Bow Street Runner. Such a good name for a game, I thought. But wait, Bow Street Runners were actually the first professional police force in London. That being said, you take the role of a new Runner recruited by John Fielding, Henry Fielding’s brother who is the founder of Bow Street Runners. It’s an episodic adventure game spread through 5 episodes and claims to be historically correct which means that you learn something new while playing games! That’s always a good thing. First episode starts with a murder of a man lying dead in Covent Garden so you’re sent to investigate.

At the first glance I enjoyed the game’s professional use of different technology. Although it’s a Flash game, it’s elements include live action characters composited onto a 3d background much like in the old adventure games such as Phantasmagoria. It’s really nice to see such style so many years later with today’s technology and yes, it looks damn good. Much like in Phoenix Wright series (more on that later) you click your way through hot spots until you find certain clues which either raise your Esteem level, trigger other events or simply let you go to the next place. Leaving a scene means that you’ve done everything in it and that you don’t have to come back. That makes things a lot easier and it’s a system I personally prefer. Certain hot spots will trigger mini games in which you have to click and drag your mouse through a given shape, much like in Trauma Center or Dark Cut. It’s also one of the hardest and sadly most annoying parts of the game. Not only you have to be really precise, but the given time is brutally short so these mini games become near impossible towards the end of the game. There are of course other types of mini games too. By failing in some mini games, you don’t get the Esteem which you need to rank up. I haven’t found any other point of the Esteem bar except that it gives replay value to the game since you lose chances of building the bar further and thus not getting ranked up. In a certain mini game, failure changes the course of the storyline a bit which is always a good plus and makes you wonder what happens if you succeed.

It’s safe to say that the game is influenced by Phoenix Wright on the DS but done in a realistic way. Especially since you have to gather evidence and correctly present it to John Fielding at the end like in the court. I personally haven’t succeeded so instead of getting a game over, I got an alternate ending. In my second playthrough I encountered a couple of bugs which actually didn’t let me finish the game. Still, it’s a really amazingly done game from Channel 4 and is definitely worth playing.

- Luka M.,
C404.net

[ Play this Game ]

Kenney, the same person from the, dare I say, controversial article, is coming back with a new game. Is it a small and quick mini game like others? I proudly say no. As I start the game, I see the cutest intro ever seen in a flash industry. I’m not kidding. I really like to start the game over and over again just to see that “Kenney presents” intro. Not to fear, it’s not the same one as in the trailer (following below) but you get to see it in a final version. On with the preview of the actual game.

There’s not too much to say about the game since it’s basically a game based on Marble Madness from the 80’s. There are a couple of things worth mentioning and being looked forward to. Really nice, clean and modern graphics, new levels that don’t have anything to do with the original version of the game, high difficulty, different variations of obstacles (ways you have to unlock, electricity, moving platforms…) and of course a high score and a timer which you can’t go without. Especially in a game like this where it’s all about the time and the score. I am already seeing speed runs of this on YouTube since the same happen with Marble Madness. I’ve played through the first couple of levels vs. Marble Madness’ six levels and the game wasn’t as difficult as the original although some people are still annoyed by it’s current difficulty, which is a good thing. I am faithful to the original so I like it that way. You really need skill to grasp the physics of the ball/marble so I have to admit, non gamers will have a hard time playing it.
The graphics are a big plus and there are some cute details like stars which spawn as you accelate at a faster speed in a very subtle yet noticable way. If you’re a fan of Marble Madness or not, this is one of the games to look forward to. Here’s to hoping it will have as twice as much levels as I played through. Coming out whenever it’s coming out.

ps. There might be some competition going on with this game when it comes out but maybe it’s just me.

- Luka M.,
C404.net

[ View the trailer ]

I got a hand on one of the more hyped games this moment which is mainly advertised on Newgrounds by an author named Jazza Studios. I’ve been really looking forward on seeing it because the shown screenshots and the trailer (followed below) are showing some spectacular artwork in action. We can’t know how the game actually runs and plays until we try it ourselves so I went for it.

For all the people who don’t know the background story; Paladin is a 5 part movie which was in the works since 2004 and finished in 2007. In the end, the author published a DVD and is now making a game.

The first reaction on running the game was absolutely positive. So much work was put into this and in such a small amount of time that the author deserves a proper praise for that. The interface is clearly inspired by Blizzard’s Diablo which can be mistaken as to saying it’s a ripoff but it’s more of a fan art and the author’s love for medieval fantasy style.

