Score: 9

"I'm impressed"

submission: Closure.

date: January 24, 2009

This is one of those games that dances on the border of art and game. Now the last game that was heavily stylized was Armed with Wings that was a visually stunning game but was clunky and became a real chore to play. THIS game on the other hand managed to leap that pitfall, no let me rephrase that, it gracefully double-somersaulted over that pitfall and give it the bird mid-jump.
This game is great and I was doubled over with glee that someone finally managed to have an interesting and artistic style and not sacrifice fun gameplay for it.

For all that praise you may be wondering why I didn't rate it a 10, (though you got the full 5 votes). I tend to rate harshly for one, but I also ran into a few un-fun walls while I was skipping my way down the main street of good-gameville.

Maybe I missed it but there didn't seem to be any obvious way to mute the music. This isn't a complaint against the music, mind you, I thought the music was catchy, dark, appropriate and set the perfect mood. Did I mention I LOVE it when game makers bother to transition music to what the player does in the game? Love it. But you seem to have forgotten that you, my friend, made a puzzle game. My head eventually wrapped itself around all the puzzles in the game but there were two puzzles in particular that really had me stumped for a while. The longer I spent with each puzzle, the more the music looped. The sound track is pretty darn samey through the entire game actually and it eventually starts to drone and get annoying. Placing orbs on the pedestals could have used its on sound effect too. But I suppose I'm nit picking.

Another issue was the platforming. Now I know you must've spent a crazy amount of time fine tuning what you can stand on and what you can't and it really shows... Still, sometimes it's just plain not obvious what counts as a platform you can land on and what you can't. And timing the jumps when you're going down a hill is very trying. You can hit the jump button while appearing to be standing on a hill but actually be momentarily falling down it. Of course you're holding the directional key so you'll make the jump so I often found myself running like an idiot right off the edge while furiously tapping the 'up' key. I wouldn't fault it if it didn't appear in a few of the puzzle solutions... but maybe that was my inelegant solutions.

I hesitate to knock the color scheme of a game that obviously chose the color scheme for a reason... but I have to say I got tired of the black and white. The last thing I want to mention in terms of that dead point are the occasional slowdowns. Now you did a pretty good job of keeping the processing speed stable but I did run into one or two spots where my frame rate started huffing. It wouldn't be enough to cost you a point... if it weren't for the other minor flaws I mentioned. Actually none of them are particularly hair-pulling by themselves but combined was a bit of a fracture on the fun scale.

Given all that, this was still one of the best games I've played and I've played quite a few. The style was dark and interesting. The game play was polished and had only minor hiccups. The puzzles were difficult enough to keep the player interested without boring him... and the soundtrack was appropriate and pleasing to the ear for the first 30 loops. Overall, this is a fantastic game and you should be proud. Thank you for submitting it here where I can give it one of oh so rare Good Reviews.

One note though, I didn't figure out the gender of the main character until the end of the game... I can't help but wonder if that was intentional or a graphic hiccup. Guess I'll never know.

Score: 6

"Again?"

submission: Armed with Wings 2

date: December 22, 2008

I see you ignored the advice I gave you in my last review and put in platforming sections.

And once again, the akward controls and the poor collision detection made most of the platforming sections nothing more than an exersize in frustration.

Once again I plead. Do not sacrifice good, fluent gameplay for style. You made a BEAUTIFUL game. The style could not have been better and the artwork was fantastic, but for goodness sakes your platforming sections were just *awful*. It broke the flow of the game completely and ruined the experience. Again.

Score: 4

"Why would someone pay for this?"

submission: Swords and Sandals 3:Solo

date: October 3, 2008

The swords and sandals series has long been characterized by blocky, half-naked characters, ludicrously expensive items, heavily random combat and being utterly full of itself.

The first game of the series was highlighted by an impossible difficulty curve and the second was pretty much the same thing with exploiting the combat system apparently the only way to win. A lot of potential was totally wasted and it ended up being repetitive and unfair to the player.
Even the crusader game was marked by random chance quickly screwing the player over and a battle system that was awkward and stacked against the player should any random event punish said player (which it did).

