Fugdale’s Funhouse

Object: Find the hidden star on each level.

Review: I feel so excited to have stumbled across a sequel to one of my favorite online games, Hoshi Saga. Fans of the original game will not be disappointed with the new version. It has the same smarts, intelligence, and beautiful design as the first version. The designers at Neko Games, a Japanese site, created both versions of this marvelous puzzler.

Your goal on each of the 36 unique levels is to discover the hidden star. The fun of the game is discovering not only where the star is, but how to reveal it. And it’s loads of fun. Sometimes you will find the stars hidden in the most obvious places. Other times you may have to manipulate items on the screen or shoot things or type words or play music. Discovering the answers often brings on a joyful giddy glee. The game provides a good deal of humor as well as a huge ‘cool’ factor.

You can choose from 25 starter levels. Each level has a difficulty rating so you can jump right into the harder puzzles if you prefer. After you finish each row or column of puzzles a new bonus level will unlock. Complete all bonus levels to unlock the final corner level (which isn’t really a level). Game play has its challenging moments, but if you just experiment a bit or come back later to difficult levels, you will usually discover the answer in a short amount of time. There are a couple levels that are really tricky. If you get stuck, there is a walk-through available here, thanks to jayisgames.com. The game will automatically save your progress, so you can leave the game and come back to solve any time.

Because of the superb design, this is one of those games you will email to friends and family who love to solve puzzles. Both versions should win awards for clever fresh designs. And I can’t say which version of the game I like better. They both shine like a star. Here’s hoping they keep coming out with new versions of this game.

I realize I pretty much wrote the same review for number two as I did for number one, but if you like nuance and nostalgia, you can read the review for the original Hoshi Saga.