Planet Geek

Game: Goldstrike
Language: Flash
Category: Puzzle / Arcade
Tested on: Debian Linux + Firefox
Rating: 3 out of 5
Offered by: Flash Arcade (link)

Goldstrike is sort of a cross between tetris and Frood. The object is to knock out continguous colored blocks in a wall that is slowly advancing toward you. Your character does this by skillfully flinging a pickaxe at the colored blocks. The more blocks you knock out, the faster the level is over, the more points you score.

This is a very simple game. What makes it so entertaining is the small improvements that just make it fun. The miner character does a little ho-down dance at the beginning and end of the levels, and the sound effects are cute and enjoyable. The game has a natural progression from 'slow and comfortable' up through 'good, now that one there, and those, yes, got that one, okay good!' straight through to 'ahhhh! too fast! nooo! I screwed up again!'. To me that's a mark of a well designed game. If the game gets unplayable too fast, it's no fun. If it takes too long to get into the groove, you won't want to invest the time.

Posted by dbs at November 16, 2004 2:07 PM