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Recent Game Reviews
Aurora 2
Rated 4 / 5 stars October 14, 2011
A good continuation, could have been better.
Better in the sense that I was confused the whole first part of the game, thinking I was back in Red Hill town, but after exploring around and talking to people some, I figured out I was somewhere else, its a bit off-putting, but its alright, I eventually figured it out. I think this game should have concentrated on Red Hill Town more, because I feel this is where Aurora is set.
Am I talking to imprisoned Aurora victims, or normal people in both games?
I like how this time around I had more areas to explore unlike the first game, it gave me a sense of adventure, because the areas were diverse, and creative, but it felt more linear than the first game. More linear because I was isolated to a small area, or room, until I solved the problem keeping me there.
It would have been a more challenging experience if you kept the entire map of exploration open, not linear and confined, even after I solved every problem there (or so I think I did), and the puzzle pieces scattered around more diversely over the entire map, the more pieces I would unlock the more I explored and solved in my opinion. The only thing I had any real trouble on figuring out was placing a dollar in the old ladie's pocket, after that it was smooth sailing throughout the entire game until I beat it, because all the pieces to all the puzzles were confined to the small area you were confined to, thus figuring these things out was a no brainer. I suppose using the mystery ink pen the second time, in a totally different area gave me a sense of this diversity, but still the diversity and openness could have been more well used.
I had more of a challenge in the first game, because of the gunpowder bomb in the poster, I would have never thought to use that, I had to refer to the walkthrough. That bomb, combined with the entire map being left open, and finding many puzzle pieces in different areas (even though the map was small), still gave me a greater challenge than this game did, because one puzzle piece I found, could be used entirely somewhere else, I had to think and use my head, when I don't refer to walkthroughs and figure out a challenge, its very satisfying, I experienced that in this game only giving that lady a dollar, a major part of this game needs a sense like that, not just one small part. In the challenge department, this game needs a serious overhaul, combine the openness of the first game, and its scattered puzzle pieces, with the diversity and large map of this game, and you have a recipe for an ambient nostalgic challenging old western mystery.
Gameplay: I didn't experience this bug everyone was complaining about. I enjoy this point and click style very much, simple mechanics make the destination your trying to reach more enjoyable, especially if the puzzle is a challenge, make it more challenging though.
Music: I like how you kept the game's original old west theme music, this particular one is very enjoyable to listen to, I also liked how different areas this time around took a short break from that tune, like in the dank dungeon part, I experienced dank dungeon music, and at the abandoned farm I experienced a sense of abandonment and lonely winds, so lonely you knew the place was abandoned, realism is always great.
Setting: I enjoy this old west style, and the old west clothes, its very interesting how you created a mysterious story set in the 1800's, where this Aurora lady is making people dissapear, I guess its starting to get noticed because Pinkerton agency hired you to investigate, I'm with this story to the very end and I cannot wait to see where I end up in the next chapter.
I'm looking forward to seeing Mary in Norway, if this is where Aurora came from, then Iam looking forward to stopping Aurora, and Iam very curious as to just what she is and why she is making people dissapear, and if she is killing them, or forever imprisoning them somewhere.
Despite my expectations and critiques, this is one of the best point and clicks I have ever played, keep at it.
8/10 Stars.
4/5 Vote Panel.
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant.
Aurora- chapter 1
Rated 5 / 5 stars October 12, 2011
A fun, creepy western, point & click adventure.
Thank you PastelGames, for such a fun, weird, creepy, and unforgettable adventure, I feel like I lived out a Twilight Zone episode, which is a good thing. In a way, the main plot made me think of that old song by The Eagles, Hotel California, in a sense that in the song, the mistress of the hotel was in fact, The Devil, and the Hotel, was hell, once you checked in, you could never check out, you were there forever. As with Red Hill town, you are warned that once you meet Aurora (Possibly Satan?), you can never leave Red Hill town, it made me think that this old western ghost town was hell for 1800's America, and all the inhabitants you meet are forever doomed to be stuck in Red Hill town (Hell.) With that said, I got a sense that this ghost town was hell, and the people were lost souls, and it really gave me a creepy, uneasy feeling on edge, one of many reasons I'm rating this so high.
