Jon Mak’s award-winning “game album” Everyday Shooter has just been released on Playstation Network today, in full HD, at the low, low price of $9.99 USD. If you have a PS3, buy it immediately, I say! If you don’t, convince a friend to—Go in on it with them if you have to. (That’s what I’m going to do.)
Congrats, Jon! Can’t wait for the PC version.
Derek’s Update: Check out this Playstation “Personality Profile” on Jon where he admits that he recently bought five pounds of hash (browns)! Thanks, Petri!
Gad, I feel like so much good stuff has passed across my proverbial desk recently. It’s hard to believe there was a time when I had to play a bunch of, well, “terrible” games to fill the site’s front page. You can, of course, relive my pain through Ye Olde TIGSource, an archive of older posts painstakingly compiled by ithamore features page.
But anyhoo, Varia is the game of the moment: a shoot ‘em up created for the SHMUP-DEV 2007 competition (you may recall Prototype 2 from a few days ago). At its core, Varia is a straightforward vertical shooter that mixes mechanics from classic games of the genre. However, it does so with great aplomb, in this author’s opinion, and consequently, it’s a fun ride.
From Gradius V, Varia has taken options, which can be “frozen” in place. A unique addition to this is the ability to absorb enemy shot types into your options. You can have a maximum of four trailing.
From the classic indie shooter Cho Ren Sha 68k, developer Kairos lifted the spinning power-up wheel, which lets you pick between firepower, options, or shield. Just like in Cho Ren Sha, savvy players can snag all three by sitting in the middle of the wheel!
The most underdeveloped aspect of the game is perhaps the chain combo system, taken from Ikaruga, although from looking at Tim W.’s massive “high score” (testicles), there might be more to it than I’m giving credit for… in any case, it just adds a little more to this great little shooter.
In xWUNG, you control a ball attached to a red wire. Swing the ball around to destroy enemies. The trick to scoring is by chaining combos continuously – not an easy task, considering that you’re attempting to avoid debris from all directions. Watch out for the bosses.
Made by the author of Mondo Medicals in just under twelve hours.
If Sumotori Dreams is a drunken sumo wrestling simulation, then NekoFight is a capoeira simulation going through meth withdrawal. It is not a pretty sight, oh no.
Arrow keys move. Press X and C to kick and Z to “grab,” although I’ve never managed to grab anything in this game! Hell, it’s tough just to enjoy any physical contact with my opponent before I flip myself off the screen!
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!
Recently, I’ve been enjoying a couple of retro shmps, which play like games that could have been programmed for an esoteric PC from the 80s. Each is short, simple, and purely about gameplay. In the first one, Horizontal Shooter, you must use your colorful wake to destroy the enemy fire aimed at your passive fleet while fending off waves of ships. The second, Shoot ‘em, pits you with a pair of machine guns and a grenade launcher against the relentless downpour of asteroids composed of 3D-simulating ASCII art.
I like how they embrace the style and limitations of early shooters while incorporating enough innovation to make each of them original additions to the library of retro gaming. Sure, there are several remakes I have enjoyed, but sometimes I want to play a game that teaches old school new tricks.
Our friend cactus has released what appears to be some kind of “glitchcore shmup” that he lovingly dubbed “The Ugliest Game Ever.” It’s called Burn the Trash (direct download) and it does look rather like an ugly wool sweater knitted by your grandma, but it plays a lot better! Score!
In the game you can “burn trash (enemies)” or “burn bullets” and switch between two ships that each specialize in one of those things. Overheating can occur if you burn too long, depending on which ship you’re using. It’s a neat mechanic, and the “ugly” graphics and electronic music complement the gameplay quite nicely.
That is, if you don’t have epilepsy. Seriously, if you have epilepsy, for the LOVE OF KENTA CHO DON’T PLAY THIS GAME.
Polychromatic Funk Monkey made it’s way to the feedback section of our forums, and boy, is it swell! Pick up color blocks and drop them to get to higher areas. Collect “telefunks” to increase the number of blocks you carry (to a total of 10). Telefunks also serve as warp nodes, and trust me, you’ll need to warp back and forth plenty as you’ll often get stuck.
This game grew on me like a mold. There were countless times I thought I’d trapped myself for good, or had no good way up, only to find that, with a little ingenuity I… could… do it! The levels are randomly generated, so I wonder if it is ever possible to get completely stuck. But regardless, the feeling of accomplishment at making it to the next telefunk is tremendous.
Clever game, great presentation. The only thing missing is some actual funk. Where’s James Brown at?
Gameplay video courtesy of Soldat Movies in the extended:
