Bubble Struggle 3 Flash Game Review

Link: Bubble Struggle 3
Developed by KresoGames
Genre: Action
FlashMush Reviews rating: 6/10

Ready for some bubble splitting action? Well, Bubble Struggle 3 is here to curb that craving. As you can tell with the '3', this is the third installment of this popular flash game franchise.

The game mechanics behind Bubble Struggle 3 is actually the best part of the game and is fairly simple. You have bouncing bubbles around the screen and you stand under them and shoot your ninja rope to split it. They split into smaller and smaller bubbles until they disappear. Of course as you keep going there are powerups which help you in your bubble struggle quest and other environmental factors.

So while I do like the idea behind everything, I felt the execution was unfortunately sub par. The graphics weren't terrible, a little outdated but not too bad. However, I feel it would have been better to shoot shurikens or ninja stars rather than a rope to split the bubbles. I guess the idea is the whole rope length could split the bubble but it just made the lag time unbearable and kind of frustrating. Also the bubbles should bounce a tad higher as the smallest bubbles barely bounce the height of the character. All these things are minor cosmetic changes. The biggest flaw to me was the time limit. A time limit is ok but in the case of  Bubble Struggle 3  it was way too short which led to extreme frustration. Overall though Bubble Struggle 3 has a decent idea behind it, just needs some work on the execution.

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MobileMush Monday: Drop7 App Review

For Apple: Drop7 Download
For Android: Drop7 Download
Cost: 2.99$ on Android and Apple but Apple does have a Drop7 FREE version
Developed by Area/Code Entertainment
Genre: Puzzle/Mobile
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8.5/10

Today's MobileMush Monday features an extremely addicting and popular game that a lot of you may already have downloaded on your phones, but if not, I hope I convince you otherwise as Drop7 is extremely addictive.

The premise of Drop7 is a fairly simple puzzle concept. There is a 7x7 grid, with various disks in place. The disks either have numbers on them from 1 to 7 or are completely grayed out or are gray with a dotted line around them. The goal is to of course clear as many of these disks as possible without losing. You lose when the grid fills up with disks. You clear disks by having the number of disks equal to the number on the disk. For instance if you have a row of four disks which could have various numbers on them but the disk on one of the ends has the number four on it then the four clears. When it clears if it is next to a grayed out disk it "breaks" and turns into a gray disk with the dotted line. If it is next to a gray disk with a dotted line it turns into a random number. The game sounds really confusing and overwhelming at first but it really isn't and in no time you are zooming through like a professional Drop7 player.

Drop7 has a few modes such as casual, hardcore and sequence as well as high score boards and such to keep you busy and allowing you to brag to your friends.

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Turtle Trigger Flash Game Review

Link: Turtle Trigger
Programming by Iggy Zuk
Sponsored by Armor Games
Genre: Distance/Shooter
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8/10

Now isn't this something. The infamous Toss the Turtle distance game is seemingly back with a sequel, Turtle Trigger!? What could be better than this!?

I will say a disclaimer though, Turtle Trigger, while a distance game, is of a different caliber than Toss the Turtle. I only compare as its the same developer/artist as Toss the Turtle (and Goin Up). So just based on that tidbit of information you know this is going to be an awesome game with great graphics. And it is. The idea behind Turtle Trigger is combine a distance game with shooting. Lots and lots of shooting, and therefore lots and lots of cartoon violence. The idea is typical Toss the Turtle and Goin Up fashion. Ridiculous enemies, ridiculous actions and in Turtle Triggers' case, ridiculous amounts of gore.

You start out with just a pistol and you shoot as many enemies as you can. Eventually you die and then you are given the opportunity to buy better weapons such as a shotgun, rocket launcher, uzi and Gauss rifle. You can also buy extra armor and a jetpack to help last longer. This is where I'm honestly kind of disappointed, or tired of in this ideology that all three of these games employ. There are not that many upgrades and those that are there are ridiculously overpriced. This means tons of level grinding with just the worst weapon and it gets really boring really fast. Of course I say this and yet I always end up playing their games for hours and hours till I unlock everything anyway... Either way I would have expected more in the upgrade department. Also a few minor things were missed that really made it seem like a rush job. No health bar, no distance markers, extra levels only for the Ipod/Ipad version, etc. Minor things that add up to me. Overall though, Turtle Trigger was still a fun game albeit all the upgrade grinding that comes along with it.

