ProsciuttoMan's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Dad 'n me 3D]

The artwork feels very authentic: I remember the 3D models on Dan Paladin's old website looking very similar to this, although I think a stylized outline effect would help this a lot.
But, as a game the controls feel overly-precise, there's a lot of lag, and sometimes the 3d camera leaves the experience feeling a little on the cheap side when enemies approach you from behind: maybe a first person camera would've helped out a bit rather than the closer behind-the-shoulder, Ocarina of Time-style camera it uses now?
It's awesome to see more fully-3D games on Newgrounds, but it's got a lot of growing pains right now that prevent me from fully enjoying it.

[ITAZURA MADNESS]

Gameplay is addictive and extremely fun. It feels like this perfect combination of Rat Game, and more "true" roguelikes like The Binding of Isaac: it's satisfying to go through and you can get pretty far on most runs if you try.
Even the way the items themselves are presented feels fresh and new: I'm getting tired of the old 32x32 graphic slapped on a stone slab, and the little paper bits was refreshing to see, and the lower quantity of items and certain upgrades help to keep players attached to their weapons for much longer than in something like Gungeon.

The Newgrounds crossover weaponry was handled fairly appropriately in my opinion: it never really draws too much attention to itself (except for maybe the Isaac and Piconjo ones), which is alway nice with stuff like that.

Unfortunately, a lot of my criticisms lays with the art direction: deviating from Krinkles' stuff is always cool, but there's still some boundaries with the source material I feel were pushed a bit too far here: the art direction of Madness is defined by the over-the-top badassery of late 90's and early 2000's action flicks, which is very different to how this game presents itself.
Seeing as how this game tends to base its aesthetic off something that contrasts the original art direction of Madness significantly: cutesy Japanese-style streetwear, things end up being somewhat hit-or-miss for me in terms of character design and artwork.

If this was built as an original game, and there was a bit more content to play through, I could definitely see myself paying for a retail version on Steam or itch.io.

Tombdude responds:

I really appreciate such thought out feedback, thank you : ]

[COSMOSIA]

As a first game, this is amazing!
I would probably make it a little more difficult though, since it's sort of a cakewalk right now difficulty-wise.

[PlaceHolder Demo]

Even for a demo, this isn't really enough to justify any kind of score.
It controls ok and the visuals look pretty good, but quite honestly I ended up confused more than anything at the end. There's no beginning nor any end, so I don't really feel like I've gained or lost anything, which is very important to game design IMO.
Full version might end up being awesome, but right now I feel like just a single screen from a game that seems like it'll be much larger doesn't sell me just yet.

RealLuner responds:

it was rushed, i plan to update it asap.

[Blockade Runner]

I can't believe how far you guys have come! I remember talking with you guys in the LISA days, and you've improved a hell of a lot.
This game was fantastic, Can't wait to see more from you!

Noisemama responds:

I remember talking to you briefly; glad you like the game! Me and the rest of the devs at The Tub are working on bringing another game here which we'll hopefully have up in a couple weeks. Thanks a bunch!

[Worm]

Feels fun to control! I personally think a much lighter worm would benefit the feel of the game a lot, and some sort of introduction to some of the game's features would have gone a long way.

[Kanojo no Shikaku: My Girlfriend is an Assassin]

Not a big visual novel fan, but the setting and presentation here are pretty unique in my opinion. Almost makes me wanna see the world and the characters in a different sort of genre gameplay-wise!

[PIPIKO]

Controls feel satisfying, and gunplay feel satisfying, there's just no sense of urgency in gameplay.
It feels a bit too easy for me, and you're a bit liberal with HP: reducing maximum HP or increasing enemy damage would have gone a long way to adding much-needed urgency. Since no real difficulty came from the level design, at least for me, I thought the enemies would be the main challenge here: like Cave Story or something.
Very good foundation though, and I enjoyed what I played: just a little more challenge would've gone a long way, I feel.

[Into the Deep Web]

Solid game, especially for a jam game. The aesthetic is really unique, and unlike some other games that use the retro PC look, it doesn't really come across super forced, which is awesome.
I guess my main problems are:
> The character designs are pretty hit or miss. Some look awesome, others look pretty meh.
> Huge difficulty spike with the end boss.
> The HP meter, while visible outside of battle, ends up being tough to see for new players. I didn't realize it was there until my third or fourth playthrough.
It's a really great time-waster, I've played for hours so far, but as has been pointed out I think a gameplay expansion would be really fun.
I could definitely see myself paying 10 or 15 bucks for this if it went retail.

jontopielski responds:

Appreciate the in-depth feedback! Almost every character was drawn in the last ~40 minutes before the game was due so yaa they will definitely be revamped if the game gets expanded.

[Castle Crashing Madness]

I mean, it works and it seems like the gameplay is there, but there's not much punch to anything you're doing: no real sense of impact is present, which leaves it feeling a little flat and boring.
It feels like a lot of potential is here: with gameplay and with aesthetics, but it goes totally untapped.
Using the knight sitting on Hank's shoulders could've easily lead to tons of great opportunities for gameplay (when I saw it, I assumed Hank'd have to fire projectiles and perform ninja moves whilst the knight slashed around with the sword and did cool rainbow attacks), but unfortunately it ended up being purely style without substance: as far as I know, there's not much of a reason beyond aesthetics for this mixup of characters, as in you could've had a character with a sword and gun and there'd be nothing lost.
TL;DR I love the idea, but in execution you pass up on so much stuff that'd make this really fun and exciting, and it ends up feeling just kind of ok.