Apocalypse never: new flash game from Old Spice

The end is not quite nigh. And you've got Old Spice, a retired Congolese basketballer and a talking bear to thank.

Credulous corners of the internet maintain the world will end on December 21 2012 – nonsense often attributed to the Mayans and their Long Count calendar. Old Spice have played with this notion in a new promotional flash game, created by developer Adam Saltsman.

In Dikembe Mutombo’s Four and Half Weeks to Save the World, the apocalypse will be brought about by a South Korean dance craze which is taking over the country and preventing American's from voting (the fact the US presidential election was weeks ago probably isn't helping, either).

You play the game's eponymous hero, former NBA star Mutombo, aided and abetted by his trusty friend Science, "a hyper-intelligent bear with keen fashion sense and a firm grasp on English language."

For the next four and half weeks, with your help, Mutombo will attempt to save the word and carve additional time into the Mayan calendar, with a new level added each week.

This week's mission requires you to guide Mutombo through the air – propelled by an Old Spice can which doubles as a jet pack, of course – avoiding falling debris while hurling ballots at dancing voters.

Once you've got ballots in the hands of 50 voters, you must beat the gyrating state of Ohio into submission in one of the strangest boss levels you will ever play.

Dikembe Mutombo’s Four and Half Weeks to Save the World is full of punchy dialogue and retro graphics, and is sure to be another Old Spice marketing success story.