Elasto Mania

The Good
ElastoMania is a deceiving game. When you start playing the game, you see basic menus with hideous backgrounds. When you get to play the game, you see amateur graphics and hideous engine sounds. But when you start playing, you are sold. This game's playability is superior!

Basically, you are dropped into a level, where you have to collect all the apples and then touch the flower and the level has been completed? Easy to learn? You bet. Easy game? No way. The levels are magnificent. They fit the game in their way perfectly. There are steep drops, wild stunts, and everything in between.

Physics laws have been reduced to the exact minimum. There are actually four basic objects that are considered things.

Number 1. The driver's head. If you hit your head on anything except a flower or an apple, you are dead. Period.

Numbers 2. The two tyres of the bike. They are, along with the head, the only thing that react on the world. The wheels can make contact with the walls, with each other and with the head. The only way you can lose a tyre is to hit a "killer".

Number 3. The surfaces. You can drive on these. That's not big news. But it's the way you can drive. Surfaces only react with the head and the tyres. Nothing else matters. For instance, you can drive upside down with your tyres above the thin line of surface and your head and the rest of the bike below. Or one of the tyres on either side of the surface. Sound crazy? It is. Sounds fun? You don't believe it until you try it.

Number 4: The killers. they are basically these spike balls you don't want to touch. again, you can drive so that your tyres go below the killer and your head above and the killer goes through your tummy and the bike. And you survive.

The game is very addictive The "I'll just play one more game"-effect is strongly there as one game only takes ½-5 minutes, depending on the level. The shareware version has about 10 levels while the full version has over 50 along with the level editor.

The Bad
Well, the sounds are slightly annoying... But only slightly.

The Bottom Line
This game shows you that you don't need any 3D effects or 3D sounds or anything like that for a game to be good. This game works with a 120 Pentium as well as on the newest CPU's. This is one of the best games around for a hilarious moment or two, but if you play those few moments, you suddenly notice that you've been playing for two hours.