Score: 8

"Funny, but lacked an edge..."

submission: The Thinking Impaired ep1

date: January 29, 2004

First of all, let me say that you have some really awesome ideas here. That scene with the fat guy jumping Smitty was absolutely hilarious. Second, I can totally see how much work you put into this. Looks like you spent a great deal of time on your characters too. Geez, you have profiles and everything on your website. It's insane. Still, this wasn't quite as interesting as it should have been. I mean, aside from the profiles, none of these characters seem to really have a personality, you know what I mean? Perhaps all their individual mannerisms come out in future episodes, who knows? But right now, THIS submission is the only thing I've seen. And you know what? That 'JOHNNYBASSIST' guy is right; the characters are bland! Your characters need more EDGE. Without it, your viewers won't be able to keep track of who's who, and even worse, after a while, they won't even care. The characters are everything in a series. You need to make them all stand out a little more, you know? Oh well, I've probably ranted on for long enough, but seriously, you need to take what I said into consideration. It would make this Flash series SO much better. That having been said, you're getting a vote of 3 from me. You're still a damn good artist. Just don't let this review discourage you. Believe me, that's exactly the opposite of what I want to do. Good luck, dude!

Score: 7

"The editing was horrible..."

submission: Matrix Remade Live Action

date: January 28, 2004

But at the same time, that's what made it so funny. I mean, that one scene where the guy tries to run on the wall was hilarious. There was a noticeable change there, and anyone else would have thought that to be pretty shoddy, but I found myself laughing at it and well, anything that makes a person laugh is good. Unless, of course, the person laughing is a sadistic psychopath. You know what I mean. Either way, I can see that you and your friends put a lot of time and effort into this. It's not exactly your typical Flash submission, and in any other case, I probably would have given this, like, a 1 just because of the fact that it wasn't something you actually needed to animate, but since the Graphics actually weren't that bad (it COULD have been pixelated, but it wasn't) and since I actually derived some entertainment out of this, you're getting a 3 from me, vote-wise. But yeah, I think the 8 in Humor is well-deserved. It probably wasn't what you were shooting for, but then again, you just scored a good vote from me, so it can't be all bad. Good job though, dude. Probably one of the most unintentionally hilarious submissions I've ever seen!

Score: 9

"Amazing animation style!"

submission: Le' Kid

date: January 27, 2004

Kind of reminds me of billyblob's work. Try to look into it if you can. Stuff like "E-Ticit" and "Darwin Bug" are great, and you can find them right here on Newgrounds! You should really look into those if you want to hone your Flash skills and develop your own personal style. That having been said, your style is amazing. Isn't it great how you can achieve an almost three-dimensional effect just by moving the characters' facial features the right way? Well, I think you've mastered it. Everything here looks absolutely awesome. The only thing here I would like to see you improve on is Sound. As you can see, I only gave you a 6 in that category. Now, I can see why you would want to make this cartoon silent, considering what happens in it, but I failed to be engaged in what was going on. While the animation was beautifully done, I couldn't get INTO it, you know what I mean? But yeah, like I said, look into billyblob's work and see what you want to do. All I can offer you are suggestions. It's up to you to do what you can with them. Fantastic work, dude. Can't wait to see you submit more of your stuff to NG!

Score: 8

"Definitely reminiscent of those old 80's horrors!"

submission: Ned's Revenge DVD

date: January 26, 2004

Yeah, all throughout this Flash, I kept thinking that this was just like those old 80's horror movies that I used to love so much. You know, "Halloween", "Nightmare On Elm Street" and naturally, "Friday The 13th". When you mentioned that last one there as one of your sources of inspiration in the credits, I totally knew what you were talking about. I mean, you had some guy get stabbed in the head with a machete! How could anyone NOT connect that to good ol' Jason Voorhees? In any case, I've always been a fan of the old horror movie formula, despite how hackneyed it is. For that very reason, I'm giving you a vote of 4. But yeah, totally loving the story here. Even though horror movies never really have much of one. I think I'm going to watch the other "Ned" submissions you have though. You know, just to get into the story better. Great work though, dude. Totally going to be looking forward to any other cartoons you plan on adding to this series. The touch of Humor was great too, by the way. I never thought I'd ever hear a Wham! song on Newgrounds...

Score: 8

"I haven't laughed this hard in weeks!"

submission: Knoxs "Reloaded" 2

date: January 26, 2004

Well, maybe it was because I was tired at the time. Hell, I was sitting in front of the computer after having to study for my finals for a solid eight hours, so my mind was so dead, I probably could have found ANYTHING funny. Even then, this was absolutely hilarious. But before I get into that, I just want to say that I was never really all that big a fan of people who just use movie scenes for their submissions as opposed to actually taking the time to do all the animation. Seems kind of cheap, you know what I mean? For that reason, I only gave you a 6 in Graphics. However, I still found this to be the funniest thing I'd seen since watching that horrible Vanilla Ice movie two nights ago, so you're getting a 9 in Humor. Yeah, don't ask. It totally cracked me up, but for all the wrong reasons. But yeah, to anyone reading this right now, this Flash is great. Not that it'll blow you away with the amazing animation or anything, but really more in the fact that you'll probably die laughing watching Mr. Smith trying to sing Will Smith's "Wild Wild West". That scene alone made this worthy of a 4 vote. So, 4 it shall be. Great job here, _THE_KNOX_. Even though I'm not what you would really consider one of your fans. Say, what do you know about the guy who took your old _KNOX_ alias? Did you allow that or what?

