While it is pretty to look at, The Blue Flamingo is rather underwhelming as a game.

1) Control lag and movement inertia. I hope you don't like having fine control over your ship. It makes the game vastly less enjoyable to play as a result.

2) Enemy design is incredibly basic. There's a lot of the same enemy from the last level, who flies the exact same way and shoots the exact same way, over and over, level after level. There are even enemies that litereally do nothing but take a bunch of hits. Nothing remotely interesting starts to show up until you've looped the game around six times.

3) Weapons are dull and uninteresting. Leveling up your shot only increases fire rate. No shot type selection or variety to choose from.

4) Color selection. In most games of this type, certain colors are reserved for important information (such as enemy bullets), so they are always visible and clear. The nighttime cityscape background breaks this basic design rule, as bullets and enemies blend seamlessly into the background colors. Lucky for us enemy fire is absurdly predictable.

5) Menus ignore your button config; you always have to press enter to do anything regardless of what you set for your action buttons. Also they use blinking text to show what you are highlighting, meaning you have to wait a second just to see what you're actually selecting.

In conclusion, The Blue Flamingo has sloppy controls and uninteresting gameplay. Not recommended.

If you're looking for good shmups on Steam, I can recommend: Crimzon Clover, Kamui, Jamestown, Alltynex 2nd, Astebreed, Danmaku Unlimited 2, Ether Vapor Remaster, RefleX, and Satazius.

A definite curiosity, given that every unconventional decision the devs have made (e.g. graphics, music) is "balanced" by another decision stubbornly steeped in tradition (e.g. gameplay, sound effects).

First up, and most notably, the graphics. Equal parts beautiful and bizarre, both the aircraft and scenery were hand-crafted with models; and while this doesn't necessarily make for the most aesthetically flawless game in shoot-'em-up history, it does make for one of the more unique-looking ones. There's even roads with moving cars and tracks with moving trains on the ground far below you, and explosions created with the aid of firecrackers! It's all quite charmingly "Thomas the Tank Engine"-ish, really (albiet from a bird's-eye point of view, and with a slightly older audience in mind).

Then there's the soundtrack, which is comprised entirely of swing-y jazz numbers with a twist of country. In an era full of gamer guys and gals whose idea of musical "entertainment" consists primarily of electronic bloops and bleeps, it's a bold decision to say the least. And one which, I'm pleased to report, works alarmingly well (even if the two tracks on offer do get old kinda quickly).

But if you think that all sounds a bit "quaint", like a video game from the 1930s which of course never quite existed, rest assured that the GAMEPLAY is straight out of an 80s arcade machine. You know the type of top-down shooters where you move up, down, left, right, and just shoot, shoot, shoot (and unleash the occasional screen-decimating bomb, for good measure)? Yup. It's one of those. No twists, no innovations...exactly like the one you used to play in the corner store near your high school during lunch hours (yeah, I'm that old). And I wouldn't even say it's one of the BETTER ones of its type, given how repetitive the vertically-scrolling scenery and recycled level design quickly becomes. Oh, and to make things extra-hard, you only get one "man" (granted one with quite a bit of health, but once you crash it's GAME OVER, chum).

That said, perhaps the closest game this reminds me of - at least in spirit - is another recent-ish Steam release called Ballpoint Universe. That one did something quite similar with hand-drawn biro artwork and a side-on scrolling POV; but in all fairness, it did also attempt to add a bit of skewed storytelling and psuedo-platforming to an otherwise equally conventional 2D shooter. The end result was a bit on the baffling side at times, though, so The Blue Flamingo does ultimately emerge as the slightly more "fun" and "accessible" of the two excursions.

This certainly isn't a game which could be recommended for the gameplay alone (unless you're the type who eats shmups for breakfast). But it is cheap, even when NOT on sale, and is certainly worth a look for the plain-old-curious, and even more so for those intrigued by the astonishing visual possibilities for games as we head into infinity and beyond.

Verdict: 7.5/10.

Novelty graphics and sound effects that while beatiful and charming, quickly wear out their welcome after only a few minutes of dealing with the horrible controls (even menu control with an Xbox360 pad is atrocious). The designers obvious lack of shmup experience make this nothing more than a poorly executed artistic expression under the guise of a "shoot 'em up".

3 out of 10

This game is a simple shoot them up game, and that gameplay persists throughout the game. Unlike using the concept of "life" as in some classic series, this game use the concept of "repair level" or "damage" where each hit will damage your aircraft. Each hit can't be repaired, in line with classic shoot them up games. In addition, there are no power ups in the game, the only power up you may receive is after completing a level, where you can upgrade your weapons or bombs.