Like in the second game, I came into THIS one impressed by the character customization and shaking my head at the lack of a tutorial again. Apparently, the user is supposed to have played everything else and remembered how to use the combat system perfectly from the previous titles. So my first game was highlighted by buying a sword, going naked into the arena and having my 'very easy' opponent hit me with a single charge for 20 health and instantly slay me. Clearly the game intended for me to have slightly more stamina so I made a new character, bulked up a bit and poked my first two opponents to death before the third fight froze my browser and crashed it while I was missing with 'normal' attacks that did no more damage than a quick one.

As I sat there, watching my browser die and reloading the game, I wondered why it was I was playing a game that is glitchy, random and forces me to play a naked guy because armor is so unbearably expensive. I realized that while this game may shine in character customization, it lacks fun. There's nothing particularly interesting about walking up and poking your enemy to death. And if you play a melee character that is ALL you will do... And when the game revolves entirely around the combat system kicking you in the shins and not allowing you to clothe yourself and quickly outclassing you both in style and power... It stops being fun really quickly.

To think you want someone to pay for this stuns me.

Maybe it's just me, but the combat feels clunky and repetitive and making the entire game revolve around it just seems like a bad choice. I really tried to have fun but being inferior in stats and armor in almost every fight makes everything seem futile and there's no way to really come back from losing... The whole game feels like a giant death spiral where fun goes to die. I'm tired of this series. I won't be attempting the fourth installment.

Score: 6

"A second one! Great! ...Right?"

submission: Desolation 2

date: September 25, 2008

I enjoyed the first Desolation enough to consider it an unpolished gem in a sea of lousy horror games. The atmosphere was sufficiently creepy, the graphics were quite nice, the story didn't make me want to kill someone and the combat was satisfying and occasionally made me jump. So when I brought up Newgrounds and suddenly found a sequel I was rather pleased, expecting a similarly good experience. And while I did, in fact, enjoy this game I was a little disappointed that for every step in the right direction there was another step back.

First the graphics. The first game was quite nice in its own right, the graphics were all consistent and fit nicely together and worked quite well, especially for the match lighting sequence. This game takes a new approach with photoshopped pictures instead of drawings. I'm neutral on this frankly. I didn't really see anything wrong with the first style but the pictures definitely add realism to the game. A LOT of realism actually, but it's all rather heavily undermined by the game switching from first to third person. There is a difference between putting yourself into a character and controlling a character. Even though we were introduced to the main character in the first game, we still were able to feel like we were playing as him. This time we're not controlling ourselves, even as another person, but we're clearly controlling someone other guy who has a ridiculously long recovery time for wielding a combat knife. It really took me out of the game. ...Also carrying an assault rifle tends to undermine the vulnerability you're supposed to feel.

"Ok." I thought. "So we can't pretend we're the main character anymore. Disappointing, but the atmosphere makes up for it." This is where I noticed yet another change from the first game. No random encounters. Now having no random encounters is definitely nice when you're trying to get somewhere or you're short on patience, but it also makes the game lose something. The first game forced you to be on your toes the entire time since a zombie could pop up at any screen and force you to axe its face open. It never got too annoying since the puzzles were in enemy free zones and all other times were spent nervously clutching the mouse in fear. Now we simply have scripted encounters which is absolutely great for saving ammo but also leaves the entire game with a sense of predictability.

The inventory screen was an improvement, no longer pulling us completely out of the game. I thought that was a GREAT change which is why I was so disappointed when I saw the arrow system back in place only this time it was lacking a map. Now the last game was awkward in terms of movement but at least we could see what part of the map we were going to at a glance. This time the map is in another screen entirely and the arrows feel more like monorail tracks the game pulls us along instead of directional choices. So again, step forward with inventory, step back with directions. It was quite a let down.

