Manole
For those who don't care for room escape games, this gorgeous action game may be more your style.
From Romania comes Manole, a simple little Flash game in which you try to fly as far as you can by clicking the mouse to flap your wings. Wing flapping burns energy, and once you're out of energy your flight is over.
Begin by clicking once to start your approach, click once more to kick off near the end of the tower. Preserve your clicks for as long as you can, and only click when necessary. Collect the white wings for a boost in speed, and avoid the birds—they will slow you down.
Haystacks can help by giving you a lift if you hit them at the right angle; or they can hurt you by stopping you short if you crash into them too low.
Similar to the genre-defining penguin tossing games, as well as Nanaca Crash and Six Feet Under, both previously reviewed here, this game is a little bit of skill mixed with a lot of luck. The result is a game that is very easy to pick-up, and won't take but a few minutes of your time to play.
The richess of the graphics and animation, parallax scrolling, as well as the subtle touches to the user interface suggest that this game was created by a highly skilled Flash game developer, or team. The gameplay also possesses some depth due to subtle changes in physics that occur during flight. Unfortunately I do not understand the language of Romania so there is little I can gleen from the site it's hosted on. Maybe our nice friend Adina will help out in the comments? =)
Created for and hosted by ejocuri.ro, a very cute and popular games site in Romania.
Very nice indeed. Click.
Update: Now available in English from the same developers and their new website, gameSheep.com.
Only 45.940 :(
How on earth people can have over 300.000 points!?
Now I get it :)
I think that we need to have one spoiler...
Fly low!
Does anyone have any flythrough?;D
I got to 180000 points once, but its hard to get much further you really need luck with the speed bonusses and the haystacks.
but its a nice and fun game for a while.
Okay, here's a discussion of what I could see of the mechanics.
You're not flying, you're falling with style. Your initial run-up is the only source of forward momentum you have. Being higher in the sky will result in you being pushed downward by a strong headwind - no loss of momentum, but you need to flap more to stay aloft. Hitting the ground, or a bird, even once will slow you down irrevocably.
Haystacks, if you hit them right, will bounce you up in the air and save you from having to flap your wings for a few seconds, but they won't make you go faster. Your energy slowly recovers over time, but once it hits 0 it doesn't come back.
Wings give you exactly enough energy for one more flap, so spending two flaps to get up in the air to grab one and three to avoid hitting the ground is not exactly an efficient move.
--GF
Thanks for the new game Jay, although I am jonesing for a new escape the room game. I managed to get 101,000 points on this one and ended up as #99.
Cheers for the excellent analysis of the mechanics, Glazius! Well done.
Oh, and my farthest is 167,000 meters so far.
my highest so far is 222,740
i think you just have to stay low and hit as many haystacks as you can. also, when youre flying low, you glide so you dont have to use up as much energy
I hit 194,500. Truthfully, I don't remember how, but I did hit a few haystacks along the way. =p
BTW Jay, I forgot about this, but did you get my e-mail with the banners? I'll send 'em again if need-be. =)
I don't seem to get anywhere. Clicking my mouse button does nothing.
Nice game. I maxed out at ~220k. Can anyone explain why a well appears when the character finally runs out of steam?
To begin with, my high score is a not-too-great 212520 (number 102 on a Romanian gaming website isn't gonna impress many people, I'm afraid).
As for the well, I'm not sure. Maybe they throw the dead body down a well? No clue. Does this remind anyone else of the story of Daedulus and Icarus? (Did I spell that right?) An excellent game, though I can't picture myself spending long enough at this game to got over 300000.
Hint Follows. Not really a spoiler though. Amor Lassie, this is especially for you.
When I started playing I always clicked too late and fell. I didn't understand why I sucked so much. Click when you are about three quarters of the platform. (I don't think that's a spoiler, is it?
One more thing, as another hint:
Hover slightly above the green line. You know the wavy one? Just a bit above it. The best place to hit a haystack is around 10 metres off the ground (it says in the top right of the screen).
i just hit about 259000 ish, but i cant seem to get past that.
of course, ive spent lots and lots of time playing this since this is one of the few games im close to the high score board =P
and i was owndering about that well thing too...maybe its some romanian custom?
Kumikodee - no, I didn't receive your email with banners. Please resend, I can't wait to see them! =)
grant0 - yes, I thought of Icarus, too. No idea about the well. Where is Adina? =)
catsmith - did you get your mouse-clicking issue worked out yet?
because we all know, Nanaca Crash only takes a few minutes of time.... ;)
....heh, I got so addicted to that game, I played it for practically an hour XD
I have the same problem catsmith has, the first click works, but then i can click with all my might but nothing happens.
Ok, boys and girls.
I saw a question regarding the well that Manole turns into when he falls. Let me explain.
In Romanian mythology, Manole is the architect of the Curtea de Arges Monastery. As everything he built during the day, falled down during the night, he had to bring sacrifice to God. So, his wife was built between the walls of the monastery, and so he could finish the building. After that, he was forced by the ruler Radu Voda to jump off the roof of his construction with wooden wings, because Radu did not want anyone else to build such a beautiful construction. In the place where Manole fell, water began flowing from the earth. There, the fountain of the monastery was built.
So that is, in short, the story of Manole. That is why he has wooden wings, that is why the well comes up.
Hope you enjoy both the story and the game.
Regards to you all,
Adina
I'm back.
Jay if you need any help with the other games, please ask me.
I didn't know about this website, so I am discovering it.
I am now playing the "Divizia A" game which is football (or soccer, as you wish). (Pretty easy - arrows for movement, z for passes and x for shooting) If you guys wanna play football, please choose Steaua (I'm a big fan) and let me know the results.