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Super Villainy Flash Game Review

Link: Super Villainy
Developed by The Brothers Donkn
Sponsored by Armor Games
Genre: Shooter/Upgrades
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8.5/10

So world domination gets dull after a while doesn't it? So what is there to do to cure the boredom? Super villain battle royal is what! Sort of like the Hunger Games for super villains.

I came into playing Super Villainy really not knowing what to expect. Luckily what I found myself playing was a great game. At the core Super Villainy is a shooter game. You play as a super villain whose goal is to defeat all the other super villains. So you play wave after wave of various objectives. Mainly either lasting a certain amount of time against the onslaught of enemies or having to defeat a certain amount of enemies (or of course defeating the final super villain bosses). So you fly around shooting your beams. As you earn money you can buy upgrades to upgrade your weapon, defense, etc. as well as buy little minions that fly with you to help you out in various ways.

Overall the game is really polished and the way it is presented is really cool. You essentially have to defeat four different bosses which each have their own types of enemies or minions that they use as well as different backgrounds. I just really liked that touch put into the gameplay. However, although it is well done and well presented it does lack some things. Mainly content. It is a very short game. You play around three levels before you fight each boss and they have the same objectives... There was one level that required you to defeat turrets, but only that one level. More variety in missions would have been awesome as well as just more levels in general. The upgrade system was pretty spot on and the addition of minions was cool, maybe being able to upgrade each individual minion would have added a little more replay value but not completely necessary.

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Jumping Box 2 Flash Game Review

Link: Jumping Box 2
Developed by Gamezhero.com
Genre: Action/Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 6.5/10

Jumping Box 2 is back with more box jumping action! What's not to love about a nice relaxing puzzle game with jumping boxes?

While I did classify Jumping Box 2 as an action puzzle...honestly the tag puzzle is really loosely defined. There is 35 levels in total and honestly the puzzle aspect was next to none. I had no problem the entire game with any of the "puzzle" aspects and instead just breezed right on through. For total confirmation of this watch the Jumping Box 2 walkthrough I did posted below. Part of the reason the puzzle aspects were so low is level design. The level designs just were not challenging. The other part is sort of the double air jump glitch. If you could do it you can avoid many a pitfall just by double jumping, thereby eliminating 90% of the challenge in some levels.

However, I will say I like the idea behind Jumping Box 2. The game mechanics also play nicely and while it is a simple concept (just using the mouse to click, drag and jump) not many games have this style and that makes it an unlikely unique idea. Also the graphics are a huge step up from the original Jumping Box and it pairs well with the music here.

FlashMush Reviews brings you a video walkthrough of Jumping Box 2:

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Swindler Flash Game Review

Link: Swindler
Developed by Nitrome
Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 9/10

Nitrome is back with another game (man do they pump them out) and as usual it is crazy! Never before have I seen a game with the mechanics like Swindler utilizes. As always Nitrome pushes the flash game industry boundaries!

The idea behind Swindler is way cool. Basically you play as a walking ball of slime who is on a jewel heist, so like any slime ball you attach yourself to the wall and sling yourself down! As you go down on your "rope" it is of course susceptible to all sorts of danger that you need to be aware of. The mechanics part of this is really cool as you til the stage around essentially slinging yourself this way and that. Typing it now it sounds really dumb or I just can't explain it, so you really have to give it a try for yourself.

The other really awesome part about Swindler other than the boundary pushing gameplay ideas is the amount of polish. I know I through this term around kind of loosely it seems but Swindler takes it to a new level. Not only are the graphics, as usual, great Nitrome quality but the game plays out like a movie. The way the main character interacts with other elements really takes the idea of polish and makes it so much better. Nitrome really made a great game that pushes the idea of flash games to the next level.

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Jelly Escape Flash Game Review

Link: Jelly Escape
Developed by Taw Studio
Sponsored by Armor Games
Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
FlashMush Rating: 9/10

The up and coming Indie game developer studio Taw Studio Entertainment is back again with a new game; Jelly Escape. You may recognize the name as the developers of the great game Mr. Bree Returning Home which I rated a high 9.5/10.

Well, they are back with another excellent and well polished game. It seems to be their thing honestly. Jelly Escape, while it may just look like your every day puzzle platformer, is way more than just that. First off the amount of levels is pretty staggering in my opinion. You have 60 "normal" levels of ranging difficulties as well as ten more hardcore stages and then ten more if you like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter (honestly a great marketing strategy). And these levels aren't your mamas levels. These are immense levels with multiple parts to it and many different elements thrown in. I will say though, at times I felt that the goal was to be one of those "hardcore" games like Super Meat Boy or Spikes Tend to Kill You however overall I found all the levels to be very logical in terms of getting the bonuses (three per level) and completing them with minor deaths. So while I guess that means I found it easy, does not mean I found it any less enjoyable and the shear amount of levels with great and innovative level design sure kept me busy.

