Suicidal Squirrels

Put your hand up if you used to play the classic game Lemmings on the PC but secretly preferred to see the little critters die with a satisfying ‘squelch’ sound? Well if this is you, and let’s face it there’s no harm in admitting your cruel streak – then Suicidal Squirrels is definitely the right game for you!

For those of you unfamiliar with Suicidal Squirrels, the object of the game is to solve a puzzle of getting your entire number of squirrels from start to finish through a maze of obstacles. You have an arsenal of tools at your disposal – from abseil ropes, drills, blow-torches, tightropes and jet-packs. But before you think that this is going to be a walk in the park – you’d be wrong! You will have to get your timing down to a tee, and also getting familiar with what key does what is important or else your hard work can swiftly come undone in just one click!

As with lemmings, these squirrels are equally infuriatingly stupid which leads to many hours of screaming at your phone when things go wrong. The designers definitely had the right idea when putting them out of their misery at the end of each level in various satisfying ways – acid bath, circular saw, fire and electric fence all greet the unsuspecting flock of tree climbing vermin as your reward for getting them through.

The game is very addictive and never quite as straight forward as the first look may lead you to believe. However, this is quite a ‘marmite’ kind of game which will either grow on you or will make you wish you had picked something else. For those who enjoy solving puzzles, beating the clock, seeing cute fluffy tailed creatures meeting their maker in sadistic ways, then this is most certainly the best thing for you (or possibly therapy is?). Those of you who want more action and a little less repetition may wish to give this a miss or indeed find the Lemmings game instead!

Unfortunately my trusty Sony Ericsson C905 made a bit of a hash job of picking the right squirrel for the task which inadvertently meant I lost the level and had to start all over again. This experience can be seen in one of two ways – funny and adds to the challenge, or, as in my case, irritating and poorly designed. The game is challenging enough without having to add to the difficulty by giving you a rather inept cursor.

Although this game offers you a number of challenges, the repetition of each level is sadly not alleviated by the rather limited tools nor by the splattered remains of the cute and cuddly squirrel – which you’ve been ironically trying to save just to watch their demise, which rather defeats the purpose. This rather illustrates the point – which is your mind is found wandering rather than simply enjoying the moment. This is a little bitter-sweet for me as I wanted nothing more than to kill these little fuzzy things off but it’s not as fun as it could be or as rewarding as it should be at the end of each level. In a brief summary, it’s rather disappointing but still far from a terrible game.

Rating 40%

Positives

Good boredom buster

Short games so great if you have only a few minutes spare

You get to kill something and not feel too guilty about it

Frustrating fun

Negatives

Terrible controls

Repetitive, Repetitive, Repetitive… I think you get the picture

Could cause you to throw your handset away in frustration

The various ways of killing off tree rats wears a bit thin by the 15^th level