Candy Mountain Massacre

To the Game Critics, Another Murder Simulator, No Doubt

Submitted by costik on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 23:10.

Type:

Shockwave

Developer:

MockWorld

Play Now

Candy Mountain Massacre is interesting on two scores: Technology and imagery.

On the technology side, it's a Shockwave game, but it's true 3D, and remarkably good looking. Not Unreal-engine levels of "good looking," but maybe somewhere around the level of Quake II, which is actually pretty astonishing for a browser-playable game.

It's a first-person shooter, no bones about it; same verbs (run, jump, shoot), same powerups (health and ammo), same win conditions (blow up the bad guys real good). But what makes it different, and amusing, is the imagery.

Apparently, this particular game of violence with guns is set in Candy Land. Okay, not "Candy Land(tm)", the trademarked and copyright property of Hasbro, Inc.; the structures are not recognizable as those on the Candy Land board, and the developers are careful to ensure that none of the characters in the game look too close to the beloved characters of that perennial game. (Can't be too beloved, as I don't actually remember any of their names offhand, but I'm sure I'd recognize that candy-cane doofus and that silly king.)

But nod nod, wink wink, it's pretty obvious what the developers are about. You wade through chocolate rivers and pass gingerbread houses; the enemies you shoot are deranged rabbits and Mad Hatters and the like. There's some spurious backstory about how the sweet critters of "Candy Mountain" have been taken over by evil whatsis, but you know, in an FPS, things exist for you to blow them away. There's a level of humor here -- not Doom's monsters from hell, but brightly colored things out of the canonical children's game -- although it is kind of a one-note joke.

Still, for a web game, which you're only going to play for a short period anyway, a one-note joke will do.

You have a choice of three characters (all female)--cosplay, "exterminator" and "black ops". Not right up the Candy Land alley, but cute.

As for the gameplay itself--what do you want? It's a straightforward first-person shooter. Nothing real innovative, but it's entertaining, and it's free.

I ended up going through the

Submitted by oboreruhito on Tue, 12/04/2007 - 13:54.

I ended up going through the bottom of the level twice and giving up. Could use some sort of multiplayer, too.

Still, pretty good for a Web game.

Same here -- the clipping is

Submitted by ggould on Tue, 12/04/2007 - 15:04.

Same here -- the clipping is painfully bad. Still, surprisingly slick.

Unicorns?

Submitted by destoo on Tue, 12/04/2007 - 15:55.

Are there any unicorns in this one?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPONTneuaF4

Come on, Charlie! Candy Mountain, Cha-a-a-a-a-arlie!!

Oasis

Oasis

2004 IGF Independent Game of the Year Winner
2004 IGF Winner, Innovation in Game Design
Game Tunnel's 2005 Independent Game of the Year

Oasis is, at its core, a highly original casual game--but with strong crossover appeal to strategy gamers. In some ways, our site is where it belongs, probably more so than at, say, Yahoo! Games.

Like most casual games, it's very easy to pick up and play, and you play it basically with one button--just click on the map to explore dark squares, build roads, assign workers to mines, etc.

But the way it plays reminds us of "Eurogames," the genre of adult boardgames that's gaining increasing popularity worldwide (and mostly come out of Germany). In other words, it plays quickly, but every choice you make is important, and has a real impact on the outcome.

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