Heh, Hammer Bros.

I imagine it isn't easy to have the name "Joseph Blanchette" at Newgrounds. Ever since your earlier works, it seems no one can be pleased anymore. Everyone's expectations from your earlier works are so high up that anything remotely new or different is just upsetting(truth that Newgrounds will always be a little Indie). I think the people here are a little unmerciful in that regard.

No, this particular flash is not a histerical, side-splitting, knee-slapping film that we apparently expect from you EVERY TIME. But it's a cute, simple little narrative that does not require flashy, ultra-detailed graphics, sound effects or even dialogue. It does its job, and it does it well. And it entertained. I think it says something about this flash that it made me take the time out to write a review here for the first time in over a year.

It's nice to see an otherwise big-name flash artist take the time out to do something like this. It would be wrong of us to expect a parody blockbuster every time, and it's these little artistic diversions from which creativity spews forth at an unchallenged rate. It's a nice little portfolio piece.

~A.W.H.

Took you long enough. =P

I like how you give time for some dialogue between characters, even unimportant ones like the soldiers and operators. Unlike every other episode in these series', this one doesn't dwell on violence or action, giving us a much-needed chance to get adjusted to the characters involved. Although there are a couple of questions that feel unanswered.

There is no explanation as to how Bass was revived, or how he was put under Sigma's control. Also, why is no one questioning Sigma's supposedly good intentions? In fact, how did Sigma come back from the dead? Blues almost gives the impression that he's suspicious, but the flash never really explores it, or any of these questions. Of course, it does validate his suspicions through flashbacks, and in small snippets of dialogue.

Speaking of which, there has been a tremendous jump in quality in the voice acting. It's still pretty cheesy, but at least now all of the characters sound the way they -should-. Megaman actually sounds younger than his brother, Elecman and Quickman are given more interesting personalities through their voices, and this helps contrast with the rest of the cool-as-nails characters. It sounds like the actors are actually TRYING, although not always successfully hitting the mark.

Again, because this episode focuses more on dialogue and anticipation, it creates a better stage for the inevitable anime-esque battle sequences that occur. It could've used some more sound effects, and the scrolling background layers scenes felt a little choppier now than in past episodes. But it's clear you're trying to accomplish something here, and you have a certain nack for dramatic presentation and proper pacing, even if the characters aren't of your own property. It makes for a commendable fan-fiction.

~Phantos

"I've seen worse at Newgrounds..." [4.5/10]

This kind of flash, with just a bunch of random frame-by-frame animations of lines turning into stuff has been done to death. The animation was skippy(being that it was only at 12 fps), and could've used more frames. The music was your run of the mill bad techno from the audio portal, but you made use of what you had to work with.

I've seen far worse at Newgrounds(particularily in the last 5 minutes), but you could put a *little* more effort into your next flash movie. I'd suggest working with an actual plot next time, and really focusing on how your movie looks and sounds. Keep at it, and you'll be a pro in no time at all.

~Phantos

"The gameplay mechanics need more tuning" [6.5/10]

For my 300th archived review, I've decided to review Tom and Dan's latest project, Dad 'n Me. Now, I had before expressed my disconcern with the concept during it's Alpha stage. However, I go into this review without bias, as I feel it's only fair that everyone get a fair review, and I wouldn't be much of a reviewer if I didn't give everyone a fair shot. Regardless of how much I dislike the idea of what's being presented.

During the load-up, we're treated to some very nice button links to buy Alien Hominid. I already own AH myself, so it's just a pretty marketing ploy until the game loads up. At which point we're treated to more pretty logos and backgrounds and buttons. Which is nice, but that's the high point for the graphics here. As soon as the game begins, the visuals become much less flashy and detailed. They have a cartoony flair, not unlike something on Nickelodeon. I for one never thought of Synj to be all that great an artist anyway, but as an animator, which are almost 2 completely different things, Dan has always impressed me... Until now... It's not that I hate the visuals in this game, it's just that they're pretty much the same stuff we've seen time and time again. The same pseudo-square kids with the flat heads, dot eyes and lines for mouths walking around, except outfitted with afro's and t-shirts and junk to show that they represent specific members of the Newgrounds community. That's fine and all, but it's not that realy deserves a *high* score in the graphics category. Hell, most of the animation isn't as fluid as the Alien Hominid DEMO. I had this thing on low and medium, and both times, only when there's only 2 characters on screen, and when the backgrounds and foreground stop moving, will there be anything close to fluidity. Motion tweens were used a bit too much here as well. The backgrounds themselves are not horrible to look at, but Dan has made better looking games than this.

