Dark Cut²

By: Derek Yu

On: October 31st, 2007

Just what you wanted to be for Halloween: a Civil War surgeon! Dark Cut² puts you behind the forceps of a newly instated battlefield medic, with a variety of grisly and primitive tools at your disposal. Think Trauma Center circa 1863 and you have the idea.

The presentation of the game is nice, with realistic, photo-based graphics to really bring out those wounds in all their pustulent glory. Being Flash-based, it does tend to wreak havoc on your system, though, so I hope you have a decent rig.

It’s a short game, with only four surgeries available. I’d love to see this as a full-length downloadable game!

Splume

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: October 28th, 2007

Content Directors for this year’s IGF, Steve Swink and Matthew Wegner (a.k.a. Flashbang Studios), have recently released a quirky, physics-based puzzle game called Splume, made in only four short weeks as part of a new development path experiment they’re conducting. In Splume you shoot balls that attach to other balls… and… wait, why am I describing this when you could simply watch the video, or, in just a few more mouse clicks, play the game? Here’s what’s important: It’s fun and polished and free.

So apparently Flashbang will continue releasing compact games like this for some months, then decide which games are the best to flesh out into “full” versions. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next!

Splume has an online scoretable, level editor, and live feed of recent play history across the galaxy. Check it out. And enjoy.

The Visitor

By: Derek Yu

On: October 27th, 2007

In The Visitor you take control of an alien slug, hellbent on Earth’s ruination. And bursting out of as many stomachs as possible! SPLURT!

It’s a rather short, not-too-tough flash game that is mostly about hotspot hunting, but the great graphics and wicked theme make it a gaming intestinal tract worth bursting out of (weak analogies ftw).

(Source: Kotaku)

Fold

By: Derek Yu

On: October 23rd, 2007

A while back, I posted about a flash game called Manifold, in which you used bubbles to propel you in various directions to get past obstacles. The concept was great, and quite entertaining in its execution, but unfortunately, the game was just too damn short.

Well, here comes Fold, the full version of this game, which features the original 10 levels (Easy), as well as two new episodes (Uneasy and Doubleplus Uneasy)! The new episodes are really challenging, with Doubleplus Uneasy bordering on nigh impossible! Seriously, I don’t think it can be done! Either that, or I suck. But what are the chances of that?

Also added is a new time-based scoring system, which comes with the concept of “lives” and “game over.” Fortunately, once you run out of lives, you can opt to continue playing in a non-scoring “ghost mode.”

Capstar II

By: Derek Yu

On: October 19th, 2007

Capstar II is a new browser-based game from NIGORO, the Japanese developer behind La Mulana and Rose and Camellia. In the game you control a cute lil’ space pod piloted by none other than “The Invincible Randy.” Unfortunately, your pod’s not so invincible, so as you go through each of the 16 stages, you’ll have to avoid banging into walls, or getting blown up by various traps.

The game controls much like Sub-Terrania (Sega Genesis) or Solar Jetman (NES), with the hitch being that gravity can pull on you from any of the cardinal directions. An entertaining and challenging game, as you would expect from this developer. The later levels are especially nasty.

Comes with online time rankings and 5 difficulty levels.

(Source: Tim)

5 Differences

By: Derek Yu

On: October 15th, 2007

5 Differences is an animated take on the “Can You Spot X Differences Between the Two Pictures?” game that you often see in the comics section of the newspaper. This time you click the differences (on either picture).

I wouldn’t have found it worth mentioning, except that the scenes, which mostly feature silhouetted characters, are fairly striking! And it’s as fun to play as the analog versions (take to mean whatever it means to you). Some music would have been nice, though – why not?

There are a dozen or so levels in the game.

Click Drag Type 3

By: Terry

On: October 14th, 2007

About a week ago, a mysterious individual by the name of “MisterX” posted about this game in the comments for Launchball. Not only is a great idea for a puzzle game, but it’s been implemented really well.

Click Drag Type 3 is a rather nifty little flash puzzle game by Simple Andy. The player may click, drag, and type – from there, you’re on your own. Each puzzle is different from the last: the point of the game is to work out what the items in front of you do, and how to interact with them to solve the puzzle.

Having trouble? There’s a full walkthrough on Jay Is Games here.

Thanks, MisterX!

Super Charlie Factory Massacre MMORPG

By: Tim

On: October 14th, 2007

Sleazy.

(Source: Kotaku)

Operation: Pedopriest

By: Derek Yu

On: October 12th, 2007

From the title of the game, you might expect that you’re playing to stop the pedophile priests, but actually, you’re playing to cover up the sexual abuse of the horny paters. This, as you can imagine, changes things quite a bit.

Quote Ian Bogost:

Operation: Pedopriest is definitely disturbing to play, and the cartoony graphics do little to mitigate the how awful it all feels. Which isn’t a condemnation of the game itself, mind you – I’m quite certain this is the exact reaction developer Molleindustria was going for. It does make it quite a mixed bag of gaming peanuts, though – do I even WANT to win at this?

The game mechanics are quite simple, and involve clicking “eunuchs” around to distract adults and police officers while the clergy is molesting children. When things get really bad, you can airlift a priest out of there to go hide out in the Vatican. When a certain number of priests are arrested before the given time limit runs out, it’s game over.

You know, I just figured there wasn’t enough controversy on TIGSource…

(Source: Play This Thing!)

Launchball

By: Terry

On: October 5th, 2007

Launchball is an educational game designed to teach kids about physics, and is part of an interactive gallery called “”http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/launchpad.aspx">Launchpad" at the London Science Museum. Essentially, it plays like The Incredible Machine, only using realistic lab apparatus instead of toasters and fishbowls and so on. Whenever you complete a level, you’re given a nifty bit of science trivia as a reward (like that very random bit about Newton to the side). Once you’ve completed them all, you can move on to creating your own!

It’s excellent! The graphical and musical style is minimal and elegant (and I might add, gorgeous), the interface is juicy and responsive, the puzzles are engaging – the whole thing just feels slick and professional to the last detail. Digg’s rather taken with it too: they managed to crash the Science Museum website last week (though they tend to do that quite a bit, I hear), and more that one person over there has described it as better than Halo 3 (for whatever that’s worth). Well worth checking out!

[Source: Digg]