Flying Hamster Review: Simply Fun

Newton drinks beer and eats bees, berries before he shoots ‘em at his enemies.

Plus, he’s a Hamster.

And…his girlfriend just got kidnapped.

You can’t get much more adorable than that.

There are games out there with worse plots than this, but when it gets down to it, “Flying Hamster” a PSP mini title released in late 2010, is still a kick in the head to play nearly two years later.

We mean that in the Dean Martin way, you know, charismatic, fun, and charming and not the Shawn Michaels, slamming your rear paw into someone’s jaw after you tune it up first sort of way.

Powered by fast gameplay, cute cut-scenes and simple control, this PSP mini may not save the day, but it is a cheap way to get some extra live out of your obsolete PSP or even worse, your beautiful new Vita and its thin library of games.

A colorful horizontal shooter, “Flying Hamster” harkens back to the days of classic NES shooters, even if it looks more like a Super Nintendo title. The control is simple and the design is intuitive and straightforward. Again, while the fun story and colorful graphics make it a bit different from other shooters today, it’s essentially an interesting, yet relatively by the numbers game. It doesn’t change the genre or turn the PSP or Vita on its head. But it works well and at times, makes you forget you downloaded it from the Playstation Network, instead of picking it up at the store.

With the PSP and Vita lacking in pick up and play titles, going for a more “console on the run” devoir, “Flying Hamster” is great in five to ten minute bursts in-between games of “the Show” or “Mortal Kombat.” It may even make you smile a few times.

The game’s only real problem is its short length. While the level design is smart and the game is at times challenging, eight levels just aren’t enough. Just when you start to truly enjoy the game and feel some type of attachment to Newton, the game is over.

But hey, you can’t complain. Two bucks isn’t bad for a real kick in the head.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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