Retardo and the Iron Golem

Retardo and the Iron Golem is a classic point and click adventure game, with a comical-satirical-gory medieval setting, starting with a name which is quite intriguing.

Design
The game design is quite straightforward, a classical set of single screen point and click puzzles to lead Retardo through Moronia. The only notable feature is a timer score, counting down as time is elapsing and driving your final score down.
The adventure is not very long, but very funny and entertaining to play. The puzzles range from trivial to mildly challenging but they are well designed and consistent.



Story
The story is an archetypal quest to destroy the Iron Golem, save the kingdom and mary the princess, but it is presented in a satirical amusing way. Especially regarding the hero replacing the typical prince charming.
It is a nice addition to create an enjoyable experience.

Gameplay
The gameplay is plain point and click, with no collectable objects, even though some puzzles imply interactions with more than one object on screen. A few puzzles also involve time and put a bit more pressure on the player.
The only extra consists of collecting mushrooms, hidden in every screen, for an end-of-game score bonus.

Presentation
Graphics are globally beautiful with inspired decoration and varied environments. The behaviors of encountered enemies is funny and entertaining, with nice animations and sound effects.
A nice twist is given by a gory touch in the presentation. Retardo is usually using unconventional and bloody ways to kill his enemies, or to get killed by them...

This game is an overall entertaining quick adventure and is worth playing if you have a bit of spare time to kill.

Play Retardo and the Iron Golem on ArmorGames.

Amorphous+

Amorphous+ is one of the most inventive, well designed, and plain fun games I have played in a while. The game put you in the role of a Gloople hunter, raiding the creatures nest to face endless waves of the original and incredibly varied cell like organisms.

The entire game is played on a single screen playground with a top view showing your character and hordes of enemies to hunt... or to escape one of them hunting you down...

Design
You can tell right away that an unusual amount of care has been put into the game design. The main menu provides a direct access to instructions, games modes, awards, rewards and other extra content.
Two game modes are available. Single Nest give you a fixed number of Gloople to kill before the nest is fully cleared, while the Bounty Run mode place you in front of an infinite flow of enemies. Difficulty setting in this mode let you choose how fast the nest resistance will increase.
The difficulty curve balance in this game is just amazing. The nest will start with a stream of brainless and harmless green Gloople, but as you kill them one after the other, advanced and much more dangerous Gloople species are generated. It starts with aggressive but relatively predictable and brainless colored Gloople, but soon you will face rare, extremely dangerous creatures, using complex attack patterns and usually very tough to kill.
Not only are the enemies varied, but all the Gloople's abilities interact with you and other Glooples in a coherent and realistic way. This creates endless possible combinations and is an essential part of the gameplay.

A large number of awards and rewards can be unlocked by completing some in game challenges, such a scoring enough points or performing a particularly impressive move while hunting Glooples. The rewards give you extra abilities that will prove to be incredibly useful to reach the game's most difficult achievements.

Story
Amorphous+ is also different from the average flash game as, even if there is no storyline strictly speaking, the combination of detailed creatures description, varied tips, and inventive awards provide a feeling of a coherent world. You will find yourself going further in the game not only to score more points and awards but also to learn about the weird Gloople race and the possible interactions between the different varieties.

Gameplay
Amorphous+ is using a not so intuitive way to control the main character, which is continuously attracted by the mouse pointer. Maneuvering between a large number of Gloople is quite challenging at the beginning but once you get used to the controls it proves to be very effective.
The basic action in the game is swinging your huge sword, trying to kill as many Gloople as possible. There is an interesting scoring mechanism that rewards you for taking more risks. But most of the gameplay comes from interactions between you and the different types of Gloople.
Discovering these interactions is a large part of the fun, so I will not say much about them, but basically if something is bad for you, it can be assumed it will have a similar effect on other Gloople, and you can use this to your advantage. Choosing the right option for the current situation while facing a pack of several different types of Gloople is critical to survive through the nest. The great thing about Amorphous+ is that there is almost always a method to escape a dangerous phase by correctly using interactions between Gloople abilities.

Presentation
The game graphics are quite simple and basic, but they perfectly fit with the Gloople universe. Each Gloople type is using his own look, animation and sound effects contributing to build a coherent experience.
The game engine is pretty sharp managing motions of a large number of enemies and consistently detecting collisions between them, as well as the effects of your swings. Some nice effects are also generated by explosions, fire and other elements. I experienced regular game slow down when a large number of Gloople are on screen, but it always stayed playable.
The music soundtracks are pretty amazing in this game, several hypnotic tunes contribute to the weird atmosphere.

While the basic concept seems pretty limited, the Amorphous+ manage to create a rich and coherent ecosystem, combined with an addictive gameplay and great replayability.

Play Amorphous+ on Kongregate.

Castle Smasher

Castle Smasher is one of those well designed, nice looking games that can become very addictive thanks to a simple but well polished gameplay. The game is pretty challenging to beat and it requires quite a bit of practice to master the art of castle smashing.

Design
Castle Smasher design is minimal but efficient, it provides a nice online high score boards, with a simple tool to create your own group challenge with friends. Options are limited to a sound mute button and nothing more is needed.
A short instruction page could be useful to give a description of upgrades available between levels and some of the game details. The purpose of castle soldiers and guards is not immediately clear, until you lose a game because of them.
The game provides only five levels, with increasing difficulty. If the firsts do not require much thinking, counting the stones left in your arsenal and choosing the right upgrades can become critical for the last levels.

Gameplay
The gameplay is dead simple. Choose an angle for the catapult, then press and hold the mouse button to set the power, and release it to shot. Nothing new but the implementation is good.
It is a handful small details that makes the game interesting. First of all the way the stones are bouncing on the different parts of the castle can make a good, well aimed, shot much more efficient than a direct one. You are also running on a very limited supply of stones, that force you to think before you shot, and to target the stone supply bonus if you can first.
Soldiers and guards also provide a nice little twist to the game, putting a bit more pressure on the player to get rid of the soldiers attacking the catapult or to invest in one or two extra guards to protect it.
The castle design is inventive and each level provides a distinct challenge.

Presentation
Castle Smasher use good old school 2D sprites, with an excellent overall result. Graphics are clear, colorful and nice looking. Music and sound effects are kept to a minimum but appropriate, a background music theme could be a nice addition even though I am not a big fan of repetitive background music.

Play Castle Smasher on Kongregate.