Blush

Developer: Blurst
Publisher: Blurst
Release Date: March 2, 2009
System: PC
ESRB Rating: N/A
Official Web site

In a nutshell: The first stage of Spore, minus the evolution and plus a time limit.

0:00 I enjoyed the developer's previous Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Minotaur China Shop, but found they didn't have much staying power. Been hearing good stuff about this one, though, so looking forward to trying it out.

0:01 This minute spent downloading and installing the "Unity Web Player," which I was relatively sure I already had. I guess I played the others on my laptop...

0:02 I'm all logged in and confronted with a tranquil underwater scene, complete with transparent mushrooms resting on rocks and ethereal, Auditorium-style music.

0:03 I click "Play" and a purple jellyfish appears in the middle of the water. Clicking anywhere on the screen makes him swim towards the pointer with his spindly tentacles. Oh, shoot, I just noticed there's a time limit ticking down in the corner and I can't figure out how to pause. I'll be back in roughly 3:13.

0:07 Time's up. The game is all about attacking the other cephalopods by spinning my body and whipping my tentacles at them. Then I have to pick up the eggs they drop and drop them off at glowing white "collection points," which I have the darndest time finding, actually. Near the end of my time I'm pursued by a giant, transparent blue hydra, who manages to bite off a bunch of my tentacles. This is followed by the most "No duh" pop-up tip I've ever seen: "Enemies can hurt you." My performance gets me 68,300 points and #28,322 on the leaderboards.

Read the full review at Crispy Gamer