Penny Arcade Adventures Hits XBLA in 2008

By: Derek Yu

On: August 27th, 2007

…along with the PC, Mac, and Linux! Not sure if it’s a simultaneous release, however.

Still rather ambivalent about this one, but it’s looking better all the time. One thing that still irks me is how brown the screenshots are, compared to the colorfulness of the comic strip. I understand that they’re going for a steampunk/noir vibe but… okay, I’m going to stop complaining until the game is released! I’m sure it’ll be fun and funny regardless.

(Source, including image: Game|Life)

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Trailer

By: Derek Yu

On: August 27th, 2007

Holy sh… an independent video game from comic book artist Michel Gagné?!

Click here for the trailer. Coming in 2008.

(Thanks for the news, Chrissketch!)

Van Damnation

By: Derek Yu

On: August 26th, 2007

In issue #192 of Electronic Gaming Monthly, web funnyman Seanbaby penned a feature titled “”http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3141721">The Worst T.V. Games of All Time." In the intro to this feature, he made this statement:

I’m here to tell you, in the spirit of The B-game Competition, that the Van Damme game WAS MADE, and it is called Van Damnation. It was put out two years ago as a limited release, but, with Oddbob’s help, it is now being made available to the public once again. Rocky, the creator of the game, is also the mastermind behind another classic B-game – Pillar Killer.

(Now if only someone would make a game based off of either 1. Bloodsport, 2. Hard Target, or 3. both.)

ProTip: Read the readme or you will not get anywhere in this difficult game of timing and dong punches!

Download here (from Oddbob) or here (from me). The game is 2 megabytes large.

Pillage the Village

By: Derek Yu

On: August 22nd, 2007

Pillage the Village is the spiritual sequel / literal prequel to Defend the Castle. The story explains why your antagonists in DtC are angry with you in the first place… apparently you went around throwing people into the air and slamming them into the ground, occasionally crushing them with their own houses and casting wicked spells on them.

And that’s how the game plays, basically. Prevent the villagers from escaping to the left and right sides of the screen by hurting them mercilessly with simple physics. In between rounds, you can buy magic spells with your dirty blood money. It’s fun, it’s simple, it’s relatively inventive. And the game does a good job of introducing new villager types to make your life harder (God how I hate those dopes with the parachutes).

Beware some of the technical issues, though. Occasional ads displayed between levels can cause the game to hang if you have Firefox with Adblock, or Safari. The game will also churn on slower computers. Look out! (XGen Studios has since contacted me to tell me that they have since fixed these problems.)

By the way, Jay is Games (source) describes this game as “a smashmortion of click-tastic mayhem!” (Snicker, he said smashmortion.)

Least Best Room v0.1

By: Derek Yu

On: August 20th, 2007

I do declare that Tim W. has been chosen as the Prophet for the Great Wazoo, Kenta Cho. All hail Tim! All hail Kenta Cho!

But yeah, Timmy found a very early version of a very unconventional Flash shoot em’ up, called Least Best Room. (I wonder what the name means. I imagine it has something to do with math? Or is it just the lack of space?) I really like the basic mechanics of the game, which have you squeezing past red “balloons” and dodging mines. You can press “z” to inflate the balloons and burst them. All the while you must replenish your green energy bar up top.

The squeezing concept and the ticking timer do a good job of inducing panic. It hasn’t felt this good to make my way through a crowd since Dead Rising… I’m looking forward to v1.0!

Gameplay video courtesy of Adigun Polack!

Raptor 2 (doo-doo, push pineapple, shake the tree)

By: Graham Goring

On: August 20th, 2007

Raaaaargh! RAAAAARGH!

Dinosaurs are ace – FACT! But games featuring dinosaurs have often been crap, like Chuck Rock, Adventure Island and Rampage. I mention those three because I’m sure that someone here holds them near and dear and their rage should at least bulk out the comments section.

Luckily, Bouncing Fox Software is here to redress that balance with Raptor 2, sequel to the couldn’t-be-arsed-to-play-that-as-the-screenshot-looked-a-bit-boring-game Raptor. I should mention that I shall be rectifying that mistake forthwith, given how the sequel is shaping up.

In Raptor 2 you’re tasked with stopping a giant meteor from hitting earth. As goals in games go this is not only a bit demanding considering you’re a dinosaur with crappy little arms, but also – should you succeed – it would have pretty shitty repercussions for the rest of us in the modern day.

