Garage's Reviews

[Linda Show: Chick-fil-A]

I tried very hard to find some reason to enjoy this, but I just couldn't. It's not funny or clever, or entertaining, for that matter.

If this flash came out several years ago, it would fit right in, but standards and expectations are different now.

[Pacific]

I really loved watching this. It was very well animated, but not only that, as a music video it was also very well synchronized.
Right now I'm looking for more to say, but this is one of those submissions that are so well done that it doesn't give you much to criticize.

[Team Fortress 2 General]

Very nice.

I lol'd at the flash, then I lol'd at all the people who don't get the joke.

[Get Closer]

This game is not a deep work of art. It's barely a game at all.

I'm displeased whenever a game uses any combination of
blank design
low-res graphics
soft music (or ambiance)
slow, "pithy" text
and every fool on the Internet immediately begins to sing the game as deep and inspiring.
All of these traits are commonly used gimmicks in the art genre, and they're easily identified as characteristics of an art Flash, regardless of whether or not they understand what the game expresses, or if the game expresses anything meaningful at all.

I searched for some deep meaning to the game and could find none. All I found is the simple statement: "in life one wants things, and one faces difficulty getting them." There's no argument there, no secret, no epiphany. Everything in the message that the game offers is one of the first things a child understands. Yes, getting what one wants isn't easy. Everyone knows this, and it doesn't make a good theme for any game, especially not this one.

Games should be entertaining at some level, and if entertainment does not lie in the theme of the game, then it should lie in the actual gameplay itself. Even here, Get Closer was severely lacking. The controls felt incredibly imprecise, and the levels were only as difficult as the game wanted to cooperate with the player. I beat the purportedly most difficult level in a matter of seconds, yet the one before it seemed to take forever. Even if it had been more difficult, the difficulty would have been artificial (like I said, sometimes the controlled character would more quickly and precisely, other times not).

Only in beating the game did I realize how pointless it was. Rather than a commentary on love or relationships, which it could have easily been, the game is just one overly simple mechanic, and its whole design felt very wooden at that. You could replace the character with any other, and the female character with any traditional "goal" item, and the game would stay almost exactly the same.

If there's anything less satisfying than an art game with poor controls, its an art game with poor controls that doesn't have any artistic purpose.

[Tiny Dream]

Firstly, I won't spoil anything about the game, but it's ending made me... well, speechless. Honestly I'm having a hard time finding the words to describe it even now. I think my only thoughts after finishing it were literally:

"Hey..."
"Hey!"
"Ah, man... well played."

Nothing too articulate, obviously, but it was a feeling (rather than thinking) moment.

In any case, here's the part of the review that matters. I'll try to organize it for everyone's convenience.

- I don't know how fair it is of me to criticize this, as the game is (hence the title) a dream, and dreams are illogical by nature, but I felt a distinct lack of artistic unity in some cases. For example, I still don't know whether I'm supposed to know who Edgar is. Is "Edgar" merely a meaningless figment of a dream? Is it something that you overlooked following up on? Am I too dim to have noticed it? I just don't know.

- Crucial to all puzzle-art games, of course, are the puzzles. They seemed to control the game at perfect difficulties. In other words, as I was playing, I always felt that I could progress through the game without stopping for long, but I also felt rewarded when I solved each puzzle. In fact, it was a good feeling to realize what the next step to take is and wonder how in the world you didn't notice it before.

- The art and ambiance were very pleasant. Beyond that, they felt convincing, and by that I mean they lent a genuine curiosity and appreciation for the simplistic environment the player finds himself in. It's surprising how much one's perception of each screen can change just by changing its orientation. I personally enjoyed the look of the whole game, especially the semi-monochromatic landscapes and their enormous suns. It's also nice to see a good looking game that doesn't fall into the trap of becoming "yet another melodramatic art game."

Have I forgotten anything? I can't think of anything else to discuss, so I suppose not.

Finally, I tend to like playing these made-in-X-hours games; in my opinion they offer a good opportunity to make use of every aspect of the game, to make the small things (which is often all that time allows) really stand out.

[Melee Man]

Good.

I really liked the audio and thought it fit well.

I tend to like modern pixel designs in games because of their visual crispness and feel in gameplay, but in this game I felt somewhat boxed in while playing. That is to say that it felt like I were viewing the flash in a zoomed in state.

One last thing that I felt could be improved is your use of the foreground / background layers. There were times when I couldn't tell what was in each layer (which affected gameplay) because there were high-contrast elements in the background and low-contrast in the foreground.

The familiar platform design of the game was complemented by its smoothness and responsiveness.

[Spanish Pirate Robot Fren]

<Favorited>

This has a lot in common with the sandstorm area in Pokemon RSE.

[8-bit Hero]

Good!

For what was intended to be an experimental piece, this final product is really nice.

[Jesus pranks Wendy's]

Somewhat funny.

I think she's hysterical.

Hehehehe.

Heheheh.

Hello?

[Hellhound]

Nice!

I really like the colors, and well... just the design itself.

[Stream]

Nice!

This is really a great piece. I like the old industrial theme combined with the light and shading.

The one thing I found odd was that the lightbulb (top right) is off, and yet there is still light flowing from its base.

[I OMG You]

Wooh.

A little simplicity can go a long way.

This review is for a tribute to my most frequented emoticon.