I mentioned bonuses earlier. Like most games there is a secondary goal to collect "power". Three per level and as you collect them the screen gets brighter. In hindsight I think it would be cool to have some levels completely dark aside from a small window and have you collect these power upgrades in order to see the obstacles. Also in Jelly Escape that is really neat is unlockable skins. These are really cool as they give homages to great games like Mr. Bree Returning Home, VVVVVV, and Kingdom Rush. Just shows how much thought on extra features was put into Jelly Escape. All in all the amount of work and thought put into Jelly Escape really shines through and while the levels aren't all that hard, there are tons of them and its a great puzzle platformer game if I've ever seen one!

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Necrorun 2.0 Flash Game Review

Link: Necrorun 2.0
Developed by LetheGames
Genre: Action/Upgrade/Distance
FlashMush Rating: 9.5/10

If there is one lesson you should know it is to never challenge death and try and become immortal. What will happen you ask? Well, Death itself will come upon your village on a horse striking your trees and birds is what! Of course that is only what Necrorun 2.0 has taught me but it seems pretty accurate.

I find the concept of Necrorun 2.0 extremely unique. It takes the simple concept of a runner or distance game; you know the type, just run in a line jumping over pitfalls and enemies. And combines it with levels, upgrades, and a simple addicting action. The action is of course just clicking the mouse to kill anything that is living, if you don't kill it they defy you, Death, and you lose. Of course by killing these things you get combos and bonuses so it's in your best interest. The upgrades are awesome as well, they give you new attacks and powers (such as turning your death horse into a death dragon).

What makes Necrorun 2.0 so addicting is the inherent addictive runner/distance type gameplay but then has upgrades to keep you coming back, a macabre subject matter and the other action (killing things while running) adds another element most runner games do not have. Overall, Necrorun 2.0 is a great game that deserves a lot of attention.

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Silly Sausage Flash Game Review

Link: Silly Sausage
Developed by Nitrome
Genre: Puzzle
FlashMush Reviews Rating: 8/10

Nitrome is back with another excellent, unique and crazy game! If there is one think you can count on Nitrome doing it is making great games that push the limits of your imagination. Silly Sausage does just this with its cooky main character who stretches as far as the eye can see.

The idea behind Silly Sausage is you play as a wiener dog who stretches himself. The goal is to get from the start to the finish but you have to dodge enemies of course. The challenge is that you stretch and that leaves you hugely vulnerable to attack. To circumvent this you have to sort of move from one place to another all the while dodging various enemies and pushing switches.

The puzzles themselves are not too hard as the real challenge and fun in the game is playing this new and unique idea of having a character sort of stretch around and have to move that way. I do have slight issues with the stretchy movement as if you miss a turn or something you essentially waste a lot of time in movement and can easily put you into a spike or something making you lose the game. Overall though Silly Sausage is very unique and its another score by Nitrome in my book.

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Nano Kingdoms Flash Game Review

Link: Nano Kingdoms
Developed by Trutruka
Sponsored by Kongregate
Genre: Strategy/Defense
FlashMush Rating: 9.5/10

It's been a long time since I've seen a game with this much polish and this much work and this much strategy come into the flash game universe. Nano Kingdoms reminds me of Kingdom Rush in so many ways. Theme, graphics, polish, all of it.

Of course this is perhaps one of the best compliments I could give as I scored Kingdom Rush perfectly and it has gone on to be hugely successful. I could easily see Nano Kingdoms doing the same. So what exactly is Nano Kingdoms? It's a typical defense strategy where you have a base/castle and you build units to send over the field to destroy your enemy's base/castle. However, of course more goes into it. You have to build farms, lumber yards, refineries, etc. to gather enough materials to build stronger and more diverse units and upgrade them. You can also use the materials to build other buildings and upgrade them as well. On top of this a cool feature is powers from the different heroes you can play as. In this aspect Nano Kingdoms really reminds me of the Advance Wars series from Nintendo where you have Commanding Officer powers. Each hero has two different ones and of course one is stronger than the other. It's interesting to find a hero you are good with and can strategize with or find one that will crush your opponent.

