In Focus: Minotaur China Shop
Minotaur China Shop, an excellent new game from Flashbang Studios, makers of such odd and exhilarating games as Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Jetpack Brontosaurus, is a lesson in irony. The game puts the old saying, “A bull in a china shop” into perspective as a bumbling Minotaur attempts to run a shop full of breakables - a feat made nearly impossible by his large stature and brutish nature.
Luckily this former denizen of a dungeon is bull headed and has an insurance policy that will pay out for damages when the proprietor goes bat-shit crazy into a rage and wrecks everything in the joint. This rage is aided further by a number of interesting power-ups that you can buy like the table toss, a mad dashing move and several moves involving giant hooven feet.
The game reminds me of Diner Dash, where the player has only a few minutes to deliver the wants and needs of a customer whose love for the item wanes the longer you make him, her or it wait. The gameplay is not all that compelling without the Minotaur’s obviously handicapped gait or his propensity for violence against the very objects he hopes will change his life forever.
If the old minotaur can manage to keep his cool and serve up customers quickly with minimal damage to the delicate inventory - or send himself into a rage and get paid by the insurance for his destructive behavior, he’ll make enough money to marry a cow and live happily ever after.. or as happily as a minotaur can live out the remaining days being married to a cow..
Minotaur China Shop uses the Unity game engine, which means you can load it right up in your browser and play it free, so there is no real reason not to try this game. Take the game for a spin and let me know what you think. Personally I enjoyed the delicate balance of comedy and challenge..
If you haven’t taken the time to check out the demo or buy the full retail version of the game, then you may want to check out this nifty little Flash-based web game inspired by Mirror’s Edge. The Flash game, which is apparently in beta, was developed by Brad Borne, creator of 