Thursday, October 22, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Seventy-Five Flash Games We Recommend
We all love Flash games, so it's also when some are recommended to us. The more the merrier, in fact. So how about seventy-five? Seventy five games that are essential for any Flash gamer to play, whether they like it or not.
Note: Some of these games might not be actual Flash games. Don't bother informing us.
Here is that list:
1. MOTAS - The original escape the room game that started the whole wave of that genre. The subtle, creepy and mind-boggling adventure of an escaped clone will have you pulling your hair out for the next level. MOTAS is extremely innovative and one of the best games made to date.
2. Fantastic Contraption - Another game that demands the use of your brain. In this game, there is no one answer, but rather thousands of possibilities you can tap into to finish the level. It's also free-play, so you don't have to finish one level to get to another.
3. Mardek: Chapter 2 - The epic episodic (see, we're funny!) RPG series by Pseudolonewolf, which is extremely popular. If you're a gamer, chances are you've heard of it. I recommend you play Chapter one first (if you haven't already).
4. Motherload - Being one of the best games xgenstudios has ever produced, in Motherload you play as a digging machine traveling down into earth, collecting minerals and being cool like that. But as you venture deeper, some mysterious things start happening, and you soon find yourself traveling the unknown.
5. Kongai - A card game on Kongregate, that is highly balanced on a competitive level. Made by the lead designer of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix.
6. Portal: The Flash Version - It doesn't matter if you're a Portal fan or a moron (and those are the only two types of people), Portal: The Flash Version is definitely an acceptable work of Flash to match the original. All the awesomeness of the original Valve game minus one dimension.
7. The Impossible Quiz 1 and 2 - Two ridiculously hard quizzes where you're easily addicted to its hilarious questions and simply unfair difficulty.
8. Amorphous+ - You star a small warrior from bird's eye view, battling multiple merciless blobs who plan on taking over the world (or perhaps just having you for dinner). It's intense and quite difficult at times.
9. Pillage The Village - Pillage the Village is one of those rare games where your basic method of killing isn't weapons. In this game, it's brute force caused by your crushing grip. And it's awesome.
10. Platform Racing 2 - One of the best free multiplayer games where you race others and gain in level. Note: Number three will be released quite soon.
11. The Thing Thing Series - One of the most fantastic 'blood n gore' games out there, where there are too many games to pin down to one. We'll conveniently link to the fourth, however.
12. Grow Island - A game by Eyezmaze, being part of his famous Grow Series. This time it takes place on an island, where you... grow it. Tip: There are two final outcomes!
13. More Bloons - That game where you're a monkey that throws darts at balloons. How do people think up this stuff?
14. Submachine Series - A series of escape the room games, where you solve puzzles to escape various places.
15. Mobile Weapon - Pilot mechs and adventure and do the basic thing you do in all RPGs!
16. Dino Run - Run from the incoming apocalypse to escape the extinction of the dinosaurs. The usual awesomeness in a pixelated Flash game.
17. Dungeon Escape - Don't let this game's bad animation, and overall mediocre appearance fool you. Dungeon Escape is a very unique game where escaping the dungeon means clicking rapidly at appearing buttons.
18. Seven Deadly Sins - Seven Deadly Sins is a pretty backwards game. At the beginning of the game (which is gladly played to 'Mr. Blue Sky') you are challenged in a bar to committing all seven of the seven deadly sins in less than a fortnight. Can you do it?
19. Don't Look Back - An eerie, depressing, and faithfully pixelated game where might not want to look back.
20. Dot Action 2 - How could you forget this?
21. Super Serif Brothers - Super Serif Brothers is a text-based platformer, and is about as simple as it gets. It also has it's own level editor and pit, which you could say is the most important part of the game.
22. Desktop Tower Defense 1.5 - One of the original and best tower defense games out there, where you use different 'towers' to keep evil critters off of your desk. (squashing is not an option).
23. N - One of the most innovative and fast-paced platformers out there. It's good to be a ninja.
24. Dolphin Olympics 2 - Just another game where you're a dolphin who swims into the far reaches of outer space, by swimming very quickly. The usual stuff.
25. Codex of Alchemical Engineering - A game where half of it is figuring out what to do!
26. The Glean of the Glob - One of the most peculiar and creative Flash games on the market, where your job is to uncover a secret.
