Only The Game Is The Same: Oh No, My Leg

Ragdoll physics – the words conjure up a ragdoll, and some physics. But what about the plethora of great flash games based on those physics? And how come so many of them seem to involve amputation?

Let’s start with Ragdoll Ricochet, in which your arrow keys control a man in a cave, possessed of the power of flight. But that power won’t save him, because he’s under constant attack from a barrage of buzzsaw blades intent on chopping off his ever extremity! How long can you keep him alive? This is pretty much the ur-ragdoll game – lots of blood and guts, and the character can theoretically lose all of his limbs and still stay alive, although most of the collisions cleanly sever head from neck and end the game. It’s bloody and deeply unpleasant, but undeniably addictive. I give it a whopping four limbs out of four.

Moving onto Ragdoll Avalanche, we have a less human-looking ragdoll, but the same gameplay – curiously, despite the fact that more death rains down from above than in the last game, it’s possible to last longer, the collision detection allowing you to make hairsbreadth escapes even as you lost one limb after another in a hideous frenzy of blood and gore. The snipping sound, like a pair of scissors, that signals the loss of limb or life shall haunt me to my dying day, as will the terrible thud of your severed head as it bounces around the screen. Another four limbs out of four.

Finally, we have Ragdoll Invaders, by the same people – a definite step up, as now your flying man is possessed of the power of lasers that fly out of his hands! The better to face an alien threat of ships descending from the sky, with beams of their own that either slice our man up (or satisfyingly remove a limb or two), blow him apart, or (disappointingly) just punch him hard enough to apparently kill him. Fortunately every downed ship releases an extra life, which sounds like a lot of help, but isn’t really. It’s got everything – blood, gore, pulse-pounding gameplay, even an old-fashioned space invadery concept. I award it five our of four limbs! Hooray for severed limbs of all kinds!