At first, as I walked around I thought I’d see a beat ‘em up system in Dad ‘n Me style but it’s actually an RPG style of gameplay where you get to click like crazy to attack enemies and do some minor combos. I was dissapointed for a bit to see a lack of variety in what’s it’s supposed to be a hack ‘n slash game with RPG elements. In the tutorial, I learned that there’s a jump attack and a kick which allows you to kick enemies onto the floor and give yourself more time for other zombies. Not only that, but it’s a whole new world of fighting out there since it allows you to deal with multiple enemies in a different manner. It becomes a bit repetative for now because all I did was going forward and clicking my way through the levels but the game should feature different levels and different gameplay so it’ll make up for that.

Besides fighting, there are also spells. I haven’t really got around those because the game itself is still in early stages. The only one I got to test is the shield which wasn’t all that fun since it’s just for defending yourself.

Since it’s a hack ‘n slash game with RPG elements, you’re bound to see some kind of stats! By killing all the enemies, you get experience points and as you get experience points, your level grows and thus, you can raise your strength, stamina and such. This is already a big addition to an already huge game. By huge, I mean both in quality and quantity.
Like it’s not enough, the game features voiceovers and fully animated cutscenes.

Being impressed by amazing detail of graphics and then slighty dissapointed by combat, I am definitely looking forward to playing this with all new levels and combat features, especially spells.

Based on author’s words, Paladin the game should be coming out in December 2007.

Making a game? Send an email to webmaster[at]c404.net for a possible preview article on this website.

- Luka M.,
C404.net

[ View the trailer ]

As more and more web-game developers start trekking into the land of multiplayer gaming, we are finally starting to see a larger variety of game genres appearing beyond the simplistic turn-based games of yesteryear.

Host, by Caulder Bradford (aka RiftMaster, aka Bubbles) and Edmund McMillen (aka That Gish Dude) presents us with a platform/brawler game in the vein of Super Smash Bros.

Let’s start with the art:

Your characters are essentially blobs of flesh possessed by a host organism and protected by a skull. Each player can customize their skull by giving it different features like horns, markings and hair, and a variety of teeth. Aside from a few interchangeable parts, however, each character is essentially the same.

The level art is very basic and minimal, which makes it very easy to separate the players from the landscape, and the landscapes are nice and moody.

The setup interfaces are fairly pretty as well, if a little confusing at first. You start with with a grid of holes you can drop your host organism into to join existing games, or you can create a new game by popping it into a big sphincter. Once you are in the setup screen you have more holes that seemingly have no purpose. In actuality, these are how you pick which level you will be playing in.

You can look at any part of this game and just know it’s been drawn by Edmund.

The music in the game is nothing short of amazing. The well composed title and menu songs just add to the twisted appearance of the game, and the in-battle music is very atmospheric and not distracting in any way.

The sound effects aren’t anything fancy, but are very fitting for all the beating and squishing and squirting that goes on in the game. Everything just comes together perfectly to keep the game as grotesque as possible.

Of course, at the end of the day, no multiplayer game is worth a damn without quality gameplay.

The gameplay in host is very simple. You roll… you jump… you skull-punch… and if you’re feeling lucky, you may even fire a maggot or 2.

The premise of the game WAS to be a simple beat-em up game that people can just hop into and play, and I think to that extent it has succeeded indefinitely.

That said, there are a few factors that hampered my enjoyment of the game. Getting in to a game without a ‘room exists’ or ‘room is full’ error is a bit of a pain, especially since I just wanna get in as fast as possible and beat some heads.

Of course, when I do get in, the beating of the heads is not so simple. To win a round, you need to rack up 3 kills. This would be a very fun prospect, except for 3 things.

1) When you punch an enemy, a lot of times you hit where they were a few milliseconds ago, and by the time the punch animation is done, they have skipped just enough out of the way you miss.

2) Since they are now behind you, you want to turn around… but unless the animation has played all the way through and you are not touching the attack button, you can’t turn around, and it makes you feel like you have lost control of your character, and thus your connection to the game.

3) Falling too far kills you… so if you happen to have got stuck in the “I can’t turn” situation and you are on a high branch, you immediately may want to jump to safety…. and if you miss the next branch… you die.

I don’t really mind dying in these kinds of games… but when a simple death also takes down your kills, it just frustrates the shit out of you and takes a lot of the fun away form the game.

