WarpZone's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[1 - The Story of Khale]

Great mood piece! Can't wait for the series!

Graphics: Great, crisp line-art, smooth animation, only slightly disjointed facial expressions, and tons of personality. One point deducted because I'm pretty sure I recognize the anatomy from an old SegaCD or MegaDrive game, so I suspect some tracery. Even still, it's very good, and very original. Plus the backgrounds are just plain gorgeous.

Style: At first, I was a little disappointed with how linear the run animation was. You know? Like "Close, but no Bitey?" But then after a while I started to realize that it added a sort of 2D game ambiance to the whole affair which feels right at home on Newgrounds. We've already got flash games that look like cartoons and pixel cartoons that look like games. Why not blur the lines even further?

Sound: Great musical score, well-synched to the animation. There's some room for improvement, but it's not anything specific that I could put my finger on. No doubt by episode 4 or 5, they'll have it honed to perfection. We can only hope the voices are this good!

Violence: Can we count that chunk he tore out of that endangered species of cloud? No? Okay, just checking. In a way, you have to respect the artist for making something this action-packed, without any actual violence or combat. Does that hint that the series, when it comes, will contain actual storytelling? Dare to dream!

Humor: Heh, it was cute. Made me smile in a few spots. Like when he's playing with the clouds, or when he lands in bed. Kid has his frolicking down to a schedule!

Overall: Very nice work, and uplifting to boot! Cuts corners in a few ways, but not so as anyone but an anal-retentive overcritical reviewer-guy would notice. I'm very eagerly looking forward to this series, and also looking forward to seeing what this artist does in the future, as practice and experience pay their dividends.

LeafWorthy responds:

Thank you very much for your extremely thoughtful critique! Heh, no tracery here, the primary influences for little Khale's design are young Disney's Tarzan and popeye. I'll be glad to hear what you have to say about my future episodes.

[bpX: Skits 4,5,11,12 & 13]

Okay animation & good writing. Now fix that menu.

Graphics: Sketchy people, but at least he put some effort into animating them and didn't use motion tweens.

Style: It's rough, but at least it's consistantly rough.

Sound: Moderately good voice-acting. Gotta goddamn love the goddamned yank accent.

Violence: That is the least disturbing knife factory death I've seen all week.

Interactivity: Clicking "Ink Pen" from the main menu links to "How're they gonna taste" instead. Clicking the MENU button at the end does nothing. And you could have saved us all the whole hassle of a menu to begin with, by just making it one long linear movie with like, a flash of light and a "boop" between skits or something. Sod your vintage end credits, save 'em for the Extended Features DVD you will no doubt make one day.

Humor: Pretty funny. Keep 'em comin'.

Overall: I'd normally have a bunch of advice here on how to refine your drawing and animation, since that was the weakest part of this Flash, but your jokes, comedic timing, and delivery are enough to carry this flash as-is. I'd raise it to a 7 if you'd fix that goddamned menu, goddammit!

["say when"]

Heh... :)

My only real suggestion is NO SPOILERS! Just say something like "Based on a true story..." cuz you spoiled 90% the funny in your current description. I pretty much agree with that last guy regarding what could be improved. Good job. :) Keep 'em coming!

[The Evil Creature part 1]

Well, you made a claymation movie anyway...

Graphics: Good animation, moving the arms and such. Next time, try making clay characters that are different from everyone else's... try adding hair, clothes, eyes, wings... anything you can think of! Use your immagination! :)

Style: Pretty average. With a little imagination, I'll bet you could make these guys go on some interesting adventures!

Sound: Pretty good. You should try to make a different voice for each character. Also, don't breathe into the microphone, or get some help editing that part out.

Violence: A monster eats some heads. But the blood looks really fake, so it's not that gory. Not really.

Humor: Ehhh, kinda funny.

Overall: Not bad, kid. Good job making a whole claymation movie! Good luck with your next movie!

dumassstudios responds:

Thanks for the tips

[TTA Episode 073.5]

So much more than the sum of its parts...

I just came across this series a while ago, expecting it to be "just another sprite battle." Instead, I was surprised to find a fun and original story, that only grew more complex as the episodes passed. I was instantly addicted, and I lost about a week's worth of my free time just catching up with the series on NG.

Needless to say, 073.2 is wasily the best episode yet. The animation, voices and story keep getting better. I'd immagine it keeps on imrpoving throughout 2007 as Kirbopher and the other contributors continue to hone their skills, but I haven't seen the newer episodes yet. (I don't dare google this series, for fear that I'll lose another week of my life! I'll just digest the new epsiodes as they show up one by one on NG, thank you.)

For the rest of this review, I'll not only be reviewing this episode, but also the series as a whole.

Art & Animation: What began as a series of recolored sprite rips has grown into so much more. Even compared to the other "movie" episodes, this ep. stands out as another step forward. Pixelly line art has given way to anime-influenced vectors and chunky motion tweens. He still has a way to go before anyone will be comparing this series to Bitey, but he gets closer every time he does a toon segment. The simple pixel fight sequences featured in the rest of the series are great, too, and they keep getting better over time.

