Joyous holiday season gaming
This clever little game takes the Dutch version of Father Christmas as its inspiration and combines it with some fun and inventive action for a little treat. It's a platformer which plays out a little like Flicky and tells a nightmare story from Christmas night. Sint Nicolaas has been robbed by some dastardly thieves who have taken his bag of gifts and his cookies. As they made their escape however, they dropped some of the goodies, leaving a trail for Nicolaas to follow. He now has to pick them all up and deliver the right presents to the right chimneys. The game is basically a platform romp where you run around, collecting presents and cookies, while avoiding birds and TV aerials. Each chimney has a colored box which must be matched with a present of the same color, while a number indicates how many cookies are required. The presents rather handily follow you when you pick them up, which is where the Flicky comparison comes in. However, you can only can one at a time, so if you find a blue one, you need to find a blue chimney before you can move on. Although it's undeniably simple stuff, this game is actually quite fun. It's not going to keep you hooked forever, as the platforming is far from complex but for younger gamers especially, it's quite entertaining. The visuals are quite similar to old school Super Mario graphics and are thus charming in that retro way. The controls are nice and easy to pick up, and are quite tight when it comes to running and jumping. All in all, this is jolly bit of gaming that should be played around the holidays.
