... utterly fantastic, amazing stuff. This is such a traditional piece of animation, traditional in it's story, it's themes, even it's execution (to some extent), you could even call it old-fashioned. But it doesn't <feel> old fashioned, quite far from that, it feels fresh, vibrant and delightful!

Normally I would give a long, detailed analyses in this part of the review, but I want for time, want badly... so let me just focus on a few things instead, fairly briefly:

- Firstly, really well animated and drawn, I really liked pretty much everything in this aspect, from the backgrounds, to the character designs (a lot more diverse than what you normally create, I'd say), to how the tales differ in animation and drawing style. Great stuff!

- Secondly, great narration, pure and simple. And the music, although a tad too melodramatic for me, still pretty much worked, thanks to the overall heart the animation has.

- Finally, nice poem composition, it has a good rhythm and the story, although a traditional sort of story, works very well and is interesting to listen to.

So, apologies again for the briefness, but I felt this is such a splendid animation, I had to leave a review, even if a short one like this, it reinforces my belief that NG, for all it's flaws, still has great gems to be found!

Cheers and kudos!

... very unforgiving, unashamedly harsh and without giving out any sort of initial crutch, but an excellent and clever idea that's very well executed and is much more interesting than most games out there, this is very, very good. Allow me to detail my review:

- Graphics, oh boy, this is just too clever. You deliberately use a isometric projection to create an intensely tricky illusion that's very hard to deal with and requires readjusting our mental processes so that we can make progress. That's the core essence of the game and, as such, it's vital that the projection is spot-on, as it is in this case. Kudos on that alone!

Now, the actual pixel art is pretty good, but not exceptional. The designs are somewhat sparse and functional, which I guess helps to keep the focus on the puzzle resolution, but a bit more eye candy throughout could have made the game even better. I will say that the outside the 'main puzzle areas' there are a few very nice areas, though.

- Music is pretty solid, it fits the tone of the game well and is well used. The sounds effects are very '8-bit' and fit the bill very well.

- Gameplay, oh boy. It's very interesting to be able to explore the illusions presented and I think you provide us with a good diversity of challenges, mixing things up just about the right amount, to keep things interesting throughout. But it really is very unforgiving, a necessary consequence from the lives system, clearly an attempt to stop people from simply brute-forcing the solutions.

In other words, it works, but it's a tough game.

- Story-wise, well, it's very bare-bones, so keeping things vague and allusive is a good choice; it sets the right tone for the game and doesn't distract too much, which is probably ideal in a (relatively) short game like this. I like the comments that Naya makes, they usually work well.

- Finally, the pacing and length are spot-on, again. The game could have been longer, a lot longer in fact, as there's plenty of ways to expand on the gameplay, but that would have required a lot more effort, so given the chosen length, I think the pacing is very good, providing infrequent stops to help create an atmosphere (but see above about eye candy) and give the players save points.

So, to summarize, a clever idea that's very well executed and a challenging and demanding game, that's fun, frustrating and interesting to play; well polished, but could have been a bit more rewarding to the players in some ways.

Finally, a note on some of the frankly abusive reviews below: this is not a game for everyone and does it show, unfortunately. By not providing a clear tutorial and/or demonstration of the game mechanics, a lot of people have failed to grasp the very basics of the game, and even some that clearly understand how it works, have despised it, which is a shame.

The former are reprehensible (in that modern games are too generous in that sense and have spoilt people a bit too much), the latter more understandable, since, as I mentioned right at the start, this is a surprisingly tough game; the mental adjustment necessary to be able explore the game and succeed is non-trivial and the game is frustrating in many ways, so a lot of patience is required; sadly, I guess most people's expectations of a flash game preclude the notion of having to have patience, with the resulting reviews.

So I say kudos and congratulations, Terry, this is a great game that deserves praises for executing a deceptively clever idea very, very well.

... oh man, this is the game I wanted to make all those years ago, but ended up not being 1/3 of the quality of this, I truly admire your skill, talent and dedication that lead to such an exceptional game. Seriously. But wait, you probably don't have a clue what I mean, so I'll explain at the end of my review:

This has quality oozing out of it's pores. Polished, lengthy, clever, interesting and funny, it's a huge accomplishment and you sincerely deserve huge praises for managing to pull it off. Very impressive stuff. Let me detail my review:

- Presentation-wise, this is excellent. Very well drawn, even if it is stick figures, and despite the sparse animation, the cut-scenes flow very well. Good choice of buttons and menus too, everything is clean, functional and professional-looking, whilst fitting in with the light-hearted tone of the flash.

