Level Up! A platform-hopping RPG Time-Waster

I don't know if this is a labor of love or merely the brainchild of four very gifted games designers, but Level Up is a really weird mash-up of gaming elements that you have probably never seen in a Flash game before.

Let's start with the premise itself: Groundhog Day meets Memento. The game experience revolves around 'days': you explore the world and the clock slowly ticks towards the evening. You bounce around picking up gems and talking to the denizens of 'Level Upland'. Eventually you feel tired and head back to the house to sleep. All normal and fairly boring so far.

And then you face your nightmares. You are pitched in a battle against death or fear or loathing -- you don't quite know. You lose the fight and you're stripped of all your memories and propelled back into the real world with only your written notes, your codex, to guide you.

I opened Level Up expecting to play it for just a few minutes, and stayed for an hour. It's surprising just how big the world is and how much dialogue the characters dotted around the world will share with you. (Warning: the dialogue gets a little bit banal at times, but just hammer 'X' to skip it and you'll be fine.) There's something about this kind of game that I can't quite put my finger on. Something about levelling-up your jumping skill simply by jumping. Grrrr. Damn, damn RPGs.

Those of you with addictive personalities are probably a little bit worried at the moment. You're looking at the screenshot above and swallowing drily, biting your lip in anticipation: yes, this game even has medals for various achievements. Yes, this is another one of those Time-Wasters that will eat up an entire afternoon. Sorry.

[via Casual Gameplay]