I got a sense of Silent Hill from this game too, in the beginning it looked like a regular old western town, moments later through the game it transforms into something different, in this case being an old abandoned run down ghost town.
Good job on the intro story/comic of the game, well drawn, and a great way to introduce us to the story of Aurora, and how we ended up here, most point and click mystery adventures start you off in the middle of a mysterious situation, and I always think why am I here and how did I end up here? I hate that feeling, it has never worked for me and always falls flat, I'm glad you didn't do that here, I got a pretty good idea how I ended up here, even though its a mystery as to why there is a tornado out there picking people up randomly and sending them to a RedHill town, oh well I know enough for now. Maybe the main character died?
Sound: Awesome theme music, it fit exceedingly perfect with the falling apart ghost town with inhabitants. The music was part old western cowboy, part eerie and scary ghost town, I loved it, never got tired of it playing during my adventure.
Gameplay: Fun, it was never more or less than a simple point and click adventure, and it was never too difficult, it was a satisfying experience, but the game could have been a bit longer, and there could have been more environments to explore, like a few more outdoor areas, and the town could have been a bit bigger.
Art: The design and artwork was well done, and very creative, the area fit with a ghost town mystery, the town looked really old, almost in shambles, the night sky was very inviting in this sense as well, it added to the creepiness and mystery. I had one small issue with the artwork, the exits and some of the windows to some of the buildings displayed it looking like it was daytime outside, when in fact it was night when you entered the building, a little misguiding and off balance. If there was a reason why you intentionally did this for some point, then explain please.
Extras/questions: The general store sold a few extra items that were seemingly unneeded, like gun ammo, pointless to buy, also you get a sheriff's badge and a gun through the story, but they really did nothing, what is the point in these extra items if they cannot be used? An easter egg maybe? Tell me the easter eggs if you don't mind. At one point I tried combining the gun with the bullets, but nothing happened. Also I thought Aurora would show up if I set all the clocks to 8 o'clock, I didn't really think the clocks served a purpose either, why this feature with no point?
Despite my explanation of the unneeded items and daytime display through certain parts of the buildings I thought this was a very fun, engaging, creepy story of desperation, hopelessness, and the want to escape before you are stuck forever, I experienced all this whilst playing, and it was unforgettable and great, I hope part 2 is just as engaging, creepy, and fun, with the sense of wanting to escape and figure out the mystery of Aurora; I hope you plan more than just two parts of this amazing game in the future.
10/10 Stars.
5/5 Vote Panel.
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant.
The Last Stand Union City
Rated 4 / 5 stars September 29, 2011
Great game, been looking forward to it.
I've been into these games since part 1. Good job, just ignore everyone else with the picky "its too linear" excuses, this is good for what it is, everyone liked the other Last Stand games, and this one gives you more freedom than those!
Gameplay: I love all the class options, and gender options, its very deep, the game needs more customizable options to create your character though. A very generous selection of weapons to find and use, and to me its ALL about each tidbit of gameplay, I chose hard difficulty right from the get go, having to rest and eat just tunes up the survival for me, honestly this game wouldn't be as good without it, I'm glad there is an artist out there that still considers these important details.
The last few years, game sites like Newgrounds, and even game console companies alike have been producing hybrid games, such as, survival, action/adventure, shooter elements, and rpg elements all in one, I feel they are still in their baby stages right now, but still very fun, Iam welcome to this new breed of game, like this one right here, and I can only imagine how much more fun they will be in the future if people stick to them. Oh, and MMORPGs excluded, I'm talking about games besides those.
Sound: The music is great, these Last Stand games have always had strange music in different parts, but to me thats a good thing, what I like about this game, is that it has fitting music and some parts, and again in some parts that strange music that I always know and love.
I also like the shear terror it brings when you hear that metallic guitar riff, from zombies busting through the ceiling, or them running down the street chasing after you as a hungry mob at night, this music tells you to shape the heck up or get eaten, like HEADS UP THEY ARE COMING RUN! It keeps me on edge.
Environment: The environment is decent for this kind of game, it could be more gloomy and eerie but then again it does get gloomy at night, though not as much as desired.
