Lazreal is an evil, evil developer. In Super Boink-o-Doink, he has managed to create one of the most hair-pullingly, gut-wrenchingly frustrating indie platformers ever. The challenge is simply working out how to get from one screen to the next, while avoiding the obstacles and leaping over the large gaps. The game laughs at your failure. Not only do the monsters running back and forth along the top bar stop and take interest when you die but the game also keeps a death counter, just to remind you how many times you kicked the bucket. And trust me when: even the most hardcore among you will kick the bucket – many, many times. Most will not finish this and many will throw their hands up in disgust at the difficulty level. Even those willing to persevere will probably struggle.

Regardless of whether or not the difficulty makes you want to try harder or quit altogether, it is easy to recognize that some heart went into the production values. Graphically, everything in the game is stylistically pixilated. The monsters are cute pixel sprites and the terrain is well-defined pixelized platforms. The soundtrack is fast paced and jovial, contrasting to the extreme difficulty of the game itself. That’s the game mocking you again.

I must say that as hard as this was, it didn’t put me off playing it. In fact, I spent a good couple of hours attempting to work my way through some of the initial screens. And what’s more, I had fun doing it, even though at the end of playing, I hadn’t managed to get very far at all. This game is intentionally difficult. If you dislike intense difficulty, the best advise I can give is to not even bother firing this up because you will probably be yelling at the monitor before the two minute mark hits. If, however, you are up for a rather large challenge or are prepared to be mocked time and time again, then by all means, give the game a shot.