:)
Kisses
As I am at work and it's Friday, I am not in the mood to work, obviously, so let me design a small Romanian-English Dictionary:
Jocuri = Games
Jocurile = the Games
Descarca = Download
Camera = Room
Toate Jocurile = All games
Acasa = Home
And there is a case in the bottom left part of the website which says:
Jocuri pe email = Games by e-mail
Vrei sa primesti cele mai noi jocuri pe email?
=
Do you want to receive the newest games by e-mail?
Adresa ta de email = Your e-mail address.
Trimite = Send (or submit)
I hope it helps.
Cheers
Ooh, fun x3 My highest score so far is 213,290 x3 I luffz those haystacks
The mythology behind the game is a wonderful addition to the review! Excellent.
And thank you also for the helpful translation of Romanian words.
Thank you, Adina! I knew you would help. =D
Catsmith and KT Belle: so did I. You are almost definitely clicking too late. Click when he's about halfway along the wooden platform thing. Does that help?
My best score is 203,800. Once i was playing and i hit some hay and I rocketed into the sky but didn't make much distance.
Pretty fun game. High score: 245650 ^_^ #88
yay
Thanks for the tip, grant0...you were right on. Excellent game.
Beat myself. Number 94 with 219560.
Another question for Adina (thanks for helping out so much!) although this may have nothing to do with Romania at all and simply be the style of art: any idea what the thing on the haystack is? Held in place with sticks?
Catsmith: no problem. I was getting really annoyed too. jay is techsupport, always ready to help. ;-)
I know I keep commenting on this game, but I just wanted to make a few final comments, and then I will finally stop being so obsessive.
I like games that I don't have to plug in a mouse to my laptop to play, but it would be even better if you could play this game by clicking your space bar. I also quite like the art behind it, as mysterious as it is. The subtle changes as you fly are quite nice. Those birds are really annoying me though. Now I really must stop posting about this game; Jay must be getting tired of approving my comments again and again.
Yes, grant0 - you need to get yourself a TypeKey account! =p
Odd: I ascended to over 100 meters without flapping. I may have flapped just at the right point before I hit a haystack. But I'm really not sure exactly how it happened.
My highest is 251,110 after just a few tries, thanks Glazius for the detail and thanks Jay for the game, I plan on playing it more soon.
Here is how you should do it to maximize distance in my opinion:
Fly incredibly low, so low it looks like you might run directly into the haystacks. The first few times you do it, you might, but once you get used to it, you will hit just above where you would run into the stack and instead get shot up into the sky. As you come down, flap once or twice to not go directly into the dirt and repeat flying low. If you are lucky, there will be lot of haystacks and you can fly indefinetely.
243760
Every once in a while I hit a haystack and fly incredibly high, off the top of the screen! But for some reason it also makes me go so slow, that those games get some of the worst scores.
Wings aren't worth much point wise (100 points), but I haven't yet decided if they help you in the long run by flying you significantly farther or not. How far to the end of the platform you go definitely does make a difference.
Hi all,
Glad I was of help with my comments. Grant0, about your question, you were right... The haystacks usualy have at least one stick right in the middle, and the hay is gathered around that stick. I don't really know the exact "technology" of building up those haystacks (I live in Bucharest, and the hay fields are encountered mostly in the mountain villages), but the game shows what they look like.
I love the game, and the comments about the origin of it too, it makes it even more fun.
What I don't like: It's very easy to catch a brown bird (which you doesn't want) but the white ones pass you by very easily. It's a pity!
This is one of those games that I can't put down, no matter how simple it is. =p I've gotten up to 249, but can't get past that. I figured out that
you can pick up speed if you flap less often, and as others said, hang out right around the great. The wings give you a mini speed boost, but truthfully, I just leave those to luck instead of trying to get them.
I figure, the more I try, the more my chances are of getting in the top 50. =p Sweetums, nice game!
p.s. i will get those to you, jay... i promise... some time this week... =p
I've done this a few times:
I've hit a haystack attempting a normal bounce, but I've gone WAY WAY up. It takes several seconds to even return to the screen. I slow right down, but if I hit every haystack this way I could see getting some pretty high scores.
But I can't duplicate it yet.
Dave.
around 223000ish, getting me at 117th place :D
This is quite the addicting game. But I'm not sure which I like more, the game or the title screen. I hate leaving the title screen because the title music just makes me deliriously happy and I sit here dancing like an idiot in my chair. Does anyone have an idea what that tune is? My assumption would be that it's from Romania, but I don't know. I'm afraid the only way to find out might be to ask the creators, but I don't currently speak Romanian...
This may help you guys get past 2500, as I have been able to do.
You want to hover right above the green wavy line of grass or whatever and try to stay in a position to hit the haystack's... you also want to try and hit the haystack's as close to the top as possible so that you do not gain to much height, you will slow down the higher you go and lose a TON of speed... remember speed is absolutely paramount when trying to get a high score. You only have so much energy so make yourself go as fast as possible to cover as much distance as possible before it runs out.
Also don't bother with the wings to much, just get what you run into without using more than 2 flaps. I'm now on the top 50 with a 2570 run and getting better with every run, i just thought I'd share some of my experiences with you guys :D... great game that takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master lol.
170,000 :I
my personal best score is 294990 but the information posted here did not help very much to get there.
HA!
I found it. It's called "Sirba Batrineasca" by Zamfir. The song in the beginning of the game. Look up the title on Amazon. It's only got one match. Geez, what a needle-in-a-haystack quest...
About the well, now that it's in English if you click on "The Legend" on the title page it explains about Manole and the well (what Adina said, at greater length) -- it scrolls very slowly though.
I don't have much sympathy for Manole! I'd like to see a game where we help his wife escape.
Very easy game. on first try i got my favorite number (17) on the high scores. I am listed as J Gibel on there
Update