I love the day and night cycles, this feature is always welcome to me, its cool to be outside at night, it feels creepier, and I feel a bit safer during the day, is this at all true and does it effect the gameplay like that? Anyway good job on giving me the right feeling I'm supposed to feel at day/night.
Similarities: You have taken elements from Dead Frontier, and Dead Island, with the free roam, and customizable weapon options. To be honest I don't care if you "steal" ideas from other people, in fact these days everyone is borrowing from other games, the important thing is for a game to give me a fresh welcoming, which this does, as long as that happens, then the game is good and I'm not worried about "borrowing ideas."
When people complain about the cliche, they should ask themselves, well if this game was too different, and changed too much, breaking away from anything and everything people have borrowed before, wouldn't there be a beckoning for the old stuff to come back? Lets not get ahead of ourselves, too much change can be bad too.
You've done a really good job, I'd like to see an even better game in the future, with more possibilities and freedom, thank you for making this world a funner place Con-Artists.
One last thing, something that pisses me off about this game so much..I would have given a perfect 10 if it weren't for this major problem, it PISSED me off so much I felt like throwing the computer monitor through a wall. Your character can get locked up, sure you can still go into inventory and use stuff like healing items, but you CANNOT WALK, CANNOT ATTACK, you are at mercy of the zombies, please fix this, and the fact I'm giving you an 8, despite the problem is quite generous. This problem happened at THE WORST times, happens when zombies attack, or they dropped a good amount of loot, and it happened when zombies downed my ally, I couldnt heal her. I have to click on a near doorway to exit the scene to fix the problem, if I'm not by a door, well I'm screwed I die.
8/10 Stars.
4/5 Vote Panel.
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant.
Recent Audio Reviews
Ballad of the lost whales
Rated 5 / 5 stars March 17, 2008
Dark and Eerie, I love it.
This reminds me of a dark tune from a video game, can't think of which one it was, I know it was a survival horror game.
Can't remember if it was Parasite Eve, or Resident Evil, or Silent Hill even.
But this tune brings back memories of that tune where I was on that video game, walking through a park late at night, and a tune very similiar to this was playing.
Great tune, it sounds so eerie, very good job.
Lambda Core
Rated 4.5 / 5 stars October 27, 2007
Moving.
Sounds like something you would hear reading the beginning story of a movie or video game, an intro-type tune if I must. Pretty cool, I could see this happening. Neo from The Matrix about to open a door to a building with agents swarming inside, not as Neo is in the building, the music would be much more upbeat then, I mean BEFORE he opens the door, his hand about to turn the door knob.. ya know, prologue. :)
Nice sound, its relaxing, and prepareful.
xVegetAx, NG Portal Police Sergeant.
9/10 Stars.
4/5 Vote Panel.
Recent Art Reviews
Carnage
Rated 5 / 5 stars Feb 19, 2011
Very nice.
Its good to see such a rare Marvel villian drawn by someone. The only games I really remember this guy in, is Maximum Carnage for SNES, where you play as Spider Man and Venom, and go around looking to destroy this guy because hes a way worse villain than Venom could ever be. Also, he was on some other SNES title that I don't remember the name of.
If you ask me, all these Marvel games they have been making in the 00's and now, should have a little more Carnage in them.
A quote from Carnage "Well, lets go out and paint the town red!"
10/10 stars
5/5 vote panel
Well conceived, well drawn and thought out artwork, it looks like you gave it your all, and like I said, great to see Carnage again.
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant.
Recent Movie Reviews
Rated 3.5 / 5 stars March 2, 2011
Nice to see a female T-800 series.
I can see why you got inspiration from this scene, as this was one of the best scenes from Terminator 2, as the Terminator began to understand the value of human life enough, to listen to John when he says its just wrong to kill people, I mean it was going good living up to that lesson learned, even for a machine, until you had The Terminator blow that guy up with a grenade launcher at the end, it just totally ruins the whole point of this scene in all of its originality.
I would have given a perfect 10 if it weren't for that, despite the graphics could have used a good polishing, but it doesn't matter, sometimes I give a better score if the overall point is good, despite a lack of graphics, but the graphics weren't all that bad, I've seen alot worse, you have talent, but there is room for improvement even here.