27. Mindscape - An amazing, mind-bending and absolutely creepy platformers where you journey through three worlds, all completely different.
28. Electric Man 2 - A fast-paced combat game starring an electric man who is riling for a fight. A fun way to let of steam - or electricity. (hur hur)
29. Inquisitive Dave - A short adventure game starring a man named Dave who is feeling particularly inquisitive. A good way to exercise your brain without playing a puzzle game.
30. Ball Revamped Series - The Ball Revamped Series is a relatively old series of games, where the focus of the game is to get to the end of the stage without hitting obstacles. As the game progresses there are more power-ups and obstacles.
31. Electric Box - A simple, yet quite difficult puzzle game where you work with the powers of science!
32. Grow ver.3 REMAKE - The great original Grow game that inspired it all now remade.
33. Windowsill - Playing a windowsill you dare to what no windowsill has done before, and go on an awesome journey of epic proportions.
34. Magnets - Similar to MagnetiZR, Magnets is a creative physics puzzle game with magnets, legos and other trinkets to mess around with.
35. Crimson Room - You're trapped in a crimson room, and the only way to get out is to use your strategic mind to figure out puzzles and collect items of use.
36. Fancy Pants (World 2) - A platformer where you run around in orange pants, kick snail shells, jump on spiders and have a good time. One of the best Flash platformers out there. (May or may not include large rabbits)
37. Copy Cat: A Painter's Puzzle - An artistic game where you mimic paterns with stencils and paint. Very original.
38. Notpron - Here's the thing about Notpron. If you don't use a walkthrough, it's really, really, really difficult. And that's what makes it fun.
39. Seed - Seed is one of those 'grow' types of games, but what makes it unique is how beautiful the animation is. By combining different flowers' DNA, you get new, strange combinations that make your garden more beautiful.
40. You Have To Burn The Rope - You have to play the game.
41. Music Catch 2 - What's better than beautiful music to listen to? Perhaps a game to come along with it. Music Catch 2 is the full package for music and game lovers.
42. Monsters' Den: Book of Dread - A creepy, mysterious dungeon dwelling game where you use your warriors and mages to battle evil monsters.
43. Sonny 2 - You play as a zombie in a world which is quite unjust about zombies, and the game is a mere representation of the difficulty every day zombies face. It's likely you already know of this game.
44. Dwarf Complete - Yet another game by Eyezmaze, but this time it stars a dwarf! A good way to spend an hour.
45. Toss the Turtle - In Toss the Turtle you... toss the turtle. The game focuses on your shooting a turtle out of a cannon, and seeing how far it will go.
46. Fold - The point of the game is to get to the other end, but that can be quite difficult when there are so many instant-kill obstacles in the way!
47. Ether Cannon - Go go ether!
48. Emergency Exit - You're a workaholic Japanese man, who suddenly finds himself trapped in his office by an evil monster. The mix of humor and plane surrealism of this game makes it fantastic.
49. Nanaca Crash - Animu!!!!
50. Combat Heaven - Mechish shooting game with an interesting upgrade system and many secrets to figure out how to unlock. Can be pretty addictive, and stylish.
51. Hackerstory - The best idle game. Possibly the best game ever.
52. Sprout - A little sprout journeys to become a grand tree, like many before him. It's cute, artistic and a fun play if you get the chance.
53. Lint - Being the little piece of lint you are, the world seems big and unwelcoming. But you survive with your awesome jumping abilities, and undeniable cuteness.
54. Gemcraft 0 - The second of the Gemcraft series, where you use different gems to shoot down enemies and progress in the game.
55. Vector TD 2 - Another defend your castle game, but in vector style! Like many TD's, it can be very addictive.
56. 5 and 6 Differences - A 'spot the difference' game, but this time instead of being totally lame, the pictures used are often very interesting, and sometimes even a bit soothing when you've had a long day. Soothing until you can't find that one last difference, that is.
57. Line Rider - You know what this game is.
58. Free Rider - You know what this game is, too.
59. :the Game: - There isn't much to say about :the game:. There isn't as much playing as there is laughing, which makes it totally worth it.
60. The Majesty of Colors - In The Majesty of Colors you are an alien squid-like creature who is only beginning to learn the ways of Earth. You can learn to love, hate or die.
