Fugdale’s Funhouse

Review: As someone who doesn’t like to see animals harmed, this game has a certain edgy theme to it. It involves the running of the bulls in Pamplona. But since this is just a cartoon bull and it always seems to win eventually by goring the human, I will let my diversion to the subject matter slide.

In this game you play as a dashing young toreador who is running from a furious bull out of the confines of the bullfighting stadium and through the streets of Pamplona. You must jump over fences and crates and fruit stands. Run through crowds of other fleeing men and last as long as you can before the bull finally catches up to you and flips your butt into the air.

There’s not much more to the game than that. However, the graphics and steady drumming score make this game a lively and responsive few minutes of flurry. The game treats the subject with a certain sense of humor and no animals are ever harmed in the game. In fact, the bull doesn’t even have to jump over the obstacles. He just plows right on through. The humor of the game is apparent even from the loading screen where your main character prepares for his bull run by spraying his arm pits with deodorant.

Review: This game of skill presents you with 24 progressively more difficult obstacle courses to work your way through. You must move your ball through each course by turning the entire course clockwise or counter-clockwise. Gravity pulls the ball downward on the screen and propels your ball onward. Watch out for menacing spikes, flames and other obstacles which line the walls of most courses.

The game does a great job of giving you pointers on how to advance past certain types of obstacles and the first 10 courses will move along pretty nicely, but then things get increasingly more difficult and this game may have you pulling your hair out. It even warns that it won’t be responsible for manaical homicidal tendancies resulting from frustration. I imagine that the game won’t have you actually killing people, but it does present quite a challenge. Luckily it will save your progress automatically, so you can come back when you have cooled down a bit.

The mechanics of the game feels smooth and responsive and the challenges seem surmountable eventually, but I dare say most players won’t be able to reach the end in one sitting. This game has similar physics to games such as Wone and Everybody Panic both reviewed previously on this blog.

I just love these physics-based obstacle course games and I hope to see more versions on the theme in the future. For now, this game will give you plenty of game-playing pleasure and will turn your world upside down.