If you somehow manage to choke down your frustration ling enough and land a kill, you get to eat your victim’s heart, and your organism increases in size. I have yet to see what the full growth does, and so far it doesn’t seem to make you much stronger… but it’s still pretty neat to just… eat people’s hearts after beating them down.

If you get lucky enough to actually win a game, the victory screen lets you, and you alone, roll around and taunt the other players. Every multiplayer game needs this feature…. especially the ones I am good at!

On thing Host excels at is keeping players in sync. I know from personal experience, keeping a fast, multi-user game (especially one made in flash) in sync is a real challenge. The Flash player never runs the same speed on any 2 browsers, let along on any 2 computers, and network latency is always an obstacle. And yet, even the laggiest players still sync up respectably.

I can’t say I really enjoyed this game very much when I just hopped in and played… but I was lucky enough to be involved with a lot of the beta testing, and it was extremely fun to play with actual friends. With so many people playing now, however, it’s hard to get your buddies into one room.

If you like games that let you beat on random strangers, I have no doubt you will love Host. For the rest of you…. try it anyway…. OR ELSE!

[ Play HOST ]

One of the things I have noticed about the gaming industry is that programmers often have the best ideas for original game mechanics.  Unfortunately, programmers rarely have the design skills to flush these ideas out into great games.

Nodes is a very original concept created by programmer, Eggy. According to his blog, Nodes was built as a bit of an experiment with some of the programming features in Flash.  How does it stack up against other programmer-concept games?

Art-wise, it’s pretty simple;  Shiney circles, red lines, generic background texture and uninspired menus and interfaces.  It still looks better than most games developed by non-designers, but the art was developed by ShibbyMedia, so I was expecting better.

Sound-wise, there is nothing special here.  The music gets old after a few levels, and the ONE sound effect is rather long and annoying as well.

The gameplay is really all that matters though and this is a brilliant brain-teaser concept.

You have movable nodes that are all connected by lasers beams, and static nodes that star out blue.  The goal is to position the nodes so that the lasers pass through all the blue nodes, turning them red.

This is the type of thinking man’s game I typically enjoy, so when I started this game I really liked it a lot.  Then I kept winning….and winning… without any challenge.  I realize I’m a smart guy, but I’m pretty sure a chipmunk with downs could master this game.
The level design is where the lack of a designer really shows.  Each level is unique, to be sure, but none of them are really well thought out.  There are so many ways to solve each level that I found myself inventing a challenge and trying to do it with the least amount of laser lines possible. As you can see in my screenshot, even as far as level 20, I was able to easily solve the puzzles and still have extra nodes I didn’t need.

Because this WAS designed as an experiment, you really can’t expect a big production, and like I said.. the IDEA is awesome.  I hope Eggy does a second version with more challenging levels and maybe some bonuses for unused beams, so players can really test their minds and compete for high scores or something.

At the end of the day, this is really a tech demo and not a polished game.  But tech demos can still be fun, so go check it out.

[ Play Nodes ]

Over the years we have seen several people attempt to make an epic RPG in a web-based format. Most of them have been pretty lame.

Aaron over at flashportal.com turned me on to an overlooked RPG game called Max Mesiria RPG, so I took a few hours and delved into it.

The game looks really nice.  It has a classic RPG style, but doesn’t rely on outdated 16-bit sprites, rather, all the level art is rendered in full resolution and plenty of color, making them almost look like carefully painted scenes.  Even the character art and variety is pretty impressive as you delve into the game.

Unfortunately the game seems to be running an unusually low framerate, and the animation suffers for it.  Some of the frame-by-frame work on the battle-mode enemies is impressive, but the main character comes off choppy and lazily animated, which is a big contrast to how well drawn he is.

The sound in the game is certainly above average, with well produced music… although a few of the music loops do get annoying after a few minutes.

The gameplay isn’t anything fantastic, but as far as RPGs go, it’s not bad.  The game is split into multiple parts, which contain different chapters of the story.

The first part isn’t very impressive. It’s pretty slow, and the random battles are very annoying as you wonder aimlessly for some menial tasks.  It was almost slow enough to make me skip the second part, but I kept playing to give the series a fair chance.

I was actually glad I toughed it out because part 2 actually got interesting. You start to get more of a scope on the world the game takes place in and get drawn a little more to the character.  The random battles are still annoying, but that’s true of pretty much any old-style RPG.

While I still am not super-satisfied by the overall quality of the game, I am anticipating part 3 and hoping it continues to improve with each on-going chapter.

