Joyous day! Everyday Shooter has finally made its way to the PC, via Steam. I’ll be honest, I had only gotten a taste of this game before, on the IGF show floor in 2007. It was fun then, but I gotta say, it really deserves to be played in one’s own room, with headphones on. Challenging and beautiful – one of few games where graphics, sound, and gameplay are completely harmonious with one another.
Try it! It’s definitely worth the $8.99 you’ll be paying for it (discounted from $9.99 for this week).
I worried that we might not be seeing any more of nenad’s excellent looking shooter Ablation X, but thankfully that’s not the case. Fantastic! A couple of days ago he updated his blog at 16×16.org with some information about its progress, as well as this video:
He’s teamed up with a musician called Aesqe, who also posted a bit about the game on his blog here. As well as recording the video above, Aesqe has added a soundtrack to the original trailer, which you can check out after the jump…
...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.
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.)
These are two acid techno music games by Hideki Kubo, which can be found on his Download page. In the first, vs Music, the main mode is Shooting[Play]. It pits the player against a single boss ship that has 3 lives, and the boss’s fire patterns are sequenced to the music. Movement of the ship is slower than I normally like, but the slowness also makes dodging that much more precise. Use C for continuous fire, X to clear the screen of shots with a bomb, and SPACE to get past the intro screen and to start a play mode.
Action Jockey, the second game, is a 2D, fixed screen jump-and-shmp. The available enemies and bosses are changed by adjusting mixer settings during the Acid Machine Phase. Of the 3 bosses, I’ve only been able to beat the Pong Paddle bosses so far, and it seems the game simply loops until you run out of hearts. You can fire with C and X can be used to jump, double jump, or slide (when your crouched).
More info on the other modes of vs Music and Action Jockey’s variations can be found below in the extended.
Atomhex is a new arena shoot ‘em up from Mark Incitti, the developer of Grid Wars. While Grid Wars was an obvious Geometry Wars clone (and has subsequently been pulled from Mark’s site), Atomhex adds quite a few unique ideas to this full genre.
The game mechanics involve Atoms and Hexes. The player can collect hexes to change the color of their shot, and to release multipliers. Atoms can combine with Hexes to “energize their shields” and protect them (only shots of the same color will release the Hex). Combined Atoms/Hexes will also spawn enemies – the more Atoms attached to a Hex, the more deadly the enemies.
Finally, when six atoms combine with a hex, it becomes an Atomhex that sucks you into the “Subatomic World,” a new battleground where you must fight off a number of nasty Quarks. Quarks are nasty buggers that require a hit from every colored shot to be destroyed. (Better pray for a rainbow shot upgrade.)
It can all be kind of overwhelming at first, but you get the hang of it quick… and once you do, the variety of strategies that emerge, and the strange, cyclic “evolution” of the playfield really pull you in. Plus, multipliers of 10,000!
The trial version gives you the full game for 3 days. After that, you can buy the game on a sliding scale of $5 to $20.
Posted by Jordan Magnuson
Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:23:00 GMT
Okay, this week I’ve got something that I’m guessing you haven’t played: Tremor 3 by Mark Pay. This little gem came out eight years ago (yikes, I’ve been playing this for eight years?!?), and went largely unnoticed by those outside of the “Click” community. A shame, because the game is wonderful.
Tremor is essentially a bloody multiplayer deathmatch game in the vein of Quake and Unreal Tournament, but re-imagined in a 2D top-down world. And instead of blowing each other to bloody bits over a LAN, with a safe eight feet of distance between you and your opponents, you’re all sitting at the same keyboard.
Deathmatch, King of the Hill, and Gladiator modes are all available for 2 or 3 players (3 is much better in my opinion), and you can play the game to the soundtrack of your favorite CD. The controls may seem strange at first, but once you get used to them you will find they work pretty well. The game’s interface is fantastic (very sweet how your damage shows as graphical sections around you), and the graphics in general are pure joy.
Also worth noting is Mark’s earlier release Tremor (2) Gold. The interface and graphics are inferior to the sequel, but it features 4 player support and a fantastic survival mode that were both sadly chopped for Tremor 3. I used to have this one on my computer, but it’s been lost over the years, and I could not find an active link anywhere on the internet. Was ist neu? Perhaps someone else will be more successful. EDIT: qnp comes to the rescue! Download Tremor Gold here: http://www.mediafire.com/?exsbbixwlxj.
EDIT: Keyboard jamming? Try hooking up a usb keyboard and ps2 keyboard in tandem.
Blast Works, the Wii shoot ‘em up based Kenta Cho’s Tumiki Fighters, now has it’s own development blog on IGN. There’s only one entry so far, and it discusses the game’s built-in Shape (Ship) Editor.
People who were dubious of Kenta Cho’s connection to the game may be comforted somewhat by the fact that the blog discusses Tumiki Fighters and how the developers are building upon the basic concept (no pun intended). Overall, the game seems like it’s moving farther away from Tumiki Fighters (indeed, they’re rebuilding the engine from the ground up to support “unrestricted 3d environments”). I actually think this is a good thing. It feels more like its own game now, rather than an unnecessary upgrade.
Hit the jump for two gameplay videos (one of the editor and one showing some actual shooting).
EDIT: Petri has informed me that he’s working on an update that addresses a lot of the issues I mention below. The update should be out shortly and I’ll make sure it gets mentioned here.
Grammar Nazi is a new “type ‘em up” from Petri Purho, the developer behind the IGF-nominated Crayon Physics Deluxe. The goal of the game is to type words to attack your opponent. Longer words do more damage, but leave you more vulnerable – while you’re typing your protective shield goes down.
I really wanted to love this game, because I’m a big fan of Petri, typing, and blowing things up… but damn, it’s too unforgiving. I can’t even beat the first guy – trying to dodge the shrapnel he drops is like trying to dodge raindrops in a storm. No matter how carefully I time my attacks, it’s impossible to fire off an “it” without taking some damage.
To make matters worse, fired letters don’t register until they’ve made contact with the enemy. Because of the enemy’s shape and movement, even a correctly typed word may show up as a typo.
And last but not least, “antidisestablishmentarianism,” which should, in theory, cause a nuclear explosion killing the first boss instantly, does nothing. It doesn’t even count as a word! Why?!/me cries
