The Search for the Magic Flamingo

Title Screen

July's pick was slightly easier than June's. The competition was really only between two games; The Search for the Magic Flamingo by Crazy Panda, and Nexus - Future's Past by My Liver Hurtz. Both had their respective pros and cons, but it was Crazy Panda's game that came out on top. Well done, Panda!

My initial thought was, "Oh, God, not another random game that some lazy guy could only just be bothered to make." No; The Search for the Magic Flamingo is random, but well-constructed all the same! It features you, the hero, named Nadir, against your arch-nemesis Nydark, on the same quest. The Magic Flamingo will grant any wish, and you must both enter the Great Pyramid in order to acquire it!

The Magic Flamingo

You are assisted on the way by CyQ. (Yes, this is a pseudo-cameo game.) It makes some use of basic but well-drawn art, and Caves of ZZT style exploration and pick-up-object-and-use-it style gameplay.

There are also a couple of rather good puzzles, one made by Zenith Nadir himself, and another in the style of Dexter's Boulder Xod. The cameos are amusing in places.

Boulder Xod Puzzle

Rope-Climbing Engine

The plot is rather simplified, of course, but it really doesn't spoil this game much. I did note a problem with the 'rope climbing' engine at the end - if you press the buttons too fast they disable, and you can't finish climbing.

Oh, and there's no music. Some Viovisian blues-jazz style stuff would add to the general funny atmosphere of the game. And while the art-board graphics are pretty good, the rest of them aren't fantastic. And inviso-mazes are just annoying. While original, the 'Gem-Crusher' puzzles admittedly don't really help much either.

But, other than that, it's an enjoyable game to play! And the cameo of CyQ was unnervingly accurate, in my opinion, Panda.

6 / 10