This boils down to some really very good platforming courtesy of a nimble and versatile main character who can climb up vertical surfaces, leaping from one to the other. You can also attack things, but truth be told that aspect of the gameplay has proven to be a bit crap so far.

Aaaanyhoo, even though the graphics are a little plain and desaturated for my liking, this game is supremely likeable thanks to solid platforming gameplay combined with a genuinely funny, punchy and knowing script which doesn’t outstay its welcome and which made me laugh out loud on several occasions.

Mind you, I’m halfway tempted to recommend you wait for the finished version as it will allow you to configure your keys. The current control set-up is spread around the keyboard far too much for my liking and couldn’t be less friendly if the instructions required you to plug in a second keyboard for the Walk Left button. Also, the manner in which it attempts to cram multiple functions on a pair of keys is a bit counter-intuitive. I’m all for context-sensitive controls, but these don’t feel right and need a bit of reworking.

But despite those quibbles, you should get downloading! Or if you’re lazy, have a look at the 5.5Mb Quicktime trailer movie instead.

(Source: The Mighty Tim!)

Transcendence

By: Derek Yu

On: August 15th, 2007

Transcendence is a space-faring action game that’s, by the author’s account, inspired by two of the (arguably) greatest games of all time, Nethack and Star Control II. Oh boy, do I love those games! Well, while Transcendence doesn’t really match either in terms of depth or sheer enjoyment (but then again, what could), it’s still a gem in its own right.

In the game, you play an anonymous starship captain who must journey to the Galactic Core and unravel some mysteries and stuff. If you’ve played games like Escape Velocity or Flatspace, you know what’s in store… space pirates, galactic federations, mysterious aliens, and laser battles in space. Spend credits to upgrade your ship’s shields and weapons. Earn credits by looting wrecks, escorting freighters, and exploring deep space.

Transcendence is not a terribly deep game, but it’s more than competent all the way around. The clean graphics and simplicity of the interface make it very easy to get into, and the Roguelike-esque randomization and number of options gives it plenty of replayability. Definitely worth checking out.

(EDIT: I should also mention that the game is currently at v0.98 and that the author has a more content planned for future versions.)

Frenetic Plus

By: Derek Yu

On: August 7th, 2007

Frenetic Plus is a solid 2D/3D hybrid shooter with some RPG elements to it. In between missions where you scoot around a 3D landscape killing things you can upgrade your various suits and learn more about the story.

So far I’m not entirely impressed. The game is put together and I like the atmosphere and graphics, but the missions are repetitive and fairly slow moving. And with all the “C.L.A.Y.” I’m earning killing baddies, I’m just not finding any reason to spend it yet.

There are the trappings of something cool here… I just hope it gets better as you get further into it.

(Source: Insert Credit)

Hammerfall v0.2

By: Derek Yu

On: August 6th, 2007

Matthew Wegner of Fun-Motion brings word of a great new Russian physics game called Hammerfall. This one’s all about floating machines with giant weapons hanging from them. Incredible artwork and what seems so far to be a really awesome steampunk-ish fantasy world.

It’s only at version 0.2, but it’s already very playable. This one’s a little tough on the wrists for me, though, because of all the circular mouse movements. But it’s still fun! Feels good to get a solid hit with the ball and chain.

Apparently there’s a certain point where you must fight as a slave, and there’s a bug in the English language mode that prevents you from moving forward at that point. Simply change the language setting back to Russian to get past. But honestly, the translation is a little rough, so you might as well play the whole thing in Russian.

Under Ground the Bowling

By: Derek Yu

On: August 3rd, 2007

Tim found this little gem. It’s an entry for the 3Punge (Three Minute Game Contest), where, I assume you create a game that lasts for three minutes. What caught my attention were the graphics, which frightened the hell out of me. I like that.

Under Ground the Bowling (direct link) is a bowling game where the bowling balls are people and the pins are other people waiting for the bus (who all kind of look like James Brown). It’s really pretty hilarious and has very little to do with bowling other than the score keeping. I love the main character and how crazy he looks, especially after you get a strike.

This is not a well-made game, but it is a bizarre game! Use the arrow keys to move and “z” to slap. A couple dialog boxes will pop up when you start the game. I don’t know what the first one is, but the second one asks you if you want to play fullscreen or not. Be ready to turn down your sound if you’re not into hearing men grunting over and over again at a rapid rate.