Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 02 May 2008 06:45:00 GMT
Yeah, torture motherfucka what?
From the mad minds behind Barkley, Shut up and Jam: Gaiden comes an all-new adventure – The Sewer Goblet: The Wu-Tang Clan and the Wu-Tang Baby! As the story goes, The Wizard stole the Wu-Tang Baby and fled into the sewers. You must send one of the Wu-Tang Clan into the dungeon and bring the baby back! Along the way you’ll tangle with Teknodwarfs, Baby Seals, and other unsavory characters.
The Sewer Goblet gets a lot of credit as the first rap-themed roguelike game, but doesn’t do too much to innovate the genre in general. Equip weapons, learn spells, manage your hunger (in TSG, every action costs hunger points), eat Wu-Tang snacks with randomized effects, etc. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing – it’s a solid dungeon crawl that’s easy to get into and somehow it never quite gets tiring bringing “da ruckus” as the Wu Tang Clan. Each member has his own special abilities that will aid you on your quest.
Now, all someone has to do is make a gory Bone Thugs-n-Harmony RPG set in an alternate reality Cleveland and I’ll be set!
(Source: Tim, via the IndieGames.com blog)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware | Tags TalesOfGamesStudios | 10 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 01 May 2008 00:38:00 GMT
A late entry for our VGNG Compo, Fantastic Blood Boy is a frantic action game from none other than the lovely Gustav Kilman! In the game you play the titular Blood Boy, who is as fantastic as he sounds. Your goal is to keep the clot crystals away from the Sock Puppets who are hopping around trying to get after it. To do this, simply touch the crystal and it will fly away – but when the crystal is flying, it won’t generate the various crazy weapons you need to destroy the Sock Puppets (and create up to two more crystals!).
It’s a simple, yet novel, system, that’s complemented by manic gameplay and a poppin’ visual style. Plus, Gustav has finally finished a game, which means that I can finally die and rest in peace. Thank you, Gustav! This is great!
Posted in Platformers, Highly Recommended, Windows, Freeware | Tags GustavKilman | 17 comments
Posted by Jordan Magnuson
Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:46:00 GMT
One of my all time favorite “Click” games. You play the White Wizard, residing in a medieval fantasy fortress where you create and unleash hordes of minions onto a 2D battlefield with one goal in mind: defeat the warlord across the way. If you ever played Three-Sixty Pacific’s Armor Alley, you’ll find that the premise is similar, but this game might just be better than its classic counterpart.
The mechanics are fairly simple: use the keyboard to move blocks of resources around to form combinations which produce troops, then unleash those troops to the battlefield where they fight automatically as best they can. The game blends strategy, tactics, and dexterity in a really interesting way.
On the strategic level you will have to decide which Warlord to play (each has their strengths and weaknesses), and what your general plan of unit production is going to be: a cheap mix of foot soldiers and archers, with an occasional battering ram thrown in? Or perhaps you will rely on more advanced technology and an air based assault? Or how about trying to infect your opponent’s troops with the Black Plague?
On the tactics level you’ve got to respond to the situation at hand, both in terms of the resources you have in front of you, and the current state of the battlefield.
Finally, on the dexterity level… well, the game is played in freakin’ realtime, and you better get good at moving those blocks of resources around!
Siege has a couple of flaws, like its tiny 320×200 resolution and some imbalances that I’ll let you discover, but these small detriments are small next to the fun of madly mixing resources and watching your miniature troops fight it out to the death in front of you, with your arch-nemesis pounding away on the keyboard beside you.
The game supports human vs. computer and human vs. human play. I don’t have to tell you which is better.
Download Siege for free from WinSite (1.35 MB).
P.S. You may need to run the game in Windows 95 compatibility mode; and remember to copy cncs32.dll to your system32 directory if the game doesn’t work.
Posted in Multiplayer, Highly Recommended, Windows, Strategy, Action / Arcade, Freeware | Tags FallenAngelIndustries | 24 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:12:00 GMT
...comes a whole new experience that is guaranteed to change the face of electronic entertainment forever. During a private unveiling of the game in San Francisco this past weekend, reknowned movie critic Roger Ebert purportedly took his hands off the keyboard after just 10 seconds of play and said+, quietly and to no one in particular:
I’ve heard many arguments for why games are art. This is best one. I am convinced. My hat is off to you, Romeopie.
He then proceeded to cry real tears of joy which, he claimed, “had not touched my cheeks in over 75 years. Since the Great War.” It is not understood exactly which war to which Mr. Ebert was referring, or how he could have cried before he was born, in 1942. However, those in attendance were compelled to believe that he was being genuine with his emotions.
+ This is completely false.
