Buggle Stars

Buggle Stars is what could be called the perfect Christmas casual game. Some crucial elements such as a nice presentation, clever design and perfect gameplay are combined to built an easy to play, just challenging enough, very rewarding game.

Design

Game design is amazing, even though nothing is particularly original, every detail is carefully crafted.

The game starts with a quick tutorial, and provides 20 levels that can be accessed from the startup screen once unlocked. You can see a thumbnail of each level before playing it, as well as your best score if you would like to replay one. The only option is the mandatory sound control button which can be accessed at any time.

Each level is a single screen on which you will have to collect all the stars. The genius touch is that stars will appear one after the other, forcing you to navigate through the level in unconventional ways. The only hint is a, not so easy to spot, transparent icon of the next star location, which can become critical for optimal navigation.

The game even provide a set of unlockable minigames which could match the quality of most average flash games.

Gameplay

The challenge for any platform game is a right jumping and running controls scheme, and Buggle Stars gets it just perfectly. The gameplay is also quite varied with levels involving buttons, moving platforms, water, trampoline jump, and even rocket launchers. Interesting variations are that you can air jump if you fall off a platform, and you can also perform a super jump by pressing down before jumping and thus loosing a bit of time.

If the first levels are trivial, the game is more and more challenging, and even really tough at the end. But the gameplay and level design is so well balanced that you will not easily give it up.

Two different game modes are available depending on each level. The most common gives you more points if you collect a star quickly and you will need to collect enough points to unlock the next level. The second is much less forgiving as you will have a limited time to collect each star and will have to start over if you cannot get one in time.

Presentation

The presentation is clean and simple, graphic design is not extremely elaborated but with nice little additions here and there. Background music is quite nice, a bit repetitive but too annoying. Sound effects are fine, there is even a brief disappointment sound when you nearly get a star but missed it.

Play Buggle Start on Kongregate

Zombie Baseball

Zombies are a never ending source of inspiration for game makers, but I have never thought mixing baseball and zombie survival could work. This game is tackling a genre that has been revisited thousands of times but it does it right, with a couple of nice innovations.

Design
The game is basically about defending your home, attacked by waves after waves of zombies, each wave composed by tougher and tougher enemies. The original part is that you will have to repeal them using your baseball hitting skills, using balls tossed by your girlfriend.
A short in game tutorial introduces the commands, and you will immediately start to knock off zombie's head. More and more enemy types will appear every day, but their main characteristics is to get more resistant, faster, or eventually taller which can actually make a difference.
A good addition is the use of experience points, that will let you upgrade stats over time, and award you new bats with special powers. But as said in the game, the less powerful bat is the only one to "cut zombie's head and get more score".

Gameplay
Nice physics, and properly managed difficulty curve, make the game enjoyable. Hitting will take some practice to be efficient. Hitting a bit too late will send the ball fly up in the sky, while swinging to early will aim the ball at the ground losing a lot of momentum before eventually bouncing to an enemy.
You are rewarded for more accurate shots, and the cherry on top is the headshot achievement. Using the right bat, a headshot will send the zombie's head flying away and the game will keep track of distance record, which is strangely satisfying. There is also a headshot combo counter for a bonus.
The fact that the initial angle of the ball will vary, for a given hitting position , when you increase your power stat can however be a bit confusing.
You can also choose from two different bats for any given hit, which can be helpful in some circumstances.

Presentation
Graphic design in Zombie Baseball is questionable, characters and monsters are cartoony and simplistic while the background is some sort of photo realistic. Nothing is looking terribly bad, but graphics are not very consistent.
The music is appropriate and not too annoying. Sound effects are well chosen and give a funny felling of standing in the middle of a baseball game, mixed with typical undead groaning. The main character voice comments are also quite hilarious.

Zombie Baseball is maybe not a genre defining game, but it provides a fun challenge to spend some of your time.

Play Zombie Baseball on Armorgames

Hot Air 2

As colorful and cute as it may look, this game is not for the faint hearted. It is probably one of the most challenging game I have ever played, but it keeps you on the edge between frustration and addiction. On top of this, it is using a very inventive gameplay and design.

Design
Hot Air lets you take control of a small balloon, evolving in a world full of spikes and moving unfriendly objects. You will have to master the art of navigating the little fellow as pretty much anything will destroy it on first contact. The difficulty curve is as unforgiving as it can be, even the first level is a challenge and it will not get easier later on. A good news is that the game will save your progress automatically, and you will need it.

The levels are accessed through a non linear world map, allowing to replay any level you have already completed. While the goal is to navigate and land on the end of level platform, the real challenge is to collect all bonus stars in a level. The collected stars will open new path on the world map, giving access to new levels. This clearly separates masters of hot air from newbies.

Some levels require you to land on specific platforms to open doors, taking an indirect route to the exit platform.

Each completed level will earn you a new balloon skin, which can be selected from the world map, providing a nice little extra.

Story
The story is minimal in Hot Air 2. You and your cute pink balloon girlfriend are spending happy time together when the evil black zeppelin comes back to kidnap her. This turns you into an angry badass red balloon, on his way to rescue the cutie.

Gameplay
The original controls are at the core of Hot Air gameplay. In this game, the mouse pointer is converted to a little fan you can switch on by pressing the mouse button. The fan will blow air on the balloon driving it away from the pointer. The closer you are to the balloon, the faster it moves, but it also become more difficult to control. On most levels, speed will be critical to avoid some moving elements, so careful and slow navigation is often not an option.

This would be hard enough if the balloon was built in a single piece but a small nacelle is attached to it with elastic wires. It means the space occupied by the balloon will change when you blow on it, as the distance to the nacelle can shorten or increase.

Of course the balloon is affected by gravity, so if you want to stand still in a place, you will have to compensate by blowing upward, adding a layer of complexity.

In some levels, your fan can also be used to interact with other elements, such as extinguish flames.

Presentation
In this game enemies are elements of the landscape, but they actually look like they are alive, and usually unfriendly. The game's look is pretty cute and childish, contrasting with the unforgiving difficulty.
The landscape and enemy design is consistent and lovely, creating a credible world. The graphics use pixel art style, and lively colors with good results.
Music can quickly get annoying but can be fortunately switched off.

Play Hot Air 2 on Bubblebox