Let's not forget the glitches either. I managed to get through the game without breaking it the first time, lucky me. Still, the link at the bottom of the page was quite annoyingly close to the arrow markers and the game-breaking glitches with both the rocks and the items have been mentioned by other reviewers. There were glitches in the last game too, so I suppose I was expecting that which is why I'm not angrier about it.

Here's something I AM angry about though. Why would you let the user use health kits when they're at full health!? The last game we collected them. This time you use them on the spot, injured or not so I ended up wasting the first three I found assuming I could use them later.

Dear god, out of space already? Oy. Let me close up by saying that I did enjoy the game. The monsters were well done and the atmosphere made me forgive the horrible grammar. The game is relatively well balanced and is visually well done but stumbles over its flaws to pull it from being a great game to being one that's just decent

Score: 9

"It's like magic!"

submission: Aether

date: September 18, 2008

This is one of those games I'm not particularly fond of viewing because it dances on the line between art and game and it's a little hard to tell which the creator was focusing on. So normally I steer clear but the game is presented in such a good, flowing way I couldn't help but comment,

In terms of presentation the game is expertly done. The soft shading makes everything flow and the character you play as doesn't feel like it's a sprite on top of a background like most games, it actually just blends in which makes the game play unceasingly pretty. I have to grant that the very concept of a multi-legged beast with a grapple tongue is something I've never actually imagined before and while it's very strange it doesn't weird me out at any point which some people would usually take advantage of via disgusting noises or creepy imagery.

So the graphics blend perfectly and the entire game is presented consistently and beautifully. Awesome. But how about game play?

Well the tongue swinging was quite good I thought. The directional controls overriding gravity made travel simple which I thought was a good choice. I had expected the swinging to take a great deal of getting used to and actually found myself using swing momentum when I didn't have to. It must've been tempting to only allow momentum to carry you but the choice to give control to the player was good, not only to help out on the more difficult navigation parts but also giving the entire thing a slightly more dream-like feel. Gravity doesn't exist in dreams unless you want it to after all. So navigation was excellent and I never once was flung into the far reaches of space by accident.

Now throwing the player into the puzzle with no explanation was a bit jarring to say the least. While this gave the game a sense of mystery about it, it did leave you wondering if you were doing the right thing at times. A lot of times I found myself questioning if what I had done was actually an improvement or not. I think it would have been better if the boy had said something at touch down on each planet, giving his thoughts on what would make it better... But again the entire game is a bit weird and dreams don't always make sense so I can't really fault you for doing this. It certainly made me explore the planets though.

The puzzles themselves did take some time to solve but none were frustrating enough to make me give up or slam my keyboard into the desk. I felt the gravity puzzle was probably the best one if just for the fact it made the most sense. I will say though, that the planet with the two-headed rock.. thing threw me for a loop. I found myself attempting to lead it around to the other side of the planet, assuming that was what I was supposed to do. That probably should have been stationary to avoid confusion since the player is dropped in with no clue as to what to do. That was really the only part I could say something was off.

The ending is a tiny bit odd as well. I found myself flinging myself towards planets at full force to cut down on travel time and doing that on the final world makes the ending a bit like hitting a wall out of nowhere and leaves the player wondering what just happened and why he's not still playing. The ending itself follows the style of the game though and I felt it was satisfying enough to justify going through the puzzles.

The music fit perfectly though I frankly think the 'planet music' should have overshadowed the 'normal music' a bit more to cut down on the repetitiveness.

Overall, this is a slow paced game. Normally I would complain about slow paced games trying my patience, but for some reason this one never did. It was like playing someone else's dream which is what I assumed you were going for anyway. So it's pretty, it's intuitive, it plays well and it's presented perfectly. Wow.
I definitely enjoyed playing this game. You should be proud of it.