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Community, Windows, Freeware, IGF / GDC | Tags RomeopieSoftware | 28 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:31:00 GMT
POWDER’s been around for quite a while, but I noticed it just hit version 1.0 this year, so I took it for a spin (it’s currently at version 1.04)! The developer, Jeff Lait, created it so he could have a roguelike to play on his Gameboy Advance, and primitive versions of the game were only available for that platform. Now, however, you can also play the game on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, DS, and even PSP!
POWDER is a graphical roguelike, and it’s much smaller in scope than most games in the genre (which typically try to throw the proverbial or literal kitchen sink in there). The game also includes a mouse-driven interface and a tutorial that walks you through the basics, so I’d recommend it readily to beginners… and to veterans of the genre, too! If you’re looking for some lighter fare (or something to play on the go). It’s quite fun.
But be warned… there’s no diagonal movement!
(Source: Slashie, via Rogue Temple)
Posted in Mobile / Handheld, Macintosh, Highly Recommended, Roguelikes, Linux, Windows, Freeware | Tags JeffLait | 22 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:41:00 GMT
A developer known only as “Volumetric Pixel” has released Voxelstein 3d, a single level alpha release of his Wolfenstein 3d-inspired first person shooter. The game is built using Ken Silverman’s open source Voxlap engine. In case you haven’t guessed, it renders graphics using VOXELS (cubes) rather than flat polygons.
Voxelstein 3d is moderately entertaining as a tech demo and nice to look at, in an ugly sort of way. I definitely appreciate the way you can (and must) deform the walls, as you make your escape from the Nazi villa. But unfortunately, moving around in this voxel world feels very disorienting for me, and the combat is also less than satisfying (the eyes popping out is a nice touch, though).
It’s short, it’s voxelated, its Wolfenstein-ish! I’m interested in seeing if/how the game develops.
(Thanks, MisterX!)
Posted in Unique / Bizarre, FPS, Remakes, Windows, Freeware | 50 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:33:00 GMT
Just got around to trying the Facewound alpha, which was released by Garry Newman (of Garry’s Mod fame) a couple weeks ago. The game, which was a few years in the making and a few more years abandoned, is very much incomplete… and is a bit dull if you play it straight (that is, without enabling the various debug features). But try pressing a few keys and all of a sudden you can fly through buildings (“V”) and wield everything from chainsaws to crossbows (“N” for credits, “B” for the buy menu)! Now we’re talkin’!
It also comes with a level editor and a slew of unfinished maps to play with. Facepunch forum members have already started modding the game, with some interesting results. To play custom maps, simply copy and edit one of the two “JumpTo” batch files in the main directory of the game.
Definitely nice to have a violent, technically-advanced side-scroller to tide one over until the release of Berserker/Link Dead (both of which are currently being retooled)!
Side note: Arthur “Mr. Podunkian” Lee did the animations in Facewound.
(Thanks, mosh!)
Posted in Platformers, Windows, Physics, Freeware | Tags ArthurLee, FacepunchStudios | 10 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:51:00 GMT
Walaber, the developer behind Jello Car and numerous other physics-ey games, has released Gymnast for the PC (the Xbox version will appear on Xbox Live Community Games). Playing the game requires a joystick with twin analog sticks, as well as Microsoft’s .NET 2.0 Framework. The analog sticks are used to separately control the arms and legs of your gymnast.
It takes quite a bit of time to get used to moving your character with the sticks, but thankfully, even failing is quite entertaining! The awkward spills and deadpan expressions of the characters definitely gave me a few chuckles. After some perseverance the controls start to feel pretty natural.
The game comes with two modes (Challenge and Gymnast), a replay feature, and a level editor. Hit the jump for a fun video of someone playing a custom level they made.
Read more...
Posted in Highly Recommended, XBox Live Arcade / XNA, Windows, Physics, Freeware | Tags Walaber | 29 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 15 Apr 2008 04:57:00 GMT
Dear cactus has released another shoot ‘em up. Ad Nauseum 2 (direct download) features seizurific special effects, some slightly obscene artwork, and a soundtrack that I’m pretty sure is meant to induce bowel movements. It’s also very easy to die. You have been duly warned.
For those new to cactus, you may want to try out Cactus Arcade (direct download), a collection of 17 of his games, including a handy interface for playing them.
(Thanks a lot for the tip, Bas! And to the various peeps that brought Cactus Arcade to my attention.)
Posted in Shoot-em-ups, Windows, Freeware | Tags cactus | 28 comments
Posted by Terry
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:43:00 GMT
Messhof has created a
PRO EDITION of
You Found The Grappling Hook exclusively for Business Week Arcade, which recently featured the game. In the comments on his blog, he describes the changes:
Much of the gameplay is different. It now involves espionage and national security.
More information
Posted in Platformers, Stealth, Business, Windows, Freeware | Tags messhof | 15 comments