Score: 7

"Looks like the start of a great series!"

submission: The Box - Level 1

date: January 22, 2004

At the very least, it's a great concept. Even IF you just chose to use sticks, this is definitely something that I'd like to watch. Just one stick, trying to break out of a prison that he was thrown into for no apparent reason. Kind of reminds me of that flick, "Cube". In any case, this Flash really surprised me. I have to admit though, when I saw that preloader, I thought that this was going to be a piece of crap. But it actually turned out to be quite entertaining. Not only do you have an awesome idea here, you also have great style when it comes to the action sequences. While the slow motion thing is obviously nothing new, at least you didn't rip off "The Matrix". Too much, anyways. But yeah, this was something that I really enjoyed. Overall, while the animation isn't the best (that little spin the guy does after getting those guns thrown at him was a little off), you still managed to make this look good with your intriguing 'story' and smooth animation. Which is exactly why you just scored an Overall score of 7 and a vote of 3. Actually, you know what? I think I'll give you a 4, just because I liked the idea so much. Just this once though. Either way, great job. Hope to see more from you in the future.

Score: 7

"Impressive drawing skills..."

submission: DOA, trailer 3

date: January 20, 2004

Damn, this looks good. After watching this and then realizing that you've already put out two other trailers, I can't wait to see the actual series. That having been said, trailers don't normally score all that high in my book. I only liked this one because of your evident skill in cartooning. However, by itself, this didn't really impress me. But that's just fine because I'm pretty sure that when the series comes out, THAT will. But since my critique isn't supposed to extend beyond this submission, I'll just give you a quick run-through of why I gave you the scores that I did. Graphics scored an 8 for what I feel are obvious reasons; Sound scored a 6 because although it fit with the animation, it started getting on my nerves after a while; Style scored an 8 for the same reason the Graphics did. As for the Overall score, I only gave it a 7 because like I said, by itself, trailers don't do much. But yeah, just wait until the actual thing is released. I doubt I'll give you a perfect 10 because I'm kind of stingy with those, but a 9 seems almost a certainty. Oh, and I'm voting a 3. Not bad though, dude. Keep up the good work. Just try and release the actual movie a little sooner instead of just spending all your time making trailers. Good luck!

Score: 6

"Short and predictable, but the style was great..."

submission: Citric Burst - Granny Ad

date: January 17, 2004

You know, that was definitely a style of animation that I've never seen on Newgrounds before. Using little bits of colored paper to animate this was a stroke of genius. However lacking this may be in the entertainment department, the effort you put into this is still clearly evident. It must have been a pain taking one frame at a time and then stringing them all together to create this twenty-second long cartoon. And even though it's short, that's understandable because this IS, after all, designed to be an advertisement. But yeah, if this were simply done in Flash, it wouldn't have been anything new. I probably would have only given it a 1 or a 2 if that were the case, depending on the quality of the animation. But THIS, being a new style of animation entirely (to the best of MY knowledge, anyways), I would give a 3 just based on the creativity and effort involved. Put simply, you're getting a 3 from me, vote-wise. Keep up the good work and I hope you got a decent grade for doing this. Hope to see more from you in the future.

Score: 6

"Hey, you're actually using some voices now!"

submission: 101 things to teach...

date: January 17, 2004

I still remember when I reviewed your Flash, "Don't Give" and told you to add some voices to your characters. Looks like you finally did it. And believe me, it really DOES add a lot to your cartoons. That having been said, I enjoyed watching THIS Flash, but I have to say that I enjoyed "Don't Give" a lot more. Especially now that you've added voices to that one as well. Of course, that's not to say that this cartoon is bad. In fact, I got a few good laughs out of it, and if you remember ANYTHING from my other review, you should already know that anything that makes me laugh gets an automatic 3. The only reason I didn't enjoy this one as much was mostly because it was just a little too random for my tastes. That whole hole-in-the-ground thing really just came out of nowhere, huh? And what about the part where he shoots the dog? That's some strange stuff you got there. Unfortunately, it's not really all that funny. Anyways, for your next Flash, you should have something unexpected happen to the main character again. I mean, some of those scenes in "Don't Give" really cracked me up. Like, if he's trying to learn how to drive or something, you should have him get into a car accident and survive, only to get killed by the air bag. People love stuff like that. But yeah, getting the main character hurt in all sorts of weird ways is a great way to go for laughs. You know, in a Looney Tunes kind of way. Maybe that's why I didn't like this one as much. Oh well, that 'Play Dead' scene was pretty funny. Either way, you scored a 3 from me, vote-wise. Keep up the good work though. Just remember what I said, and expect me to review the next cartoon you put out as well.

Score: 7

"Good for killing a little time..."

submission: Imminent Danger

date: January 16, 2004

And a few sticks, for that matter. Anyways, I have to applaud the smoothness of the animation in this submission, but I have to admit, I was a little disappointed when I realized that this was nothing more than a target shooting game as opposed to a shooter where the targets actually fire back at me. Of course, the gameplay was so entertaining, I didn't even notice until the timer was halfway to zero. Just for that, a minimum vote of 3 is a must. But going back to the gameplay for a bit, the music and the animation was great. It took me a while to even realize that the song was looped. And you know what? It fit the action perfectly. Then again, I'm pretty damn tired right now so maybe the only reason that I'm not immediately noticing things about this Flash game is because my awareness level is at an all-time low. Either way, the fact that I was slow to pick up on those two things that I mentioned above just earned you a 4, vote-wise. Still, you totally have the skill to make an awesome shooting game on NG. I really recommend that you do it. And when you do, I'll be backing your ass up, voting 5's on it every day of the week. Great job, Jon Sakas. Keep it up.