Flash game review – Awesome Tanks

AWESOME TANKS was a game made by the guy who made AWESOME PLANES.

I like tanks so I thought I should check it out. Now, just like most flash games it is more about time-killing fun than telling a story. Then again, the simplicity of flash games usually go with that.

Game play – 9/10

I don’t think I had any major gripe with the game. A top down shooter, it has a familiar structure to Awesome Planes; there are 15 levels in the single player game, and after you finish you unlock a new game play mode, which in this case is a level editor:

Say hello to the map editor: HELLO!

I like the map editor because it is very easy to get the hang of and endless fun could be had. Although I have the feeling that it could have worked better with a survival mode in an arena or something. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see a map editing option in something as simple as a flash game.

Now of course there has to be an upgrades menu. It was a bit difficult (or I am just crap at the game) at first to collect enough money for weapons so it has a nice learning curve. The key is to never stop moving and be tactical about it, it is not a run and gun game. Health power ups are not so common, but you can upgrade things like armour, movement speed and turret speed.

One of my favourite weapons was the rocket because you could control its course with the mouse. That means that you can carry out tactical strikes or hit a tank or turret that is around the corner.

Lasers! PEW PEW!

There is a laser in the game, and yes it is powerful. I was afraid that it was going to be an overpowered weapon and I admit, it can take out tanks and some turrets quickly. But there are also boss tanks in the game, some of which aren’t affected much by it. Also, all the weapons except the minigun (which you start with), have limited ammo. You can refill them by buying more at the end of the level or through power ups.

I guess the only problem was the lack of a survival/arena mode, but the idea of a level editor kind of balances that out.

Graphics/presentation – 10/10

One thing that immediately caught my eye was the changing weapons animation. I really liked how one turret pops out then another pops up in a very cartoon-y way. The movement and aiming is smooth, and the explosions are done just right with the added *oomph* of the screen shaking slightly. I can’t say I saw any major visual bugs while playing.

Overall – 9.5/10

Credits go to:

Programmer – Alexander Gette (also programmer of Awesome Planes)
Artist – Jurij Krivonos
Music – Christian M. Krogsvold

Flash game review – Reimagine: the game

First of all, I would like to thank Kristi for suggesting this game to me (check out her blog!).

Story - 9/10

Some games are made to entertain, others to make us think, others to tell a story, but Reimagine: the game, is an amalgamation of popular culture that will make us smile with amusement. From the film Inception, to internet memes and social networks, to political movements such as the tea party and events such the infamous BP oil spill or the Libyan revolution, it takes you on a wild ride of platform adventure with a wacky soundtrack to boot. The style of it is quite unique and, needless to say, I am very impressed.

The level select screen, how many characters do you recognize?

Gameplay – 10/10

As I mentioned before, it is a platformer, but almost each level has its own game mechanics. Inception has a constantly spinning level that you have to adjust to, there is a Lost stage (named after the series) where you transform from a Lost character to the black cloud thing depending on what barriers you need to cross, there is also a very intelligent cross over between Super Meat Boy and Lady Gaga (because of her infamous meat dress). But one of the things that really amused me was the Justin Bieber part…

You get to switch between him and the Twilight vampire later...

Upon pressing space, Bieber emits the “Bieber call” which is basically a fast-forward chipmunk version of one of his songs called “Baby”(I think its called that). The female closest to him tries to get as close as possible, pressing otherwise unreachable buttons to progress the level. You can switch between him and Edward Cullen, the vampire in the Twilight Series who sparkles instead of sings like a chipmunk and they both have to work together to achieve there aim…and that is to get Bieber to Miley Cyrus…I don’t know why.

Ah the BP oil spill kind of shocked me. You basically wipe the pelicans on the oil until they become saturated with the stuff, then you put them in the red flame bucket things so that they “power” them (burn *ahem* burn). Then you can use the red bucket things as boosters to progress in the level.

Did I mention there was a part about Wikileaks? Basically there is so much squeezed into short and sweet levels one after the other. Some parts are a little hard, others dead easy, but it is an amazing adventure nonetheless.  Try it now!

Graphics/Presentation – 9/10

It is very simply animated and the characters have little to no facial detail, but their clothing and hair styles is mainly used to depict them. Now the author of the game did say they made it because they were “bored”, and with such a broad range of subjects and areas  I think that a simple graphic style really suited the game.

A cross over between comic book movies and memes...

It really was a blast to play. So the average total goes to….

9.3

Go on, go play it! Thanks to the fact its using the newgrounds website, you can comment and thank the author of the game just below the game window, please take the time to do so!