What are these things made of, Wolverine's bones?

Offspring Fling is a satisfying mix of new and old platform-puzzle sensibilities, not unlike the earlier Mario vs. Donkey Kong iterations. You play as a mother creature, a fluffy, friendly-looking thing who's just had her children abducted by some sort of forest-dinosaur. You'll proceed to rescue your (surprisingly plentiful) offspring through 100 levels, where you must get both yourself and your kin to the level exit. The puzzle mechanics come in as you try to manage the little guys: when you pick them up, you can't jump as high, or fit through short passages, so you'll have to place and throw (the titular 'fling') them around to get everyone where they need to be. Later levels introduce switches, destructible terrain, deflection blocks - turning your offspring into a Zelda-style mirror puzzle - and enemies.

Although the game's art style and sountrack foster a cutesy, cuddly sense, tossing baby creatures into walls, over hazardous pits, and at deadly foes (to stun them!) stands in hilarious juxtaposition to the theme. Despite the offsprings' vulnerability, when thrown, they become basically indestructible; and using them to hit buttons is vital to unlocking the exit. Sometimes, it feels less like you're saving them, and more like they're saving you.

The puzzle design is pretty great too, if somewhat inconsistent. Many levels, maybe as much as half of them, are intentionally simple -- to introduce some new mechanic or trick, such as a switch variety, or catching offspring mid-air. But other levels combine these concepts into genuine challenges, which can take many tries to complete. Thankfully, even the tough levels aren't terribly complicated - just difficult to figure out - so retries aren't generally repetitive.

My only real gripe with Offspring Fling is that the music can get a bit grating. Well, that and I seem to be missing a ton of gold flowers (for completing a level within a certain time) by less than two seconds. Sometimes I hate when game designers are actually good at playing their own games.

Progress: 51 levels complete, 6 gold flowers.