Gameplay Today - Because You're Always Gaming

The Flying Hamster, created by independent developer The Game Atelier, was released in early December as a PSP Mini for the PlayStation Network. Since it is a PSP Mini, the game is conveniently playable on both the PSP and PS3. The narrative of The Flying Hamster follows the adventures of the petite aerial mammal named Newton on a quest to regain his golden seed and girlfriend, Miss Sookie; after both are kidnapped by the insidious Giant Eagle. The plucky little guy will battle through raging seas, penguin-infested ruins, and alien spaceships in an attempt to save his love and lunch.

Newton enters the fray equipped with a leaf helicopter to soar, and cheeks to store ammunition. Gameplay follows a standard shoot 'em up formula as each level will have you dodging and blasting everything from fireballs to bananas out of your mouth to survive and defeat the stage's captor in order to advance. Many cleverly implemented power-ups litter the environments to temporarily replace your spit wads including thorns, exploding berries, beer and many others. These items even change their appearance depending on which of the game's five levels - each with its own stylistic theme - you are playing at the time. Controls are thankfully tight and responsive which therefore makes avoiding the many projectiles and enemies the game will throw at you much easier.

The artistic design of The Flying Hamster crosses adorable animals with clean and well drawn backdrops. Enemy designs range from being cute as a button to extremely funky such as fish-chucking bears and umbrella-wielding penguins. The game's design choices for enemies and items display a charming sense of humor that pass through to the character designs as well as the story. One example is the rainbow-firing mouse boss from the Japan-themed area who is based on the popular Japanese comedian Masaki Sumitani's “Hard Gay” character. The backgrounds for every stage are colorful, highly detailed, and full of animation which makes them a joy to view and, by extension, more fun to play.

There are not many negative things for me to say about this game besides wishing it were longer. If you are a gamer who likes shmups then this title does its job well and is a humorous distraction all the way to the credits. The difficulty is well balanced for those new to the genre, taking little more than an hour or two to reach the ending under normal difficulty, and as a bonus, there is also an unlockable hard mode following the first play through. Also, due to its handy continue function which allows Newton to restart after a game over partway through a level, the game can be beaten even by novices if they are dedicated enough. I would recommend this game to those new to the shmup style of gameplay as this would serve as an uncomplicated and pleasurable introduction. In the end, The Flying Hamster is a simple game that is both nice to look at and fun to play.