Bonjour, Hola, Bonjourno, Aloha, and Hello. My name’s James, and i’m the latest ‘ruddy journo’ on this site. (Sorry, I was watching ‘Green Street’ earlier..)
This report comes to you in two bite sized pieces: me and Storked! Firstly, me.
The lovely editors, Dan and Brian, accepted my sample article because I hypnotised them into a sense of nativity and irony. So, now I’m here writing to you! I hope to fulfil many interesting topics, with varying degrees of comedic value/actual game-play. For example, the games market is ever fluctuating, and does effect the games you play after a long hard day at the office, so I hope to inject a bit of outlook for you. Like John Fisher with an umbrella, me and games go together, so I do hope you enjoy me!

Now. Onto serious business.
‘Storked’ is an icy plat former, where you take on the roles of four friendly penguins, in an effort to get an egg into a basket.

Tony, the strong one, lifting a box to place delicately on a button.

It comes from Graduate Games, the cool dudes who are continuously bringing you great, yet simple and pure games, from the stylings that reflect an early SNES game…but with fish eating penguins.
Though it sounds dramatically simple, the player must switch between penguins in order to achieve the final goal. For example, ‘Murray’ has a snow ball throwing ability, and thus can switch switches, whereas ‘Milton’ is a techno-geek, and can utilise various gadgets such as the jet pack, diving suit, transporter, and egg bubble: for all your egg-protection needs. As three of the four cuddly companions lack jumping abilities, it’s challenging yet rewarding, forcing you to truly think about your path downward towards the basket. Something I found was the clever placement of ‘red herrings’ throughout, making me feel incredibly silly and oblivious when I found there was such a simple way all along.
To unlock further levels, you must complete a variety of tasks, from eating more fish, to running your little legs off whilst kicking an egg along some ice to get to the basket. Reminiscent of Sanka’s lucky egg from ‘Cool Runnings’, it was a dream come true learning that the egg was taking a pivotal role in this particular game. It’s a fantastic example of the home-grown gaming that’s coming back into fashion, with the ever-changing world of Retro gaming, Xbox Live Indie Games, and increasingly restored titles. For a mere cost, you could be challenged to a surprisingly complex plat former, unlike most I’ve seen.

Go forth readers, and waddle to your hearts content! Visit www.graduategames.com and then come back, to read last month’s interview with the top fellows themselves!

[starreview tpl=16]