Brilliant art
The game is handcrafted, and its shown in the game. I really love how the game is designed, and the design in the game itself. The game is not photo-realistic, but not cartoony, the art is a very good. You can see for yourself how the developers of this game create the terrains and such, it's a very good video. On how the design of the game itself is also looks very good, a perfect balance between realistic photographs and drawn animation (because the developers of this game do use their handcrafted terrain as a basis for the design of the game).

I don't like the looks of the Blue Flamingo (it have too much round shapes) but I do like how the art of it. There are also interesting small details in the background of the game (trailers in the middle of mountain, trains, cars, etc.) that makes the art, even more, interesting.

Brilliant music
The music is simply brilliant. It fits to the theme of the game, and the music is relaxed enough to be able to be easily listened.

Gameplay is Boring
Sadly, gameplay is boring. There are not much enemy types, and there are no weapon upgrades for you. You can upgrade your guns, but visually it changes nothing, you fire the same "yellow" standard gun, just the DPS is increased. You don't have "lighting blue" "spread-out red" "purple laser" weapon upgrades as in Raiden game, you only use your regular weapon from beginning to finish. The enemy is also not varied, they have the same shape, do the same tactics, over and over. While I can understand that enemies AI could be similar, but at least the color, or the shape, of enemy between levels should be different.

Control is a bit weird
From my play, the default control is click to fire, but you have to use your keyboard to steer the plane, you can't use the mouse. It's weird to play like that. Some people complains about how the controls are a bit off, but I don't think the controls are problematic, just how they map it.

Limited to Score Attack
While I praises the game's dedication to classic shoot them up, surely they can invent something novel? Personally I am not interested just to "increase my score while getting nothing". There are no ends on this game, just grind to get the best score. No new type of bosses, no stories, nothing.

At this moment I am not recommending this game, if you see it purely from the gameplay point of view. Personally I get this game from a bundle, so price is not an issue when I purchase this game. On the other hand, this game is very cheap (under $5) and have a good art, and in my opinion, have a good developer and development team behind it.

I didn't play this game for too long. Actually it's no big deal as a vertical shoot'em up. It lacks on power ups, features and becomes repetitive very fast. Those classic shoot'em ups from 70's/80's will easily surpass this game in complexity.

But the game art design.... dude, that's awesome. They put a monsterly huge amount of effort doing physical models and digitalising it, the outcome in game is beatiful!

I bought it just to support the brilliant idea behind this. If you love indie initiative you should do the same.

I have over 500 games in my Steam account, and the vast majority of them are still unplayed. So now I'm dedicating an hour to each of these games and writing a series of One Hour Reviews. An hour isn't very long to judge a game on, so think of this as more of a first impression, and take this review in the spirit in which it's given. Be sure to read other reviews from players who have spent more time in the game.

One Hour Reviews #27 - The Blue Flamingo

Playing The Blue Flamingo reminds me of playing old shoot 'em ups from the 80s in the arcade like Galaga or Galaxian. Instead of having lives, your ship takes damage from every hit, and there's no way to repair that damage, so it's really a test to see how long you can dodge being hit before you eventually die.

What sets The Blue Flamingo apart from other shooters is the presentation. It takes a rather unique approach of using hand-crafted models for most everything, from your ship to the backgrounds. It makes for a pretty cool art style that's not your typically cartoony art.

The music style is pretty soothing and again not something you would see in a typical shooter. At first it really threw me off just because it's so different, but after some time I came to appreciate it.

There's a little bit of strategy in the gameplay in that as you clear each level, you get the choice of whether to spend coins upgrading your guns and bombs, or saving up your money and getting 10% interest on it when you get through the next level. Practically speaking though, I don't think this makes a huge impact on the gameplay because your survival is really about being able to dodge things.

My main concern with the game, however, is that I don't feel it's terribly replayable. It's just like with those arcade shoot 'em ups from the 80s, you pump in some quarters for a few games, and then you go home. It's not really something you spend hour after hour with. It's a shame you couldn't spend money to repair your ship because I think that would have added another layer of strategy to the game (health versus firepower), and made it more likely to get to some of the farther levels without having inhuman dodging skills.

I only played half an hour and I already feel like I've seen what the game has to offer. Sure, if I keep playing I might get a little farther and see a different enemy or background or two, but otherwise it doesn't seem like there's going to be anything else.

If you can catch this game on sale, or you just happen to be a really big fan of shoot 'em ups, then I think you'll find this game is worth picking up. But otherwise based on my concerns I can't really recommend this one despite how cool it looks.

