Guardian PoPon

I like to check Game Pure regularily to keep up on their cool games. A newer game Guardian PoPon caught my attention as a neat base defense game with a pirate twist.

Using the mouse you control movement by simply gesturing in the direction (left and right) you want your ship to go. Then hold the left mouse click down to power up a cannon shot to shoot further, or hold less to shoot it closer. Whatever the situation calls for. You need to ward off enemy ships as they try to attack your base.

Levels progress nicely with some increasing difficulty over time. The graphics are eye pleasing, simple and to the point. Fluid animations accent the graphics and it all maintains a good constant frame rate.

The theme music fits the pirate theme and the sound effects suit the cartoon style graphics and animation.

The game play is quite simple, with no upgrade screens after levels or intervals of levels. It is straight forward but is somewhat addictive, and with plenty of levels will keep you busy.

I give Guardian PoPon a 6/10 for being of good quality but it lacks some bonus content that is very common in Flash games these days.

-P.G

Thin Ice

Recently as I was searching for more game sites, I found Nitrome. This site not only looks really cool with an excellent layout and neat banner for showcasing they’re own games but they also have great games. I noticed in particular Thin Ice. Before going into detail about the game I wish to first express the fact that this game is one of the, if not, best Flash games on the web.

First I must compliment the graphics, excellent custom pixel artwork with flawless animations to suit the style. The main character animation is especially great because he does a 360 rotation while skating around.

Now, the game uses the mouse to guide your character around an ice rink. As he skates along there is a line that trails behind him, and he must make a circle to crack the ice, causing himself or enemies to “plop” through. The goal in the game is to make all the enemies on the ice “die” or whatever term describes their frigid defeat. It is a genius method to use a mouse in a Flash game, and the controls are flawless. It is sometimes annoying when you hit an enemy and go flying back quite far, and can sometimes bounce right back into the same said enemy. Thats probably my only complaint.

The sound is great, a fun classic arcade style sound track loops endlessly in the background and never grows old. The sound effects for when the ice cracks is great but could use some more sound effects for skating around and maybe a last grunt by the enemies

There are twenty levels to keep you busy and I highly recommend playing this game. I give Thin Ice a 10 out 10! Possibly my favourite Flash game.

-P.G

The Greatest Story Never Told 4!

The results are in and the winner is The Tired City for best movie. A slightly more artistic approach from a Flash artist, and more serious. I found it to be a nice breather from the general Flash movies out there. It is a Chinese short about the corporate world and how demanding and depressing it is/has become.

I personally liked Hold the Line and The Druffs. Of course those two were funny and that completely depletes my point about The Tired City. Check out all of the 2007 submissions here.

It is a shame that Adam Phillip’s latest Brackenwood animation was not finished on time to be submitted to the competition. His work is always getting better, and Waterlollies is no exception.