Smiley adventures
Looking like a cross between classic puzzle/platformer Solomon's Key and old-school ASCII adventure Super ZZT (with a bit of Pacman added in for good measure), this is a reasonable but unspectacular puzzle game whose main appeal is its challenge. There are a few neat elements added to the usual formula which help to elevate it slightly so if you are looking for a fun and tricky little game, this might keep you occupied for a while. The concept here is simple enough, with players taking control of a smiley face who, for reasons unknown, finds himself stuck in a series of single screen levels. Your only real goal is to collect the many keys which litter each level and then get to the exit. However, to make your life more difficult, there are of course numerous enemies and traps standing between you and success. You can learn the movement patterns of the bad guys, as they do follow predictable routes but there's no way of killing them, so you need to rely on your movement skills to get you safely out of trouble. There are a few other interesting elements on certain levels, including rocks which can be moved to block off enemy movement, water, which must be filled up with rocks in order to cross, one-way routes and of course bonuses which confer more points. As simple and straightforward puzzlers go, this is reasonable stuff. It's not as spectacularly thrilling as something like Boulderdash but thanks to some decent level design, it's rarely less than fun, which is the main thing. It is pretty challenging so if you fancy yourself as hot stuff, then you should have a good time with this. Just don't expect to be completely hooked.
