Fugdale’s Funhouse

Object: Get the black yin character and the white yang character to their respective flags.

Review: This game is truly unique. I haven’t seen a game quite like this before. The concept comes from the ancient Chinese yin-yang symbol–a circle (representing the whole) divided into two black and white halves (representing the male and female principals–yin and yang). In this game of black and white, you control two characters named Yin and Yang. Each character lives in his own half of the world. Yin, the black character, lives in all the white areas of the screen and Yang, the white character, lives in all the black areas of the screen. You flip back and forth between the two characters using the space bar.

The uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Each character can modify the world of the opposite in interesting ways. For instance if Yang drags a white box (using the ctrl/cmmd button) and places it adjacent to a black area, Yin can walk through that white box as if it were empty space. In some levels a floating box will move back and forth. For one of the characters this box is a platform to stand on, for the other it becomes a moving tunnel to stand inside. You will notice in the first level, that one character must move a box to create a passageway for the other character to reach a different section. The two characters must work together to accomplish their goals and yet they never get to meet each other in the same world.

There are also an assortment of animals, from worms to fat birds to piggies, who all get in the way. Because of this, you must continually check-up on the opposite character so they are out of harm’s way while waiting for the other character to move around. Sometimes the characters need to switch back and forth many times to avoid obstacles or send help to the other world.

Additionally, some levels include gravity switchers. These arrow buttons will flip gravity upside down for one of the characters only. All animals, boxes and characters will turn upside down. So often Yin and Yang are facing opposite directions from each other, which adds a whole new dynamic to the game. The game is full of pitfalls, spikes and other obstacles. You will often find one of your character falling into a pit too deep to get out of or unable to climb over an obstacle. Sometimes the opposite character can help them out of this situation, but often you will have to restart the level and try again.

The soundtrack is a spunky little ditty and the characters each announce their name when you switch between them. I sometimes found myself accidentally switching characters when I wanted to drag a box, because the simple controls actually take a little getting used to. But the concept and refreshingly creative puzzles really make this game shine. Your progress is automatically saved when you play, so you can casually take each puzzle level without fear of losing your progress. This is a blessing on some of the truly difficult levels. Nitrome Games in conjunction with MTV Arcade have produced this amazingly fun and clever game sure to please all puzzler lovers.