61. Death vs. Monstars - In Death vs. Monstars you are death, and they are monsters. Needless to say it's a pretty bizarre game, and you might like to know it's one of the best shooters out there.
62. The Next Floor - The Next Floor is the mix of a turret defense game and a third-person shooter, and it does it brilliantly.
63. Use Boxmen - Use Boxmen is a game where you do exactly what the game title says, you use boxmen to win, by having them go through certain paths. They are your pawns.
64. Microbe Combat - A fighting/capture game starring small, seemingly pathetic microbes.
65. Grid16 - A game by the famous developer Jmtb02, Grid16 is the ultimate example of multi-tasking, as there are 16 games within one for you to focus on.
66. Canabalt - Canabalt is the story of a man who dares to run from a world where the human race is being captured by evil, menacing giant robots. The game has only two controls, yet it is very difficult and a really engaging game.
67. Little Wheel - Little Wheel is an easy, quick play which focuses more around an awesome atmosphere than the actual gameplay, but is still a good way to spend fifteen minutes.
68. Stinkoman - 20XD6! Stinkoman is one of the best platformers ever created, poking fun at the Megaman-esque genre, and all of Japan (Because Japan is always fun to poke fun at).
69. The Shrine - A game about saving the world. One shrine at a time.
70. P.O.D. - An old game where you must defend your base from evil attacking aliens with lasers. Quite a difficult game, and one that is very satisfying to complete.
71. Gamma Bros. - A shooter game where you fight evil ships in space, and do it all in pixelated graphics of awesomeness.
72. Protector: Reclaiming the Throne - Protector is one of the most brilliantly designed defense games made, and one that might just have you captivated for hours.
73. The Visitor - A creepy game where you play as an alien landed on our planet, who comes to a small cabin to get a feel of what this 'Earth' is lile.
74. Dinowars - A multiplayer game where you load up your dinosaur with weapons and beat the crap out of other dinosaurs.
75. Peasant's Quest - Peasant's Quest is the tale of a bullied peasant in an 8-bit town who dares to stand up against his evil opressor, and the most horrible entity ever conceived, Trogdor.
Note: Some of these games might not be actual Flash games. Don't bother informing us.
Here is that list:
1. MOTAS - The original escape the room game that started the whole wave of that genre. The subtle, creepy and mind-boggling adventure of an escaped clone will have you pulling your hair out for the next level. MOTAS is extremely innovative and one of the best games made to date.
2. Fantastic Contraption - Another game that demands the use of your brain. In this game, there is no one answer, but rather thousands of possibilities you can tap into to finish the level. It's also free-play, so you don't have to finish one level to get to another.
3. Mardek: Chapter 2 - The epic episodic (see, we're funny!) RPG series by Pseudolonewolf, which is extremely popular. If you're a gamer, chances are you've heard of it. I recommend you play Chapter one first (if you haven't already).
4. Motherload - Being one of the best games xgenstudios has ever produced, in Motherload you play as a digging machine traveling down into earth, collecting minerals and being cool like that. But as you venture deeper, some mysterious things start happening, and you soon find yourself traveling the unknown.
5. Kongai - A card game on Kongregate, that is highly balanced on a competitive level. Made by the lead designer of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix.
6. Portal: The Flash Version - It doesn't matter if you're a Portal fan or a moron (and those are the only two types of people), Portal: The Flash Version is definitely an acceptable work of Flash to match the original. All the awesomeness of the original Valve game minus one dimension.
7. The Impossible Quiz 1 and 2 - Two ridiculously hard quizzes where you're easily addicted to its hilarious questions and simply unfair difficulty.
8. Amorphous+ - You star a small warrior from bird's eye view, battling multiple merciless blobs who plan on taking over the world (or perhaps just having you for dinner). It's intense and quite difficult at times.
9. Pillage The Village - Pillage the Village is one of those rare games where your basic method of killing isn't weapons. In this game, it's brute force caused by your crushing grip. And it's awesome.
10. Platform Racing 2 - One of the best free multiplayer games where you race others and gain in level. Note: Number three will be released quite soon.
11. The Thing Thing Series - One of the most fantastic 'blood n gore' games out there, where there are too many games to pin down to one. We'll conveniently link to the fourth, however.
12. Grow Island - A game by Eyezmaze, being part of his famous Grow Series. This time it takes place on an island, where you... grow it. Tip: There are two final outcomes!
