Flash game freebie: Action Turnip

We’re not sure exactly what it is a turnip would be running madly away from – except possibly a hungry, knife-wielding chef in search of a perfect summer salad topping – but the little veggie protagonist in Action Turnip has a lot of spunk. PartCanabalt, part action shooter, and part random bizarreness, this twitchy and crazy web browser game is utterly charming and a hell of a lot of fun.

As a little manic turnip dude, you’re stuck charging along a precarious path full of pits, crags, and other things to snag your foot on and fall to your doom against an ominous backdrop of dark clouds and lightning bolts. You can move left and right, jump, and fire bullets in any direction. While zipping along avoiding obstacles, you have to blast away flying eyeball bat monsters, charging beaked things, and other unfriendly critters that get in your way. Dividing your time and attention between dodging and killing gets pretty frantic. Every second you stay alive, your score meter increases. No matter how many times you die and curse the pit or monster that sent you to a swift demise, the desire to go back and beat your last previous best grows quite strong the more you play.

There’s not a heck of a lot to Action Turnip beyond jumping, shooting, and dodging, but it’s all the little weird stuff that pops up out of nowhere that makes the game special. Shooting enough monsters in rapid succession triggers a cool combo dark world with different music and a different skyline, and it gives your turnip fellow a psychedelic rainbow trail. While some power-ups let you double jump and fire bigger bullets, others completely change the entire look of the art style and graphics or a short time. It’s a cool twist. For added fun, there’s also a more simplified one-button “Turnabalt” mode that just has you jumping in place to avoid pits. Also prepare to be sucked in by the neat hand-drawn artwork and the super catchy chiptune soundtrack. Check it outhereat Raitendo’s site.

Jul 8, 2010