Canvasser Flash Game Review

Link: Canvasser
Developed by Jackson Lango
Genre: Strategy/RPG/Management
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8/10

A game based on people going out and canvassing an issue...Who ever would have thought a game would or should be based around that. Well, Canvasser, the latest game by Jackson Lango, took this challenging theme if you will and really turned it into something quite interesting.

Yes, at its core Canvasser is a game about canvassing. Canvassing about the proposed clear cutting of a local forest to be exact. You play a character who joins the environmental group to raise money for the cause and your job is to go out and canvass. Here is where Canvasser gets interesting and creative. You are given a minimum goal of money to collect each day and should also aim to collect the most money and talk to the most people in your team. Now to get money you click on a person walking by and then you have various dialogue choices given to you. These choices are such things as talk about the forest, the issue or the environmental group. Each choice either raises the person's care or trust bar (or both). These bars are what dictates how much money a person gives when you finally ask them for money.

That is the gist of Canvasser, very simple dialogue centric flash game where you sort of need to feel out your target and raise that trust and care bars. So with that being said I think Canvasser has a great foundation and extremely unique idea. But there are some issues...mainly I just think Canvasser needs more features to make it more robust. Have an upgrade system of some sort or a more RPG like style somehow. Essentially make the whole thing more detailed. Again the premise is completely sound and the graphics scream retro which is something I love but just feel like more is needed to make a true 10/10 game, which Canvasser has the potential to be in my opinion.

Read More

Ninja Twins Flash Game Review

Link: Ninja Twins
Developed by Kronbits
Genre: Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 6.5/10

Ninja Twins is all about fighting your twin brother in a race to see who can reach the treasure chest first. Of course you are both ninjas so you can do crazy stunts and such.

The idea behind Ninja Twin is interesting. Basically at its core it is a slide puzzle where you start in some point and can only go in the four cardinal directions and you go that direction till something makes you stop, then you go a different direction, etc. till you reach the end point. However, Ninja Twins throws in an interesting aspect. You have two ninjas so two moving pieces which mimic each other. So if you press the right button both go right. The issue and challenge is that if the two ninjas touch you lose so you have to work around getting to the end without touching the other ninja.

So I will say I like the idea of Ninja Twins. A semi fresh bit to a puzzle genre I am quite fond of. I also like the black and white panchromatic graphics. However I didn't like a few things... The big issue was the uneven pace. Not sure why but sometimes a move would go super quick..like a ninja, and other times your movement goes slow as a turtle... Very frustrating. If that one issue was fixed I think my rating may shoot up at least another point, yes it is that bad/frustrating. I also felt the level designs weren't planned out that very well but could be a personal opinion. Overall, Ninja Twins was an interesting game that just played too slowly.

Read More

Kingdom Rush Frontiers New Heroes

So with the new Kingdom Rush Frontiers ,aka Kingdom Rush 2 for those who don't know the real title, coming out very soon Ironhide Studios has taken it upon themselves to do a series of teaser trailers showing the new heroes for Kingdom Rush Frontiers. Thus I took it upon myself to share them with you along with some observations.

The first hero announced is Alric, a champion of Hammerhold. Alric seems to control sand as he can summon sand monsters from the ground to attack your enemies which move in damaging tornadoes. Also in the teaser Kingdom Rush Frontiers video it seems there is a friendly Genie in the desert styled levels to help you.

Next is Cronan a beast master from the untamed wild and King of the Jungle. He fights with a whip doing presumably more damage to beast enemies. His powers include rhinoceros stampedes, summoning fighting boars as well as falcons.

 

Up next is Mirage, a deadly assassin who utilizes shadow clones. Her powers include creating her shadow clones as well as being able to teleport back and forth places and hiding in plain sight from enemies.

Finally the last Kingdom Rush Frontiers hero to be announced (more are to come) is Captain Blackthorne, an obviously scary pirate who sails the seven seas. In true pirate fashion it seems Captain Blackthorne gets extra coins when defeating enemies. He also utilizes explosives, his sword and pistol. He can also create huge pools of water to slow down enemies and release the Kraken!

So there you go. The teaser trailers for all the released new Kingdom Rush Frontiers heroes. Be sure to watch the videos as you may catch things that I missed. I'll also be updating this post for all the new Kingdom Rush Frontiers heroes to be announced. 

Read More

... :D Flash Game Review

Link: ... :D
Developed by Lorgh
For Ludum Dare #26 - Theme: Minimalism
Genre: Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 7/10

Haven't done a review on a Ludum Dare game in a while due to the initial influx dying down. Nonetheless I have one for today! ... :D is a rather...pretentious or annoying title for Lorgh's entry but don't let the un-googleable title discourage you, it is a rather nice and simple puzzle skill game.

The best way to describe ... :D is to compare the style to that of The World's Hardest Game (yes I'm going to go that far back) where you basically control a dot in a closed level avoiding other dots and collecting things. ... :D is the same but in a more pixelated minimalistic theme. Also the game focuses more on hitting colored switches in the right order to get to the endings rather than just simply avoiding bad guys and collecting coins.

