I stumbled on Big Pants by an extremely funny juggling game that had me smile away an entire afternoon. Mr Happy Big Pants, however, left me with half a delirious grin. The story behind Mr Pants, as creator Jim McGinley explains, is of a man who “is happy only because he wears big pants. Like all heroes, he thrives in the face of no pants”. While I might have just given away part of the plot, you don´t have to worry about losing the story of Mr Happy Big Pants. He soon becomes involved with the police, and a surly group of young children much like the Dead End Kids from those wonderful movies in the ’30s with Jimmy Cagney. The strip, a nostalgic piece from years back at the University of Western Ontario, feels more like some cover art next to his game project Jugglin. Jugglin is a simple game which involves the coordination of multiple juggling balls via multiple key strokes. The gamer controls players such as Hab Normal, Incredible Bulk, or any userdefined creation. At heart, this is a physics game–more in tune with the drift and lob of the balls than in anything else. But that doesn’t mean it isn´t addictive as hell. The scoring system is based on successfully juggling multiple ball, through a myriad of tricks. For big pants and multi-balls, check out McGinley´s site. (James King)
www.bigpants.ca