A Malcolm in the Middle fan has decided to make a video game tribute to the television show. It's a lot stranger than it sounds.
The game by Alec Robbins, playable on PC and mobile devices, is an overly literal adaptation of the show's title. The player controls Malcolm, who is walking along the sidewalk between his younger brother Dewey and older brother Reese. The two brothers' slow and speed up at random and the player has to avoid running into either of them. If you hit either, you'll fall over and have to start over from the beginning.
If that sounds really simple, that's because it is. Once you get the rhythm down, it's easy. The only challenge is that you'll get distracted by the dialog bubbles with lines from the show or bored by the repetition. I imagine it might be trickier on mobile devices as well, as touch controls can be dodgier than keyboards.
The ending sure is a mind trip, though. The sky will begin to turn red once you hit a score somewhere over 100,000. The boys' mood will darken as well and they'll start saying things like "Television was our prison" and "Children are powerless." They also start begging you to stop playing. Eventually you'll feel bad enough to comply with their wishes.
It's an interesting enough diversion if you're bored at work. The chiptune version of Malcolm in the Middle's theme song and the random quotes from the boys made me smile and I barely even watched the show. I imagine a long-time fan might get even more enjoyment out of it.
I would say that this is the best free browser game based on a classic sitcom ever. However, it's only in second place at best thanks to the existence of that Perfect Strangers game from a few years back, which managed to be even weirder:
Isn't the Internet wonderful?
