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JonBro

10 Game Reviews w/ Response

All 89 Reviews

I played this on your site before I discovered it was on Newgrounds, too, and it makes me a little sad to see that it might not get all the appreciation it deserves.

It's obvious that this screams Super Meat Boy and N+, seeing as those were your two primary inspirations, there are a couple of levels named after them, and even the character's design is somewhere between Meat Boy and N because he's a stickfigure with no apparent skin. But total originality isn't necessary to create a truly satisfying gaming experience, and there was a vast array of unique elements in this game that constantly kept it fresh and interesting. Those elements really added up and were used well, too--by the time I was done playing, SkullFace felt like no game I'd ever played before. The variety is amazing.

Heck, there are even a couple of things I prefer about this game over Super Meat Boy (like how the boss battle was handled, and how 'acrobatic' the main character is). This is really a well-designed game; I managed to beat each level with an A+ rank, and though it was difficult, it never felt unreasonable or downright cheap.

However, here's a list of my minor gripes:

I had a few issues with the wall jump right away, which stayed with me throughout the remainder of the game. I always longed for a bit more maneuverability upon leaping from a wall--as in, if I were to hold "down", SkullFace shouldn't jump as high, and if I were to hold "right" while on the left side of a wall, he shouldn't launch himself as far away from said wall.

I also think it feels 'off' that SkullFace slides down walls so sluggishly. It disrupts the fast pace of the game a little to be darting through sets of obstacles one moment and inching down a wall the next. Maybe the rate at which you slide down walls could have been based on momentum so the pace remained intact.

I found World 2 to be the hardest of all three worlds because I was still adapting to the way the game was meant to be played at that point, and certain levels (like 20 and 25) felt like sharp out-of-place spikes in difficulty. I felt a sense of accomplishment beating most of the levels, but those, not quite as much.

Also, the jellyfish-looking enemies in World 3 have what I consider a slightly over-sensitive hitbox. I would sometimes fall onto the edge of a jellyfish enemy's head expecting to bounce forward to a new part of the stage, only to instead explode into black squares. I soon "learned" the size of their weak point and had no problems utilizing it to progress through the game, but it was still a two-minute nuisance for an otherwise surprisingly 'non-frustrating' experience.

I was also kinda expecting a reward for getting an A+ on every stage. Even a "Congrats! You got all A's! What a great report card!" message on the main menu would have sufficed.

As mentioned, these are not significant complaints. They somewhat detract from the general polish and slickness of the game, but regardless, SkullFace is a highly enjoyable platforming game with (I'd say) more going for it than most Flash games that currently exist. The music is fitting and catchy, the artwork is crisp. the characters are memorable, the sound effects were entertaining and gave the atmosphere a special sort of 'kick', and it's just really darn cool sometimes (namely Level 28, 33, and some others I can't think of right away).

Simply put, even with its imperfections, SkullFace is a project you have every right to feel super proud of.

Greg-Anims responds:

Awesome review, i really appreciate it!

I don't think titling a game "Maximum Frustration" justifies the needless irritation made by the game's design. The whole premise is mindless trial-and-error, no skill involved, no logic involved. It's like a memory-matching game, where a hundred cards are all turned upside-down, and every time you pick a wrong card, you have to start over. Even the notorious I Wanna Be The Guy gives you a fairly clear indication of what objects will and won't lead to instant death, most of the time.

Perhaps if more of the game consisted of mildly humorous elements like the flying cow in an early level, there might be some reason to enjoy it and incentive to play through it. As it stands right now, however, it's designed around being an irritating, repetitive waste of time, which is a terrible purpose for any game.

Zapxo responds:

Aren't you frustrated?

Oh hai Airyman

I found this minigame-game was really clever and funny. It made great use of some mechanics not commonly seen in Flash games. I was actually hoping for it to be longer than it ended up being. Still, one and a half minutes of fun :D

thinking-man responds:

Thanks to the internet and iPod apps the normal game attention span for a child playing games is now down to about 2 minutes. This is just short enough to make them not bored.

Many aspects of this game make me smile.

This game is quirky, well though-out, and professional. The art is detailed and fitting, the sounds/ambience sets a mood for all the time periods, and along with the funny concept of the game itself, there are some pretty good lines spoken by the characters. It's not too easy or too hard, either. Every puzzle makes sense, and they're complex enough that you don't immediately solve them all. Though, the bit with the Egyptian tomb confused me a lot, since I thought the symbols on the sarcophagus showed the order of the torches to be lit. I eventually found that not to be the case.

I'm looking forward to more of Panda's adventure. I really do want to know what happens next.

robotJAM responds:

Thanks very much for the review, I want to get on and make the sequel now.

This game is quite fun

The game itself is interesting in the sense that you can avoid things simply by not moving... but for some reason I found the most enjoyment just trying to knock around the bad yellow circles and hearing the sound they make as they bounce all over the place.

adiian responds:

:))

omg

This was hilarious.
I don't know how this got in the Halloween 2008 collection but I'm glad it got in there so I could see this masterfully-made load of funnies in the style of Pointless Platformer and various other games.

The boss could be easier, though... I eventually just skipped it.

Renandchi2 responds:

yea, pointless platformer was my inspiration. tanks, and cheating is WRONG!
EDIT: Wow, the guy who made Power Stars 4.5 liked my game! Your animations ROCK!

It could be better.

This game had some nice songs and some great actionscripting, but the drums tended to go out of sync with the song. Also, I think it glitched out a little, because after I finished a song, there was one note that was still stuck in the middle of the screen when it returned me to the main menu. Then it didn't save my progress. It saved my progress when I tried exiting the window again, though.

I did like the little training levels quite a bit, especially the "Hear by Ear" one. I don't think they had any of those in Donkey Konga.

Try changing the framerate to 60 for the songs. If it's already at 60, maybe I just get lag. Good luck with future projects!

Coolio-Niato responds:

Glad you liked it. The fps is actually 60 but as I said to another reviewer as well, the sync goes off cause browsers can't cope with 60 fps very well.

Haha, awesome.

To me, this game has the feel of a little puzzle/platformer console game, like Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2. It's got several fun features, quite a few moderately difficult puzzles, and a quick, simple learning curve. It even has its own Level Editor!

Awesome game! I'm glad I got to help design 50% of the levels, too. =)

Perry responds:

Lol thanks for that. Um submit to puzzle section

"Now you are thinking with the portal."

Every question in this game was absolutely genius. The sound looping could have been better, but nobody's perfect =P

MAKE MORE!

M4KBOT responds:

thank you very much bro!

EdibleCastle said it was good, so I played it.

HAHA THAT WAS AWESOME

pobah responds:

lol thanks alot

This account is no longer in active use. If you want to keep up-to-date with what I'm doing now, follow @Jonochrome on Twitter.

nope

somewhere else

Joined on 7/8/05

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