Balloon in a Wasteland: A Flash-based Survival Experience

Balloon in a Wasteland is a flash animation action shooter created by Newgrounds.com programmer jmtb02 and produced by Armor Games. Two song tracks used for the submission include Kim - Fallen by Newgrounds.com user Kimken and Ink's Ascension' by Newgrounds.com user TreborLocke. Additional credits, seen in the Author Comments section of the submission's site, were given to Dummeh for the main track of the game. This action submission was submitted to Newgrounds.com on February 11, 2010 and won a Daily 3rd Place award on February 12, 2010.

Game Background

Your balloon has crash-landed in a wasteland inhabited by a number of foul creatures. With the company of your weapons, forts, and turrets, survive this waste hole as you repair your balloon to prepare for your escape.

Gameplay

The objective of Balloon in a Wasteland is to ultimately repair your balloon and escape the foul wasteland of darkness and doom. While you repair your balloon, however, waves of creatures will try to attack you. You must then fight them off, survive each night, retain your stamina and repair your balloon as quickly as possible.

At the top left hand side of the screen, you can see the weapon you are currently using, along with the number of bullets left, whether or not the weapon is reloading, and the amount of cash you have in your possession. Below the picture of the weapon, there are a few tabs that can be clicked on to open the items that will be displayed. The tabs are labelled, from top to bottom, Traps, Guns, and Sleep. Clicking on the Traps tab will open the list of traps that you currently own and can use. Opening the Guns tab will open the different types of weapons that you have in your arsenal. Clicking on the Sleep tab will, obviously, put your character to sleep. This is important if you want to recover your stamina.

At the top of the screen are two prominently red bars. The top red bar indicates the amount of health you have out of 100. Being attacked by the dark wasteland monsters will reduce this meter. Do not, under any circumstances, have this meter reduced completely, unless you want to lose the game. The second bar, just below the health meter, is a meter that measures the stamina of your virtual avatar. This meter goes down periodically but can be recovered if you go to bed and sleep.

At the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you can pause the game or change the pace of the game. You can also mute the game sounds, access the game menu, and change the game quality if you think that will make things run a little more smoothly. At the bottom right hand corner, as well as the bottom left hand corner of the screen, you can view the time, and day that you are currently on to give you and idea of how long it has taken you to repair your precious balloon of salvation.

At the bottom of the screen is a side-scrolling marquee that will advertise the events that will be coming up in the future. You can, for instance, find out when the next wave of enemies will be approaching. A few other events include accessing the Guns shop, Forts shop, Traps shop, and others. Paying attention to this scrolling list of events can be the key to your success.

When the event comes up, a truck will come by that will offer a variety of objects. For instance:
Mike's Gun Emporium offers weapons for sale and upgrade. Available weapons include.
-SA Waterman Pistol
-Charleston Revolver
-DS86 Shotgun
-Uzi
-Roble Sniper Rifle
-M5 Assault
-XT33-S MachineGun
-Boompipe
Each weapon has additional upgrades that can be purchased with additional cash.

Mel's Kitchen & Home
Buy forts, which are essentially stations that can be used to recover health

Gunter's Pest Traps
Purchase Spike Trap, Tack Strip, Barbwire, and explosives, including the Squeaker and the Howler Mine, to assist you in defeating enemies.

Game Review

Balloon in a Wasteland is the most fun I have had with a flash animation creation in a long time. The gameplay is a mix between turret defense and straightforward shoot-and-run survival. The many weapons and upgrades and traps and other essentials keep the game interesting. What's more is the interesting story plot of trying to escape. With the element of both health and stamina, players have to be more careful and resourceful with regards to how they manage their game time. All of these elements fitted together in this creation make Balloon in a Wasteland an excellent survival game.

Balloon in a Wasteland scores a 10/10 for its high entertainment and replay value.