The amazing graphics and amount of polish in terms of the details put into Nano Kingdoms is astonishing and really a huge factor in terms of my score. From the war cries and pictures to the units themseleves to the storyline, I can tell a lot of hard work was put into Nano Kingdoms and it really shows. The only issue I have with Nano Kingdoms is the difficulty. It can be fairly hard and it takes a while to formulate a good strategy. On top of this levels can last a long time (for a flash game that is) which may bore some people. I also wish you could replay levels under harder conditions to maybe upgrade certain aspects of the game. Of course that suggestion adds a whole new dynamic that Trutruka is probably trying not to get into right now. Overall, Nano Kingdoms is a great game, one that I wouldn't be surprised becoming the next big hit.

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Talesworth Adventure: The Lost Artifacts Flash Game Review

Link: Talesworth Adventures: The Lost Artifacts
Developed by Sean Gailey
Sponsored by Kongregate
Genre: Puzzle
FlashMush Rating: 8/10

Talesworth is back this time to find some lost artifacts, thus is the theme of the aptly named flash game; Talesworth Adventures: The Lost Artifacts. If you do not know the Talesworth Adventures series you are in for a treat.

The idea behind the Talesworth Adventures series is a puzzle style that I feel used to be featured all over the place at one point in time, sort of how physic catapult games or remover style puzzle games are all over the place nowadays. Anyway, the style is where the main character walks in a linear line, however there are pitfalls or enemies around so you have to make him take certain routes or pick up keys/weapons to advance. To do this you can place money bags to lure the character into a direction of your choosing or make one way doors to push him where you want. It sounds confusing as I write it out but the tutorial does an excellent job preparing you for the real game and the ideas behind it all.

So what is new in Talesworth Adventures: The Lost Artifacts? Honestly not much. The puzzles are of the same caliber and function more so as a level expansion pack. Of course this is fine as the puzzles are of top notch caliber and really get you to think. There is a nice bit of polish that went into The Lost Artifacts and I really like the graphical style utilized combined with the comical theme going on. Overall Talesworth Adventures: The Lost Artifacts is more of what you know and love from the Talesworth Adventures series and you won't be disappointed.

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Turbo Kids Flash Game Review

Link: Turbo Kids
Developed by YailenkoGames
Sponsored by Mad.com
Genre: Racing/Upgrades/Distance
FlashMush Rating: 8.5/10

Who wants to win 1,000,000 dollars!? I know I do. Well in Turbo Kids all it takes is for you to beat both literally and in racing 12 other kids in a race to the finish!

Turbo Kids is a racing game although it is way different that most games I have tagged as racing games. It does not feature any cars or other forms of transportation, just kids running and jumping! It actually reminds me of this small multiplayer game I saw on Kongregate a long time ago where you played as black blobs and just ran and jumped, too bad I forget the title. Anyway, this is the premise of Turbo Kids. Of course as you progress to more challenging courses, more dangers appear and you can upgrade yourself. There are boosts placed on the field as well as jump pads. To help you win you can throw snowballs at your opponents to freeze them and hopefully knock them into the abyss. You can also drop traps to slow people down and shoot rockets which switches you with the person you hit.

Fast paced is an understatement here and you will find yourself zooming so fast you don't even know how to react. I do wish that more freedom was given to the upgrade system. Right now you can upgrade essentially the amount of snowballs you have (which is good) and the power and speed of the various powerups. However, I think it would have been cool to just have a base acceleration or top speed stat you could upgrade sort of like a regular car racing game. Just in general more depth than what is offered. Overall though Turbo Kids is very fun and well worth the play through.

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Dash'n Knights Flash Game Review

Link: Dash'n Knights
Developed by Tempa Labs
Sponsored by GamesFree.com
Genre: Strategy/RPG
FlashMush Rating: 7/10

Ready for something brand new? Well...brand new in my sense, as I've never seen a concept like this executed the way Dash'n Knights does.

What am I rambling on about? Well, essentially the game mechanics of Dash'n Knights. The "Dash'n" part should give a clue. Essentially you sort of "launch" your characters at your enemies. If you hit them you then have a gauge where you try and stop the bar at the max level to give the maximum push. This then shoots off your enemy and you bouncing around the level like a pinball game. Sounds fun already doesn't it? It gets better. This is an RPG! Which means there is a decent story line, lots of levels/replay value, a large upgrade tree, etc. All in all Dash'n Knights has a lot of features and looks great doing it.