Score: 7

"And the sequel! Ah, Descent..."

submission: Descent II

date: August 28, 2008

I remember playing the original version ages ago. It held my interest through the 'training levels' and I thought it was a well made, if slow-paced, "don't touch the wallz!" game. Until, of course, I got to level 11 where I had to make a 360 degree turn a space I had trouble merely maneuvering into. The slow pace of the game quickly showed off its... ...sloweyness, by forcing me to restart the level and maneuver back to that spot again with the ball taking its sweet time. Impatience set in and I quickly sped the ball up in attempt to stave off the crushingly slow speed only to make more mistakes and restart again. Perhaps I just sucked at it but I eventually found the only way to make the turn was to carefully position yourself at the opposite edge of the passage, slow down and turn so that you just manage to not scrape the opposite edge of the passage. Of course, I quickly lost control of the screen when the turn was done and had to restart again. It was at that point where I said "bugger this" and did something else.

So I came into this game pleased as punch to see the option of a level select! So instead of quitting in frustration and then having to do the whole thing over again if I wanted to take another stab at it, I could instead pick up where I left off. Of course, this only happened in Fantasy Land, where all the really good flash games that are all in my head exist. Instead I got prompted for a password that I believe was either never given to me or was hidden so extremely well that it left me completely unaware of its existence. Either way it speaks of extremely poor design. Most games would save your progress in a cookie anyway instead of making the user dig out WordPad for a single flashgame... but I'm willing to dig it out for a game I like so I don't mind it... usually. But I digress.

The big question here is whether or not there have been any improvements in the game. Well, the graphics have been stepped up about 5 notches in terms of style. The walls were a bit vague at first as what you were allowed to hit, though I forgave that knowing it would undoubtedly become apparent really quickly. So the walls, combined with the glowing light back grounds, the star pattern platforms, and the vapor trails coming off everything created a wonderful "Ooohh so shiny..." moment that I rather enjoyed.

I quickly noticed that, while the pace had indeed been sped up a bit, it was still quite slow, slow enough to make me attempt to abuse my down arrow for not making the ball go at warp speed. Again though, I pushed through the games first few levels at a slow but not too slow pace.

Things came to a rather screeching halt though when I saw the moving platforms. Now I assumed this was going to be the bread and butter of the game but I noticed that the colors really.... blended in, to the point where I questioned if this slightly lighter blue colored thingy was actually off limits to touch.
It was. At this point I had to describe the collision detection as "Fair" and not Fair as in middle of the road, Fair as in I could say "Yes, I touched that. So there's no fudge factor, but it's not unfair. That's a thumbs up in my book, good job.

But things went downhill. The switches didn't give any indication of having hit them, which left me shrugging and hoping I did, which was disappointing at how visually impressive the game was at first. The death knell of the game though came at level 12 where I was confronted yet again with the ludicrously tight 360 degree turn. I again gave it a few attempts and, with no indication the rest of the game wouldn't be more of the same, I said "screw this" and went to do something else.
Namely, write this review.

Descent 2 has a lot going for it and definitely improved on the original in terms of style and mechanics, but a game that tries your patience to begin with and then starts you over after an unreasonable obstacle isn't very fun for me. Ultimately it fell into the same pitfall as the first game, only one level later. Still well-made though

Score: 7

"Ah another one..."

submission: Tombscape

date: August 22, 2008

**This review contains spoilers!**
Well I've played a lot of your games and have yet to review any of them so it may as well be this one I throw a comment out on. There have always been good things and bad things about your games so I'll start with the good things.

First off, the game is well made. There are precious few glitches in pretty much all of your games in fact, and that's something I'd like to thank you for. Thank you. Nothing is worse than having to redo a game because of a glitch. Along with the good programming comes the graphics, to be honest... I really don't like they style of your graphics... they look like they were 3D rendered and then placed in a 2D setting. It's awkward to me, but I won't ding you for it since that may be personal preference... but sheer amount of it in the game was impressive. Each room looks like it took a lot of time to make and never repeated itself in terms of layout. (Unless you count the axes, but I have a much better reason for hating the axes than how it looks). The game got me to play it through till the end and in the critical way I look at games that's really saying something, so kudos for that.

