Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:28:00 GMT
The latest version of DoomRL has been released. The last version was released over a year ago, so this is nice surprise for fans of the fast-paced roguelike. Version 0.9.9 has a lot of neat additions, including weapon and armor mods, unique items, new levels, new traits, new alt-fire modes, and a badge/medal system, among other things. Lots of balancing and tweaking has been done to the game, too.
This is the coolest version of one of my favorite roguelikes, so I recommend it.
TIGdb: Entry for DoomRL
Posted in Demakes, Roguelikes, Linux, Windows | Tags KornelKisielewicz | 18 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:46:00 GMT
Amanita Design’s Machinarium was released last Friday. The game is superb. It’s a beautiful adventure game set in a unique world populated with all kinds of lovable, crazy robots (the protagonist is especially endearing). In my opinion, the visuals are peerless – every room is gorgeous, and filled with little details and surprises that ignite the imagination. The puzzles can get pretty difficult, but by and large I found them to be relatively intuitive and well-done. They’re quite varied, too, and include a mix of hotspot-hunting, inventory-management, timing, and mini-games.
Machinarium marks a very high point in the adventure-gaming and I highly recommend it. Even people who are put off by the slow pacing of most adventure games should try it, as there’s no dialogue in Machinarium and you are sucked into the game itself very quickly (even the title screen is fun!). You can play the demo right in your browser on the game’s website. The full game is $20.
TIGdb: Entry for Machinarium
Posted in Macintosh, Highly Recommended, Adventure, Puzzle, Linux, Windows | Tags AmanitaDesign | 20 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:21:00 GMT
World of Goo has turned one year old and is having a big sale this week to celebrate. Until October 19th, you can pay whatever you feel the game is worth! Yowza!
Posted in Macintosh, Community, Linux, Windows | Tags 2DBoy | 31 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:56:00 GMT
Joe Larson has released ASCIIpOrtal, his ASCII demake of… Portal. I’ll be honest, I know that there are other demakes of Portal out there (at least two from our Demakes Competition), but I’m not very familiar with them. This one is well-made, however – seeing “through” the portals is a nifty visual effect and the puzzles are nice and challenging. The game comes with a level editor as an added bonus.
Just One More Game conducted an interview with Joe for the launch of the game.
TIGdb: Entry for ASCIIpOrtal
Posted in Platformers, Puzzle, Linux, Windows, Freeware | Tags CymonsGames | 22 comments
Posted by Xander
Sat, 08 Aug 2009 11:10:00 GMT
PhoenixJ’s Tasty Static is an affectionate abstract send-up of shareware classic Skyroads. The goal is to race against time and your own life bar to the end of a course of obstacles. Arrow keys control movement and speed with space being the jump button, but it does become slightly more complicated than that, with various tiles restricting certain actions. That, and there are a number of quirks to the control scheme which need to be mastered to beat the tougher levels, such as bouncing into another jump for extra height. The game is set into a series of progessively tougher challenges, each broken up into a set of three under similar themes like RED 40 or CLASSY, with approapriate aesthetic hints to each one.
As you complete levels you unlock extras such as an FPS view, a variety of skins for your ship and even lasers to fire. Not sure what the purpose of those is yet, but when faced with any decision in life generally ‘The one with more lasers’ is the best answer you can give. There’s also a level editor built into the windows version (MAC/Linux versions are also available), and new levels can be down/uploaded from/to the site made by the community, if the substantial main campaign somehow isn’t enough with you.
The difficulty can be fairly extreme, and though the process is streamlined to minimise downtime it can still be a frustrating experience like its predecessor. Then again there really is nothing like these two games, and with a great soundtrack spread with new music for every themed stage the experience is incredibly well rounded, and a freeware joy for anyone daring enough to try to master it.
Posted in Macintosh, Linux, Windows, Action / Arcade, Freeware, Abstract | 16 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:36:00 GMT
[This is a guest review by The Purple Squerkle.]
Egoboo is a dungeon-crawling action RPG first released in 1999 by Aaron Bishop. After his brother Ben convinced him to release it as open source, the game began to enjoy quite a bit of development thanks to a willing community. It’s had its ups and downs, but currently the game is being developed at a fairly steady rate. Though sometimes gaps between stable versions can be a bit long, the in-development beta version can be accessed through a subversion repository, which is updated any time a change is made.
The original idea of Egoboo was to create a game like Nethack, but in real time and with 3D graphics. Although most of the gameplay resembles a typical ARPG, there are a lot of subtle aspects that are reminiscent of roguelikes (and Nethack in particular). There are quite a few strange secrets and “Easter eggs”; discovering a couple of these can even result in unlocking an extra class to play as in addition to the eight you can normally choose from.
To start the game, you must choose a class and beat a “starter module” before you can go out into the game’s main dungeons. These modules will help you become familiar with the specific abilities of the class you chose, and require you to apply strategies that will help you use your character more effectively in the future.
After you beat the starter module, you are ready to play through the main game. The main series of modules consists of seven dungeons (two of them are divided into two separate halves, so there are actually nine in total). Once you beat one, you will be able to play through the next, and you are always welcome to go back to modules you have already completed. There is also a small town that is available from the beginning and a larger city that is unlocked later on. You can visit these peaceful areas to purchase more gear. There are also a few NPCs who will send you on side quests, most of which will culminate in the discovery of rare and useful loot.
You can play through most of the game with up to four players (on the same machine) using the keyboard, mouse, and joysticks. The only exceptions to this are starter modules and a few side quest dungeons that are only available for one player. (Many of the modules that can only be played by one person do include AI-controlled companions, though.)
