Fugdale’s Funhouse

Object: Draw a path from your red ball through a course to a star.

Review: This drawing game may give you nightmares. Well, at the very least, you might have a heck of a time getting past the first 5 or 6 levels without a great deal of concentration and a steady hand. You have a course and a few moveable obstacles to work around or through. Use your mouse or graphic tablet to draw a path for your ball to follow, to make it to the star at the end. Then hit the space bar and send your ball forward on it’s path to the star.

If you only had to do that, you would ace every course, but each level requires you to work around lumbering obstacles. Some large objects obstruct your pathway several times. When you get around it one direction, you have to quickly move the object to avoid the ball later down the path. Other objects only move in one direction or only rotate.

You face three challenges on each level. First, you must determine your path carefully in order to take into account all the various obstacles. Second, you must use your very steady hand to draw a clean path. Draw your line as economically as possible because you can run out of ink before reaching the star. Finally, you face the challenge of keeping your ball safe as it travels along the path. If you come too close to a wall or object the ball will burst.

This simple concept makes for an excellent challenge and I do mean challenge. Prepare to die a lot, almost to the point of trying your patience. The background music seems lively at first, but after you’ve popped your ball for the umpteenth time, it starts to grate a little. Still, you have to give the designer(s) credit for coming up with a unique game, which truly forces you to earn your way through it. I still find myself stuggling on level 5. Tell everyone about your success.

Object: Connect same colored start and end points on a large 3-D cube.

Review: I really enjoyed this game. You start with a 3-Dimensional cube that looks similar to a Rubik’s Cube. The game only shows you three sides of the cube so don’t worry about the back. On the cube you will find sets of colored squares with a black spot in the middle. All you have to do is connect each of the sets of squares with a single unbroken path around the cube.

In order to accomplish this task, you must map out pathways so they don’t intersect with other pathways and you must use every gray square on the cube in a path. You will often have several different options available. Sometimes you will complete all the paths and still have gray squares left, in which case you can connect them to any path they are adjacent to.

This game as a slick interface. The cube moves nicely with your mouse and you have a reset button if you get totally on the wrong path. The inventive concept for the game, though not entirely original, provides a lot of fun.