Now despite my praise there are a few flaws. First off the axes, it's been mentioned before but that's a very annoying puzzle... well more like a mini game than a puzzle. First off, it's unintuitive. Logic dictates that the best time to move past a swinging object is right after it swings past you, thus giving you it's travel time to its apex and then again to its center point to let you through. You, on the other hand, think that the best point to go through is the apex. It makes no sense and I clearly saw it as laziness on the part of the programmer. It's much easier to say it's ok when it's at a certain point rather than dealing with which way it's swinging.

But even apart from the unintuitive nature there's another problem... that of dying. When you ARE killed by the axes (and it will happen in the first run) you discover that death is less of a threat and more of a momentary inconvenience. Which is very odd for an adventure game. The entire point of a point and click adventure game is to put the player in a first person perspective and have him navigate through an interesting world in order to intrigue, scare, excite or depress the player. A good game will do all four actually but this one kind of does none. Since death is a minor worry you're drawn out of the game rather harshly. You feel like it's not even you in there but instead a character that has a certain amount of lives. In fact, considering the entire arcade style feature the game has (point scores, silly puzzles, shoot galleries) I would say that the game would lose nothing if it had a visible main character doing everything instead of the player and that's really not a good thing.

The falling floor puzzle also commits the cardinal sin of gaming. You can't get through it on the first go, memorization is the only way to win and while it's certainly convenient to be able to restart almost instantly every time you die on the puzzle, the only actual point it serves it to frustrate the player since you can't beat it without dying and you can't skip it and there's nothing to figure out. It's like if you were playing a nice game of mario brothers but your friend came in and blindfolded you until you guessed the number in his head. It stops you in your tracks and doesn't really add to the fun.

While I did like the fact you're given tools to use in various places instead of having to pick them up randomly and use them against random objects, the entire game feels less like an adventure and more like an arcade game which the high score only exacerbates. I personally didn't like the game at all, but I have to give credit for its presentation and good programming. Maybe it's just not my thing, maybe someone else played it and thought all adventure games should be more like this minus the unfair and insipid puzzles. Still, I'll be playing something else, but good job on the game.

Score: 6

"First try, hm?"

submission: Escape the Den

date: August 22, 2008

I really like point and click adventure games but to quote Yahtzee Croshaw, "for every decent Adventure game there seems to be five excess baggage fests driven by moon logic." While I certainly enjoyed the graphical presentation of the game, the actual playing of said game left a lot to be desired.

My first reaction was a great big old eye roll when the game went down that inevitable route of "Oh look you're trapped in a room and you have amnesia for some reason." which is taken by almost every escape the room game ever. But I decided I would forgive the paper thin plot for the moment because sometimes you just want to drive right past the story line and into the gameplay because it'll be so darn fun.

Unfortunately for me, the game play took a sharp turn into a brick wall at this point wherein I obediantly clicked the calender and took a great big old sigh, realizing at this point I was going to have to drag out Note Pad and start writing down random numbers. The math was relatively easy despite the laughably bad spelling which I'm guessing was intentional and was suppose to add to the difficulty of the puzzle rather than making me assume it was written by someone who took a phonics class and was kicked out in disgrace.

Anyway, with the random numbers under my belt from both the computer and calender puzzle I went around the room blindly clicking on things and scratching my head at what to do next. After finding a few 'You need x tool for this' puzzles I started getting a little annoyed. "Where are the tools?!" I was grumbling until I finally clicked around at random and found the hairdryer. It was at this point a horrible realization dawned on me. The challenge of this game wasn't going to be interesting and intuitive puzzles. This was going to be a squint and click. One of THOSE games where you have to squint at every damn stray pixel in every freaking screen just to find essential item #16.

