(Don't) Save the Princess
Flash, no Newgrounds achievements
Titled like a Radiohead B-side, (Don't) Save the Princess is the first time I've laughed out loud at a flash game in a long time! Oodles of fun, DStP takes a twist on an age old formulae for storytelling. There's no happy ending for this brave knight and his budding Rapunzel, no Peaches for Mario, instead, Bowser gets his chomp on and devours the little meddler, with your help. A hilarious little puzzle game, which I would describe as "The Anti-Lemmings", you have to launch the knight into the waiting mouth of the dragon that protects the princess. To get the Dragon's om nom on, you have to essentially "steer" the knight around obstacles using arrow blocks to fire him at high-speeds around the map.
Titled like a Radiohead B-side, (Don't) Save the Princess is the first time I've laughed out loud at a flash game in a long time! Oodles of fun, DStP takes a twist on an age old formulae for storytelling. There's no happy ending for this brave knight and his budding Rapunzel, no Peaches for Mario, instead, Bowser gets his chomp on and devours the little meddler, with your help. A hilarious little puzzle game, which I would describe as "The Anti-Lemmings", you have to launch the knight into the waiting mouth of the dragon that protects the princess. To get the Dragon's om nom on, you have to essentially "steer" the knight around obstacles using arrow blocks to fire him at high-speeds around the map.
The reason this game is so damn good, besides the addicting puzzle element, is that it has bags of character. Selectively placing the magical launching tiles on the map feels rewarding at completion of each level, because the result is always guaranteed to make you smile. The tiny armour-clad victim is cannon-fired at pleasing speeds, soaring purposefully around the entire map to his doom. That. Is. Just. Funny. The game itself is challenging enough also that it's a real brainteaser, good news for all you puzzler fans out there! The art style is very fun, using a mix of hand-drawn flash assets and 8-bit, the sound effects also lending from the popular bit style. the only gripe I would have is the Retry/Complete screens. The fireworks sound effect is incredibly annoying, having me quickly clicking on the nearest "Not This Screen" button I could find. Also, the screen itself, bizarrely, has two different font types and a different art style to the rest of the UI and game. This of course isn't a huge gripe, or even a medium gripe, but it is a small one, that can cheapen the overall feel of the product/piece and should always be given the attention it's due.
Overall, I love (Don't) Save the Princess, and with a Daily 4th Place on Newgrounds.com this week, I would say lot's of other people are too. Fun, charismatic, challenging, I definitely recommend this for a good use of 40 minutes, unless you wan't to dive into the Level Editor, in which case, a day or four.
Play Here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/531275
Creator's Newgrounds: http://alexandersshen.newgrounds.com/
Creator's Site: http://www.alexandershen.com/
or http://www.shengames.com/
PS, for added laughs, imagine the soaring knight is a guard from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. "STOP RIGHT There, criminal scum........."
PS, for added laughs, imagine the soaring knight is a guard from Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. "STOP RIGHT There, criminal scum........."
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