The nick-esque environments are a +1 in style, but that's as far as style goes for this game. And again, what is up with the concept to this game? "Kill Defenseless Children?" You know why Final Fight used street thugs and evil corporate business ninjas as enemies? Because there's more incentive to kill them than to kill a harmless child. Specifically that almost none of the kids in this game are even bothering you, let alone trying to harm you, while generic street thugs and ninjas are out to kill you in other sidescrollers. Self-Defense is the basis for 2-D sidescrollers, and when you lose that aspect, you lose all incentive to bring virtual harm to the characters onscreen. I know it's just supposed to be twisted and fun, but I don't even think it's either of those things. It's not all that violent, and it's not very exciting. Punching kids does get boring, and the pacing of the game is rather unbalanced.

That's not even the worst part of Dad 'n Me. I can tell you two went out of your way to make this a fun sidescroller game, and I can give you that much credit. You even tried to implement some combo system in there, but with only 2 buttons for attacks, and very little, almost randomly decided control over when and how you can combo the kids, it just seems like a broken system. In that sense, it feels like this game is not finished. Many times combos simply didn't work, and even punching sometimes failed for no clear reason, even if standing exactly perpendicular to your opponent. Was this game tested enough? I don't know, but the gameplay mechanics need more tuning.

The music fits the game nicely, and I like the sound effects too. Although the car sound effects were a bit too loud...

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate this game, per ce. I am a fan of Tom and Dan's work. I'm still playing AH to this day, and I don't regret that purchase. But this game in particular, has some pretty obvious flaws to it, that prevent it from reaching the same level of enjoyment as AH. I just think this game should've spent a little more time in development.

~Phantos

Patience is a virtue

I don't know why everyone else seems to be whining so much about this. "Is too hard!! WWAAAAHHHHHH-yur stupid omglol" "Da conrtols r 2 complicted for my small dino brain vote 0", and so on abound in the reviews here... Personally, I had my troubles at first, and was just as ready to pout and whine after not even a minute of gameplay because I didn't get the highest score as soon as I started playing. Which would then be followed by voting zero and leaving a review which would blame all of my inadequicies on a flash game.

But unlike most people here at Newgrounds, I had a thought.

"Why not play through it a little more than 5 SECONDS, so as to form a VALID opinion on this game?" And now I've got one of the high scores for the hardest level. ^_^

I mean, come on. You invested the time to MAKE this game, the least we should do is is invest some time to PLAY it. Right? The controls are pretty good, though the wall-jumping feature seemed a bit clumsy and unpredictable, though it does add a bit of rush to the whole thing...

Megaman X, overall, is alright. Though he skids a lot, and he's a bit slower than the other characters. Not a good mix. But, I managed. Zero is probably the best out of all of the choices. Fast and responsive. The recipe for success. His only drawback is that his weapon is short-ranged... But that's Capcom's fault, not yours. :P

Bass, however, due to his lack of a wall-climbing ability, is useless in all levels except the "hard" level, where his double-jump comes in real handy when jumping across pits. But I still used X to get through that stage, so maybe he's entirely useless altogether... Especially since he doesn't fit in with the Megaman X game setting, being a 20XX Wily Bot...

Though it has the common little... er... shortcomings, that most Megaman Flash re-enactments have, in terms of controls, and graphical thingeys, but it's not offensive to the eyes. The use of layering is really well done, hell, the levels are nicely arranged from bits and pieces of stages from Megaman X5(a good choice, considering there aren't any Burn Dinorex background sprites on the internet to my knowledge, so that must've been hard to arrange).

The music and sound effects are what you'd expect from a Megaman game. Blast, explode, die, explode, die, rinse and repeat.

Overall, I think this was very well-designed game. It's nice to see that it got itself some Front Page time. Good job. :)

-Phantos

Calmly paced, but magnificent

I don't usually check out the Audio Portal, but I'm glad I did this time. Almost on a whim, after watching Skittlez and Bitz 4, I heard some of this track and wanted MORE. I now have some of your audio stuff on my computer. And you're now probably my favourite composer at Newgrounds. I LOVE the echoey, ancient yet grandieur sound that comes from many of your songs/remixes. The "choir" synths are used VERY well in your finer selections, including this one. It's no wonder it's 2x Platinum. It's nice to see someone at Newgrounds stop and make something so calmly paced, yet magnificent all it's own.

By the ratings up top, it's not an original song per ce, since it's a remix from Zelda. But what you do with it is the kind of stuff one hears in a great film, an epic perhaps. And you deserve lots of points for that.

~Phantos

Not bad

It was well performed, but there was little variety in the sounds, and it... I dunno, didn't seem to go anywhere, or change as it continued. It just kinda stayed as the same sole beat over and over again, with the occasional extra set of sounds for about 4 seconds or so.

But then again, I'm not very good at reviewing music, so what do I know?

-Phantos

The heart buttons are a cute touch

god i love the sideshave haircut

I'm glad you revisited this scene!