ID:84361
 

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The real review has been submitted to BYOND Casual. Please make sure that you've at least tried the game before you rate it.

Geekdash was created by Acebloke sometime around '05. The goal of the game is to move your little circle from the bottom of the map to the top of the map without running into anything else on the way. Exciting intro, right?

When it comes right down to it, I'm hard-pressed to write a review about this game because its just such a shallow concept that there's hardly anything to write about. The entire game is written out in a few paragraphs on the game's hub page, and all that's left is to see how far you can get.



Fun Factor

If you're the kind of person who likes puzzle games that test you to see how far you can get, then you might like this game. I believe every play through is randomly generated as far as obstacle placements go, so there's at least a little variety. But is it fun? Well, the game really doesn't have a lot of depth. There are only four obstacles that you'll ever encounter, and once you've encountered them all there's nothing left to discover (that I'm aware of). So your only goal is to get as far as you can so as to record ever-higher scores.


Control and Gameplay

The controls are very basic - you don't need your keyboard, you only need the mouse. You can click on any tile adjacent to where you are located, and it'll move you to that tile, and move everything else on the map at the same time. If your move caused you to run into one of the obstacles on the map, the game is over. Which means that you'll have to quit the game and reload it if you want to play again, incidentally.

There are four obstacles that you'll encounter as you progress through the game, namely, Arrows, Blocks (pits), Random!s and Halos. Arrows move each turn in the direction that they are pointing. Blocks, or pits as I prefer to call them, just sit there, so you need to go around them. Random!s take a random step in any direction each turn. Halos are very similar to Random!s, except they will only enter unoccupied tiles.


Graphics

Taking a quick look at the screenshots will immediately give you the idea that this is not a glitzy game. In fact, it doesn't even have color - the whole game is drawn in shades of gray. If you're looking for pretty pictures, steer clear, folks!


Sound

This game is dead silent. No sounds to speak of. Best have your own background music handy.


Replayability

As I said earlier, the arrangement of the obstacles for each level appears to be random. Given that, you can play through as much as you want and it'll always be somewhat difference. However, given that you'll essentially encounter the same thing every game, it doesn't really make that much difference.


Conclusion

Geekdash might be fun for a few minutes at best, or if you're one of those die-hard strategy/puzzle gamers, you might be inclined to strive for a high score that will take you a few play-throughs. Personally, I think I'd have a headache if I played this game for more than an hour.
The game is amusing for a little while, but takes a huge nose dive when you realize that there is no actual 'safe zone' at the top of the map. Both play throughs I didn't lose by bad strategy, I lost due to an obstacle spawning in the same spot I was reaching the top at. Nothing you can really do if an obstacle spawns on top of you.