Octoraffe's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Kingdom of Liars 1]

I am never, never disappointed by your game submissions. Well-written, beautiful environments, and addictive, engaging stories. You are a creative force. I'm excited to see your next Hood submission, as well as the second part of this. It amazes me what you create and make free for all of us to play. Keep it up.

[Quietus II]

Really nice little time waster, but after Level 20 the difficulty spikes up to the point where I was dying so often it stopped being fun. I believe I stopped on Level 23. Some nice challenges up til then, I really enjoyed it.

[Rebuild 2]

Being given the option to turn my settlement into a crazed, zombie-worshipping suicide cult was amazing. I was given one last shot to take them down, and I refused for want of happiness. But soon after that, one by one, my 30 survivors leapt to their deaths from the fort walls, and everyone celebrated until the very last of them had been turned into a zombie. This little tidbit made the whole game for me, I could not stop groaning in dismay and laughing at my stupidity. "May the moan forever.." So good.

[Slender 2D]

The graphics are bad... a very lazy port of a wildly popular and scary game into a 2D version that disappoints on every front. I'm certain the music is some sort of copyright infringement, as well. The fact that one track has a man whispering the word "Esther" (an obvious hint of the game you stole it from) sort of throws you off and cheapens the game. I understand that you didn't spend much time on this game, but that seems like you just wanted to cash in on the popularity of Slender rather than bring anything new or fun to the concept. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed with this. I'm even more disappointed that it made the front page of Newgrounds.

Lenke responds:

I put "Dear Esther" in the credits...
I'm Always looking for Original games(check my other games...) But this time I just thought This could it be a good Idea (it was in some point)...
So I just made this ONLY for fun(I like create video Games is my hobby), so in some point I agree with you...(?

[Memoir: Text Adventure]

This game is not a text adventure in the way you are led to believe... It's just a replica of the game Alter Ego, which manages this interface more smoothly and with less hassle than this game does. It's sort of disappointing, as I was really hoping for a poignant and engaging text-based adventure or sim.

The flash and design of this game is poor, with a very unrefined and juvenile appearance. The aligning of the text and the box, as well as the backgrounds and buttons with fonts that don't fit in efficiently, makes me feel like the game itself is also a template you used.

All in all, this was not very fun. Alter Ego is great, and if you had managed to bring something new to it I may have been inclined to overlook the copycatting. But because I don't see any new features that make this better, I'm afraid it makes for a rather poor game.

Alter Ego is not so unknown that you can get away with this...

[Personal Trip to the Moon]

I suppose this could have been the point, but it felt like I was mostly finishing this game because I felt like I had to. I find that games like this are becoming more frequent in the freeware/flash side of gaming; that is, games that explore some personal trauma or ordeal of the creator. This is a very good outlet for those sorts of stories, and while no one's troubles are more or less significant than anyone else's, some of these kinds of games are better than others purely from a player's standpoint. With this one, I felt compelled to complete it not because of the gameplay itself, but because you do warn us that it's a very personal thing to you.

Though the point was obviously to explore, with some degree of interactivity, your world and possibly your problems, this game did not beg to be played. The gameplay itself (not the message) was uninteresting, slow, and heavy. Even flight felt heavy. Perhaps that is a mechanic you included deliberately, but it certainly did not give me any incentive to keep playing from my own merit. I felt myself playing for you, which is not something I want to feel while going through one of these games. I want to play this game because I feel compelled to see what happens, not as a favor to you. I think perhaps in future games you should consider what compels an audience to play a game... or what compels you to play them, and try to include some of those elements.

For instance, the exploration hardly felt like exploration at all. Follow the arrows to a destination, press space a few times, rinse, repeat. I can see that you wanted to include flight as much as possible, but the destinations were not really much worth flying to. Nothing except short stints of cryptic dialogue to whet my appetite. It has all of the basic skeletal elements of a game: exploration, good music, good story, mysterious or strange characters -- but these things all seemed to fall just short of one another, creating a disjointed game.

Many reviews say the story and message are beautiful and sad, and I agree. This review is no critique of your personal trauma, your poetry, or the story. This review is purely one for gameplay. I just find myself wishing that there was a little bit more. More detail, more gameplay, more variety.

I guess, in the end, I just feel like the game didn't do you or your personal story any justice. I played this game for you because you put your neck out there and opened up this private part of you to the whole of the internet. I did not play it because the gameplay was good.

[Deponia]

Loved the demo, just bought the game! Looking forward to the full version, this is really well done!

[Covert Front 4]

A disappointing end to a rather delightful and addictive series of point and clicks. This game was easy, the conclusion of the story was hardly worth all of the build up, and it felt rushed.

[Captain Zaron]

This game is really great for a browser flash game, and surprisingly complex. I've really been enjoying it! My only complaint is the timed sword fights, in which your opponent has an unfair advantage and the controls are a bit sticky. Zaron doesn't always react to the keys I press, and I think you're expected to react a bit too fast for what is otherwise a normal point and click adventure. Instead of fun, I found these segments tedious and frustrating. I'd rather see them removed, or revamped. Otherwise, this is a spectacular game. 4 stars, losing one for the combat.

[The Book of Living Magic]

Beautiful story, and easy (but engaging) gameplay. It was nice to see the world filled with ..Oddness! Some really charming backstories here. I loved the art, it suited the game so nicely.