Game Review: Chalk

Chalk is a 3rd person, 2-D, side-scroller that takes place on the surface of a chalk-board. The object is to avoid and destroy damage-dealing enemy shapes by drawing chalk lines with your mouse. If your chalk line connects all the right points, the shape blows up.

It’s a challenging game because it really tests the player’s acuity. Within just a couple seconds of beginning a chalk line, the chalk line stops, no matter what. Using the mouse to connect two or more points on a moving target within just a couple seconds is very challenging. I’ve never played a game that required that type of control before and it’s certainly not as easy as it first appears to be.

While Chalk doesn’t have oodles of replay value, at least not for me, its uniqueness and novelty value alone assure that it will at least get a couple plays by most people who check it out.

Chalk is a game play driven title. It completely revolves around speed and accuracy of drawing various shaped chalk lines. While there is strategy involved in deciding what order to attempt o defeat the enemy shapes, it’s really all about being accurate with the mouse.
The game is displayed as if you were looking at an animated chalk board. There are numbers and formulas written on the board that scroll by and all objects on the board appear as if drawn in chalk, including your character. Because of this, most everything is in black and white. This is not to say the graphics aren’t cool because they are, they just aren't mind blowing. While the animation is very cartoon-look, it’s also and really cute. I could see a 8-10 year old girl really enjoying this game for a while.

The only thing you can do in the game is move around the board and draw chalk lines so the controls are both easy to use and easy to get used to. Movement is controlled by either using the W-S-A-D keys or using the right mouse button. To draw a chalk line, the user clicks and holds the left mouse button down. This is the trickiest part of the game, especially when you are trying to connect three or mouse together.

While this game is original and creative, it’s not the kind of game you look forward to playing for hours. So, in the end, I give it 3 out of 5 shiny fireflies.