Taking the casual game standard of saving "relative X" by starting a business that involves giving "thing Y" to a number of customers by way of a puzzle challenge, Balloon Express follows in the tradition of a dozen other “service games.” In this case, you get to take a balloon filled with mail and deliver it to hundreds of people around the world. It’s a little bit Pizza Frenzy, a little bit Diner Dash, and a little bit Zaxxon. That will make a lot more sense when you play, trust me.
As you float across the land you can inspect each house to see what the people want, if anything, by clicking on it. Then, if they are in the mood for mail, you can select the right package from your bag and shoot it down a rope to the waiting customer. It's good fun, and a heck of a workout on your mouse clicking skills. On the down side, the game can get a bit hard, and the combination of the sluggish speed of the balloon and the propensity to send it to the wrong place by clicking the ground by accident can lead to some frustration.
Additionally, there is a groovy Puzzle mode, which is a sort of mail delivery logic-puzzle where you are picking up and delivering mail to a group of homes who seem unreasonably addicted to air-freight. Again, the gameplay is original, and though it’s trivial to learn how to play it can keep you amused quite a while. I ended up playing the puzzles almost as much as the main game in the end.
Overall, Balloon Express is an original and compelling game from the kind of independent developer people always talk about wanting to support. So support them - go check it out.
Review by
Nick Kojima
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