-Burn Baby, Burn!
type BATHROOM, then SHOWER

-Cereal Killer
type STAIRS or HALL (pro-tip: I suggest HALL since it has less letters and it's easier to type in a fast way), KITCHEN, PEANUT BOWL (pro-tip 2: you can type PEANUT AND BOWL and you'll get the same result but I suggest just PEANUT BOWL because you will type faster, useful for the "Everybody's rushing" medal) and then type EAT

-Have a nice trip!
type CLOSET, then DRESS and finally type again HANGER

-Oh poop III
type CLOSET, DRESS, BEDROOM, BATHROOM, and finally DRESS TOILET (don't flush the toilet first!)

-Poop Princess
this achievement will automatically unlock once you get all Oh Poop achievements

-ZAP!
type BATHROOM and then SINK

Well, now we reach the achievements that require some conditions to be obtained, the easiest one is "Going Viral"

-Going Viral (viral ending)
while in your bedroom just type COMPUTER

-Partyin, Partyin, YEAH! (normal ending)
start from the closet to get your first condition to go to the party because it's the fastest way to end the game and end it in a fast way (less than 2 minutes), so the commands are:

CLOSET, DRESS, BEDROOM, BATHROOM, FLUSH, DRESS TOILET, DRESS TOASTER (1st condition: feeling stylin'), TOASTER, SINK SOAP (2nd condition: hands washed), BEDROOM, HALL, KITCHEN, CHOCOLATE BOWL, MILK BOWL, EAT SPOON (3rd condition: you had cereal), HALL, DOOR, FRONT

you beat the game and if you are fast, meaning you manage to beat the game in less than 2 minutes you will get two extra medals:

-Everybody's Rushing
-FUN! FUN! FUN! FUN! (100 points worth!)
reach the party after completing every task and/or achievement
-Winaholic
you get all three "You Win" endings

Now the last medals, the losing medals

-Partyin, Partyin, NO!
CLOSET, DRESS, BEDROOM, BATHROOM, FLUSH, DRESS TOILET, DRESS TOASTER, TOASTER, SINK SOAP, BEDROOM, HALL, KITCHEN, CHOCOLATE BOWL, MILK BOWL, EAT SPOON, HALL, DOOR, NO

-Road Kill
CLOSET, DRESS, BEDROOM, BATHROOM, FLUSH, DRESS TOILET, DRESS TOASTER, TOASTER, SINK SOAP, BEDROOM, HALL, KITCHEN, CHOCOLATE BOWL, MILK BOWL, EAT SPOON, HALL, DOOR, BACK

These two losing endings will trigger the achievement "Loseaholic"

-Loseaholic
get all deaths possible in the game

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As I said at the beginning of my review the game was very fun and I think I will replay it again for the fun now that I have all achievements. Nice job, keep it up!

[Moon Waltz]

This was a very lovely, fun game to play with multiple choices and different endings. In a way it's a cute reminder of the wolf within us, but I also like how you can decide to change slightly each ending despite getting the same results if you do the path to get said ending. The only ending I had some difficulties to get was the "Love Breaks All The Cuffs" because I couldn't find the right sequence action, until after many trials and errors, I finally got it. I post here how to get it:

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To get the "Love Breaks All The Cuffs" achievement go out your house, keep your human form until you reach the guy in the same area where the woman is. Scare him so he sees her and goes to her, then turn into a werewolf and kill the couple (feel free to become a werewolf when the priest sees you to remove him later). Reach the point where the cigarette machine is, destroy it and return to scene where you killed the couple. It's not necessary to kill all cops and then let you arrest in the same point where you killed the couple. I did it around the church area, I killed some cops and then they arrested me. Once you are in jail, here starts the condition to get the medal: wait for the policeman to get very near the cellar where you are, then press "SPACE" and turn as werewolf in front of him. He will be fascinated and will transform into a werewolf too. The medal will appear, don't press immediately "R", wait for the next lovely scene where you see the protagonist and the policeman looking at each other outside. Press "SPACE" again and you will see this lovely scene:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/ad490cb9f5810cbcde020da31458fb82

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The graphics is really lovely in its simplicity and music is lovely. I liked it a lot, thanks for making it.