13. More Bloons - That game where you're a monkey that throws darts at balloons. How do people think up this stuff?
14. Submachine Series - A series of escape the room games, where you solve puzzles to escape various places.
15. Mobile Weapon - Pilot mechs and adventure and do the basic thing you do in all RPGs!
16. Dino Run - Run from the incoming apocalypse to escape the extinction of the dinosaurs. The usual awesomeness in a pixelated Flash game.
17. Dungeon Escape - Don't let this game's bad animation, and overall mediocre appearance fool you. Dungeon Escape is a very unique game where escaping the dungeon means clicking rapidly at appearing buttons.
18. Seven Deadly Sins - Seven Deadly Sins is a pretty backwards game. At the beginning of the game (which is gladly played to 'Mr. Blue Sky') you are challenged in a bar to committing all seven of the seven deadly sins in less than a fortnight. Can you do it?
19. Don't Look Back - An eerie, depressing, and faithfully pixelated game where might not want to look back.
20. Dot Action 2 - How could you forget this?
21. Super Serif Brothers - Super Serif Brothers is a text-based platformer, and is about as simple as it gets. It also has it's own level editor and pit, which you could say is the most important part of the game.
22. Desktop Tower Defense 1.5 - One of the original and best tower defense games out there, where you use different 'towers' to keep evil critters off of your desk. (squashing is not an option).
23. N - One of the most innovative and fast-paced platformers out there. It's good to be a ninja.
24. Dolphin Olympics 2 - Just another game where you're a dolphin who swims into the far reaches of outer space, by swimming very quickly. The usual stuff.
25. Codex of Alchemical Engineering - A game where half of it is figuring out what to do!
26. The Glean of the Glob - One of the most peculiar and creative Flash games on the market, where your job is to uncover a secret.
27. Mindscape - An amazing, mind-bending and absolutely creepy platformers where you journey through three worlds, all completely different.
28. Electric Man 2 - A fast-paced combat game starring an electric man who is riling for a fight. A fun way to let of steam - or electricity. (hur hur)
29. Inquisitive Dave - A short adventure game starring a man named Dave who is feeling particularly inquisitive. A good way to exercise your brain without playing a puzzle game.
30. Ball Revamped Series - The Ball Revamped Series is a relatively old series of games, where the focus of the game is to get to the end of the stage without hitting obstacles. As the game progresses there are more power-ups and obstacles.
31. Electric Box - A simple, yet quite difficult puzzle game where you work with the powers of science!
32. Grow ver.3 REMAKE - The great original Grow game that inspired it all now remade.
33. Windowsill - Playing a windowsill you dare to what no windowsill has done before, and go on an awesome journey of epic proportions.
34. Magnets - Similar to MagnetiZR, Magnets is a creative physics puzzle game with magnets, legos and other trinkets to mess around with.
35. Crimson Room - You're trapped in a crimson room, and the only way to get out is to use your strategic mind to figure out puzzles and collect items of use.
36. Fancy Pants (World 2) - A platformer where you run around in orange pants, kick snail shells, jump on spiders and have a good time. One of the best Flash platformers out there. (May or may not include large rabbits)
37. Copy Cat: A Painter's Puzzle - An artistic game where you mimic paterns with stencils and paint. Very original.
38. Notpron - Here's the thing about Notpron. If you don't use a walkthrough, it's really, really, really difficult. And that's what makes it fun.
39. Seed - Seed is one of those 'grow' types of games, but what makes it unique is how beautiful the animation is. By combining different flowers' DNA, you get new, strange combinations that make your garden more beautiful.
40. You Have To Burn The Rope - You have to play the game.
41. Music Catch 2 - What's better than beautiful music to listen to? Perhaps a game to come along with it. Music Catch 2 is the full package for music and game lovers.
42. Monsters' Den: Book of Dread - A creepy, mysterious dungeon dwelling game where you use your warriors and mages to battle evil monsters.
43. Sonny 2 - You play as a zombie in a world which is quite unjust about zombies, and the game is a mere representation of the difficulty every day zombies face. It's likely you already know of this game.
44. Dwarf Complete - Yet another game by Eyezmaze, but this time it stars a dwarf! A good way to spend an hour.
45. Toss the Turtle - In Toss the Turtle you... toss the turtle. The game focuses on your shooting a turtle out of a cannon, and seeing how far it will go.
