Ant Buster

By: Derek Yu

On: June 7th, 2007

They’ve innovated the tower defense genre considerably in this one by giving you opponents that learn to avoid your towers. Am I being sarcastic? Honestly, even I don’t know any more. Also, CAEK.

(Also, remember that you can click an ant to have all nearby towers target it.)

Powder Game

By: Derek Yu

On: June 6th, 2007

Dessgeega (via the Gamer’s Quarter forums) describes Powder Game as World of Sand plus fluid dynamics, and you know what, she’s totally right! It’s fun.

And holy shit, I’ve got a lot of vertical space left, so I just want to say that the forums have been up for a couple months now, and it’s exactly how I envisioned it: people making games together, sharing information, giving feedback, starting up friendly competitions… it’s been really proactive and the discussions have been fruitful. So yeah, you guys frickin’ rule! Let’s keep showin’ ‘em how it’s done!

World Without Oil

By: Derek Yu

On: May 24th, 2007

“Play it before you live it” is the mantra behind World Without Oil, an ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that simulates a world oil crisis. Users submit stories via text, audio, or video describing events unfolding during the pretend crisis, and the game’s admins rank users based on how well their content fits with the reality of the game.

An interesting idea that I’m sure is worth trying! It sounds like a lot of fun… crowd-sourcing a real-world problem through role-playing and creative writing.

(Source: GameSetWatch)

Repost: xananeko

By: Guest Reviewer

On: May 17th, 2007

[Guest review by Haowan]

xananeko and xananeko scene 2 are punishingly difficult 1-room action-RPGs.

Arrow keys move left and right. Walk into things to attack them, but time it right or you’ll lose health. Don’t get attacked from behind and attack others from behind when you can. The inn costs 50 gold to rest (restore your health), but rises by 50 gold per player level until it maxes out at 500. Up cursor will go up and down stairs and pick up items. Down cursor will drop bombs (after you get them).

You start with a shield and a dagger, although it’s hard to see it. When you rest at the inn, the game is saved, but only the statistics for the character are saved – if you die, and continue, any progress in the game will be reset, any items you have will be returned to the game and you will have to get them again. In addition, after a certain point you will not be allowed back into the shop area to save or shop, meaning you will more or less have to complete the game without saving. I recommend saving with at least enough gold left over to buy the sword and potion.

To win the first room, fetch the sword from the chest in the top left and exit the room through the bottom right entrance. To win the second room… beat the dragon. :)

The first room contains a fairly scary double-ended penisworm, and is worth playing just to see that, I think.

There are also a bunch of smaller games on the nekogames site. Requires Shockwave 8 or later.

Death Village

By: Derek Yu

On: May 14th, 2007

NIGORO (formerly GR3PROJECT), creators of La Mulana, continue their tradition of making really, really friggin’ hard games with Death Village, a decidedly smaller, more casual title that will nonetheless have you crying by the second level. At least, that’s where I started crying. But then again, I always cry when I play games. (And also when I touch myself!)

I’m not certain what the story is behind Death Village, but your goal in each level is to get a funny old man through a haunted house and to the exit door. You don’t have direct control over him, but by slamming doors and enabling a variety of traps and scary things, you can lead him over. The atmosphere is spot on, with creepy graphics and sound effects bringing the haunted houses to life and pushing you onward.

The learning curve is deadly high, however, so make sure you at least watch the Level 1 video to get a handle on how the traps work. I couldn’t beat level two, which, on the bottom floor, requires you to somehow jump a gap. So yeah, anyone have any ideas?

(Source: Tim W.)

Classic: Kingdom of Loathing

By: Guest Reviewer

On: May 10th, 2007

[Guest review by Tommaso Sciortino]

Do you remember playing MUDs on your 14.4 dial-up? Do you remember when computer games featured no animation of any kind? No? Well, I don’t either. But had I been old enough to form long-term memories in the early 80’s I imagine that Kingdom of Loathing by Asymmetric Publications would remind me of the simple days when playing an RPG meant admiring ASCII art and lots of reading.

KoL is a free* web-based multi-player RPG though more than anything it’s a parody of those genres and more. Yes, it has Wizard and Barbarian classes, but here they’re called “Pastamancers” and “Seal Clubers”. Fortunately the writing is actually funny – as opposed to punny – drawing on popular references obscure and common. If you pick this up look forward to an entire quest devoted to parodying “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” and a familiar called “Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot”.

The graphics are minimal. I mean, really minimal. Like stick figures. Basically the game looks like it was drawn by the xkcd guy. It’s occasionally endearing but usually it’s just functional.

Because this game only allows a certain number of “adventures” per day it might serve as a methadone treatment for players coming off life-consuming games like WoW. Otherwise it’ll serve as an enjoyable 30-60 diversion a day.

*Donations encouraged but not required.

Reunion

By: Derek Yu

On: May 10th, 2007

During the intro sequence of Mike Bithell’s Reunion, I was really hoping that I would end up playing a full-length game in the vein of Orisinal. Unfortunately, while Reunion has the same aesthetic, it lacks the tightness of Ferry Halim’s game design.

In the game, you control a sleeping boy by leading him with fireflies. Even though I really dig the concept, in practice it ends up being rather unwieldy. The worst part is that every time you fall into a pit or otherwise go off the path, the wind sends you back to the beginning of the level. And given how slow the movement is, it’s pretty disheartening.

(Source: Tim W.)

LightForce

By: Derek Yu

On: May 9th, 2007

LightForce is a collection of mostly classic puzzle games remade in Flash and Java by Nick Kouvaris. You’ll recognize games like Tetris, Minesweeper, and Sudoku, but there are a lot of obscure puzzles in there, also. I like the very minimal way in which these games are implemented, and even if you’ve played these games before, it’s nice to have them all collected in one place!

The Last Stand

By: Derek Yu

On: May 2nd, 2007

The Last Stand is a “defend the castle” type game with zombies, so if that sounds fun to you, try it! It’s short (20 rounds), it’s easy, and it’s pretty fun. The graphics are good.

I notice there are no minorities in the game. Why is that? I thought they would have at least thrown a token black guy into the survivor pool. Geez.

Makibishi Comic

By: Derek Yu

On: April 30th, 2007

Yes, what you’re seeing above is a giant, tattooed baby with a gas mask, farting out mini robot ninjas and listening to music. You know! Just a typical scene in Makibishi Comic, the strange, delightful, and best of all, strange point-and-click (and sometimes point-and-drag) adventure game that has you searching for 5 ninjas hiding in 5 worlds.

I really love the art and sound direction in this game… the sketchy graphics and minimal sound are almost hypnotic, and it’s a real joy to explore the surreal landscapes to see what will happen next. The sense of humor is wonderfully bizarre, too. Definitely give this one a try!

(Source: Select Button)