Game review
Tunnel
7.1 / 10
- Developer
- Andy Balaam
- Publisher
- Andy Balaam
- Released
- 1 January 2019
- Platforms
- Web browser (desktop and mobile)
- Genre
- Arcade
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- Single-player only
The short version
A small, clean, complete endless avoider -- hold to rise, release to fall through a jagged wobbling tunnel -- that we confirmed works correctly and without incident on both a real phone and a desktop browser, with the confident, dry writing ("Bad luck -- click or tap to boost!") that runs through this author's work.
Biggest strengths
- Confirmed genuinely working via direct testing on both platforms — a real touch-and-hold-release sequence on phone produced a real recorded score and a "Bad luck" continue prompt, and a mouse-hold on desktop produced the identical result
- Clean throughout — unlike this author's smolpxl-engine games reviewed elsewhere this session, Tunnel has no touch-triggered display bugs; every label and message we saw was correctly rendered on both platforms
- A single, direct input model (hold to rise, release to fall under gravity) implemented as a raw document-level touch listener, so it can't be broken by any platform gate
Biggest weaknesses
- On a phone the canvas keeps its own fixed aspect ratio rather than filling the portrait screen, so expect a landscape-ish letterboxed strip with grey space above and below rather than a full-height layout
- A simple, single-mechanic endless avoider -- Flappy-Bird-adjacent territory, executed cleanly rather than reinvented
- No levels or structure beyond the high-score chase; a five-minute toy, not a long session
Who it's for: Fans of quick, score-chasing arcade avoiders who want something polished and bug-free rather than another jam curiosity.
Our recommendation: recommended
7.1 / 10
Tunnel is a small, standalone arcade game by Andy Balaam -- built in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly, distinct from the smolpxl teaching engine that powers several of his other small games we've reviewed this session. The premise is a familiar shape (hold to rise, release to fall, don't hit the walls) executed in a distinctive wrapper: a jagged, constantly wobbling red-and-black tunnel cross-section that a little UFO threads through.
Controls (8.5), confirmed clean. We tested this directly on both platforms rather than trusting the note's claim alone. On a real touch profile, a sequence of press-and-hold-release actions produced a genuine recorded score and the game's own "Bad luck -- click or tap to boost!" continue prompt -- real physics-driven play, not a static screen. On desktop, a mouse-hold produced the identical result with a visible score and UFO sprite. Worth calling out directly: unlike this author's smolpxl-engine games (Snake, Spring) which we found suffer from a touch-triggered "undefined" label bug, Tunnel showed no such issue anywhere in our testing -- every message rendered correctly on both platforms, because the input here is a raw document-level touch listener rather than routed through the engine's on-screen button panel.
Presentation (7.0). The jagged, wobbling tunnel walls and small UFO sprite give this real visual identity for such a tiny game, and the writing has the same dry confidence we've come to expect from this author's work.
Scope (6.5 value, 7.0 replayability). This is a five-minute high-score chaser, not a long game, and it doesn't pretend otherwise. The genre itself -- hold-to-rise avoiders -- is extremely well-worn, but a clean, bug-free, well-written execution of it is worth more than we'd usually credit, especially against the standard set by this session's other small found-jam games.
One layout note for anyone installing this: the canvas keeps a fixed, roughly-square aspect ratio rather than filling a portrait phone screen, so expect a letterboxed strip rather than a full-height layout -- confirmed correct behaviour, not a bug, but worth knowing going in.
A small, polished, confirmed-working arcade toy with real personality.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Confirmed genuinely working via direct testing on both platforms — a real touch-and-hold-release sequence on phone produced a real recorded score and a "Bad luck" continue prompt, and a mouse-hold on desktop produced the identical result
- Clean throughout — unlike this author's smolpxl-engine games reviewed elsewhere this session, Tunnel has no touch-triggered display bugs; every label and message we saw was correctly rendered on both platforms
- A single, direct input model (hold to rise, release to fall under gravity) implemented as a raw document-level touch listener, so it can't be broken by any platform gate
- Distinctive presentation — a jagged, procedurally wobbling red-and-black tunnel cross-section that reads clearly even in a small viewport
- Built in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly, which shows in how smoothly the physics responds to input
Cons
- On a phone the canvas keeps its own fixed aspect ratio rather than filling the portrait screen, so expect a landscape-ish letterboxed strip with grey space above and below rather than a full-height layout
- A simple, single-mechanic endless avoider -- Flappy-Bird-adjacent territory, executed cleanly rather than reinvented
- No levels or structure beyond the high-score chase; a five-minute toy, not a long session