46. Fold - The point of the game is to get to the other end, but that can be quite difficult when there are so many instant-kill obstacles in the way!
47. Ether Cannon - Go go ether!
48. Emergency Exit - You're a workaholic Japanese man, who suddenly finds himself trapped in his office by an evil monster. The mix of humor and plane surrealism of this game makes it fantastic.
49. Nanaca Crash - Animu!!!!
50. Combat Heaven - Mechish shooting game with an interesting upgrade system and many secrets to figure out how to unlock. Can be pretty addictive, and stylish.
51. Hackerstory - The best idle game. Possibly the best game ever.
52. Sprout - A little sprout journeys to become a grand tree, like many before him. It's cute, artistic and a fun play if you get the chance.
53. Lint - Being the little piece of lint you are, the world seems big and unwelcoming. But you survive with your awesome jumping abilities, and undeniable cuteness.
54. Gemcraft 0 - The second of the Gemcraft series, where you use different gems to shoot down enemies and progress in the game.
55. Vector TD 2 - Another defend your castle game, but in vector style! Like many TD's, it can be very addictive.
56. 5 and 6 Differences - A 'spot the difference' game, but this time instead of being totally lame, the pictures used are often very interesting, and sometimes even a bit soothing when you've had a long day. Soothing until you can't find that one last difference, that is.
57. Line Rider - You know what this game is.
58. Free Rider - You know what this game is, too.
59. :the Game: - There isn't much to say about :the game:. There isn't as much playing as there is laughing, which makes it totally worth it.
60. The Majesty of Colors - In The Majesty of Colors you are an alien squid-like creature who is only beginning to learn the ways of Earth. You can learn to love, hate or die.
61. Death vs. Monstars - In Death vs. Monstars you are death, and they are monsters. Needless to say it's a pretty bizarre game, and you might like to know it's one of the best shooters out there.
62. The Next Floor - The Next Floor is the mix of a turret defense game and a third-person shooter, and it does it brilliantly.
63. Use Boxmen - Use Boxmen is a game where you do exactly what the game title says, you use boxmen to win, by having them go through certain paths. They are your pawns.
64. Microbe Combat - A fighting/capture game starring small, seemingly pathetic microbes.
65. Grid16 - A game by the famous developer Jmtb02, Grid16 is the ultimate example of multi-tasking, as there are 16 games within one for you to focus on.
66. Canabalt - Canabalt is the story of a man who dares to run from a world where the human race is being captured by evil, menacing giant robots. The game has only two controls, yet it is very difficult and a really engaging game.
67. Little Wheel - Little Wheel is an easy, quick play which focuses more around an awesome atmosphere than the actual gameplay, but is still a good way to spend fifteen minutes.
68. Stinkoman - 20XD6! Stinkoman is one of the best platformers ever created, poking fun at the Megaman-esque genre, and all of Japan (Because Japan is always fun to poke fun at).
69. The Shrine - A game about saving the world. One shrine at a time.
70. P.O.D. - An old game where you must defend your base from evil attacking aliens with lasers. Quite a difficult game, and one that is very satisfying to complete.
71. Gamma Bros. - A shooter game where you fight evil ships in space, and do it all in pixelated graphics of awesomeness.
72. Protector: Reclaiming the Throne - Protector is one of the most brilliantly designed defense games made, and one that might just have you captivated for hours.
73. The Visitor - A creepy game where you play as an alien landed on our planet, who comes to a small cabin to get a feel of what this 'Earth' is lile.
74. Dinowars - A multiplayer game where you load up your dinosaur with weapons and beat the crap out of other dinosaurs.
75. Peasant's Quest - Peasant's Quest is the tale of a bullied peasant in an 8-bit town who dares to stand up against his evil opressor, and the most horrible entity ever conceived, Trogdor.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Target Audience: A Student Reviews "Student Sim"
Note from author: This is a comedic yet critical review on a game using a persona the reader could relate to. There is no score-meter because it uses graphics and the writer is a humbug. Enjoy.