Finding the screwdriver was not cause for celebration. It caused my to grind my teeth since it should have been much bigger for a screw driver and the fact that it blended into the background seemed gimicky and just designed to frustrate the player. So I unscrew the panel puzzle to find... well I won't give it away but it was actually a rather amusing scene that I didn't expect, filling me with both excitement and curiosity until the end. At which point the completely random multi-colored shaking orb of obscurity fell out... at which point all my enthusiasm for this game dribbled away.

I stared at this object realizing that this obscure item was going to be used in an obscure way. After patiently rubbing the damn thing against everything in the room, I came to the realization that finding random thing #8 for random item #12 was going to involve a LOT more blind, pointless pixel hunting, at which point I said: "No. Screw your unintuitive puzzles, pointless scavenger hunting, and your paper thin plot line." I opened up the walkthrough and blew through the game, knowing nothing would be explained as I drifted through the increasingly unrealistic puzzles.

The hard to find items irked me, the three light puzzle irked me when after somehow managing to find the hair dryer it required yet another item, the lack of plot irked me. The game itself really irked me. ...But really, what irked me most of all was all the great POTENTIAL that was wasted. Like I said, the graphics were well done and some time was obviously put into making the game... there could have been so much more. Mouse-over descriptions showing us what the character thinks of the surroundings for one. Better puzzles not reliant on nigh-impossible to find items. Maybe a plot... Never did find out what the noise was after all.

Overall it's a great first submission, let me say that at least. But the game fell into the standard bad point and click pitfalls that a lot of them do, which is really a shame.

Score: 8

"I love you. I hate you!! ...I love you."

submission: Amorphous+

date: August 4, 2008

I remember playing the unrefined version of this game when it first came out. I immediately noticed the lack of a pause button and was stunned by the audacity. "You really expect me to kill 350 samey blob things and never look away? And if I get hit just ONCE I have to start it again? Screw that." I closed the game and never looked back. Now it's back in its coveted "+" version and I again said to myself "How much could a blob whacking game improve?"

...A lot apparently. And yet... not at all. Let's get one thing straight at the start. I hate you. If you have any game, ANY game that uses an RNG to throw obstacles at you and lasts for more then two minutes you either give the player extra lives or a mother fsking life bar... PERIOD. You have no idea how much I wanted to gnaw on my keyboard when I was killed by a biter from off screen with 17 gooples left to go in the nest. Call it challenging if you want, but I call it a frustrating, pointless game-lengthener. The computer invariably tossed me impossible situations. It always happens ALWAYS and a bigger nest only exacerbates that. The longer the game lasts, the more of a chance you have to see three fuzzles a stickie and sharp come out at once, chase you around the screen relentlessly only to have a torchie jump in from off screen and blow the lot of you to bits. Really? An instant kill upon touch AND one of the fastest enemies in the game? REALLY?!? God I hate you.

Funny, normally I say what I LIKE about the game before I get into bitch slapping its flaws, which just goes to show how much this one threw me off my game. Normally I would complain about the main character being as interesting and engaging as a slice of lukewarm tofu but you know what? It works. With the style of the game, it just plain works.

You know, for barely changing any part of the actual game play, this version is mindblowingly more fun. I am literally shocked at how good this game suddenly got. You biggest improvement is the award system. Holy Mother of God is that award system addictive and fun. The medals, in terms of style, look fantastic and getting a new one during play is both exciting and not so completely in your face that you lose focus. Perfect. I loved how they looked in the awards screen, the colors, the ribbons, the little graphics on each one. They're flawless and I could spend ages just admiring each one for both its style and its hilarious description at the bottom of the screen. I can't believe you managed to make almost every medal make me laugh. The only possible flaw I see here is that the ones you don't have are really hard to guess. I'd put a hint as how to get each one in the empty space personally but maybe that's "too easy?" Oooh, I hate you.

So I came off of the awards screen oozing praise and it only increased when I saw the item screen. What a great Idea. GREAT. They're all useful, look great and are plain fun to have. The cooldown times though? They just seem a tad long to me. "Too easy" otherwise? Oooh, I hate you.

