Where's An Egg?
Web-based Flash game
Wired columnist Clive Thompson wrote a column this month explaining why there's no such thing as a "B-game" — a game, that akin to Plan Nine From Outer Space, is so bad that it's funny. What he didn't account for is a cunningly crafted new Flash-based stunner called Where's An Egg? It's possible that the game would be disqualified because its creators were willful in their intent (and many would argue that a "so bad it's good" experience must be unintentional). But you still can't exactly describe your enjoyment of the game as, well, a classic good gaming experience.
Where's An Egg? is reminiscent of and probably inspired by a terrific Wired feature entitled "The Lost Arcade Games of the Soviet Union." The graphics are clunky. The interface is bewildering and comical. The text is in (mock?) Cyrillic. And therein lies the appeal.
Where's An Egg? is a product of Videlectrix, the imaginary videogame company conjured up by the creators of Homestar Runner. Unlike other imaginary videogame companies (if any, in fact, exist) Videlectrix actually makes real games, including Trogdor, Peasant's Quest, The Dungeonman 3: Behold Thy Graphics! and the as-of-yet unproduced Hallrunner: For use with Arrow Keys!
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The beauty of Where's An Egg? is that it's actually very simple to play and win — except that there are no instructions. So it's up to the player to puzzle his or her way through the pictographic interface and Soviet-era mentality in order to unravel the answer to the game's title question. Suffice it to say that you're searching for an egg, and if you find it, you get rewarded by a Soviet-general looking guy. And if you don't, the ending is less celebratory, but more humorous.
Like the retro-funny cartoons of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim bloc, Videlectrix games function by serving up the stuff we once enjoyed as innocent kids (Race Bannon, cavemen with modern problems, pixelated dragons, Space Invaders-simple game mechanics) with snarky twists that tell the 30-something cynic in us that it's OK to relax and enjoy.
And while Where's An Egg? is not the next World of Warcraft, it's refreshing to spend 10-15 minutes playing around with something with absolutely no intention of trying to be the next World of Warcraft.
Although, come to think of it, the Videlectrix take on WoW will likely be a satirical gold mine when it finally comes together in 2024.
— James Norton (jim@flakmag.com)
