Posted by Xander
Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:30:00 GMT
So it’s not quite the season yet, but what would an MGS game be without a little bit of hype? Arthur Lee will be once again providing a swish parody of the famous series, featuring a suprising amount of gadgets/weapons which seem to mix functionality and the funnies quite nicely.
Release date should be fairly obvious, which hopefully will give some time to improving the music which isn’t quite as accomplished as the rest of the game’s presentation appears to be. The puns however are fantastic enough that I will completely ignore that this isn’t ‘The Underside’.
Posted in Freeware, Action / Arcade, Windows, Videos, Stealth | Tags ArthurLee, MrPodunkian | 19 comments
Posted by Xander
Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:40:00 GMT
Star Guard is a short and sweet action-platformer from Vacuum Flowers available for either PC/MACs. Set in a minimalistic and dark world, you play a green guy fighting red guys who are controlled by an evil wizard. You shoot the red guys with X and jump over their cowardly bullets with Z, though a gamepad is recommended if you’ve one available as you’ll need to squeeze off a lot of bullets in quick succession.
This is especially true in the later of the game’s nine levels, each featuring the same charmingly simple aesthetic, although the larger enemies feature some slightly more stylish flourishes. It’s a rather strange game because the pacing and difficulty doesn’t quite mesh with the infinite lives given to you on a normal playthrough. Where as typically mines/traps would require caution and dexterity, these will simply not respawn so even if you die you can just get through the section without worrying about the consequences. Which is fine, however I would’ve preferred if they came back when I did so I could effectively ‘beat’ that section rather than skip it.
That’s literally my only problem with the game and other than that it’s a wonderfully conceived platformer, and if more games could do plot exposition in such a seemless fashion so as to not even slightly interrupt the action then I’d be pretty damn happy with that.
Posted in Action / Arcade, Platformers, Windows, Macintosh | 49 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:28:00 GMT
Darkwind: War on Wheels is a physics-based, turn-based, squad-based vehicular combat MMORPG with a real world timescale and detailed economic simulation. And as improbable as that sounds, it’s apparently quite real. Shaun (udm on the forums) writes:
You create a gang, and the main goal is just to survive. Do whatever it takes – trade, race, banditry, fight etc. My favourite aspect of the game still has to be racing, mainly because my gang’s roots are too firmly ground into races. Think of the tabletop game Car Wars having sex with EVE Online, then doing a threesome with Autoduel and Auto Assault, and finally making out with Football Manager. You get to do trading and other miscellaneous activities which I haven’t explored yet via the web browser. When a battle takes place, you launch the in-game client, and you fight in turn-based 3D.
But let me elaborate more on my favourite part of the game, since it’s also my most familiar, and hopefully it will excite more people – the races. Races and deathraces are held on a regular hourly basis, so there’s no shortage of races to take part in. The game is turn-based. You select the degree of turning, select the optimal speed, and end turn, and the cars will move according to how the players/AI choose. Sounds boring on paper, but the physics are so well executed in-game, it’s a thrill ride. I’m even willing to say that this feels even more intense than any real-time racing game I’ve played. It’s just… addiction at its best.
I know there’s bound to be disbelief, but this game is really amazing. You have to play it to believe it, and I urge you guys to try it.
I haven’t played Darkwind yet myself, but I’d be impressed if the game lived up to even half of what it claims to be on the website! I will point out that character permadeath and persistent NPC gangs are two of the game’s features. I just thought those sounded particularly interesting.
If you’re interested, you can try the game for free for an unlimited amount of time. Buying a subscription, however ($20 for 3 months, $34 for 6 months, $58 for 12 months), enables you to buy, sell, trade, and customize cars, own facilities, and participate in subscriber-only events, among other things. And if you subscribe now, your subscription is free until October 19th.
TIGdb: Entry for Darkwind: War on Wheels
Video after the jump:
Read more...
Posted in RPG, MMOG, Sim, Racing, Windows, Macintosh | Tags PsychicSoftware | 26 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:31:00 GMT
Hey, all. Edmund McMillen just had gall bladder surgery a few hours ago and is recovering right now. He fell ill yesterday and went to the hospital early last morning. Thankfully, he is okay and will hopefully be able to go home soon.
Please send him your love and if you’ve ever wanted to give Ed a donation for all the fun and hijinks he’s given us, now would be the time! Unfortunately, a trip to the hospital means a bill, and Ed doesn’t have health insurance. You can donate via PayPal here. Also, here’s his Facebook if you want to write something to him on his Wall.
Get well soon, Edmund! We’re looking forward to Super Meat Boy and whatever games the surgery will inspire in you.
Posted in Community, Nerd Love, Unicorns | Tags EdmundMcMillen
Posted by Derek Yu
Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:49:00 GMT
Tom Sennett and Matt Thorson’s RunMan: Race Around the World elicits a kind of primal joy in me that I was worried had left long ago. It’s just a fun game, through and through, super-injected with whimsy, full of surprising moments and fun characters who feel like old friends. You can’t ever really die, but the game is challenging enough. Still, I imagine one could get through RunMan pretty quickly by playing straight through… but it’s so enjoyable to run, bounce, swing, and fly through some of the levels that I’m more than happy to play them over and over to improve my time or collect medals.
