Avalanche - Game Review

September 25, 2007 1 Comment
Avalanche
8
  • Type: Skill, Survive
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Replay Value: Excellent
  • Controls: Arrow Keys
Object: Climb to the top of the falling blocks.
Review: Ever have one of those periods when the dice are stacked against you? Welcome to one of those times. Here, the dice are really large blocks with circular holes cut in the center of them. They randomly fall from the sky and stack on top of each other.

You control a little white marshmellow-ish character. Use your arrow keys to jump on top of the blocks as they fall and avoid getting crushed by the same. Sometimes you have to jump pretty high to get on top, but you can use a slight stickiness you have to cling to the side of blocks and jump from there. If your path gets obstructed, you can sometimes save yourself by jumping off the right or left edge of the screen which brings you over to the opposite side. But beware of falling, because all the time a deadly orange liquid rises up from below, which you don’t want to fall into.

The only thing to do in this game is keep climbing and get as high as you can. You will receive two scores…one for your highest point reached and one for how high you were when you died. Try to beat your own score. After playing for 10 minutes I made it 127 feet. What’s your high score? Let everyone know in our comments section.



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Avoid at All Costs - 8 Fun Avoider Games

September 24, 2007 7195 Comments
Avoid and Survive Games
Below are 8 interesting games in which the main objective is to survive as long as possible while avoiding the objects which are flying at you from various directions. The quality of each game varies greatly, but I included a good mix because even the simple ones are still fun to try. Many of the games are similar in concept, but each has it’s own unique take on the genre. I have presented the games in alphabetical order.
6
Ball

Collect, Avoid, Survive - Arrow Keys

The designers of this game, Nicolay Edin and Axel Hammarback from nbstuff.com have based their game on Eskiv and they use a very similar concept with a few additions. You are a gray ball and you must use your arrow keys to move about the screen and collect as many green dots as you can. Each time you touch a green dot, a red dot will appear and start moving across the screen back and forth or up and down. Touching a red dot will kill you.

Along the way, special yellow dots will appear which give you special powers. This will either speed up the red dots, slow them down or make you invincible. When you are invincible, you can eliminate as many red dots as possible to clear out the board. Stay alive as long as possible for higher scores. A two-player version of the game is also available.

6
Balls!

Avoid, Survive - Arrow Keys

This is one of the few games in this list where you can actually touch the objects coming at you. The main objective is to keep your white ball on the blue square. This task is made difficult by the presence of about a dozen gray balls moving about the screen trying to knock you off. Stay alive as long as possible and try to beat your own high score. Designer Alex Heatonhas created a few other fun games as well.
8
Ball Toucher

Collect, Avoid, Survive - Mouse

In this game, the graphics are nicely presented and game-play is smooth. You play as a black square. Collect as many white circles as you can, while avoiding the dark blue circles. The circles all scroll in one direction across the screen, but unlike other games in this list, they don’t stay on the screen. So you should avoid getting too close to the edges because you never know when a bad blue circle will start to scroll from off screen.

Along the way, touch the yellow circles and you will receive special bonuses, which include, decreasing the size of your square, bonus points or making you invincible to all circles. On the other end of the spectrum, you must avoid the red circles. Touching them won’t end the game, but will cause adverse effects, like making all of the white circles deadly or speeding up all the circles.

As the game progresses, the objects start moving faster and your square grows larger in size, making it more difficult to fend off the enemies. If you’d like to play full screen try this link instead, but I couldn’t get the Michael Jackson soundtrack to play using this.


4
Dodge

Avoid, Survive - Mouse

Dodge is a very simple game, similar to Ball and Eskiv. You move a blue circle with your mouse and try to touch the blue square randomly placed on the screen. Each time you do, another red ball will start moving around the screen, which you must avoid at all costs.

The difference in this game is that the balls don’t scroll in one direction, but move about in ping-pong fashion, so avoiding them is a little trickier. It’s fun to see how many red balls you can get on the screen at the same time. The game actually has a lot of replay value because it plays very smoothly and is a nice challenge, but the lack of audio and the simple graphics, make it less of a keeper than other games in this genre.

