Ballistics !

When the apple hit him straight on the head, Newton didn't know that his theory of gravity would spawn a whole genre of game!

I remember in the old days, sitting, quite amazed, in front of my ZX Spectrum, and playing 'Golf'.  I kept trying to calculate the right combination of angle and force, so that my ball would go right in the 'hole'.  Of course we're talking about side (not scrolling) view in a game where the ball was impeccably square and the flag was represented by a straight line and a triangle.

Sure, things are a little fancier now, but the essence, and the fun, of the game are still there.
No green courses this time, and no (so hip) golf ball. I have a much more humane mission now : help Mr Egg get to the stick ( don't ask me why), then to the exit of his course and to a new and more difficult level.

Ready for the Egg'o'trip

The game controls are really easy to get used to and this is a really good point : you naturally click on your egg, and hold to determine the direction.  The farther the mouse pointer is from the egg, the longer the jump.  At this point, I should say that I would have liked a more precise control feedback : it didn't seem natural for me to hold the mouse at the opposite side of the direction I wished to send my egg.  Also, I wished I had had more control on the force.  The dotted line that symbolised the force is great, but adding some 'numbers' (or whatever fits the gameplay) would have allowed me to fine-tune my hit more precisely.

Someone please explain this Egg-Stick Love story!

There it goes, I hit my egg, sending him flying and bouncing through the level.  If he unfortunately ends up in a gap, he will shout out of despair and certainly end up in the huge omelette of my unsuccessful tries. The sound of the doomed fall actually being quite cute, pushed my sadistic desire to send it into oblivion several times.

When Mr Egg hits the stick, then a ladder appears, and I have to go through the same process to send him on the right course to the ladder (the exit) ... and then comes the next level ...

Depending on the course you chose, you will find more or less difficulty, slippery platforms, or tunnels that will require a really fine appreciation of the distance and your egg-jumping angle.

EggRun : Adventures in the freezer

Don't get me wrong: the game is fun, and could be addictive ... hoho, I can see the most attentive readers saying "why COULD ?"
Well, to be honest, in my point of view, a few things could be improved in the gameplay:

-The music can be quite repetitive after a while and therefore including some variation in the soundtrack would give the player a better sense of achievement.

- The graphics are really cute, but also quite repetitive.  I know that one has to keep the filesize low, but including some more tiles (or whatever) to change the levels would also make people want to discover more than just a different disposition of the existing platforms.
Of course, you can choose between three levels, all different (I do have a soft spot for the icy one ), but internal variation would add a lot to the game.

- The levels don't seem varied enough to me: it's true they are always changing, but after a while I was longing for some deadly traps, moving enemies that my Egg would have to avoid, or, why not, power-ups that would make Mr Egg jump farther, higher, or God knows what.

- A life count system would be good as well.  I do understand that the author didn't want to penalize the player tries and discoveries, but still, avoding death has been the best motivation so far in video games.  This one could be endless, as you have no way to compare your number of tries with those of other players at any time (except at the very begining). At least giving an average number of tries (like a Golf par) would be great for knowing how to estimate your game while playing.

Eggs in Spaaaaaaaaace!

The game is really good for kids in that it introduces them to more complex aspects of ballistic games, but as a grown up ( Yep, can say that ) I must confess that the challenge wasn't enough to keep me stuck in front of my screen, and that's certainly a pity, imagining the amount of time the author has spent programming it and how fun the game could be with a tad more.

Lux