Style, Theme, and Concept: This is where this series scores big. Kirbopher has taken the concept of VR and run with it. To be honest, I'm not sure how much of the credit to give the marshmallow himself... he's probably gotten one character design each from a ton of his friends, and they all seem to have created their character by modifying a classic video game sprite. Nevertheless, the differences vastly outweigh the simmilarities, and with each redesign the characters become a bit more original. More to the point, the world of TOME is vast and complex, yet familiar. Somehow he creates the illusion that these recycled game graphics really are part of an MMO, and the backgrounds evolve as the characters do, with a fresh coat of paint every season. (Except perhaps for :purplecave. But hey, the simplicity is almost a hallmark of the region by now.)

Story: What was once a simplistic BDZ ripoff has blown through an anime phase, an afterschool special phase, and with this episode touches on new emotional territory... Hope. You don't get a lot of emotional stuff on NG or on the internet in general, and the last place I expected to shed a tear was on the MMO Battle Sequence Show. But it's there, and it's well-executed. I wholeheartedly support this type of writing! Placing it at the end of the episode as a quick, poignant twist was probably a good idea, as it can quickly become sappy and annoying if the writers drag it out.

Having played Second Life, I can tell you that a real MMO that allows the user full creativity would NEVER end up as something this interesting, this colorful, or this fun. Instead you'd see all the male characters looking like professional wrestlers and all the female characters looking like barbiedolls, ugly malls and casinos covering the entire landscape, everyone complaining about the lag, real creativity being stifled by peer pressure and stamped out by capitalism, fears of crossplaying (which were briefly touched upon, way back in Ep. 1) Premium Membership tolls, and of course, trolling, griefing, spamming, and flame wars.

I can only assume that for the same of telling an optimistic story about a utopian MMO VR game of the future, Kirbopher has chosen to rule that Motherboard, the Netkings, and the Moderators have delt with all of these issues. But if Motherboard is truly joined with the minds of all logged-in users, based on what I've seen in Second Life, you'd think she'd be a LOT nastier and more corrupted by the thoughts of her user-base than by any virus. But of course, that's Kirbopher's call, as author. My job is to suspend my disbelief, and enjoy. :)

Overall: Great show. More please! :)

Kirbopher responds:

I appreciate your thoughts on the series as a whole, and I'm glad you enjoyed it so much! This is the last episode to date, but there are other TTA-related things you can find on my website, including details about my next TTA movie like this one, so check that out. I DID create all of the character designs, although a very small few of them were designed by other people, and some of them are completely original and not based on people I knew from TvTome. I'm looking ahead in order to constantly improve my animation skills, just as I have with TTA in itself. Thank you very much for the review!

[Rockman!! Next Attack]

Finally, a return to megaman's roots. ^_^

I liked this. Very stylized artwork with a chibi anime feel to it. Slightly different proportions than the official capcom artwork, but still very good. IMHO better than the gritty, more realistic Megaman fan art you tend to see from American fans.

Music was okay, but could have been better. Personally, I'd love to see what this author could do with "One More Chance" or "Electric Communication," or another one of the original Japanese Rockman soundtracks playing in the background.

The character shots at the begining were cute but kind of dull. I know this is part of the anime style, of course. It might have been nice to add some movement to the colored streaks in the background. The fast fighting was the best part of the movie. The first four attacks happened a little too fast; I couldn't see who was hitting Rockman. I loved the part with Rockman changing colors rapidly and firing all the shots in a circle. (He released a powerful blast without charging it up first. :P That's a no-no.) Flashing back and forth between Forte and Rockman was kind of predictable...

Hmmm. I wonder. Is this the asian response to that horrible American Megaman cartoon? It kinda reminds me of the American cartoon opening Theme, at the begining and end.

[The Squares]

Doubleyou Tee Eff Mate.

It didn't seem that sad to me... more upbeat and perky despite the gory deaths. I mean, they weren't even sad or tragic deaths, they were just goofy and light-hearted. Oh... OH! I get it. You're not really sad, you're just making fun of this "emo" trend that swept across the internet like wildfire in late 2005. Very clever. You had me going for a minute there.

Graphics: Decent execution. A tad simplistic, but some of the details really added to the distinction of each Square.

Style: Awesome. The Squares are cool stylized little people, and if any of them survived I hope you do a story about them.

Sound: I could take it or leave it. But on Newgrounds, that's high praise, since 90% of these flashes have horribly annoying, grating, poorly-recorded soundtracks. The Squares' subued perky music and crisp, loud sound effects are almost soothing in comparison.

Violence: Lots of people die bloody, senseless deaths. But that's nothing compared to the greusome slow torture you see in a few Flashes you see around here. Not that I'm complaining. Frankly, nines or higher on my scale disturb me.

Interactivity: movie.