Hi, I'm a student. I'm going to review Student Sim. I am cool. Therefore, this game should be easy. *snort*
Well, except it isn't. *polishes spectacles*
After giving yourself a name (I called my character "Picard" from Startrek), degree (Science ftw!), and choosing a friend (nerdy guys are loyal), you can choose the amount of study time, what food to eat, and what would you like to do. It's very user-friendly like Windows 7 (stfu Macintosh and your oh-so colorful snazzy design). Then, the game simulated what you do in a week and you repeat the same task. Hey, it's like my own life!
The goal is to pass the academic test (that's easy) and get a girlfriend (ok, that's hard). Like other life-simulation games, you have 4 things to check out: health, coolness, academic, and happiness. Health, academic, and happiness is self-satisfactory but coolness is another thing.
I'm still schooling in high school. I know everyone like that chick and dude and they think I'm one of the cool people!. Sure, they call me "fat hamster" or "Porky" but that's ok. It's good to sacrifice oneself to be cool, yo. To be cool in this game... is just plain idiosyncratic. Drinking beer? Getting wasted? Hooking up with girls uglier than Paris Hilton? I question the authenticity of this simulation.
I know, I know, I have never touched a woman's lips, let alone the bosom. But I do know I will find my Juliet. If Suzy is my Juliet, then wherefore art thou Juliet? She is the most hideous woman ever (except my aunt; she's a nutcase)! The pickup truck (get it?) is also impossible to maneuver. Come on, just because my joke isn't funny (well, I knew that... long ago) doesn't mean it'll make you angry! You also need to drink beer at the same time and one wrong click will make the ugly witch angry. Is dating this hard? I tried the other dating sims and just giving them diamonds seem to make them love me!
Well, this game is just... odd. It's odder than kids who don't like Dungeons and Dragons! It's worth a try at the very least but I doubt that anyone of you will like it. Now, if you excuse me, I need to find a girl to osculate in hentai dating sim games.
Recreation of Supposed Persona:
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Dotville Deluxe
It's good to be king! Or at least, it seems like that would be the deal. In any case, Dotville Deluxe is a pretty original civilization game, starring a small... dot who has big plans of starting his own kingdom! Starting out as a mere civilian, you work your way up as your community grows larger and more powerful.So the gameplay is pretty basic. You have the options of building, trading, build your army and overall attempt to do whatever will let your civilization grow. You can build farms, which increases food for dots and trade, marketplaces, which increases your amount of 'bucks', a mine which produces iron, and a 'smithy' which is for weapons. You can trade, which is basically another way of buying, since money is really the only thing you're using to purchase. You can choose the 'army' button, which increases your dot troops, a 'food rate' choice in which you can increase food for your villagers, you can raise or lower the tax rate, and lastly you can make the expensive choice of upgrading your fortress. The game's simplicity makes it fun, and especially easy to get into.That being said, it's easy to get out, too. There are a number of ways you can lose the game, which is why keeping you must keep your dots healthy, happy and free from harm. It's your job to be a good, friendly king who is good to his people.
The illustrations are fairly basic, not sleek nor ugly. It's your standard, fairly-scraggly flash animation that is sufficient for any Flash game of this kind. The set-up is extremely easy and uncomplicated, which does good for the game overall. The only issues of ambiguity is within the game mechanics, w
here losing can seem simultaneous, which seems to be the game's biggest flaw when you begin.
here losing can seem simultaneous, which seems to be the game's biggest flaw when you begin.For this type of game, it seems you lose too easily at first. Everything will be going well, and suddenly you find that your dots run away to never return, and you don't know why. For some it may encourage you to figure out why you lost, and how to prevent it, but for others it may be a large turn-off. It really depends on how much enjoy games like this. This is essentially why it's important to go through the instructions. (it's even in red)
Pros and cons:
Pros:
- Simple
- Simple
- Challenging
- They're dots, that's enough
Cons:
- Ambiguous at times
- Ambiguous at times
- Repetitive
One of the game's biggest problems is that it gets repetitive very quickly. While being simple is good at the beginning of the game, it can also be a problem if it limits the game's growth. The game turns out to be a bit more suiting for those who have the patience to sit through the same style of levels over and over for a while, with slow progression.
It's sort of Travius like, without actually being online. Sometimes it seems like you're doing nothing to get nothing as an outcome, which can be a flaw in a lot of games (perhaps in games in general).
It's sort of Travius like, without actually being online. Sometimes it seems like you're doing nothing to get nothing as an outcome, which can be a flaw in a lot of games (perhaps in games in general).