If you really like classic RPG games, like I do, you should give this game a shot.  If you aren’t a fan of the genre, you will probably find this game about as enjoyable as watching grass grow.

[ Play Max Meseria RPG ]

While I typically refuse to review my own games, This little gem is going to be an exception. Generic Defense Game was built and distributed as an experiment to get some insight on the current state of the independent web-based gaming community.

Because of the nature of this game, I am actually going to review/score the actual experiment rather than the game itself.

The experiment was to create a game in a genre that has been completely over-saturated with carbon copy games, and distribute it to see how much money and popularity I could exploit from it. I wanted a game that would both mock this type of game, but would also make no pretenses at being original in any way. And so the concept of ‘generic’ defense game was born.

Within 2 days of starting, I had the basic engine for a run-and-gun shooter game, and so it came time to decide on what you would be defending, and what you would be defending from. I knew that I had to use zombies, because it’s illegal to hate a zombie game. But I didn’t want to just straight up copy other crappy games, or the experiment wouldn’t stand out enough to make a point. So I toyed with some other retarded objectives… and decided I would just make the game so generic… ALL my objectives could be dumped in.

As I started having fun with the overall ridiculousness of the game, I figured I may as well add a mouse-only mode and spliced in a turret defense system. From that point I started getting carried away designing mediocre weapons (the pellet gun is an obvious tip to this part of the design), generic texture filled backgrounds.. and minimally animated bad guys, which I could copy and paste and do some small tweeks for even more generic bad guys.

For the audio, I used a bunch of generic gunshot sounds, recorded some lame death grunts, and raided the Newgrounds Audio Portal for some royalty free music. It didn’t sound too bad in the end, but I assure you… there wasn’t much effort in the sound production.
Once I had it all together, I knew the game was starting to step beyond the original scope… but I didn’t care, I was having a good time just making something stupid. I did make sure to not add in any back-story, or actual ending… lest we end up with a polished action game rather than a generic game with minimal substance.

Now it was time for phase 2, securing some money and getting the game distributed. I was going to approach a site like Armor Games or Crazy Monkey Games for a sponsorship, but I decided to have a chat with Greg from Kongregate about the game first. I knew the other sites may not ‘get it’, and would just fork over money so they could stuff their game libraries a bit more with exclusively branded content, then spam it around the web and enjoy the kickbacks.
I needed a partner that could provide the same level of branding, but still let me control the experiment in a few ways. Kongregate got the concept and was more than willing to sponsor the game for more money than these types of games should ever warrant. They also allowed me to include Mochiads (in-game advertisements) in versions of the game that would be distributed, which was another experiment I had been dying to try.

The ads in the game were a real surprise to me. I did not expect the high level of performance the would ultimately yield. For the most part, developers can probably make a lot more money with these types of advertising than they can with a typical sponsorship. It’s amazing to me that more people aren’t taking advantage of them.
Once the sponsorship and advertising was secured, it was time to distribute the game. With some suggestions from Tom Fulp of Newgrounds.com, and some assistance from the Kongregate and Newgrounds communities, I was able to get the game posted on a lot of high-performance game sites and even got it through on Digg.

The launch of the game was a massive success… half the people hated it… half the people loved it… half found it too hard…. half found it too easy… EVERYONE played it.

By the first weekend of the launch, the game had been featured on most of the sites I submitted it to, and the in-game ad was making about as much money as all the advertisements on psychogoldfish.com combined. In 3 weeks, I was able to create a game that was popular enough to generate a generous sponsorship, and a long-term revenue stream from in-game ads.

So the experiment was a huge success… but at the same time… the findings are disturbing to me.

Some people are wondering what actually inspired this experiment. Obviously, making money is a big part of it all… but it really started the day I reviewed “Endless Zombie Rampage“. This game, while not the worst defense game, was the proverbial ‘last straw’.

I have been in this industry for nearly a decade, and I was there to see it rise from a small group of people making games just for fun, and producing really original and entertaining work. Now, a lot of commercialized sites have made it possible to earn a pretty good living in this industry without having to build your own income generating websites. These commercialized sites kicked off a whole new generation of talent, and really helped to raise the bar in quality…at least.. that was how it started.

Today, everyone from high-school kids to seasoned vetrans, are whipping off generic games (not just in the defense genre) because the big commercial sites will dish out $500 or so, for pretty much anything that works (and even some things that don’t). The casual players tend to stick to these commercialized sites, because they brand all the games they sponsor to the degree that the players feel these sites are where all the games are coming from. For many casual players… these are the only sites they check for new games.