Humor: I guess the plane crashing into a guy in a turban was supposed to be a joke, but it wasn't really funny. Just kinda... dull. I mean, I guess it'd be ironic if the guy were Taliban or something, but the dude had a t-shirt on. He had to be an American. That would be like a non-KKK white guy getting crushed beneath a burning cross that fell over, or a non-terrorist christian getting blown up because he happened to be walking past the abortion clinic when some nutjob's bomb went off. Unless there is a layer to this I am not precieving. I didn't get a good look at what the guy's T-shirt actually said on it. If that was part of the joke, well, I'm afraid I missed it.

Overall: It doesn't suck. It just doesn't rule, either. If this entry was intended sarcastically: I didn't get it. If you literally posted this as an apathetic gesture of hatred towards all mankind, I have to say it's a pretty lame condemnation. George frickin' Carlin was harsher on my self-esteem than this Flash.

But in a way, that's a good thing. The fact that you felt this goofy, bouncy, cartoony joke of a bloodbath was your ultimate expression of sadness and hatred tells me your soul isn't as far gone as you think it is.

So, if your sentiment you typed when posting this was real, and meant to be taken literally, I have this to say in response: Be at peace. You are not a hateful person by nature. You will eventually recover from your loss. I can't wait to see what your next creation is, once you do.

DrDeath2k3 responds:

"Oh... OH! I get it. You're not really sad, you're just making fun of this "emo" trend that swept across the internet like wildfire in late 2005."

...I think you are actually the first person to get that.

...Anywho, thanks for the lengthy, in-depth review! It is much appreciated!

[The Memoirs of Orochimaru]

LOL!

I don't know who that guy is or what anime he's from, but this was a funny impresonation of him. You didn't use lines and fills, but you still managed to make pretty good graphics anyway. Lots of anime style, lots of heart. A light heart. Of evil. Lightearted evil. EDN.

[The Ultimate Showdown]

Oh God, that's just amusing!

I love this music video! Take the lamest conversation evar about which fictional characters would beat up other fictional characters in a fight, compose some elaborately rhymed lyrics with the names of as many 80's superstars as you can think of, animate it with aplomb but don't overdo it trying to make it look realistic, and top it all off with Abe Lincoln's zombie. Suddenly you've got the kind of parody that appeals to everyone. I still can't get over how well the guy made "Spock, The Rock, Doc Oc, and Hulk Hogan" roll off his tongue. I'm easily amused. I don't think this deserves the #1 of all time slot... but at the same time, I MUST FIVEN! Good job.

And the guy who recorded the song, he needs to sell it on CD. This kind of song BELONGS on a home-stamped CD single or an unknown alternative label's bargian-bin clutter. Underground for life, man. Underground for life. If you took it out of FruityLoops and got it professionally recorded and had it published by a recording company, it would lose all the cheesey homebrew charm. And let's face it, you'd never get the rights to say half those TMs on the radio.

[Legend without Zelda BOD1]

Not since that Sonic TVshow with Grounder in it...

Graphics: Crude, ugly, course, cheesey, blocky, goofy, quite unlike any of the Zelda games (not even Celda: Wind Walker,) and generally not what you'd expect. Why'd I give them a 7, then? Because they're FUNNY! Also, some nice use of perspective and scrolling. Aure, there's a lot that could be improved upon, but what's here conveys the message in an amusing way.

Style: Assuming that these ugly, puffy, overinflated cartoon characters with knobby knees and stupid expressions were done this way on PURPOSE, then the author did a great job doing something goofy and silly with Zelda. The anime-style montage worked for me, though it could have been funnier in some places.

Sound: Crystal clear game rips mixed with mediocre end-user voice acting, featuring brief snippets of musical selections from all over the place, including the original games and Overclocked.

Violence: Link falls on his ass a few times. I guess that's more violent than a flash cartoon where everyone stands perfectly still and nobody ever falls down or gets hit with anything.

Interactivity: Not bad for a movie.

Humor: Interesting. Mildly diverting. It wasn't all that funny most of the time, but I enjoyed seeing this very stylized twist on Zelda. Note to author: the people talking fast were the funniest part of this movie. Work with that. Develop it. It would be nice to see some original video game jokes for once. Anybody can complain about old-school gameplay. It takes a special kind of writer to make those complaints funny.

Overall: I thought this was actually good. I've seen solid snake parodies less competently executed than this get on the front page. I wish the author luck in his future creations. If this hideous drawing style was intentional, I'm sure it will only get funnier with time. If it was unintentional, I'm sure the author will change it with practice and experience. It's all a question of what he was going for. I'm going to give him the bennefit of the doubt and assume this was what he wanted it to look and feel like. It's very expressive, and it says a lot to me, and it makes me feel a certian way when I see these hideously deformed characters running around talking, and so I'm going to call it a win. Kinda like 8-BITCH FYVE, remember that? It was horrible... but with purpose! And so it was funny. This cartoon wasn't quite as funny as 8-BF, but it was a good, solid effort. More, please.