2
Escapa

Avoid, Survive - Click and Drag

In this very basic game, you click and drag the red square and avoid the moving blue rectangles. Because of the somewhat shoddy mechanics of the game, this task is unavoidably difficult. It is possible to stay alive for a few moments, but touching the blue objects or the walls will instantly end the game.

I feel like this is someone’s first attempt at making a game. But despite it’s mediocre design, it is still an interesting challenge to try a few times. You might even get really good at it. The game doesn’t use randomization, so it will play exactly the same way each time.

5
Eskiv

Collect, Avoid, Survive - Arrow Keys

If you’ve played Ball, then you’ve played this game. But this is the original that Ball is based on. Use the arrow keys to move your circle and touch the square, each time you touch a square, another blue dot will start moving back and forth across the screen. If you touch a blue ball, you die. Is this starting to sound familiar?

For those who enjoy this game, the designer, Jean-Francois Geyelin, has created a more intense version…Eskiv 2. The only difference I can find is that a few of the blue balls move at super fast speed, which makes the game a bit more challenging.


9
Formation

Collect, Avoid, Survive - Mouse

Designer, Brian Cable, has a completely refreshing take on this genre of gaming. Instead of controlling just one object you control a formation of several objects. You start with four tiny white dots which stay in an ever-changing formation. The formation slowly morphs into other arrangements and the entire formation slowly rotates as well. From the sky fall various colored dots. You must avoid touching the colored dots with any of the dots in your formation. However, the colored dots can move through the space between your dots.

The game slowly increases the speed each time you up a level. And one nice feature of the game is that if you touch a falling white dot it will join your existing formation and make it larger. This adds to the fun, but also makes it harder to play. You can add up to 5 white balls creating a formation of 9 balls. This game is a lot of fun and has great replay value.

10
Shun

Avoid, Survive - Mouse and Keys

This game is manic! Another winner from mofunzone.com, it is probably the most fully realized game in this list. Your cursor is a little spinning object which you control with your mouse. Move it about the screen and avoid the variety of objects shooting at your from all directions.

The number of different enemies you will face is vast. Each one has its own technique for killing you. Many just hurl across the screen, but there are some that move along the edges shooting bullets at you and others with other devious surprises. Along the way your special abilities will increase. You will get partial shields rotating about you and friendly satellites which will ward off enemies. After you complete a few levels you will be given special defenses, like invincibility, which you can trigger using your number keys.

The biggest drawback of this game is that it doesn’t save your progress and the splash screens between level-ups can interrupt the flow of the game a bit. But the sheer amount of inventiveness the game employs in trying to destroy you will keep you moving about frantically.

Let us know what you like or don’t like about any of these games in our comments section.


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Obstacle Courses and Mazes - 5 Games Reviewed

August 28, 2007 27 Comments
Game Review


Five new entries compete in the Obstacle Course and Maze category. Instead of scoring each game, I’m going to rank each entry against the others. Which game will find it’s way through to the Funhouse top position? Find out shortly. Today’s games include a maze generator, a couple 2-D side scroller flying games, a 3-D obstacle course and a tricky cursor maze. Enjoy!

Today’s Games


Copter

Distraction Game

Maze Generator

Missile Game 3D

Pointer


Copter - Crash and Burn

CopterTest your flying skills in this Helicopter flying 2-D Scroller. Press and hold the mouse button to lift your helicopter higher. Release to drop the altitude. But watch out, the helicopter decends very rapidly when you don’t apply the gas.

The game measures your distance. You get one shot at it, so don’t crash into the ground, the ceiling or the numerous boxy obstacles on your path. Your best attempt will stay recorded at the bottom of the screen.

As with most one-note games of this sort, enjoyed the challenge at first, but eventually gave up after a few tries.

  • Copter
  • Obstacle Course
  • Easy to learn
  • Difficult to master
  • Press and Hold controls
  • Skill and Speed involved
  • Good replay value
  • So-so Concept
  • Pixelated graphics
  • Helicopter and Crash Sounds
  • Crashing Fun
  • Rank 5th Place


Distraction Game - Pesky Animals

Distraction GameThis adoreable cartoony game seems similar at first to many 2-D side scrolling games. You take your little yellow canary (?) and fly through the air collection cherries and watermelons for points, while avoiding missles which pepper the course.