- Narration is very, very good. Egoraptor is, of course, a solid voice actor and he manages to convey sufficient emotion and sounds interesting enough to enhance the lines he reads. Similarly, the choice of songs fit well and complement the on-screen action well. Overall, in terms of sounds, it's all very good too.

- The games are a masterpiece of design, an excellent way of conveying the player choices without making things dull or too simple. They are simple, but work well for something like this; the last thing you'd want is for them to overwhelm the player. As such, they provide interesting ways of allowing the player to choose for different paths, as opposed to simply presenting the options and asking for a selection. And on that basis, they work well and a short-but-fun and keep the overall flow of the movie going, by not being too time consuming.

- The writing is excellent. The rhymes aren't the most complex around, nor do you follow a rigid structure, but who cares? The story themselves are highly imaginative and interesting, telling all sorts of different tales, and they connect really well. It's good enough that it compels you keep going and explore further choices, not to mention revisit them too. The overall tone is good too, you keep the writing 'light' and match that with everything else.

So, overall, a truly fantastic game, rich, polished, fun and smart, you deserve accolades and kudos for producing of this quality.

^_^

And to explain my cryptic comments at the start: this game is uncannily similar to a game I created more than 3 years ago. I too had a poem, narration, multiple choices, and told very different stories. I imagine that you were inspired by the same source material, choose-your-own-adventure books, which explains the many similarities, but what I created pales so insignificantly in comparison, that I can only express my sincere admiration, understanding all too well the problems and difficulties of creating something like this entails.

... I love this series, but sadly, this instalment is, at the time of this review, suffering from slow-down issues, although that could be the results of my ageing computer. Still, of all the bullet hell games I've ever played, and I've played quite a few, frantic remains amongst the absolute very best, this one included!

This is an early review, based on the few elements I've seen so far (i.e., I've barely scratched the surface of what seems to be a very large game!), but I'm doing it now because I enjoy the series so much and I felt it was about time to leave a review for at least one of the games, specially since they share so many (good) elements, and I certainly don't want to forget to do this. Allow me to detail me analysis:

- Graphics remain top-notch. I like the clean design you use for everything, and the overall aesthetics of the ships, and that you purposely use plain backgrounds so as to allow for better contrast. I also like the shot patterns and the small animations throughout, it's pleasing on the eye.

- The music selection is very good, although not quite as blood-pumping as the songs from the original game, which I feel fit the game better (but maybe that's because I haven't gone far enough yet). Sounds effects, whilst sparse, are well used and feel about right.

- Controls are perfect. Seriously. This is what makes this game so good, the keyboard controls are very good, but the mouse controls feel just so natural and well developed that it's always been a stand-out element the games. And, given the nature of these games, this is probably the single most element of all, so huge kudos for continuing to get it right!

- Gameplay remains as challenging and as interesting as ever, with lots of enemies and ways to play. Thanks to the immense amount of customization, this game always provides so many different ways to tackle it and lots of interesting, self imposed challenges, that it's huge asset. Love the addition of a one-hit shield mode too! This flexibility comes at the cost of any narrative, but frankly, who gives a damn; gameplay is king.

- Sadly, I've suffered significant slowdown whilst playing this time around, which is a significant problem for a game like, particularly when the game then suddenly speeds up! I.e., if it was consistently slow, it'd be a shame, but still enjoyable; but inconsistent game speeds is a big issue, when finesse is such an important part of the game.

still, overall, this is an fine addition to the series and I look forward to your future games, in addition to, hopefully a frantic 4!

...

... I can understand why the judges give you first place, but honestly I think that they underestimated the quality of this submission. It has a great story, being funny and with a great flow, not being boring for a single second either, unlike some other submissions.

The voice acting is fantastic, I think you managed to hit the spot with every single voice, from the Rorschach-narrator to the prostitute and the main character. The sound effects were excellently used too, really adding depth and characterization to the whole thing, as well as the sparse songs, and I I love the <ding> sound you use to transition from the first and second scene!

All in all, this is very high quality stuff. The only problem was that the length was, sadly, too short. I know the rules didn't say anything about it, but being only a minute long is just too short, sadly. Had it been longer, I'm almost certainly would have won and deservedly too. Kudos and I can't wait to see what you'll do next!