Fugdale’s Funhouse

Review: This simple game presents a grid of links (each link looks like a quarter circle). The links each start out rotated in random directions. You simply click on any one of the links and it will rotate one quarter turn clockwise. If one or both of the ends of the link you click connect with the end of an adjacent link, it will also turn clockwise and attempt to connect with its neighboring links. For each link that connects you get one point. Clicking on the right link can cause a chain reaction of turning links that can sometimes last for several minutes.

You must try to beat your previous score by finding the best link to click. The game has a unique quality to it. I haven’t quite seen this same premise before, but I had to dock it a few points simply because the user doesn’t really have much of a challenge, nor does he/she have much participation in the process. But still, clicking on a link that causes a long chain reaction does have some satisfying effect. It feels a little like getting a jackpot on a slot machine. So most people will definitely find this little game interesting for a while.

I found trying to strategize about the links a little too difficult. You can really only think a few connections ahead and the results always surprise you by being duds or by being jackpots. Despite the satisfying rush when first playing, the game holds little replay value and amounts to not much more than a cute time killer. However, props go out to the designer(s) of this game for coming up with a unique little interface. I hope to see more games by the same folks which incorporate a little more user interaction.

Review: If you’ve ever enjoyed the “Where’s Waldo?” Books or any other children’s book where you have to locate a specific object in a scene of several hundred objects, you will enjoy this game. The designers of this game put themselves into it as tiny little pixel art characters.

The screen has at least a hundred little characters standing around. You must move a huge technological arrow (that looks like a big computer chip) around the crowd, trying to pinpoint the one designer indicated at the bottom of the screen. All the other people will skirt and side step from underneath the arrow because they all apparently avoid technology. The lone designer will stay put. But this lack of movement doesn’t always make them any easier to spot. Often times the designer you seek will stand behind a group of people and make themselves quite undetectable.

Sometimes you can spot them right off the bat. But, this usually happens out of luck or the fact that they have a distinctive color shirt on. Other times, you will spend quite a long time milling through the crowd looking for that one person who doesn’t wander away from you. If you find the designer within the time limit allowed (which seems rather short), you advance to a new level. But, if you click on the wrong area or run out of time, you have to go back to level one. Luckily the game will allow you to continue searching for the designer even if the timer runs out. The levels don’t really increase in difficulty and often you will have to find the same designer several times in a row. If you have the eagle eye to make it to level 20, you will get rewarded with “God Like” status.

The game doesn’t have too much variety, so most players will tire of it pretty quickly. However, it definitely has the same appeal as a ball of string might have to a cat…irresistible to play with, but won’t capture the attention for too long.

Review: I’ve seen quite a few clever golf games online, but this one definitely has some extra appeal. This game of mini-golf includes 18 holes. You can play the front 9, the back 9 or all 18. The unique aspect of this game lies in the fact that the courses exist on the desktops of various office workers. The edges of the desk and various office supplies, such as pencils, envelopes and keyboards all provide the boundaries of each course. Cliboards and envelopes provide some ramps and spilt coffee and soda create a few water and sand traps. Additionally, various other objects, like cellphones and mice (computer mice and actual mice), move about each course creating moving obstacles.

The game allow up to four different players to compete and each player gets his own choice of initial ball placement before the first swing. The play mechanism feels very easy and intuitive to use–perhaps a bit too easy. Just click and drag the cursor back and an arrow will form. The longer the arrow, the harder the hit. Making par on most courses won’t give you too much trouble, although the pesky obstacles sometimes make you have to settle for 7 strokes or more on a course. Despite the fact that some levels may challenge you, the game plays very quickly. You can make it through all 18 holes in little over 10 minutes…so, no worn out feet or aching shoulders here.

Although the game doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of more indepth golf games (such as Tiger Woods or Super Monkey Ball Golf), it does provide an enjoyable atmosphere in which to kill a few minutes and it will certainly appeal to anyone who has ever gotten bored at the office and created a little course to distract themselves.