University of Massachusetts Amherst Macintosh User Group

Airburst by Strange Flavor: the world's best game... ever!

Have you ever gone to a Mac User Group meeting and then found out that your college career has gone down the tubes? Well I have. To make a long story short, thanks to what seemed to be a nice MUG President, I have become addicted to this crazy game called Airburst.

Ok, so maybe it's not his fault, and he is a nice MUG President after all. So yeah, on to why I'm writing this review.

Airburst is simple in appearance and in game-play, but that is what makes me want to play it sooo much. It's free and is a must have if you want to lose that 'oh-so-precious' GPA you've been working towards.

You can do many neat things in this game as far as Network play and other forms of multiplayer. I first became addicted to this game after playing a 4 way match at a previous MUG meeting.

There are 4 players in general game play. You can have as many or as few of those set to be real people or the computer. It is basically a fight to the finish and if you are the last man standing, you are allowed to move on to the next level where things get harder and faster. You CPU opponents will become more skilled as the level number grows as well.

First things first. There are small balloons that surround you (these are good; they protect you) and there is a larger one that you sit on (this is also good; it keeps you from falling to your doom).

You are also equipped with a nifty bat. It is the thing that looks like smaller balls attached in a string (depicted 2 images above). The bat allows you to block the flying spiked ball from attacking you. If the spiked ball (later referred to as the 'ball') hits any of your balloons they, they pop. Once it hits the larger ball that you are floating on, you fall and the game is over.

Now, there are different things that appear that can help or harm your gameplay. Here are 2 examples. The cherry (top) isn't a good thing. If a ball that you hit last comes in contact with the cherries, or you yourself come in contact with the cherries your bat will be shortened. This makes it much harder for you to protect yourself.

The lemon (bottom), on the other hand, is quite helpful. If you are lucky enough to get a lemon, your bat will become 'sticky'. In other words, you can catch the spiked ball and then aim it at your opponents, making you a much more powerful player.

All of these effects wear off over time, but are a great help and hinderance in knocking our your opponents and yourself.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I play, I see this message pretty often and end up watching my guy fall to his doom. Maybe someday I'll get the hang of it. Until then, I guess I'll have to live in level 2.

by Jacob Lauzier