This is great for these sites, as they build strong user bases, and stronger revenue streams. This is good for the developers because they can earn sponsorships without having to put fourth a great deal of effort. This is bad for the industry because the quality content is being buried by the quantity content.

Anyone old enough to remember the Atari 2600 will probably have, at least, a basic recollection of what happened to the game industry back in the 80’s. What started as an industry with a few brilliant games, swept into a viable market where commercialized publishers with no hands on ties to the industry wanted to get their piece of the pie. They contracted massive quantities of generic games and clones of popular titles to the point consumers no longer knew the good games from the bad. The big companies were able to put out small games at bargain bin pricing, which is where a lot of the gamers at the time went to find new games. After a while, people stopped enjoying the games, and didn’t bother looking around to find the good titles, rather… they just quit buying in general.

I see the similarities between the piles of generic games that almost killed the gaming industry in the 80’s, and the generic titles that are being produced today. Eventually the casual players are going to lose interest, and only the established companies (the nintendos of the indy community, if you will) will have a shot at staying alive.

This experiment has completely validated that it pays more to make a bunch of generic games, then it does to push the envelope. It’s no wonder nobody in the media takes this section of the game industry seriously, the industry doesn’t take itself seriously, save for a handful of sites like Newgrounds and Kongregate.
Check out the game, and let me know what you think about the current state of indy web-games.

[ Try Generic Defense Game ]

Since the genesis of web-based gaming, many artists have tried to create expressive art that can only be found in the independent scene.

Edward, by Buzzwerd and TrueDarkness, is a game that takes classic platforming, and tries to present it in a very artistic and profound way. But does it truly feel like a work of art, or did it fall shorter than a midget on a banana peel?

The look of this game is really quite appealing. All the characters and levels are very stylized, using a classic vector look and minimalistic coloring. While this style is usually used to cut corners in art production, it mostly works well for this game.

Throw in an excellent selection of musical scores that further breath an air of atmosphere into the game and you almost have a breath of fresh air with this game (this is also a pun because Edward uses hot air to attack his enemies… GET IT!?!?).

With all of this visual and audio stimulation going the right way, it’s very unfortunate that this midget game had to step on the banana peel.

The storyline in this game starts out somewhat deep, hitting on themes of dark vs light, blind vs enlightenment… etc. It’s all rather emo. What really makes this attempt at profoundness even more off the mark is the in-game text that comes from Edward himself. When you kill enemies he says random things that seem like they were scripted by a 14 year old AOL chatter. It adds a huge degree of immaturity into a game that tries so hard to act grown up, but really it just wants daddy’s approval… WHY DON’T YOU LOVE ME DADDY… WHY??????????????????

Okay… so as bad as the themes and dialog are… they aren’t what keeps this game from truly shining. As always, it all comes down to the gameplay and how fun the game actually is.

In this game, you move around… you jump… and you shoot air waves. That’s it. The enemies are not really challenging, especially since you can fire as fast as you can mash a space bar, and there’s really nothing interesting in the way of powerups.

The movement seems to try and make you feel like you are rolling and that you need to pick up steam to get around, which is a nice concept, but ultimately makes this game unresponsive, especially in areas where you need to act quickly to take on swarms of enemy robot thingies.

The levels are pretty well designed, and that is about the only thing that adds a challenge to the game. But after a while, all the levels start feeling the same…. you go up… you hit a switch… you go back down and progress…. rinse, repeat…

I did really love the concept of dying in this game. Rather than having extra lives, you actually fight the reaper to reclaim your progress in the living world. This would have been really cool if it wasn’t hampered by a super long death animation, and a really easy, but painfully drawn out battle with death.

If you die in this game… just stand in front of the reaper’s chest and jump/shoot.. he’ll never hit you, and eventually he’ll do the one attack that drops his defenses. Of course… he rarely does that attack, so it’s gonna take a while.

So all in all… this is not the little game that could…. but at least it tried. In the end… it’s just a mediocre platforming adventure, but it could be worse…. it could be a mediocre defense game right?

[ Play Edward ]

For nearly a decade, Newgrounds.com has provided us with a variety of popular characters, ranging from original gangstas like Pico and Samurai Asshole, to the more modern hit, Alien Hominid.