ANYWAY, the game is definitely a lot of fun if you've got patience and some time on your hands. Working to the 50 turn mark can be tedious, but it's definitely quite satisfactory when you make it. The game may not be as good as some of the more polished and intricate Flash games out there, but it's definitely pretty fun.
Play Dotville Deluxe on Kongregate or Newgrounds!
Play Dotville Deluxe on Kongregate or Newgrounds!
MagnetiZR
Futuristic laser manipulation? It doesn't get much better. MagnetiZR is a slick, smooth game where you use magnets to direct a laser to it's destination. It's sort of like being a futuristic traffic director, but much more difficult. As the game progresses it (obviously) gets more difficult, increasing in variety of tools and targets.The game starts out on a 3D map, with a small upside-down triangle signaling you first level. It's all very polished, but as soon as you start the levels you'll realize it's less about the appearance, and more about the actual game.
On one side, there is a little laser. Without your direction, it will shoot directly to the end of the screen, missing your target completely. Your job is to use some of your magnetic tools to attract, repel and essentially direct the magnet to your target(s). You also have the job of making sure the laser avoids the walls, which will quickly absorb it, and block any direction the laser was going.
The beginning levels start out with a smaller number of tools and obstacles, but as you get further along the game rises in difficulty. You come across more magnets, and in time colors play a part in the levels, where certain lasers must reach certain targets of the same color, and some magnets only work for one color. Eventually it turns into the mixture of a laser direction game and a tool manager, where through trial and error you figure how little tools you can use for one laser, to have more for the other.Pros and cons:
Pros:
- Good use of brain cells
- Good difficulty progression
- Varies in tools and style of gameplay well
- Polished
- Trial and error doesn't get boring easy
Cons:
- Still can get boring
- A bit repetitive
MagnitiZR may perhaps not be the most original game out there, but seldom are games. It takes a sub-genre that hasn't been expanded on too much, adds some style to it, and you've got a game that captivates you from the beginning.
My recommendation: If parts get boring or frustrating, bare through them like you do in other games. Instead of using the 'skip', figure the level out, because they're often easier than they look.
Play MagnetiZR on NotDoppler or Kongregate.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Tickler Review
The Tickler is a very interesting Flash game on Kongregate that really goes down to the bare essentials of casual gaming. You're a robot and the purpose of the game is for you to kill (by grabbing on and shaking) waves of foes that drain your life by the very touch. Created by a 'mad scientist' the very first level is only doing on thing: killing your creator, this doesn't turn out to be very difficult, however.Throughout the game, the difficulty rises as the enemies become more powerful, and to counter this with multiple upgrades you can only get by spending cash you miraculously acquire by killing with 'death pinchers'. The enemies vary from seemingly innocent yellow attackers to zooming robotic mercenaries, and more.
It's a pretty predictable and basic game with some perks that make it nice. The design is very smooth overall, and the controls are the very same way. The music is fun, though there is apparently no toggle music button, which is quite inconvenient for the many gamers who enjoy listening music while they play games. Luckily, the music is pretty quiet and easily masked. The difficulty is definitely good, as it doesn't progress too fast or two slow, though some levels drag out without actually adding anything fun or challenging, which can make the experience a bit more boring than it should be.
The upgrades are a little less basic, letting you buy and upgrade certain weapons ranging from claws to lightning. Money isn't too plentiful, meaning during the course of the game you can usually only get one or two upgrades after each level. This adds a good difficulty, and prevents people from simply buying the right upgrades to pass through levels.
The Tickler has some obvious influence from other games of it's sort. It's very reminiscent of older 'upper view' shooting games where waves of foes are sent your game. They're very similar, though what makes The Tickler especially unique is the lack of long-range weapons and the large variety of enemies. You would think a killing robot would be equipped with arms, but obviously the scientist had no intent of adding them. (instead you're equipped with flying sawdisks)
Pros and cons:
Pros:
- Fast, exciting gameplay
- Nice paces developement
- Good upgrades
- Satisfactory difficulty
Cons:
- Lack of mute button
- Can get a bit boring after a while
Overall The Tickler is a smooth game, with it's only large flaw being it's lack of a mute button. Most aspects of the game are 'good', though not phenomenal. If you're looking for a quick, casual game where you kill and destroy, this might just be the game for you.
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