The Blue Flamingo is a bit of an experimental game. Not gameplay-wise but in the way it was built. You see, the game was built entirely using handcrafted models. Effects, explosions and rocket flares were all made with firecrackers and other pyrotechnics and objects like cars are being pulled forward by strings with magnets. It’s really ambitious. But does ambition automatically produce a good game ?

At its core The Blue Flamingo is a shoot ‘em up, meaning you control an aircraft that you can move across the entire screen and by pressing (and holding) a button you’ll shoot bullets (or drop a bomb) while enemies keep approaching in waves. After a few levels the speed in which these waves approach will increase and things get more hectic. If you’ve ever played a shoot ‘em up before you’ll notice the game doesn’t really reinvent the genre. Except for one thing: scoring points.
By killing groups of enemies successfully you’re awarded a coin that you can pick up by moving your aircraft over it. These coins act as your score.
At the end of each level, of which there are just two (day and night), you get the opportunity for some target practicing. Targets will move across the screen in all kinds of directions and it’s your job to hit them all. I’m not sure what happens yet if you hit them all, but I’m sure it awards you extra points or maybe even a bomb. Let it be clear that there are no boss fights in this game.
After each level you can invest your collected coins to purchase upgrades (which will then lower your score with that same amount of money) or you can decide to continue without purchasing anything and then receive interest over it. So do you want to spend money on upgrades in the hope that you can earn it back or do you take the risk and hope that your current aircraft will do the trick as get you as far as you can. It can be a difficult choice, especially later on when levels get harder and harder.
Upgrades are limited to better guns and extra bombs by the way. So you can’t make your aircraft fly faster or give it extra armor.
It’s an interesting concept but there aren’t any real rewards. It’s just to get a better high score. And while this might be enough for some people for me it isn’t. If you introduce a risk & reward system I want the reward to something better than just a better score. Give people new skins, different aircrafts or different guns, things like that; something to play for and something that keeps people coming back. But then again, for a small game like this it’s understandable. I just don’t think people will play it for hours and hours, which is a shame considering the amount of effort was put into creating it.

I’m not going any further into the graphics, at least, not so much. Most of the things I wanted to say about it have already been said anyway. The game has a unique look, but because of the filming of the backgrounds things have become blurry, unfortunately. This was to be expected and I’m not blaming the developers here. It was an artistic choice and that should be respected.
Sounds are basic and the music doesn’t really fit the game as far as the atmosphere is concerned, but there’s nothing really wrong with it.
And the controls are smooth and navigating the screen works just fine without any problems. Collision detection is also good.

In the end Might & Delight managed to give us a cute little shoot ‘em up with The Blue Flamingo. It gives us an unique choice on managing our scores but ultimately falls short because it doesn’t really offer any replay value except for the fact that you can beat other people’s high scores (or your own) on the leaderboards. A bit more variety and content rarely ever hurt a game, but for this price we can’t really complain. Just don’t expect anything revolutionary here.

If you enjoyed this review please consider following me: curator page

The Blue Flamingo is a neat "art game" that has a unique artstyle created by actually building the terrain and all the ships in miniature and then converting photographs and video of them into the background and sprites used in the game. Somewhat defying the tendencies of "typical" art games, it's actually a shoot-'em-up, rather than a puzzle platformer or walking simulator.

Unfortunately, that's around where the neatness ends - it's a fairly short score attack game, where you play through more or less the same two levels repeatedly, just getting slightly more difficult each time, with very clunky controls. The shortness in terms of content is likely due to the limitations of the artstyle, which constrained them to only having one model for the terrain because building an impressively detailed 32-foot-long model is hard and only so many models for enemies, as those too had to be hand-built and hand-painted, but the loose controls are less forgivable, as they combine with the lack of ability to restore your health to make a game where you're rewarded for playing very conservatively, which ends up feeling rather boring.

In the end, I can't really recommend The Blue Flamingo because ultimately it doesn't hold up as anything except a neat visual experience.

This game has some good backgrounds. For a reason we'll discuss later. As of gameplay, once the level 2 ends you realize there is nothing else this game can provide you as level 3 simply uses level 1 background. You can't repair your ship and once you're dead, you start over from the beginning. So basically, 15 minutes and you've seen everything here. And this is really disappointing to realize they spent a lot of time to actually build the backgrounds in the garage (check 2nd trailer). All the effort was put into it, just to end up in a mediocre shmup. Also, if you won't check the trailer before you try it, you won't even tell if it's real or 3D render. It just wasn't worth it.

Terminally boring.