That was a nice Terminator Remix theme you picked for this, good job it fit well, and you are good at drawing anime, but I feel since this was about The Terminator it shouldn't have been anime, but then again its the style you are specialize in, and then we wouldn't have this to watch at all, so good job giving us this to watch.
As I said above the graphics were alright, nothing too shabby, but you need to learn to animate with more fluidity, because most movements of the bodies were stiff and cardboardish, but you had the mouth movements down pretty good.
I'm giving a 7 for the amount of work and dedication put into this, I especially liked the scene where The Terminator was getting shot in the face and losing skin, but the whole point of a Terminator learning the value of human life in the original movie scene, was just lost here, and that is very disappointing, so it negates 3 stars from the score.
I'll leave with a quote from the ending of the actual Terminator 2 movie-
"The unknown future rolls toward us, I face it for the first time with a sense of hope, because of a machine, a terminator, can learn the value of human life...maybe we can too." - Sarah Connor
8/10 stars
4/5 vote panel
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant
Yeah I thought about that too. And I almost didn't put the end in there. But the police chief was the antagonist of the video. I tried to establish that he was "bad" when he ordered his own men to be killed in an attempt to destroy the hero. So it was in a sense justified. But I understand the complaint and yes in a sense you are right.
Rated 5 / 5 stars February 17, 2011
Jesus Christ is coming.
God is real, Jesus Christ is real, The Bible is real, The Bible is past history of the earth and is all real, everyone come to faith and believe, ask for forgiveness of your sins, be baptized and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and your life before its too late. We didn't just come from nowhere, a powerful creator exists and that is why we are here, and He loves us very much, so much he sent Jesus Christ his son, to die for our sins, we were redeemed through His pure blood. Nothing is fiction, everything can exist just as we do.
xVegetAx
Rated 3.5 / 5 stars February 17, 2011
Why is Wolverine fat?
I understand this is supposed to be a parody promoting Marvel vs Capcom 3, but that barely portrayed Wolverine's personality at all, other than the fact that he stuck his claws into a video game, said his famous word "bub", and at the end went up slicing his razor claws in the air.
Captain America acted his personality out decently to an extent in his flash video, being patriotic and wanting to smack shit with his shield, but other than that was a fruitcake, and Iron Man acted out his personality really well in his flash, being arrogant (Marvel vs Capcom ME!!), drunk and perverted, so portraying him on Newgrounds was simple. Cmon you guys could have shown Wolverine going on a crazed wild killing spree in a secret lab slaughtering evil scientists, or running around at 50 miles per hour destroying a rain forest, while promoting Marvel vs Capcom 3.
It was a good animation with nice smooth graphics and funny scenes don't get me wrong, and his random cursing made me laugh, but unlike the other two MvC3 promotional videos, Wolverine's personality was barely shown in this at all. I know its not a contest of who can create a superhero Marvel flash video, while showing who can create a Marvel character showing off their accurate personality the most, but its just a little dissapointing to compare this to the other two videos, where the other two Marvel characters, Iron Man, and Captain America's personalities were shown to be like their own, more or less, while this one just hardly shows Wolverine's personality at all.
I watched this one last, seeing as Wolverine is my favorite Marvel character, but thats not Wolverine at all, hes just short and fat, and upset working part time at Best Buy.
Sorry if it seems I'm being a little harsh, and none of this stuff is up to me whatsoever, I'm just merely giving my 2 cents on a well animated flash that was funny, and did a good job promoting MvC3, however I'm dissapointed at seeing Wolverine in such a negative light that had hardly nothing to do with him, he looked like a short, fat, pissed off Danny Devito on a cocaine buzz.
The other two MvC3 promotion videos I gave a 9, this one a 7.
Other than that like I said it was a decent flash video that was well drawn and thought out worthy of front page, and to promote a new game, which it did a wonderful job at.
Thanks Luis and Stamper for putting Marvel content on Newgrounds, Marvel is awesome.
7/10 stars
3/5 vote panel
xVegetAx, NG Portal Lieutenant.