So why only a 7/10 from FlashMush Reviews? Well... basically I think Dash'n Knights has loads of potential...it just didn't reach there for now as a few large issues come up when I play. First off the menu screens; some look amazing yet some are just black text on white screens...weird mix of awesome graphics/polish and "my-first-game". Also in the aesthetics department, some of the sprites in game look a bit wonky when they move. Aside from aesthetics the gameplay department also is lacking. It is weird that if you accidentally hit your teammates you HAVE to attack them (in terms of the push bar comes up), also the collision detection seems a bit off and can annoyingly bounce you places you weren't expecting. I also think that Dash'n Knights missed huge opportunities to in the shop/upgrade department, especially for being an RPG. The upgrade tree has a lot of upgrades but most are honestly pretty useless. Also, you can carry items/better weapons but they aren't permanent. They only last a few turns and you can't even buy them at the shop. In fact you can only buy various potions at the shop... Much rather would be able to fully customize each hero in permanent garb that then reflects on their appearance in game.

So while I do think Dash'n Knights is one of the most unique concepts I've played in a long time and looks amazing and has loads and loads of potential....it lacks a lot of basic features that once fixed would easily put this game on the top of my list.

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Lazer Cutter Flash Game Review

Link: Lazer Cutter
Developed by i03 Creations
Sponsored by MadFatCat
Genre: Action
FlashMush Rating: 7/10

If there is one thing science fiction has told us it is that lazers are awesome! They can cut through anything, blow up stuff, etc. So much power in a colorful little beam of light. So it's pretty fun to be able to play with lazers in Lazer Cutter a game were you use a lazer to uh....cut stuff!

The idea is simple in theory. You have a square block placed in front of you with a red outline of a shape. The goal is to use the lazer to cut away all the black and leave the red outline. To do this you have the lazer which you can move using the WASD keys as well as increase the power to cut away either big chunks or be more precise. You then get "graded" on how much black space you got rid of, minus how much you didn't get rid of and how much of the red outline you accidentally took away.

I really like the premise here and think it is fairly unique and has loads of potential. However, the biggest problem here is judging your cuts. The block that you are cutting is very small, so small it is hard to really see anything and then there is just a load of white/blank space around which could have been further utilized. I just feel that a bigger block to cut away would make the game easier in the sense that it'd be more fun to play rather than squinting to see what you're doing. Overall though Lazer Cutter is an interesting concept that I did have fun playing.

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Spring Marbles Flash Game Review

Link: Spring Marbles
Developed by rincom9
Sponsored by Kongregate
Genre: Puzzle/Relaxation
FlashMush Rating: 6.5/10

If you're like me then final exams and projects are coming closer and closer in University and the stress is killing you! At least its killing me. So any time I can get to just relax is great. Luckily I found Spring Marbles today and it is a very relaxing game.

The premise behind Spring Marbles is a slight gameplay twist on a typical puzzle genre. Basically you are given a shape of some sort comprised of many marbles and then you have other smaller shapes you need to get out of this big shape. Only one solution to each and you need to find the perfect shapes! So like I said, this has been done before but for a simple puzzle game like this, what do you expect?

So I did say this game was very relaxing. What I mean by this is while it does take a little bit of thought, the majority of the game you really don't. You may get the puzzles wrong a few times but it doesn't stress you out when you lose and you can just undo those turns and try again. Also the music and sound effects are really soothing and help in the whole relaxation mood. Overall, Spring Marbles, while not the most taxing game, is just find for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

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Awesome Planes Flash Game Review

Link: Awesome Planes
Developed by EmitterCritter
Art by Jurij Krivonos
Sponsored by Big Dino
Genre: Shooter/Upgrades
FlashMush Rating: 7/10

You've played Awesome Tanks, now is the time for Awesome Planes and boy is it awesome! Flying around, shooting lasers, blowing up buildings. What could be better than that?

Awesome Planes is exactly what the name suggests. You fly a plane...and it's pretty awesome. Each level you have to blow up your enemies and any turrets or other buildings present. To do this you have a few weapons at your disposal such as a machine gun and lasers. You can of course upgrade these as well as health and your boost but only minimally. Once you beat all the levels (will not take long) there is a survival mode which does allow for some sense of replay value.

While I do really like the look and idea of Awesome Planes I can't help but feel elements are missing. For one the game on story mode is super short. I finished all the levels in less than 15 minutes. Maybe less than 10. The upgrade system is also lacking depth which is fine I guess for how short the game is but if one was to make the game longer I would want a more in depth and customizable upgrade system. Another thing that bugs me is the controls. It's all mouse controlled which I find hard to control. WASD option would be greatly appreciated. Overall though Awesome Planes has the general addictive quality down, just needs to work on capturing people's attentions for longer.

