Review: Crazygame.exe
by
Jaybird
1/19/06

Download This Game By Clicking Below
crazygame.exe - 28KB

After much laziness on my part, I finally got around to updating some of the information on this page.
Thanks to everyone who emailed me with information on the game!

...

The question you are probably asking yourself right now is, "What is Crazygame!?"  Well, just take a peek below to discover its greatness!

Say adios to Solitaire and kiss Tetris goodbye, because this my friend is the most addicting game ever created!  The strangest part about this game is that no one is really sure where it came from.  It just seems to circle through people by word of mouth and sending it from friend to friends via AIM or some other file sending device.  It is perfect in it's simplicity.  Seriously, the game is 28KB.  To give you an idea of how small that is, any one screenshot of the game alone on this page is bigger than the entire game.  You don't get much smaller than that.  How is such greatness packed into such a small file size?  Well let me tell you...

Depending on whether or not you have Japanese characters installed on your computer, a screen like this will show up after double-clicking.  Since I can't read Japanese and I'm bored, I'm going to make up a plot for you.

The year is 2501.  Your planet has just been overrun by an evil alien force known only as "The Dots".  You managed to escape the fate of your planet by hopping into your shuttle and blasting off, but The Dots are right on your tail!  Mindless at first glance, The Dots are able to work together to destroy you, using many different tactics and maneuvers!  How long can you last before they destroy you too?

Yeah, lame, I know, but on with the review!  The point of the game is to avoid the dots as long as possible.  Sounds simple enough right?  That's what you'll be thinking until you are killed after about 5 seconds the first time you try.  It's more difficult than you think.  The dots come straight at you as soon as they appear on the screen, so staying in one place means you will die for sure.  Moving around is the way to go, but often makes The Dots even more scattered and unpredictable unless you know what you're doing.  First off though, lets take a look at what everything means, because most likely you can't read Japanese either.

After you die, you will come to a screen like this.  I have labeled each thing to help explain what each means.

a.  This is the time you lasted before being destroyed by The Dots.  Simple enough.  Also known as the 'Real' Time

b.  As opposed to the 'Real' time, this is the 'Virtual' time.  This is the time your machine recorded.  For example, if you were running on a slower machine, (a) would be bigger than (b).  This is why the difference is so minute.

c.  This is the number of dots currently on the screen.  It starts from 50 and goes up from there.

d.  This is how many "close calls" you had with The Dots, otherwise known as 'Cool!' points.  I'm not sure as to why it is a percent, because it isn't a percentage of anything.  When you achieve a close call, it will appear in the upper left hand corner of the screen, as seen here.

A close call occurs usually when you barely fly your way through two Dots very close to each other.  If you manage to fly through more than just two Dots, the number of exclamation points increase, therefore increasing the number in "d".  I myself have seen up to 5-7 exclamation points, but that is rare.  Normally they are anywhere from 1-3 exclamation points.  For example, the screenshot above would give you 2 points.  All close calls are cumulative.

Alright, now onto the controls of the game, which I don't even know why I am bothering going over.  Basically, you use your arrow keys to move around.  Nothing tricky there.  Also, use Enter to pause and unpause the game, as well as starting over.  That is it.  No shooting Dots for you!

Now onto something a little more advanced.  This is something you won't see until you get more into the midgame (which is around 10 seconds).

These are The Dot Specials and will appear in the upper right hand corner when they are about to occur.  This is when things get tricky.  The Dots have three type of specials, each of varying degrees.  Once again, since I can't read Japanese, these names are what have been agreed upon to use for the names of the specials.

1.  Super Speed - Much as the name implies, all of the dots on the screen speed up anywhere from a little bit to an insane speed.  You can imagine how the difficulty increases when The Dots are moving twice as fast as before!

2.  Heat Seekers - This is when The Dots not only fly towards you, but you act as a magnet to them.  Now all The Dots on the screen come straight for you.  Sometimes if you can avoid the initial wave of Heat Seekers, you are in the clear, but at higher variations of this special, they come at you so fast you don't stand a chance.

3.  Shooters - Shooters are when specific Dots on the screen (around 3-5 at a time) basically shoot at you.  If you thought the Super Speed Dots were fast, these shooters are faster than anything that one can pull on you.  The hardest part is that it can be any of The Dots on the screen and at higher variations, the shooters can actually slow down, turn in your direction, and shoot at you again.  Very Scary.

Now for some strategies.  Believe it or not, this may sound like common sense, but go where The Dots aren't.  By that, I mean try not to get caught up in doing one thing.  Sometimes moving in the shape of a square or a circle might be a good strategy, but don't try to force it if its not working.  Often you may find yourself trying to get through a wave of Dots that is impossible to get through, but could have easily been avoided if you just stopped and went another way.  Also, make sure to relax.  Sometimes, you get to the point when you notice that you haven't died in a long time.  This is when you have to stay calm and not get too excited over your possible high score.  If you get excited (or crazy... get it... ha.. ha..) you are just more likely to mess up and make a bad move and BOOM... no high score for you.

So, that's about it.  Remember you can download Crazygame by clicking the link at the top of the review, and don't forget to check out the ongoing Crazygame High Score Contest.  That is all, good luck.

The Crazygame Homepage can be found at http://homepage1.nifty.com/bee/tk/
Also available on the site is TKKN, a different more challenging version of Crazygame...

Jaybird currently resides in Seattle where he reads comics, works in a library, and writes for this site.  He has also been known to blow your mind, rock your world, and eat pizza.
 

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