Two years ago a group of long-time Newgrounds contributers (Mindchamber, NegativeOne & Luis) were sanctioned to bring this motley crew of characters into a single game where they could live togethet in harmony. And by harmony, of course I mean brutal destruction.

Newgrounds Rumble is a side-view arena rumble game in the same vein as the Smash Bros series, with all the action and mayhem one would expect from the ever-popular genre.

Artistically, this game is a beast. With a cast of 10 characters, all hand-drawn, and each having their own special level, it’s very apparent that the near 2-year production time was not wasted. The attacks and combos are all rendered beautifully, and the backgrounds could give any modern console game a run for their money.

The sound is amazingly impressive as well, especially when you consider it’s all backed into 8mb. Every character has distinct effects, and even some minor voice-work that makes it really feel like a classic arcade game. The music keeps the pace up and never gets annoying. It’s like chicken soup for the ears.

The gameplay is what really makes this game stand above the rest. Every character has a very unique fighting style, and the strategy changes dramatically based on which character you play. Each opponent has a certain vulnerability… and even the levels themselves change the way you will play. The way you can mix regular, fierce, ariel and crouch attacks lets you really feel like you are doing more than just mashing buttons over and over.

While this game has so many triumphs, it also has a few shortcomings as well. Some are petty nuances, like the letters on P-bot being backwards when facing left, some effect the actual gameplay.
The AI, while challenging, is pretty predictable. If you camp out at a powerup spawn point, they will pretty much keep coming right into whatever attack you have waiting for them, and you will horde all the powerups.

The combo chaining gets a bit annoying at times as well. There is a noticeable delay after each attack where it waits to see if you are going to keep the combo going. Typically this isn’t a big deal unless you find yourself needing to turn around because your opponent has jumped over you or something.

The junk yard level is kind of lame as well… you don’t have to throw a single punch… just stand as bait beside the crusher and it will beat all your opponents for you.

Take the good with the bad though, because in spite these small shortcomings, the game is damn fun. Everything from earning ‘grounds gold’ to unlock characters and levels, to the fact that every single character has an enjoyable story mode, and you have an extremely impressive title here.

I would love to see a sequel to this with even more characters, more power-ups and some of the minor flaws removed and possibly some online play. It could definitely roll with the big dogs of the console world.

[ Let's get ready to RUMBBBLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEE ]

In almost a decade of flash based games, good platform games have been few and far between. Toast of War is a new platformer from, newcomer, Common Studios. It really brings some good things to the table…. but does it bring a balanced breakfast?

There is an opening story, but I kind of zoned it out and skipped it because there was a lot of reading, and I just wanted to play the game, so I’m still not sure what the actual story here is, but that didn’t seem to hamper my enjoyment.

The first thing any player will notice about the game is the quirky art style.  It’s hard to tell if it’s good or bad, but I’m leaning towards good.  The main character is a walking piece of toast who has to battle though legions of butter-themed baddies. All the artwork is hand drawn, and the levels are very well designed, something you don’t often see in an indie flash game (or actual levels at all for that matter).

The sounds in the game could be a bit better.  There’s not many effects when you hit something, or jump, etc…   but the basic sounds seem to be in place.  The game uses a variety of quirky music which fits the look of the game quite well, but some of the loops get really annoying, especially during the boss battles.

As with any title, the gameplay is really what can make or break the deal.  Toast has some pretty good mechanics for a flash game, but at times doesn’t feel as smooth as one may be accustomed to. Running and jumping feel pretty natural, but many of the weapons seems a bit off in their collision ranges.

The enemies aren’t too large in variety, but the levels are short enough that you don’t get too tired smashing and shooting the same brick of butter over and over.

The game remains fun throughout each level until you get to the bosses.  These guys are very easy to beat, you simply hide in a hole and pop up to attack when you get an opening.  While the lack of challenge isn’t terribly bad, the fact the bosses take longer to beat then all the levels combined is as painful as watching someone get their teeth pulled, then having the teeth painted and watching them dry while they sit on a pile of dirt which is slowly growing grass, which you also have to watch…..

I really wanted to get into this game, but by the time I got half way done with the 2nd boss… I just got sick of jumping and shooting and hearing the damn music loop for the 100th time.  This serious lack of play balance was, sadly, enough to ruin the otherwise enjoyable experience.

Since the game launched, the developers have made several big updates and fixes, so perhaps by the time you read this they will have done something to make the boss fights more fun.

For now, it looks like it’s dry toast for breakfast…

[ Butter your Toast ]