Most modules consist of playing through until you find a boss monster, then defeating it. The game isn’t all hack and slash, though; there are also puzzle elements every once in a while that make the game feel a little bit like something from the Zelda series.
Egoboo is still a little rough around the edges, and some people may be turned off by its graphics, which look a little like something from the N64 era. But beneath the questionable exterior lies a very charming game with unique style, solid gameplay, and a fair amount of depth. It’s definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re a fan of ARPGs or Zelda-esque adventures. Be on the look out for when the next version is released in a few days; it should have quite a bit of new content.
Posted in RPG, Macintosh, Linux, Windows, Action / Arcade | Tags AaronBishop | 24 comments
Posted by Guest Reviewer
Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:40:00 GMT
[This is a guest review by ForTheUSSR, who first encountered the game on a CD called 300 Arcade Games.]
XEvil is a fun, free, ultra-violent, 2D side-scrolling deathmatch arena. It was developed by, believe it or not, an M.I.T. student named Steve Hardt (it’s freeware and open source). Released in 1994, it runs on Windows, Linux, and Unix platforms. You can play as many different characters (including a soldier, ninja, alien, robot, and several others) in a variety of game modes. You have your run-of-the-mill elimination mode, team deathmatch, and even a campaign mode. Also, the levels are randomly generated. Each character has unique abilities (ninjas can crawl on walls), but there are weapons and items that all the characters can use (like a pistol, laser, and my personal favorite: the chainsaw).
You can play by yourself against computer opponents, but the best part of this game is, in my opinion, the ability to play networked multiplayer. You have to manually type IP addresses, and I had some problems with this at first (if you’re not sure which IP you should tell others to type, use ipconfig in a DOS prompt). Once you get it working, it’s really addicting. The cooperative campaign mode is a fun challenge, and you get a short title after you die depending on how well you played (e.g. Hell’s Gatekeeper). You can play against bots in team deathmatch or just have a free-for all with your friends.
There are several things that I think make this game fun. The plot, characters, sound effects, and backgrounds are ridiculous and somewhat humorous (There are signs in the backgrounds saying things like “Strangle Your Pets”). The variety of items ensures that the game doesn’t get too repetitive, and lets you develop strategies. And nothing, NOTHING, beats co-op games (unless you can’t find anyone to play with).
At times the game is a little buggy, and the AI isn’t very intelligent. In addition, the control scheme takes some getting used to. But none of that seems to matter when you’re chainsawing your way through a screaming cluster of aliens, robots, ninjas, and Flying Burger King Guys while high on PCP. And the best part is, you don’t need a fancy computer to play it. If you have some cruddy old PC and a bored friend, just hook it up to your network and play away.
Anyways, check it out if you’re in the mood for some fast-paced, old-school action. You might get a kick out of the website, too. Especially the character page (look under the Characters and Weapons tab).
TIGdb: Entry for XEvil
Posted in Platformers, Macintosh, Multiplayer, Linux, Windows | Tags SteveHardt | 23 comments
Posted by Xander
Tue, 05 May 2009 00:37:00 GMT
Just a quick one today! Altitude is a self described ‘Fast paced aerial action game’, which is quite an apt summary really. The focus of the game is multi-player where you and a number of buddies pilot one of five different planes, of which there are two variants of each featuring different weapon load-outs, in an attempt to either take out the enemy fighters or deliver a package from their base to the enemy base. Oddly the package seems to explode on contact, damaging their base. Why would they try to deliver explosive devices in such a dangerous fashion?
One of the interesting draws of the game is that success in either dogfighting or playing payload paperboy yields XP, which is used to either unlock the planes for use or one of a number of ‘perks’ which can be customised on aircraft to confer various bonuses. I’m personally a sucker for any kind of persistant elements in games, especially multiplayer action games so this is definitely a plus for me. The frame-work holding it all together is fairly swish too, with an in-game friends system including a group chat function if you’d like to plan things out in advance, or a drop-in function if you just want to dive into a friends game and howl lead through the skies as quick as you can.
The game strikes me as overall a very nice product. It doesn’t quite set itself apart from the pack, but it does provide a very complete package that seems well supported with updates handled by the game on booting. There’s a demo available on the site, as well as the full version for $20 (both Linux and Mac machines are supported too), with demo access restricting you to only two planes and two perks though otherwise it allows you to play just the same as anyone else online. It’s well worth a playthrough with its quickly gratifying pick-up-and-play style, and to further sweeten the deal the full version will be unlocked for everyone this coming weekend to get a full taste of the product. With that, there’s no reason not to give it a chance. To the skies!
Posted in Macintosh, Shoot-em-ups, Linux, Windows, Action / Arcade | 35 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:48:00 GMT
Dead Like Ants is another unique Interactive Fiction game from C.E.J. Pacian, the creator of Gun Mute (2008 XYZZY Award winner for Best Puzzles). I don’t play enough IF to even pretend that I have any authority on it, but Pacian has always struck me as having a very strong written voice. DLA ranks up there for me – the theme is carried confidently through the game mechanics and writing, which is economical but also very evocative. Plus, insects are radsauce.
TIGdb: Entry for Dead Like Ants
Posted in Macintosh, Interactive Fiction, Highly Recommended, Linux, Windows | Tags Pacian | 5 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:05:00 GMT
Still hot, still 100% DRM-free.
Posted in Linux | Tags 2DBoy | 12 comments