Let's see, what else... The tips? Helpful, got their own section for easy access. Sir, that was a flawless use of tips. Difficulty levels for modes? Should have been a staple but still, great that it's there now. The bestiary... Did I mention I LOVE the bestiary? For little amorphous blobs of goo, you put a lot of love into the descriptions, that says a lot about how much you cared about the game. I would hug you for that but I'd feel gay. The animations? All simple, stylish and fun.

I really wanted to ding this game for being so smug. I felt like I was being abused by the medal features and the fact that you have to play the 'real' games to get them all. And every time I was killed trying to get a medal or reach the end I felt like I was being slapped in the face and kicked in the groin. But like an abused spouse I kept coming back for more. I may never actually beat the queen types outside of practice but I can't stop trying! I love this game! ...I hate this game! ...I love this game.

Score: 7

"Addicting and.. dare I say fun?"

submission: Beauty Resort

date: August 4, 2008

I actually had fun with this game, enough fun to play it through to the end so that right there is impressive.

The graphics are cute and animated and they all flow nicely together. I really like the animated character actions and the facial expressions on the customers. I REALLY liked the fact that you changed locations in the game and weren't stuck in the same spa the entire time. That really added to the atmosphere which, by the way is seamless.

So the graphics are great. Well done, but what about game itself? Well the 'managing a shop' type of game has been done before but there's nothing wrong with taking another spin off a good game genre... and heck managing a pretend store really is fun despite how often it's been done. Unfortunately the gameplay is where this otherwise great game starts falling short.

First off, you have lives. I really thought the lives system should have gone out of style after the days of bilking children out of quarters at the arcade days went out of style... but there it is again, staring me in the face. Long, progressive games like this shouldn't have a lives system. The levels are interesting yes, but are you really going to force a person to go through all 18 levels a second time just because three customers suddenly all wanted to use the suntan booth? (Which happened to me alot it seems) Sending your player back to the very start doesn't increase the challenge, it just frustrates them having to do everything again with the prospect of having to do it AGAIN if they fail. What you should have done here was take lives out completely or, if you really like them, give the player a way to earn lives back, perhaps a 'golden' customer or cash that goes over the goal amount is totaled into a meter that gives you another life when it fills up. Either would have been nice but really, I encourage you to think about why lives are necessary.

Despite my dislike of the lives it wasn't that big a deal for me. I can take people thinking it'd be 'too easy' if you didn't have to pointlessly go back to the start every time you're thrown an RNG curveball because there are several other better things I can complain about. For example, your character runs around randomly. I'm not kidding. I've seen her walk to an empty place before actually getting around to doing what I told her to do. I was... boggled as I watched her run (which I often did when the queue is backed up) around to a pointless spot wanting to scream 'Why are you wasting time?!' Maybe that was an order where a customer left? It's hard to say, but even if it is a previous order that was made moot, it's smart enough to unmark it from the queue, she should be smart enough not to go there anymore.

Another thing that bugged me is that the queue numbers disappeared while you're en route. That was a little jarring because normally those numbers disappear when you've completed the task. This way the player doesn't look at the item or paying customer with no number, think "Why hasn't that been queued up?!" and re-click it thus sending her to get another item or walking to a pointless spot which wastes a lot of time and will probably make you lose a level.

Another thing that bugged me was people being unreasonable. I found myself ACTUALLY SHOUTING at the little guys saying "Someone is already there, you CAN'T go there right now!! There's like three other places open!!" Luckily the house is empty so I'm not embarrassed but it was frustrating being helpless like that. I could tell the game is programmed to make sure they don't ask for the impossible, but it seems too WELL programmed, making a strict, linear work order that cannot be deviated from lest you fall completely behind.

Another thing... don't you think, instead of having a 'goal' score for each, you could have a 'total' score goal? So that the better you do on a previous level, the more breathing room you have for the next? Or maybe a store? Give them SOMETHING to do with the excess money!

Overall, this is a good game despite its flaws. Thumbs up.