The unique feature of this game comes from outside the playing screen. Several large cartoon animals appear around the course and try to distract you from your relatively simple task. For example, one might tilt the screen, another will stomp on the screen making it smaller. These pesky friends like to find as many ways to distract you as possible, so beware.

The game has cute value and some original devices, but the distractions and course seem to stay the same each time you play. Never-the-less, the course features many obstacles to muddy your path. Unfortunately, you only get one chance. If you hit an obstacle or the sides of the screen you have to start all the way over. How far can you go?

If you enjoy this game, check out Disorientation

  • Distraction Game
  • Obstacle Course
  • Easy to learn
  • Tricky to master
  • Mouse-controlled gameplay
  • Speed and Skill involved
  • Pretty Good replay value
  • Humorous and Original Concept
  • Colorful cartoon graphics
  • Repetetive Audio
  • Amusing Fun
  • Rank 3rd Place


Maze Generator - Amazing Results

Maze GeneratorOK, this doesn’t really count as a game, because you really can’t play it. Math.com brings us this fascinating maze generator. Ever wonder how a computer generates a maze? Now you can find out.

Adjust the size of the grid and the interpolation method and the application will generate a maze right before your eyes. If you select ’show solve’, the generator will demonstrate the process of solving the maze.

This probably won’t hold anyone’s interest for too long, but if you’re the type who enjoys watching your computer defrag or staring at the pipe screen saver, you will find hours of interest here.

  • Maze Generator
  • Generator of Mazes
  • Simple to operate
  • Fun to watch
  • No gameplay
  • Staring involved
  • Math Oriented Concept
  • Gray Basic graphics
  • No Audio
  • Interesting Fun
  • Rank 4th Place


Missile Game 3D - Fire in the Hole

Missile Game 3DThis game from Albinoblacksheep.com takes all the nerve you can muster. You play from the point of view of a missile careening down a tubular tunnel, working your way through various rotating gears with holes inside them. You must pass through the holes in the gears to continue otherwise you crash a die.

The first round is a qualifying round, where you get unlimited missiles. After that you must make it through the remaining 9 levels with only 5 missiles–a feat next to impossible in my book. To be honest, I haven’t quite made it through the qualifying round yet and I’ve tried about 50 times. (I am using a laptop track pad). If at first you don’t succeed, try try again. Each time you do, the gears randomly generate and their speed of rotation changes as well, so you will get different courses each time you play.

The game also offers mouse sensitivity settings which come in handy if you feel the controls get too jerky. Although this game frustrates me to no end, I enjoy trying to make it through the courses a lot. The design, simple black and white atmosphere, lends itself well to the concept as a whole.

  • Missile Game 3D
  • 3-D Obstacle Course
  • Easy to learn
  • Very Difficult to master
  • Mouse controls
  • Skill and Nerves involved
  • Excellent replay value
  • Refreshing Concept
  • B&W Line Drawing graphics
  • Light Background Music
  • Extreme Fun
  • Rank 1st Place


Pointer - Point Your Way to the End

PointerI really enjoy simple games of skill like this game. Each level presents you with a maze full of spinning cogs and moving platforms. You start each level by clicking on the ‘S’ and then guide your mouse pointer through the course to reach the ‘E’ at the end. However you can’t touch the sides of the path or any obstacles or you have to start the level over. The first few levels are very easy and then you get into the trickier passes.

The gears and other obstacles sometimes require you to move quickly or get caught in the mess. If you play this with a trackpad, make sure your fingers don’t have moisture, as you need to move lightly across the pad without getting stuck. Mouse controls feel a little better, I like using my finger for some courses. One of the enjoyable aspects of this game is that you don’t have any object or icon representing your mouse, just the regular pointer. This greatly reduces lagging on slower computers.

If you enjoy this game, make sure to check out Maze Frenzy and Everybody Panic.

  • Pointer
  • Obstacle Course/Maze
  • Easy to learn
  • Progressively difficult to master
  • Mouse controls
  • Skill, Speed and Steadyiness involved
  • Excellent replay value
  • Well-executed Concept
  • Simple graphics
  • No audio
  • Hella Fun
  • Rank 2nd Place


If you enjoy Obstacle Course and Maze Games, check out my previous post:

3 Fantastic Obstacle Course Games

Or visit the All Games Page for other games.



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