Those dirty rats! I'm referring to PixelJam, a group of highly skilled Flash game developers who have just released a sequel to their previously released Rat Maze game titled, not surprisingly, Rat Maze 2.
The scenario and objective remain the same: You are a mouse in a maze and you must collect all the pieces of cheese in the shortest time possible. Use the arrow keys for movement to zip around the maze. Running over a cheese is as good as eating it, so no time is wasted collecting them all.
While both games are similar, Rat Maze 2 offers the player a little more challenge and variety by introducing balls that must be rolled into place and letters of the game title to find. Getting the balls into place will open doors and grant access to a few choice morsels. Just bump into the balls when you find them to get them rolling, but you will also have to locate where they belong.
Tip: turn scroll "on" in the game options menu to have the background scroll as you move, keeping you in the center of the screen at all times. This helps by allowing you to see a bit more of the maze at a time, but not by much. Also in the options menu are switches for playing the original Rat Maze, as well as for changing the soundtrack or the appearance of the rat.
Analysis: I'll admit that I passed on the original Rat Maze when it was first released. There just wasn't enough there to compel me to play for very long. And to be honest, not a lot has changed with the sequel. Still, they are both well-made games with a few secrets to find along the way, and the addition of the balls to knock around and letters to find makes Rat Maze 2 a bit more engaging than its predecessor. Both games suffer from not being able to see more of the maze, though, and finding that last bite or two of cheese can become quite frustrating. If there were an indicator pointing in the direction of the nearest cheese then perhaps this game would be a classic. The simple, retro appearance and infectious soundtrack goes well with the gameplay, and offers a surprisingly realistic experience of being a rat trapped in a maze, if that's your thing. ;) Play Rat Maze 2.
The folks at PixelJam are also the creators of Gamma Bros., an amazingly good Flash arcade space shooter reviewed here almost exactly one year ago.
Rat Maze 2 walkthrough now available!
Comments (may contain spoilers)
what makes them high skilled btw?
another great game, but they dont seem to be very special in there coding :/
Oh? Why is that, tremalto?
I think anyone capable of churning out games at the rate of 2 or 3 per year with well-defined goals and objectives, theme-consistent pleasing graphics, easy to use interfaces, and that run decently in virtually any browser, are highly skilled individuals. And, by the way, I test all games on my rather slow PowerPC Mac—a real performance test for games—and all PixelJam games run very well.
So what's the rationale for your comment?
Posted by:
jay 
|
June 26, 2007 5:09 PM
are you absolutely sure that you are a MOUSE?
they put a lot of great minigame into it anyways its making me having epileptic attacks ;)
cause of "low" quality and the movement but thats not what i wanted to say^^ they put allot of stuff into that, another great job PixelJam!
Very basic game, yet had me running around fantically looking for my last 2 cheeses when there was only 20 seconds left.
finished with a score of 12800
I encountered a bug, when hitting a bowl just at the wall of the room, and got locked out, unable to reenter :-(
The game is rather simple in design, I would find it far more fantasitic if the same were for example a javascript game once in a while instead of the usual flash...
Posted by:
fuzzygrid |
June 26, 2007 5:54 PM
Um... I don't think thats a bug... were you in a blue room? There is a wall that you can get through if thats what you are referring to
also it's pretty dang disapointing when you get all the ratmaze letters and go to the shiny place at the end only to be stuck on those two rainbow balls
Pretty fun. I can't beat it. The closed off A and M evade me. but really fun. Found a neat trick:
Ben:
Can anyone tell me where the M is? I can't find it...
The M is
similar to the A but it's an entire room. It's easier to locate if you turn scrolling on.
What's the point of that little green dude on the island in ratmaze 1? Can you get to it somehow?
@jay..
that was no (negative) critizism i was just interested in the way you think they are high skilled, it happens not to often that you write a commendation like that in a review :)
Well, whats the rationale of my comment. Well in RatMaze there aren't many nice tweaks. To be honest, the only thing i realy like is how they involve the minigames. The coding background for RatMaze still doesn't seem to be too complex cause most things are pretty easy with flash. But your are right, probably a "creepy" made (now) clone, won't pass your PowerPC Mac ;)
(BTW i forgot a bit about how GammaBros worked, thought gamma bros realy is somewhat impressive.)
yurian, no it is a bug! Normally the walls close and you can reopen them by hitting that switch.
However if you touch the ball, while beeing exactly in the doorway you are locked out, unable to reach the switch.
Posted by:
fuzzygrid |
June 27, 2007 5:19 AM
Got 72/72.
Walkthrough
Map for Rat Maze 2:
Map for original Rat Maze:
Posted by:
art begotti |
June 27, 2007 3:21 PM
I can't figure out how to get the T on the stone! I can see it, what I do I have to do to make it appear?
Posted by:
octochan |
June 28, 2007 2:08 PM
octohan,
to get the "t" you have to enter on the left side of the stone, as shown in the walkthrough diagram.
i ate all the cheese!!! 56035.
here's a hint to get full bonus:
Charming lil game. A small boost i noticed in the outdoors section south of the blue river: If you push the purple ball into the hole to its right, and proceed after it onto the island, you get an extra piece of fruit to speed you up. You can do this as many times as you like.
At the bonus part all the big cheese are in black colour (i can't pick them). Why?
@ Pipi
The letters are black because you didn't get all the letters in the maze
Did anyone get the secret besides me? there's a room in one of the mazes that has an address.
Simple tip to give a slight hint at the letter without giving it away completely:
T:stone
M:under start(fake wall)
A:in pool room
R:beside the three balls in a orange room
A:blue room(run right)
Z:next of a yellow ball
E:pink room(E is funny cause he runs)
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Walkthrough
Map for Rat Maze 2:
Map for original Rat Maze:
Posted by: art begotti
|
June 27, 2007 3:21 PM