The game’s music warrants its own paragraph. Tom Sennett is fond of using public domain jazz and bluegrass songs in his games (most notably, the original RunMan’s Monster Fracas), and they really add to the charm. I’m pretty accustomed to hearing either chiptunes or orchestral music (or occasionally metal) in games these days, and it’s refreshing to listen to something that deviates from those genres. I like sitting around on the map screen just to listen to the music.
But yeah, this is by far my favorite of Tom and Matt’s games, and possibly one of my favorite indie games of the year. I’d love to see more collaborations between them in the future, ‘cause this one worked out really well. Great work!
TIGdb: Entry for RunMan: Race Around the World
Posted in Highly Recommended, Freeware, Platformers, Windows | Tags TomSennett, YMM | 74 comments
Posted by Xander
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 20:09:00 GMT
Charlie Brooker is a not-quite-well-enough-known-as-he-should-be british writer/telly person in the employ of ‘The Guardian’ paper. He also produces some brilliantly wry programs acting as commentary to society’s relationship with TV, the news media and most recently games.
Embedded is the first part of the 50-minute episode which covers everything from Street Fighter II to Perfect Cherry Blossom. The rest of the program is also online on youtube as well as on the UK-Accessible BBC iPlayer. Similar to the ‘Rev Rants’ of Destructoid’s Anthony Burch, only with a somewhat bigger budget, it’s an interesting and entertaining deconstruction of videogame culture. Whether viewed from the mind of an indie games developer, a general enthusiast or simply someone fed up with half-hour, half-arsed sensationalist pieces on gaming addiction featuring at least one fat guy who has customised his chair to double as a toilet, I cannot recommend it enough.
Posted in Social Impact, Videos, Nerd Love | Tags CharlieBrooker | 42 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:09:00 GMT
Llamasoft has just released Gridrunner Revolution, an update to Gridrunner (1982) and Gridrunner++ (2002). The game has all the hallmarks of a modern Jeff Minter production: psychedelic graphics and gobs of hidden rules and scoring mechanics. And sheep.
Each level has a terrible sun in it that periodically fires on your ship, but can be destroyed for an extra man and leaves behind a black hole that creates a gravity well for your bullets. Curving your bullets through gravity is an important mechanic, allowing you to raise your multiplier and hit enemies from different angles (you can rotate your ship with the right mouse button). The extra ships system is novel – each ship looks unique and has a slightly different way of firing. When you find the right ship and the right angle it looks impressive and nets you an even more impressive multiplier.
I also really like the “Sheepie Save” mechanic. Collecting sheep increases your ships’ power but can also be used to save a dying ship. Once hit, your ship falls toward the bottom of the screen, but if you guide it to a sheep, it will be saved. Keeping your ship bouncing until a sheep arrives is actually one of my favorite things to do in the game. I won’t spoil how it works, exactly, but it’s a nifty idea.
Gridrunner Revolution is definitely a lot easier to get into than Minter’s Space Giraffe, although I feel like the game doesn’t really start cooking until well into the Madras (Medium) difficulty or in Vindaloo (Hard). From my experience, that’s the point where the mechanics start to make sense, because you’ll really be relying on your understanding of them to survive. For that reason I’d personally prefer fewer levels with a faster difficulty ramp. It might also make each level feel a bit more unique (as it is, you’re playing level after level of psychedelic void – pretty, but they tend to blur into one another).
You can have the full game for $20, or with Space Giraffe at $25. The full game comes with the original Gridrunner as a bonus feature that you can unlock.
TIGdb: Entry for Gridrunner Revolution
Posted in Windows, Shoot-em-ups | Tags JeffMinter, Llamasoft | 18 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:48:00 GMT
From Eskil Steenberg’s blog:
My silence should not be mistaken for inaction, in fact the opposite is true. Today I start the first stage of the open Alpha for Love. At this stage you wont be able to log in and play but you will be able to see the engine run on your machine, giving you an idea of how well your machine will handle the game. This will let me work out any compatibility issues.
Some lovely new screenshots of Love here. (The characters kind of creep me out, though. In a Xenu sort of way.)
(Source: Jim Rossignol, via Rock, Paper, Shotgun)
Posted in Previews, MMOG, Windows | Tags EskilSteenberg | 106 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:39:00 GMT
This caught my eye. It’s an old workshop (2007) led by Steph Thirion, who created the iPhone game Eliss. In the workshop, Steph gave students the source code for a simple Breakout game (made with Processing) and had them modify the code to create something new. Most of the students were graphic design majors and not game developers, but they managed to make some cool mods during the workshop.
Now, when you edit animated shapes into a music video, of course they look great, especially if Steph Thirion is the editor. Also, this isn’t really a new concept, considering mods, hacks, and open source have been around since the dawn of games. Still, it’s an interesting idea to create a game that’s made made specifically to be deconstructed and reconstructed like so…
The source is Marie Foulston, via Tigers Hungry.
Posted in Videos, Community, Developers, Games and Art? | Tags StephThirion | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:22:00 GMT
I’ve been meaning to mention that the Gratuitous Space Battles beta is open for people who pre-order the game for $19.95. You can follow the development of the game at Cliffski’s blog.
I thought this was neat:
Posted in Strategy, Videos, Previews | Tags PositechGames | 9 comments
