Weak Story
Other then the incredible visuals, art style and animation, there really isn't anything spectacular about this game; lack of character development, lifeless characters, idiotic ending, pointless scenes, and some of the most linear gameplay through out.
The story is just weak, very weak. I really just didn't care for anything because there wasn't enough for me to start caring, at all. The story revolves around Jonah "The Hunch" who for all his life only knew the fair. Until one day when he was a paper advertising the happy celebration about to commence in a town called Loodon (No doubt ripped-off from London, England). So Jonah left Loodon.
The problem I have with the story is the lack of character development and well crafted characters; Jonah, The man in the hat, the black man, Jonah's friends at the fair, the priest looking guy (Or perhaps he was a priest), The tall woman and the little boy that followed him, they were all completely lifeless characters and there was nothing to like nor to dislike. The incident with the tall woman and the child was just so stupid, I wondered "Why on earth did that happen, what's going on?" And the ending was just poorly explained, as it didn't make any ounce of sense, resulting in a very weak and awful ending.
I'm not going to lie, but I actually thought Canabalt had a much better story.
The gameplay is just a complete bore; it is the most linear game I have ever played, I couldn't at all make my own decisions. The game practically pointed out everything I had to do - What I had to pick up, who I had to speak to, what I must interact with, etc. I could interact with what the game told me to and it just felt like a force. Games should show a sense of freedom, and this felt like it should have been just a movie.
I really didn't appreciate the "poetry," and I use that term very loosely because it was nothing but rhyming words an they did nothing to boost my emotions for the story. Dr. Seuss's works are more emotional than this, and much better written. As some have pointed out, there are some spelling errors.
The graphics are the only good thing, and I mean the ONLY good thing about this whole entire game. The 3D characters within the background are well detailed and smoothly animated, though some 3D characters would show no animations what so ever, and the very well drawn background are just amazing. The visuals definitely have more of an effect when playing in the dark. Not that this is a horror game, but playing in the dark is much better. The overall visuals are the best I have seen in any Flash Game, possibly even topping previous Flash Games I have said were the best I've seen.
Okay, I'll admit that the audio is good too. The music was nice and went very well, good sound effects, but there wasn't any voice acting. The lack of voice acting is fine with me though 'cause I couldn't imagine voice acting being used in this sort of game, rather if it's good or bad voice acting. The only downside is the constant loop of people talking when entering Loodon.
If you people are disagreeing with me and would like to see me write a better story, well I currently am. I am in the middle of writing a story of my own which I hope will be apart of a fantasy, sci-fi series. So it's just a matter of time before you eat your words doubting that I could write a better story!
NOTE: This is my opinion; I'm not going to sit here and lie just to make you feel better!
GOOD - Incredible visuals. Great music.
BAD - Very weak story. Poorly written poetry. Some animation loops. idiotic moments. Awful and poorly explained ending. Lack of character development. All major characters were lifeless.