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iRemained Flash Game Review

Link: iRemained
Developed by UltraRhea
Sponsored by Playgmz
Genre: Shooter/Defense/Upgrades/Zombie
FlashMush Rating: 7.5/10

Does this lower case "i" business mean anything to you? Other than every Apple product ever constructed? It should as iRemained is an unlikely sequel to iR obot.

I saw unlikely as the genres of iR obot and iRemained are totally different. iR obot was a tower defense game whereas iR obot is a shooter defense game, however they are sequels as it is a continuation of the storyline. I really like this move honestly as it shows story depth in general and just expands a universe in a flash game setting, something I find very cool. A backdrop to the story would be this; in iR obot a group of robots banded together to stop the zombie robots, but obviously failed. In iRemained it tells the story of a lone survivor travelling the country side trying to work on a cure.

This is also a really cool feature for iRemained. You are not doing the typical wall shooter defense in one spot but rather travelling around or even fighting off waves of enemies as you are driving down the road. This means frequent background changes which is a nice welcome. iRemained also features a robust upgrade system with different primary weapons and defense traps. I will say though there is some slight problems with balance. Upgrade system wise I found myself just maxing out the first gun and literally not touching anything else. Yet I still won so easily. So easy in fact after the first few levels I just had to hold my mouse button down. You may be thinking to yourself that of course it's easy you were playing on casual. Yes, I was. So I tried the next difficulty and experienced another problem with balance. The jump from casual to hard is immense and the only way to try to beat hard or impossible levels is to play the majority of the game on casual and then come back to previous levels to play on hard but with no incentive to replay levels it is fruitless.

Overall I do like the idea behind iRemained in terms of story and self-universe wise and the gameplay mechanics are there with an obvious amount of polish. But it just lacks some basic balance that inhibits it from reaching its true potential.

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OokiCookie Flash Game Review

Link: OokiCookie
Developed by DiscoFish.ru
Sponsored by PlayTerritory
Genre: Action/Puzzle
FlashMush Rating: 8.5/10

Remember that old '90s fad where you would make your little brother or mom play this maze game where you move your mouse to the end without touching the walls. And then after a while you have this really hard one and they spend so much time trying to do it and when they finally do, BAM! A scary witch face appears? Of course you remember that. Well, OokiCookie is exactly like that...but minus the scary witch face and instead cookies! Cookies everywhere!

However, this wall "avoider" type gameplay is what OokiCookie is about except many more levels! And with a cute cookie cartoon theme. In fact, let me focus on this part for a bit. The cartoon graphics (as you can see in the screenshot below) is easily what makes this game a hit. It just screams "fun" and professionally made honestly. Just look at that polish! The cookie is so cute, the bushes are so cute, the monster is so cute. Everything is just so darn cute!!! Cuteness overload.

In terms of gameplay...well. Can't really blame OokiCookie for not having much in terms of gameplay as inherently an avoider game has very little gameplay. However, OokiCookie did manage to bring a lot of new features to this infant flash game genre and really set the first bar in terms of this sub-genre of puzzle games and set it very high.

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Romeo GOGO Flash Game Review

Link: Romeo GOGO
Programming by Rocanten
Artwork by FlashChaz
Sponsored by BubbleBox
Genre: Puzzle/Physics/Action
FlashMush Rating: 7.5/10

O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? If you've taken any English courses you should know this famous Shakespeare play, it's Romeo and Juliet of course! Romeo GOGO is this infamous love story but in a flash physics puzzle game style! Yay!

The idea is simple. Get Romeo to Juliet in whatever way possible. You have various tools at your disposal such as bubbles, lightning and weights. To circumvent you there are many obstacles; walls, soldiers, other suitors, etc. However, you must prevail and get to your love! You know the drill after this. Can use bubbles to push things or create a floating platform, use the weights to take out the guards, the lightning to light things, etc. Fairly simple.

One feature in Romeo GOGO that I both liked but also found incredibly odd is the openness. You can tell that there is a certain path or method you should take to win the level and most times you take this expected route. But with the openness (and lack of any penalty for using your tools excessively) you can easily make short cuts. So I found this interesting as I like freedom, but felt like I was cheating and breaking the game when I knew I was doing something based off of a slight glitch. The only other problem I had with Romeo GOGO is the pace of Romeo...he is so slow. Wish he would move faster or had a speed up button. Other than that though Romeo GOGO is great. Nice variety in puzzles and level designs, great graphics and polish, etc.