[SquidVenture]

Ok, this was a really fun and cute adventure where you control a lovely squid that has to dive in depth to unravel the mystery that made him/her embrace this journey. Music is really spot on for the type of task the squid has to do, the pixel graphic is simple but well done and I liked the contrast between the more 3D-like vibe of the borders and the simple 2D appeal of the characters. I like how each level increases difficulty the more you go on in a balanced way without getting too frustrating when things get more complicated.

The game is short, and gameplay dynamics quite straightforward and I liked the different types of enemies the squid has to face because each of them require different strategies to circumvent them. I liked the last levels with their challenging nature to combine the different strategies learnt in previous levels.

There are two things I've noticed when I started the game though:

1) loading time before the start screen appeared

It seems that it takes a bit of time to load before start playing for real, maybe because it's still in initial phases, I don't know. I'm glad that I am a very patient person and I waited to enjoy it.

2) the character freezes in the initial screen before diving deep in case I decide to swim up. This has led me to reload the page and wait again a bit long for the screen to fully load.

I know the game is meant to be simple and short, but maybe adding some power-ups, even temporary, to counterbalance the overwhelming force of the enemies in last levels would have made the game more challenging. I was hoping for a final boss (maybe with different phases) but the final level was quite satisfying in its difficulty especially for the short range of the squid attacks. I enjoyed it nonetheless and I found funny that you could shoot the beloved one XD
I did it the first time and I feared I had to re-do all levels, thankfully it wasn't the case.

Overall a fun, cute experience, keep it up!

[Tankmen At Comic-Con]

This is a really funny game despite it's shortness in terms of playability after you found all tankmen. I found the description of each Tankman medal pretty funny and my mind couldn't read them without having Johnny Utah's voice in mind XD. My mind read them with his voice. All medals are quite easy to get and actions to get them are pretty straightforward to perform. Maybe the only medal slightly difficult to get is the "Where's Waldo?" medal because the canvas is small and there are lots of details, and the bright colours can be distracting.

I've found it by accident when clicking randomly in the canvas because something told me that this medals was related to one of the characters depicted in the game, so to be sure I temporairly removed the medal and clicked in the area where he is, and I got it again.

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I post here where to find him since it's a 100 points worth medal:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/fb6bc88edf6a6feedf1620b03eb7265e

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Overall a really, short, nice game. I enjoyed it. I would like to play other games like this and kudos for making it in just 5 hours^^

[GO! 5]

This game has the potential to have some interesting game mechanics, I enjoyed the music and overall graphic in its 3D simplicity. I also enjoyed the characters' design, but the main reasons that made me vote it 3 and not a higher score are:

1) lack of a clear, detailed instruction for each mode besides a simple explanation of which controls to use in each mode. Maybe adding a description for each mode with a title (even a funny-sounding title) and what to do. Plus I've noticed that you mention mode 5 but I only see mode 1, 2, 3 and 4. For mode 1 and 3 I understood what to do but the other two weren't that clear in showing requirements to achieve a score, in fact in the submarine level, besides getting the purple crystal, I don't know what else to do except for swimming and avoid that green thing that swims. Same for minigame 2, besides using arrow keys I don't know what else to do^^'

2) no levels to progress besides the mere accumulation of a higher score as much as possible. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed minigame 1 and 3 but I would have preferred a progression that made the level more challenging. I hoped for example in level 3 an increase of speed the more I ran. I ran for more than 3000 meters and I didn't notice any change in speed. I would also suggest to add obstacles in this level to make things more challenging and interesting. Plus I've noticed that I can move my character across the screen without fearing of losing as long as I don't jump forward, I don't know if it's a glitch or not.

3) lack of score leaderboard and/or medals. This would have extended the playability and longevity of the game imho but I also understand if you didn't want to add it.

