Moinontoi's Reviews

[Chainsaw Slasher]

The game overall is great, and I thought the mechanics were really well-balanced. With all the upgrades and everything, the progression from normal-survival-hard was well-paced and felt great, and passive/active abilities allowed a very wide range of playstyles. My only complaint was the lack of any other rewards. I beat normal and got a katana, which was great and everything, but I was expecting something else from survival and ESPECIALLY from hard mode, especially with a few remaining empty inventory slots misleading me into false hope. When I completed the game with no reward other than "lol medal", it sort of took a shit on the whole experience for me.

[GTB - Supersonic (Demo) [HandsUp!]]

Your production on this track is excellent. The sounds you use are all well-suited to this style, and your gradual layering of sounds is what makes trance so engaging as a genre. At 1:07, I don't feel that there was anywhere that this piece truly opened up, but you've said in your description that it's only a demo. This felt like the introductory part of a track where you've built everything up to 90% capacity, and I can imagine the track opening up into a heavier "100%-all-the-way" mode following the echoes of the drum that you have used to conclude this. I think that this is definitely an excellent beginning to a trance piece, and your melodies are interesting and exciting. You seem to have a great feel for this genre and an even better ear for production and mixing. As I've said, the only thing this track feels like it's missing is the rest of it; however, if you only planned this to function as an intro, this is absolutely flawless.

Dj-Gonzo responds:

Thanks for your review! As you said, this is the intro of the song, I tend to upload demos to see if people like what they hear and, if it's not the case, change these things before the track is almost finished. Glad to see I'm getting better at mixing and producing in general, I always appreciate the people that notice those issues. ^.^

>GTB

[The Skyline Is The Limit (Instrumental)]

I liked your sample of the weather warning at the beginning of this track. You've done a good job varying your melodies and modes to keep this from sounding too repetitive. The synth sound that comes in around 1:40 sounds good, and your drums sound good. However, some of the sounds you are using here are obviously-synthesized, and this took away from the experience for me. Then again, this may have been intentional-- being that it's a theme song for a Sonic series, these sounds are fairly consistent with the sonic palette found in several of the classic games' soundtracks. Adding vocals will definitely take this to the next level, as these melodies and patterns do feel exhausted by the end of three and a half minutes. Your mixing on this is excellent. In the end, my main complaints about this track are the campiness of some of the sounds (electric guitar and violin sounds, in particular) you use and the length of it without any major musical developments. Again, this final complaint will be fixed by adding vocals, while the first one may have been intentional on your part.

Zip-Zap-Official responds:

Thank you so much! <3

[Prism Break]

This is a piece that does a good job generating mood and atmosphere. I like your use of sounds that aren't necessarily typical of the chiptune genre, particularly with regards to your lower-end. Your use of reverb definitely goes a long way towards making this stand out. Your production and mixing on this is clear, and you develop melodies atop one another-- something that makes it feel more interesting. The lead melody that eventually comes in "wanders", and I mean that in a good way: with so many other elements that repeat themselves, having that flavor of variation is absolutely necessary. This gets into my complaint about the track: although your sonic palette and mixing quality are appropriate and effective, I did grow tired of hearing the repeated elements in the background. I noted that you have removed/brought back certain ones of those elements at a few points in the song, which definitely is a good move-- and kept me from scoring this lower. However, varying your chords or adding something in the way of a "bridge" or a second mode would make this track more engaging.

Random-storykeeper responds:

Thanks! I had intentionally wanted the repetition for that feeling of "patterns" rebounding. Maybe I could vary the chords in the second half but still keep their rhythm so it doesn't get super repetitive.