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Achievement Unlocked 3 Flash Game Review

Link: Achievement Unlocked 3
Developed by Jmtb02
Art by Jimp
Sponsored by Armor Games
Genre: Action
FlashMush Rating: 9.5/10

Love gathering achievements? Who doesn't these days? I for one love them and that's why I'm estactic that one of my favorite achievement gathering series; Achievement Unlocked is back for the 3rd edition; Achievement Unlocked 3!

If you know this series and if you play flash games even a little bit I'm sure it has come across your plate then you know what the series is all about. It's also in the title. Achievements! You get achievements for anything. Starting the game? Achievement. Walking two feet? Achievement. You get the idea. These games are also characterized by the infamous cute elephant character and Jimp's great cartoony and colorful style of art.

You may be wondering then if that is all this game is about, gathering achievements. Then what is new in Achievement Unlocked 3? Simple. More achievements! Actually double the amount! 400 to be exact. That is a lot of achievements, better get to it! On top of this the new Achievement Unlocked adds an interesting "story". I use story in quotations as it's really just a minor plot device to keep you motivated and going while rewarding you with more areas to increase your achievement gathering. Of course the menus and other minor statistical features have all been "upgraded" as well allowing for a more sleeker and new interface. I will say right now, if you are busy with finals coming up or any other form of work, I warn you, Achievement Unlocked 3 is addictive. You will, guaranteed, waste spend hours of your life going for that last tile to press or that last spike to impale yourself on to get that last achievement.

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Amigo Pancho 2: New York City Party Flash Game Review

Link: Amigo Pancho 2: New York Party
Developed by Conmer Game Studios
Sponsored by agame.com
Genre: Puzzle/Physics
FlashMush Rating: 8.5/10

Amigo Pancho is back! And this time he wants to party it up in the big apple! All the fun antics you knew in the first Amigo Pancho come back with Amigo Pancho 2: New York Party.

If, by chance, you do not know the Amigo Pancho series I'll explain. It's a unique physics puzzle idea where you have a guy (Amigo Pancho) who is floating upwards with balloons, however spiky cacti and other sharp or dangerous objects stand in his way and if he pops he falls to his death. To clear the path you use typical physic puzzle factors like fans, ramps, and clicking to remove things. So what is different in Amigo Pancho 2: New York Party? Well not much in terms of actual gameplay has changed. Just of course different levels. This is fine with me as you can't really change up this formula all too much and the idea is unique enough on its own to hold its weight. I will say this sequel added a lot more polish in terms of graphics and everything else. It really shines through.

I guess I would really say Amigo Pancho 2: New York Party is just a level pack expansion of the original Amigo Pancho in terms of new content but I'm not holding that against Conmer Game Studios as this game is loads of fun and I love the Amigo Pancho series as it introduces fresh ideas for all the other developers to copy in the months to come.

FlashMush Reviews presents a video walkthrough of Amigo Pancho 2: New York City Party levels 1-12 with 3 stars:




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Firefight Flash Game Review

Link: Firefight
Developed by Torrunt
Sponsored by ShootingGamesFree.org
Genre: Shooter/Defense/Upgrades
FlashMush Rating: 8.5/10

I will start off by saying that Firefight is perhaps one of the most visually appealing top down arena shooter games I've ever played. The map literally looks like a watercolor piece of art that could be in a museum. The units themselves aren't too shabby themselves either.

Graphics aside, Firefight is a very ambitious flash game to me as it takes the route of a top down arena shooter but with defense aspects and throws in a hint of realism in there. Realism is a vague term however and really I mean pretty damn hard. At least at first. When you first start of Firefight you know essentially what you are getting yourself into. Shooter game, gain XP, upgrade yourself and shoot more. And that is in a nutshell what Firefight is. But then as you play more and more you realize that the game is actually quite hard but you still love it. Hard in the sense of upgrades take a lot of XP and it takes a while to gather that XP. Hard in the sense that enemies are constantly swarming you instead of in waves. Hard in the fact that your gun as limited ammo. I did find, however, that once you get past a certain amount of "hell" the game does get easier. For example once you buy health packs you can heal yourself every time a supply drop comes in (which also replenishes all your ammo), this supply drop also allows for you to build sentry turrets if the one you bought got destroyed. This fact then turns the tide from "constantly-being-swarmed" to a wave style arena shooter and it's more manageable.

Other than that first bit of difficulty the game really runs smoothly. There is a bit of lag but that is to be expected and there are bits of the map which slow you down or act as walls that just take some time to get used to. But overall, Firefight is a flash game shooter that really has the amount of polish and features that it takes to make it in the ever intense competition of flash games.