So in conclusion the game still seems to have some elements that make it look like a scratch game than a finished one but has the potential to become something more interesting if new mechanics, levels, challenges, power-ups, etc. are added. I had fun though, so keep it up!

[Crazy WEIRDO the game 911 Cool]

Not bad, I enjoyed this short but nicely made game. The music makes you feel focused on the task, the graphics are nice to look at in their simplicity (I liked how bricks were rendered). It's a game easy to complete as long as you measure the speed at which you have to go in certain parts. In the levels where spikes appear there are two levels that might seem a bit difficult to get past, worry not because there is a way to get past through them.

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Pro tip: there is a safe area where you can phase through the spike and reach the end, here the first level where this appears:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/a72fca21d90207d89f297522b1096861

and the second one:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/7aa738f033467bafb31b16a06aa4d70e

I passed all levels using a touchpad, BlueMonday1984's tip is more than valid as this removes the anxiety inducing effect using a touchpad in such situation gives because you might go too fast or touch the walls/spikes/black blocks, etc. especially if your touchpad suffers from ghost touches. In that case, alternatively to a MaxAutoClicker's "hold" click type, you can always use a mouse. I used a touchpad though and as long as I went calmly and slowly I could finish all levels.

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Fun and relaxing casual game that rewards you with easy medals, thanks for making it^^

[(Medals Fixed) Pokemon Encounter]

This is a really simple game that is inspired by the famous Pokemon franchise, whose two main medals are pretty easy to get: catch your first Pokemon and catch a Beedrill or a Butterfree. The last medal is more difficult to get because it's very random both the chance to get the shiny and the chance to get it after first tries (keep in mind that 1 in 8192 is a shiny Pokemon). I initially got a shiny after around 1000 tries, here the proof:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/c2a1e6cea2d8ecf15c4befcc0932cb63

But I didn't initially get the medal, I don't know if it was because the game disconnected after some time, so I decided to replay it and after 20 tries I got my shiny. I went to check in the PC and I saw I got more than one shiny XD:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/f6af28d6e24c736dd42691c16c5157eb

This time I got the medal and I am very happy, so I decided to share a small tip on how to speed up the chance to find one, hope this helps.

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Pro tip: to get the last medal which is worth 100 points you must keep searching in the grass but because the process is long and tedious and may take time due to its dependance to luck, the only thing I feel to suggest to speed up the chance to find a shiny. To do so go into the tall grass, stand at the sides of the screen and hold down the directional arrow left or right depending on which side of the screen you are, and click "run" every time a Pokemon appears until the shiny one appears.

Here the image that shows better what I mean:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/fc5927fc02054271799106099b10cea3

If you move in the grass Pokemons eventually appear but with this method you will focus the appearance only in that spot and you will notice how fast they appear. The shiny will appear first as regular Pokemon, but immediately after that a black square will surround the Pokemon and you will see the shiny variant. Throw your Pokeball and enjoy your 100 points medal.

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The music is nice and gives a nice nostalgia vibe, but mechanics are a bit wonky when moving the character and I would have preferred a more varied Pokemon encounter along with some different environment but it was a nice test game nonetheless. I've also noticed that despite muting the music, it starts up again after soon, so the best way to mute it, is clicking on the speaker symbol on the tab.

It was nice testing my patience and finding the shiny, hence my 4.5 vote despite the flaws of something more similar to a test game than a full-fledged work.

[THERE IS NO GAME]

This is not a game I had no fun not to play it. I write no review to express the no fun I had. There is no cool music that made me enjoy every bit of the game and the progression of the game itself. The pixels are not nice to look at, each of them was not worthy of my time to admire their no-existent artistic beauty. The presence of the unreliable narrator made everything no fun to experience, and the voice was not funny to listen to especially with his hints which didn't help me to go through the game. I don't have this game on Steam and even there I left no review for others to enjoy. The outro music was not powerful to appreciate especially the drums, and the high-hats in the middle part of the musical composition. I also did not like the small challenges I had to complete in order not to free the goat, especially the squirrel one. That was not my favourite for sure.

