DavidMarchand's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Mono Caves]

The game feels great, and that's what I'm rating here, but there are some serious bugs for which I could never win this, and that's something to worry about, I guess. Never mind the medals, the Continue button sends you to Level 1 after you refresh the page, and sometimes the gate keys just don't work, you touch 'em and they disappear but your inventory stays empty. I look forward to playing this when it's beatable.

[Rock Bottom]

If I were 0.3 less manly than I currently am, I'd be crying right now. Also, I found the secret place on that level where you can go much higher than the exit cave. Just so people know.

[Minyrinth]

Yay I got the world record of 16,408 that will no doubt be surpassed by someone in the coming hours! This is truly great.

One thought I had: the amount and frequency of powerups gives the impression that the game is much harder than it actually is. This isn't bad, I just find it interesting. My first time, I tried to get all powerups just because they were there. It there were so many of 'em, that sure meant things were about to get real ugly and I needed the resources to keep going. Self-fulfilling prophecy, I was dead very fast, and this kept happening. Thinking the game was hard made me try to get all powerups, which in turn made the game really hard.

Only when I found the true path of austerity, or maybe minimalism, I discovered that things got a lot easier if I only picked up items when I saw they were needed. The only exception was the shield. That shit's USEFUL! Mostly 'cause it's the only power that doesn't wear off, so you can basically grab one and trust it will automatically be used in the exact moment you really need it.

I read the description only AFTER I got my highscore. Even though now it looks pretty obvious, when playing I would've never guessed this was made in 48 hours. And I say that as a compliment. Congratulations.

[Ice Beak]

Outstanding.

I have a bug to report though: if you touch the lava immediately after defeating the boss, you get stuck in a blank room, lava background and the two health bars but nothing more. No boss, no enemies, not even the birdie.

[simian.interface]

I care about this game in every way possible, and am glad that I lived during the very tiny point in human history where this was made and I could experience it.

[[REVIVE]]

Incredible, all my congratulations for this one. The Time Trophy sure was a hard one. The only glitch I found, though it can hardly be called a glitch, happens if you go to the level select screen and choose level 40 (to see that AWESOME ENDING again). The game wrongly assumes all music was stopped in level 39, so the menu music never stops playing in the background during the whole ending sequence. I said it's hardly a glitch 'cause you can just choose level 39, which is mostly challenge-less, and see the ending that way.

JonBro responds:

A small glitch, but definitely worth noting. I'll fix that momentarily. Thank you :]

[400 Years]

PROTIP: If you don't like to keep a key down for so long, you can press the key and WHILE pressing it, click outside the game (address bar, task bar, anywhere else on the page itself works too). You can now release the key and, since the game lost focus, it won't realize the key was released. When you're done, click on the game again and tap the key. The action will stop.

For those of you trying to find the secret medal, I guess it ain't much of a spoiler to say this: Play the game like you normally would to beat it, but go beyond the place where the game's making you believe it ends. It'll take some wits to reach the place, but it can be achieved in one or two in-game years.

As for the game itself, it left me speechless. Very interesting concept and neat execution. I trusted this would be great because Deep Sleep was pretty awesome, but this totally surpassed my expectations and, more importantly, was great in very much different ways than Deep Sleep was.

I also invented the Evil God ending, where you make all the effort and travel to the top of the volcano, only to stop there at the tip and let time pass and all humanity die. And possibly laugh all the way.

scriptwelder responds:

Ahh I wish I had more time to implement an 'evil god' ending where you can destroy the whole village !

[Folds -- Origami Game]

This is absolutely stunning. I can't pin down what is it about this game, besides the theme, that gives me such peace, or at least (even when it frustrates me) such a strong sensation that I am contemplating the actions of another possible version of me that has overcome material desire and is one with all. Congratulations.

My three favorite levels were Flower, Liftoff and Letter T, of which unfortunately I only solved the latter before successfully searching for "Fold Origami Game" on YouTube. Thus Flower and Liftoff are the only two levels that defeated me in my attempts to 100% them all by myself.

In most levels, correct moves tend to be folding the paper to align some edge with some part of the dotted shape. What I find so compelling in the ones I mentioned, particularly in Letter T, is how the layout forces you to form the shape OUTSIDE the dotted lines, trying to visualize it without really seeing it, and only really perceiving the shape after the last turn. And that last turn is bliss. In one single movement I took the shapeless mass of that which couldn't be anything, and turned it into a recognisable form, forced the indefinite cloud to respect the shape that answers to the name I gave it. "Sheet of paper, I name you 'flower.' Let your shape be the one and only shape that does justice to the name I gave you."

A few recommendations. Better scrolling in the level select screen. Smoother I mean, less compartmented: if I only have Trapezoid and Diamond left unfinished, for instance, I'd like to be able to see them both at the same time in the level select screen, since they're consecutive levels it'd feel right. Looping: if I'm selecting the first level and press the up arrow, that should take me to the last level on the list, otherwise every time I enter the level select screen I need to scroll all the way down, which isn't awful really, but feels unnecessary. Pushable key or clickable button to UNDO last fold and maybe another to UNDO the last UNDO: the numbers at the bottom of the screen are a truly great feature but sometimes I felt like I just needed to go back one or two turns without having to think which turn I'm currently in.

A sword may protect you from danger, but it is heavy. A horse may help you escape, but it gets hungry. A fire may cook your food, but it will burn your skin.

The sheet of paper is light, knows no hunger and burns you not, and to the true origami master it can also be a sword, a horse, a fire and all things that exist around us.

[Simple Love]

[Alaska]

Oh, that's cool. I felt like destroying something beautiful.

Could it be, though, that there's a deeper point to this? Is the ending maybe telling me that this game, when played by the rules, is beautiful (and graphically, it is), and I destroyed it by siding with a glitch and breaking the rules? Maybe? Probably not.