So Cute, Yet So Repetitive

11/18/2016

This adorable little gem of a game, coming from the near-primordial time of Kongregate back in early 2009, was so fun to play the very first time around.  After the first time of completing the game, however, as short of a game as it actually was, it became more and more tedious to keep playing; keep falling; buy small upgrades here and there from a rather limited upgrade pool; (keep in mind that, as far as 2009 is concerned, this was a pretty awesome-looking game) having to repeat the same actions over and over and over again; all of this and more, as a whole, sort of dragged down its value a slight bit.  But let's go in order, shall we?

Physical Qualities: Because it is from around 2009, when Kong's systems were still trying to develop more and more and when Flash was in a much earlier build, the game itself looks a bit more pixelated and antiquated even when it started, let alone nowadays when newer members are trying to get some quests and badges done from the game.  The main saving grace about the game is the main (and only) character: an adorable rather-chubby-looking penguin.  If it were not for what occurs later in the game and actually for playing the game, I might not have gotten so hyped into it like I did when it started.  The sounds follow what happens on the screen very spot-on, and this happened to be another saving grace for the game itself. 8/10

Gameplay: It's the typical up and down arrow key control, with an additional later use of the space bar/key.  For the sake of simplicity, this was rated rather much and higher than it should have been due to the fact that the game controls as well as one pushes the keys and uses the space bar.  Space, in this game, uses up a rocket or speed boost later on, while the up and down control where the penguin goes, how it bounces off the ground and water, how it glides with gliders later on, and so on.  The game feels long enough without getting too boring, yet short enough to make one glad one was playing it despite the immense amount of repetition for said small game. 8/10

Replayability: This might be one of the shorter review sections, given the game's playing time.  Simply put, the game is good for one major burst of "let's see how far we can make a penguin fly with a hang glider and a rocket and have it crash into the side of a huge iceburg and get hurt as a result" and then moving on to the next game, next quest, next challenge, next...whatever.  As a result, it got majorly hurt in this category. 4/10

Hack Power: Alright, I probably saved the best individual rating for last.  Before I got to this site, I had already beaten the game multiple times without hacking the game at all.  When I did end up using the hacks just to see what would happen, it was incredible how much ground they could cover.  Except for literally handing the badges and the game win to me right from the get go, the hacks work wonders, and if one doesn't want to waste all the boring, repetitive, inanely slow time of playing the game without hacks, one will surely enjoy playing the game WITH hacks.  Three major hacks were found to work for the game: make gravity essentially not work in having the player get dragged down to the ground (free movement mode basically); infinite rocket fuel, which is a huge saver later on in the game; and infinite jetpack which made the player shoot right out of the ramp with pretty much max speed and height bonuses, leaving only distance and glide time to worry about.  In a sense, the hacks enhanced the game, personally, not ruined it at all. 9/10

Overall Rating: So now that looking over the game is finished, what happens to be the final verdict? Well, it's a short adorable game that leaves one feeling that there could have been possibly more to develop into the game (of course, before the second, third, and idle versions of the game existed) after it was all said and done.  The hacks barely diminished the game's value at all, and this was one of my favorite games in over 10 years of being on Kongregate when I first played it.  I know I probably am overhyping it a bit too much, but personally and for a final rating, the game garners a solid 8.5 (oops, only can do whole numbers, so) or 8 out of 10 (8-8.5/10).  

-Sharky
 

Physical Qualities
Gameplay
Replayability
Hack Power
Overall Rating