Space Giraffe

Space Giraffe does an incredible job of tying score to performance, and the feeling that there's always a way to squeeze a few more points out of a level provides amazing replay value.

Just as the film industry has had David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, or the music industry Laurie Anderson and Phillip Glass, or the art world its Salvador Dali, so to does the videogame industry have its own creative maverick in Jeff Minter. I'm glad he exists and I'm ecstatic that he's still doing what he wants, how he wants. Best 400-points I've ever spent.

Play it until the scoring system clicks and it'll have you forever. At 400 points, it's a bargain. [Nov 2007, p.96]

As much as I personally love it, there are plenty of people out there who will outright loathe it. Many won't manage to see past the colors and will simply be unable to play the game. It can also be deeply unforgiving, and while there are concessions in the form of the automatic save, you'll usually advance two or three levels and then hit an absolute brick wall of a stage that will take multiple tries to finish.

The game offers a very frustrating learning curve but once you pass that you’ll uncover a pretty decent game with a lot of replay value.

It’s absolutely functional and undeniably one of a kind, the product of a truly creative mind - but it’s so atypical and requires so much effort to appreciate that very few will find it truly worthwhile.

With incredibly poor visibility(apparently by design)and a thumping electronica soundtrack peppered with sophomoric sound effects, Space Giraffe offers a generous 100 levels of damn-near-unplayable technoslop. [Oct 2007, p.74]