Fugdale’s Funhouse

Object: Clear out a patient’s brain of all alien infiltrators.

Review: Have you ever seen the classic movie “Fantastic Voyage” about the scientists who shrink a ship down to molecular size and travel through a man’s body to help cure him? Well, this is that movie’s bastard grandchild in game format.

You control this groovy little robot wrapped in a protective bubble as it moves from a man’s hands, through his ear, into the depths of his brain. You have the task of killing many alien invaders which have made a home inside the patient’s cerebrum. The funky clicky soundtrack edges you on as you roll, jump and shoot. The aliens come in many forms. Don’t be surprised to see several cancerous-looking, floating, turd-like creatures everywhere you go, you can shoot them easily with your spacebar gun, but you will also face more curious aliens such as a bombshell housewife from the 50’s. Along the path through the gorily detailed brain areas, you will have to collect bullets in order to keep your gun loaded. They are stashed here and there.

The game has a few frustrations, namely the slightly difficult jumping mechanism. You have to do an awkward double jump to reach most every new plateau and it can get frustrating when you start to fall and have no way to save yourself. But, the delight of the game is in its fresh cartoony design which reminds me of Brak and Space Ghost Cartoons.

This is an original looking flash game, which uses photographic images, not only in the background, but in the foreground interacting with the characters. You start the game jumping from finger to finger on a giant hand and crawl inside a giant ear. I have yet to play too far into this game and I’m curious to see how far into this man’s mind we get to travel. This take on the action, side-scrolling genre is fresh and an example of what makes Flash games just so damned cool. So if you like exploratory surgery and getting into the meat of the matter, this game will surely appeal to you.

Object: Move your ‘Quickling’ through all four seasons and destroy fairies along the way.

Review: This game by mofunzone.com has a great visual design. You control a tiny little quickling which looks a little like the Red Deviled Ham character. Leap and summersault from various suspended patches of ground as you climb your way through each level. When you start the game you will meet a little Yoda-like guide who gives you your instructions. Moving left will take you into the Autumnal area and moving right will bring you into Spring.

Your first task will be learning how to master the jumps. Jumping seems scary at first as the quickling packs quite a spring in his step. The platforms are often high above or just off the screen where you can’t see them well, so you have to take a few leaps of faith and hope you land correctly. The game’s jumping mechanics work really well (for having to use the arrow keys) and you will soon discover that the quickling just has to touch any area of a platform and he will grab on and climb on top. However, it is still pretty easy to overshoot your target and fall off the edges. If you fall or otherwise die, you will be transported back to the last runic portal you have touched.

There are also a variety of fairy sprites randomly scattered about the area. They take the shape of tornados, tumbleweeds, bunnies, birds, scorpions and more. Use the ‘A’ key to snap the cute little buggers into oblivion. You have four purple dots to begin with. If you touch an enemy you will lose a dot and if you lose all four, you must go back to your last save point. As you progress through each level you will meet more guides who will give you keys to unlock locks which are placed in obscure areas of each course. Once the locks are unlocked you will face a boss on each level. After defeating the bosses you will acquire another super power which can be activated with the ‘S,D,F’ keys.

The design of the game is gorgeous, with great attention to detail (leaves float through the air and the seasons change as you move). The soundtrack has a sprightly new-age sound and doesn’t get annoying. The controls are responsive and err on the side of too touchy at times. It took me a good half hour of play before I could reach my first ’save’ portal, so don’t give up too easily, or you will miss the fun of the game. The only drawback for this game is when you hit an enemy or fall off a cliff after going through the whole course you must start over and that can get infuriating. So I recommend mastering the jumping and whipping actions by playing around with it for a while and then come back to your saved game after you’ve had some chill time.

Quickling, quickly, without thinking…buy some stuff. The items below and more can be found in my store. Click on “Shoppe” in the menu bar for other items.