... :D is a Ludum Dare game and entry so can't really expect too much out of it I suppose. Although I will say that the general idea for ... :D has been done time and time again so no real points for originality on my front. I do like the simplified and retro graphics and overall I suppose ... :D was fairly enjoyable for a bit.

Read More

Hired Heroes Offense Flash Game Review

Link: Hired Heroes Offense
Developed by Elite Games
Sponsored by Kongregate
Genre: Strategy
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 6/10

It seems the Hired Heroes are back in town again although this time with a slight gameplay change. Whereas the "original" Hired Heroes was technically called Hired Heroes Tactics where it played like a turn by turn tactical RPG, Hired Heroes Offense plays as a top down linear send units to attack the other side (for lack of a succinct term) strategy flash game.

Now this style of strategy games has done well with crowds, for instance Paladog is of this style. However, I found Hired Heroes Offense to be fairly boring and not a good example of the genre. To play you basically have units on your inventory and can place them on certain spots every certain amount of seconds to combat your enemy doing the same thing and eventually destroy their crystal. Again this concept is fine. But the way Hired Heroes Offense does this just makes the pace ridiculous slow and the difficulty curve upfront seems abnormally difficult.

I suppose I do like the continuity between Hired Heroes Offense and Hired Heroes Tactics although in general I still think the graphics are far too zoomed out and therefore lack better detail. There is an upgrade system in Hired Heroes Offense which is fairly good where you can upgrade stats as well as individual unit types. Overall though I found Hired Heroes Offense to be a slow and repetitive flash game with no feeling of reward.

Read More

N v 2 Flash Game Spotlight

Link: N v 2
Developed by Metanet Software
Official Web Version sponsored by Kongregate
Genre: Platformer

N v 2 as you may be able to figure out is essentially N version 2.0. Yes, a 2.0 of the famous N put out as a downloadable game back in 2005. People praised it then and are still praising it.

To be honest I never played the original N when it came out and still really haven't played it all that much. This could be because when I did try and play it I found the controls to be god awful in terms of tightness. People compare N to other hardcore platformers like Super Meat Boy and such but I feel N falls way behind those and even new smaller flash titles like Mini Dash. I will give it to N though it has tons of levels and the level designs are very interesting...just the control issue is too great for me.

Anyways, now that version 2.0 is up and you can now play it sans download over at Kongregate, what is new? Unfortunately...not much. The only real change is the addition of a co-op mode where you can have two players play on the same keyboard and play through all the same levels from the original N. Yea...not even online multiplayer or LAN...same keyboard co-op which has its own host of problems. But I guess this is still big news as after over 8 years N gets updated to N v 2 and you can play it online, so have fun!

Read More

Feed Us 5 Flash Game Review

Link: Feed Us 5
Developed by WebCypher
Sponsored by Gamesfree.ca
Genre: Action/Upgrades
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8/10

It seems I review a Feed Us iteration flash game every month...although I suppose the last one, Feed Us 4, was put out in December so not that often. Either way Feed Us 5 is already here for more bloody piranha action.

Looking back on it I feel I was kind of too lenient for Feed Us 4 as it offered nothing new at all and was fairly riddled with glitches. It did bring targeted attacks and had sort of an interactive cut scene. Well, Feed Us 5 takes that idea and makes it way bigger which is surprisingly well done and feels like an actual new edition to the series. In Feed Us 5 you start out in an aquarium and tasked to escape, this then gives you access to various areas in the game such as the aquarium itself, the lake, the beach and a water park.

Missions are back pretty much the same way as before in Feed Us 5. However, with all the different areas that are available to you the missions are more varied and require more effort than before. Another big change in Feed Us 5 is within the upgrade system. Before you could purchase "seedlings" which were just more piranhas but now you can choose between those piranhas, torpedo fish and puffer fish which have differing effects. Overall, Feed Us 5 finally takes the great but bloody model the original Feed Us had and expands upon it properly.

Read More

Check Out Super Indie Pals Podcast Spotlight

If you follow some prominent flash game developers on Twitter or Facebook you may have seen talk of a new "super group" podcast called Super Indie Pals featuring indie flash game developers: Chris Jeff, ArtJimp and Jay Armstrong. If you don't know who those are...well I bet you actually do. Chris Jeff is the mind behind the Space is Key series and PlatCore, ArtJimp is most famous for the artwork behind the Sushi Cat series as well as having his unique graphical mark on series from the latest This Is The Only Level to the new Crush the Castle Adventures (still in beta I think?), and finally Jay Armstrong is the guy behind Bearbarians and Super Adventure Pals.

So yeah, three game developers who have made some of my favorite flash games and some of the internet's favorite flash games. The Super Indie Pals podcast has only had two episodes so far with the first focusing on the introduction as well as an interview with the founder of Armor Games. The second episode discusses a post mortem of ArtJimp and Jay Armstrong's new game, Rocket Pets and an interview with Joey Betz (of Crush the Castle fame). So yeah, really just wanted to spotlight this amazing podcast with some great developers! Check out Super Indie Pals.

Read More