~FlashMush Reviews ZBPBNWQX92ZC

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Maze-a-Pix Light Vol. 1 Flash Game Review

Link: Maze-a-Pix Light Vol. 1
Developed by Conceptis
Genre: Puzzle
FlashMush Rating: 7.5/10

Conceptis is back with another innovative puzzle game! They come out with a lot of different ones but the last one I reviewed was Color Link-a-Pix Light Vol. 1 which was where I was introduced to these puzzling geniuses at Conceptis. Maze-a-Pix Light Vol. 1 is no different. Just when I thought Conceptis could not find a new concept for puzzles he took a simple concept and turned it into one that I never would have thought of!

As the name implies the puzzle aspect of Maze-a-Pix Light Vol. 1 is well...mazes. You have a maze and you complete the maze. When correct it shows a picture that you were working on all along. In Light Vol. 1 it features mazes of varying difficulty which span black and white, colored and inverted mazes. I will say though that while using mazes in a puzzle setting is interesting it is one of the more boring ways to go about it that Conceptis has come up with. All the other ways involve actual thinking and problem solving akin to Sudoku and nonograms. This is just mindless doing a maze. Yet while I say this I still completed every one of them...

My complaints for Maze-a-Pix Vol. 1 is similar to mine and everyone else complaints about every Conceptis games. No next button for new levels. A minor change that has been ignored for far too long. Also with this new maze concept, controlling it with the mouse was hard and frustrating. Switching to WASD movement would have been much better and intuitive to maze going. Overall though another solid puzzle experience by the master Conceptis.

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Infinite Monsters Flash Game Review

Link: Infinite Monsters
Developed by Rob Scherer
Sponsored by Helmet Games
Genre: Shooter/Upgrades
FlashMush Rating: 7.5/10

What happens when a nuclear explosion goes off? Why, a flying purple box which makes infinite monsters appear is what! At least, that's what happens in the universe of Infinite Monsters. But it makes sense to me.

Infinite Monsters is a typical game but while typical still is a lot of fun and typical in the sense of classic. Basically you have one job. Kill the flying purple box. However, you  have to take care of these endlessly spawning monsters while doing it and even worse your gun does very little damage to the flying purple box. What is there to do? Of course, this is where upgrades come into play. The upgrade system, while of course necessary, is unfortunately small and really makes the game fairly short and a one time through type of game. No replay value at all. Adding an endless mode or something of that sort would greatly increase playability.

The only real issues other than the one outlined above is a few control issues with Infinite Monsters. The jump key is odd for two reasons. You don't typically jump in a top down arena style shooter and two its based off of the control key which is just odd. Secondly, there is a bug when you pause it it freezes up and you can't unpause. I'm sure this issue will be fixed before this post goes live but just in case, I'm warning you. Overall, Infinite Monsters has a nice retro/arcade feel and is a fun game to play through once...just not anymore after that.

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Utopian Mining Flash Game Review

Link: Utopian Mining
Developed by Schulles
Genre: Action/Upgrades
FlashMush Rating: 8/10

Seems mining games are all the rage nowadays, but as a Geologist this is a trend I can get behind. Of course you should know what I'm talking about with the huge mining craze started by Minecraft (or Minicraft if you will) and that has spun off so many knock off games it's not even funny. Utopian Mining is not a Minecraft knockoff, it just has a mining focus.

The idea behind Utopian Mining is very simple. You are a mining robot whose job is to dig and dig and dig. The city you live in has been recently destroyed and inhabitants of the city have tasks for you. These tasks might be to gather a certain number of an ore such as coal or iron, or to give them a certain amount of money which then you need to mine ores and sell them. Of course in typical new age flash game fashion you have upgrades which allow you to dig faster, dig through rocks, dig deeper, hold more ores, etc. You also have to be wary of your battery power and health. Dig too long and your battery depletes, dig too deep and your health goes down. Of course you can repair these.

These tasks you do in Utopian Mining are fun and all...to me at least. I could see that a lot of people may not want to just dig around for the whole game. It is because of this that I think that Utopian Mining could have been much bigger. Now it is great as is, albeit pretty short and once you beat it you have no reason to continue. However, I think if there ever is an Utopian Mining 2 or some sort of sequel, more ores should be added, perhaps underground enemies, and a small version of crafting a la Minecraft. Dig these ores, smelt them into your upgrades or something. Anything really to increase the depth and replay value. Overall though I had a great time with Utopian Mining albeit I wish that enjoyment lasted longer.

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