Flash Game Friday: Fat Wizard

08.07.2011
I stumbled upon , this quirky, novel twist on the tower defense genre, almost completely by accident, and not at all when I totally should've been working, oh man I hope my boss isn't reading this. The latest in a long line of offbeat browser-based titles from the folks at Adult Swim, casts you as the titular stocky spellcaster, who's having quite the time preparing himself an afternoon snack. You see, the waddling warlock wants nothing more than to cook up a delicious, oversized omelet from an ultra-rare dragon's egg, but the local fauna aren't having it, and will go to any means to disrupt the mage's meal (I will say that "Fat Wizard" is a much snappier title than "Passive Aggressive Snakes, Birds, Pigs, and Goblins Ruin Lunch").

Fat Wizard's point, click, and drag design makes it a pretty accessible experience, and I really dig its Adventure Time-esque aesthetic and goofy voice-overs. The "artifact" modifiers earned during gameplay add a bit of longevity to it, but I do think that a stage select option would've really helped. As is, every "Game Over" boots you back to Level 1 -- but you do get to keep your artifacts, so it's not too tough to work your way back.

You'll undoubtedly find deeper tower defense titles with little more than a Google search, but I'd still recommend Fat Wizard to those of you looking for a cute, quick distraction that doesn't require too much of an investment of brainpower or strategy.

Estimated playtime: 30 minutes.