First Impressions

I got my shiny sparkly golden ticket to the world last night and played for a little while.

The very first things that hit me were the visuals and humor. This game is gorgeous and funny. It could very well be the most beautiful flash game I've ever played. Not that I play a lot of flash games, certainly not of this caliber.

Making a Glitch is easy. You just pick from one of four different avatars. You can customize them later, which I haven't yet done.

The tutorial is fun and engaging. You start off in a brain and walk out into the world, where you pet a piggy, water a tree and squeeze a chicken. Yes, they are making that joke.

Which brings me to the humor.

This is an adult game. You have to be at least fourteen to play, and under seventeen requires parental consent, although I just saw one of those checkboxes so I'm not sure how they enforce the parental consent part. While it has a cute and cuddly visual style, this is certainly not a family game. That's not to say that you shouldn't let your young adult play. I don't think this is inappropriate at all, and so far it's no worse than any PG-13 movie. There is booze, and there are drugs ("no-no powder"), and there is a lot of innuendo, but everything is so tongue-in-cheek that it's of the "if your kids understand it's not our fault" variety. I personally love it, and I'd be happy to let my fourteen-year-old play if I had one. This is up to the parents, of course, but there's no explicit sexual tones and no violence. Just good old-fashioned playground humor. I can't speak for the community yet, but I was impressed by the maturity level of the forums.

Now, the big question is: Is the game fun?

Maybe.

This is a sandbox game. There are quests to do, and there is a vague overall plot/goal which is laid out in the tutorial, but there's no real story to it. Much like Eve Online, the game is what you make of it. Unlike Eve, you can't make any money off it. ;) Okay, there are a lot of differences, but the type of game is the same. You do what you want to do and things will happen.

Hardcore players will probably get bored. Casual players will love it. My initial impression was "hey, I'm in Farmville!" The biggest focus is on crafting. Mining, gardening, farming, cooking, creating. There's a lot to do, but it's the sort of thing that's considered the province of casual games. For the curious, there's a lot to explore, too. Also like Eve Online, you get skills to research, and the research is done even while you're not playing so your Glitch continues to grow and improve while you're away.

In the next couple weeks, Tiny Speck will open up a feature that really sets their game apart. You create the world as you go through group quests. The world itself is divided into "streets" and it's up to the players to create those streets. I'm not sure how this works yet, but I understand there are crafting options and a group vote and the street turns out to reflect what avenue the players took to create it (see what I did there?).

One last thing, speaking of streets... the game is 2d. In a genre where 3d rules, it's refreshing to see a break from the mold. I wasn't really crazy about the 2d aspect in a combat-heavy game like Maple Story, but I think it works well here. The streets are laid out intelligently and I get a really nice old-school vibe in that there are hidden areas and pathways to explore in the individual streets. Hopefully they'll add more hidden secrets and alternate pathways.

I'll be customizing my avatar next before I resume playing. One of the great benefits of this being a flash-based browser game is that there is a lot you can do on the website without actually logging in to the game, like avatar customization and picking skills. Another great benefit is that you can play this anywhere on any computer with a browser and flash installed.

I really like this game. It may not be for everybody, but I think it'll turn out to be something I'll play for a good long time.