Because I didn't laugh I think I won't play it over and over since there is no game, so no real reason to spend some free time. No congratulations for this game. Since I leave no review, there is no point I keep writing now, in fact I stop and go not to play this game again!

[#Run3rd The Game]

Ok, this was one of those game that made me feel genuinely entertained while playing it, even the times I kept losing XD
I liked both the graphic, the design, gameplay, music and voice acting. I also loved the possibility to customize your cause even though I mostly opted for the ones already present in the game. I like how difficulty increases the more you gain speed. Considering that still 63 people got the final achievement I feel to share some tips on how to increase this chance that, despite it's still very difficult it's not impossible.

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The first five achievements are pretty easy to get, just increase your level and they will unlock, but to speed up the process go mainly for gold and silver medals which give you three and two points respectively. This way you will get past each level in no time, in fact I unlocked them the same day I played the game the first time. During this phase you can also start learning the patterns to avoid obstacles. When you start playing, the voice tells you that you can use every button to jump, my tip is to use the SPACEBAR because it gave me much more control on the character and the intensity of the jump especially between narrow spaces and on difficult platforms. I've noticed the game has different patterns and obstacles, some appear more frequently like these ones:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/88e05bedecb6fe55cc71afc64bf321ea

You can see the red arrows as tips to jump on them better. These are the most common types of platforms and I suggest to jump on the wider platform and avoid at all costs the smaller ones because you won't have time and space to jump. It's also interesting the path transition when you upgrade your level. It's a delicate moment since you might risk to lose and fall down in case you jump between platforms and the transition happens like in this case:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/39abb1be035b7657a0267c7eb7039ec2

Jump as soon as possible if you happen to find yourself in this type of transition which can occur sometimes, but you can try to avoid it as much as possible by collecting medals on more linear path like in this case:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/c85e810f89b59a269f8662ffe379a7b4

This is the best type of transition because you don't have to worry about the "reset" of the strength of your jump that occurs during the transition. The time delay that happens during the transition affects the power of the jump so in critical situation this can be a curse, in one case though it happened to be a blessing because I could lower the intensity of the jump in an area that might have caused me a certain loss.

Now that you have reached all main, easy achievements to get the last one you have to endure several trials and errors, it took me three days of training to finally get it but it was worth the effort. A tip I feel to share is to avoid collecting too much medals and do the opposite of what you do for getting the level-bounded achievements: go for bronze medals, silver at best. This way you can remain on lower levels and 1) learn patterns better 2) have a higher chance to reach your final goal.

Keep in mind though that the more you progress, the faster you run so this implies two things: 1) less time to jump and take decision, 2) higher jumps which become very useful for this type of platform that tends to occur at higher speeds:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/f56ef5b7a4da07e8ec71442cc40b313e

You can't see Sean simply because I made him jump very high and went off screen, but I managed to make him land on the platform circled in yellow and that it's barely visible because I took the screenshot while jumping. Don't be afraid, at that speed similar jumps can happen, while at lower speed your jumps tend to be less high.

This is another type of platform rarely seen at lower speeds but more common when you become faster and you are about to reach 20 miles:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/16ae3c8ddb46dd18ef0c0dfa9c950cb8

Again, avoid landing on small platforms and land on bigger ones that will allow you to jump fast. I had to fall down many times before memorizing the pattern.

This is a very common type of platform to jump:

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/d67bcc903d2b2944a758a5661d03a401

Follow the path of the red arrow and you are able to get pat through this type of platform. The music also helped me to guide to the speed, what do I mean? When I reached 8 miles the sound of drum beats told me that I was reaching a slightly faster pace and this allowed me to adapt the area.

If you keep practicing you will eventually manage to reach and even surpass 31 miles.

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I was finally happy to have reached 31.23 miles two days ago, it was a small satisfaction for the effort put in the game. The only suggestion for the game would be a leaderboard to compare scores, but besides this I loved the game so much that I still play it over and over despite getting all the achievements because it's engaging and relaxing at the same time. I also loved the 8-bit music. Great job, keep it up!

It was a nice dive into the early 2010s games^^