Captain's Log: Stardate: 52120.13*: After a weekend viewing of a certain blockbuster release (no points for guessing which one), the JayIsGames Vault Commander wishes to share some of the greatest space games from the JiG archives with the rest of the universe. As this is well within the parameters of our five year mission, this week in The Vault, we now present a smattering of classic action, strategy, and physics titles. End transmission.

• Omega Crisis - There's nothing quite like the rush of exploring the unknown, being the first to set your eyes upon planetary vistas never before encountered... and then exploiting all the available resources to the fullest as you fend off the streams of filthy xenos who are sore they came in second. Omega Crisis, a 2010 defense shooter by Lucidrine, truly captures the tenseness of being a tiny pocket of humanity possessing only a few thin walls standing between them and annihilation. That is to say, it gives you the stress of both frenetic PEW-PEW-ing, but also the necessary strategic resource management needed to ensure spindly face-huggers don't randomly start pouring in through an overlooked weak spot in your barricades. It's a heck of a crisis, yes, but, fortunately, a very enjoyable one.
• Star Relic - There is comparatively less PEW-PEW-ing Star Relic, a 2010 turn-based strategy board game by Indigon, but that's just because your weapons of choice aren't blaster, but armadas. It's a game of careful planning against tough-but-fair AI opponents, with a unique "orbiting" mechanic that justifies its interstellar setting. Star Relic is easy to pick up, and hard to stop playing, as players will be ever-wanting one more go, certain that THIS is the time those slimy reptiles and confusing asexual space blobs will know defeat... or those slimy, confusing humans, if the reptiles or asexual space blobs happen to be your team of choice. Star Relic is nothing if not equal opportunity in its sliminess department.
• Gravitee 2 - After all that future warring, you might be ready for a fun, simple, relaxing game of golf. Well, Gravitee 2, a 2009 physics sports game by FunkyPear, will help you out on two of those counts: fun and relaxing it is, no doubt, and slinging your space-ball around planets starts out easy enough. By the end of the course, however, getting all the medals will anything but simple. Gravitee 2 may use planets and hoops in the place of sand traps and holes, but the joy of achieving the elegance of a perfect shot remains. And, with the game's replay code system, you can share your mad skillz with all of us! We promise not to get too jealous!

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

* Stardate may not be at all legitimate in any way.

It has been but days since you and your sister were forced to move to Ashbane, The City of Rats. For all the rumors you've heard, the experience of being in the Hernessian Guard is ten times worse, with threats both magical and scientific threatening the populace from every side. Recently, you uncovered evidence of a conspiracy to assassinate one of Ashbane's leaders through the use of a horrific weapon that has already killed dozens of innocents. You must track the assassin, bring them to justice, and, maybe, shine a little light of truth into the Kingdom of Liars. Kingdom of Liars 2 is the second in the series of dark fantasy point-and-click adventures from Hyptosis, and the plot only gets thicker from here.

Point and click to interact with the main game window, and be sure to note to the way your cursor changes to denote people to speak to, items of interest, or objects to pick up. Once something is in your inventory at the bottom of the screen, just click to select it, and then again wherever you want to use it. With his admittedly admirable drive for experimentation, Hyptosis' games have been a little hit and miss as of late, so it's refreshing to see him revel it what he's great at: world-building, colorful characters, humorous descriptions, intriguing twists... and smacking players with the ending just as things are getting good. Oh well, even a short trip through Hyptosis' mind is a good one, and, no fibbin', Kingdom of Liars 2 is excellent.

Play Kingdom of Liars 2

Ever since the unearthing of The Great Gatsby NES game, 8-bit-lovers worldwide having been searching for the next lost retro work. Watergate: The Video Game, could very well be that. Now some may claim that this point-and-click adventure game, an apparent sequel to the seminal Shadowgate, was actually created only recently by famed Funny Or Die comedian Samuel Kim, which explains why the game's investigation into the conspiracies of President Richard M. Nixon quickly take more than a few hilariously surreal turns.

Watergate plays a lot like the classic MacVentures the game is a clear riff on. A map of available exits and a list of commands is available at the bottom of the screen, and your current inventory appears to the side of the main display window. Players make progress by clicking the desired command then the desired object, collecting evidence, visiting different locations, and being confounded at every time. Sometimes the constant command clicking is a little annoying, but it was annoying when you tried to play Uninvited on the NES, and, if anything, Watergate commits to the joke with all its pixelated heart.

A wry combination of video game parody, pop culture riffing, political satire, feverish adventure-game logic, raunchy one-liners, and bits of stunning historical accuracy made all the more comedic by how rarity, Watergate tries to be a lot of things, and it generally succeeds. It leans much closer to Dick than All The President's Men, as you might expect. As source material combinations go, 1970s investigative journalism and the Nintendo back-catalogue isn't exactly chocolate and peanut butter, but kicking around Nixon is almost as much a comedic trope as a pie-to-the-face, and more jokes work than don't. For a concept that might have proven its point with a photoshopped game cartridge, Watergate is an impressive piece of comedic, and players with an interest in, and a minimal amount of respect for, American history should definitely check it out.

Play Watergate

Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder where one more quality Ludum Dare entry, um, are. Well, wouldn't you know? One happens to be right here: Stargazers, a minimalist puzzle production by Christina Pham and Mathias Giachino (Cake&Code) that's sure to have everyone watching the skies. In each level, players will be presented with a basic line drawing. You'll observe the night sky, and sketch out the given picture by tapping stars in order, forming connections. You can only use each star once, so you'll have to do a little planning to guarantee the picture you want. Watch the moon, too! When it goes from completely full to completely new, the level is over. After each level you'll be graded on accuracy. Getting 100% will open up the picture for viewing in the gallery, along with some cute commentary.

Stargazers is a relaxing kind of game that rewards methodical observation. The variation on Connect-The-Dots that forms the main gameplay is quite relaxing. It makes one think of how the ancient astronomers must have felt determining what group of stars represented what constellation (even if Ptolemy and his ilk tended more towards "Ram" and "Water-Bearer" instead of "Pac-Man" and "Finn the Human"). Stargazers shows its 48-hour development cycle in its length: at only ten levels it is over far too quickly, especially since things only get really challenging at level five. Still, it is an impressively polished work, and is definitely worthy of being the first game you play tonight.

Play Stargazers

One day, as you were innocently walking down the street, you were abducted by persons unknown. After hours of travel, you saw your chance to escape and took it. Fortunately, you have friends all over the world, and you're sure they would come here an pick you up. Unfortunately, you have absolutely no idea where you are. You'll need all your wits and observations skills to place yourself, but the clock is ticking: you're still being Pursued. Pursued is a unique HTML5 puzzle game designed by Nemesys Games, powered by the Google Maps Street View engine. In each of the fifteen levels, you are plunked down in some location on planet Earth. By dragging the screen to look around and clicking to move, you must explore your surroundings and determine your present city by the visual clues. You only have so much time to enter the correct city, before your kidnappers will catch up to you. A number of additional level packs and fan-made levels are also available, and players can also submit their own locations for others to get lost in.

A number of excellent games have been based around Google apps, and, in retrospect, Pursued's use of Google Maps feels like an obvious idea for a game that Nemesys Games just happened to get to first. However, as it turns out, they happened to be the perfect ones for the job. There's a perfect mix of easy levels that plop you next to obvious landmarks, somewhat misleading locations for a medium challenge (e.g. sure, that building has an Italian flag... but lots of Italian restaurants do, whether in Dublin, Istanbul, or Tokyo), and some truly difficult ones that place you in what looks like the middle of nowhere. Pursued is a game that expects you to have another browser tab open, searching for information, but even with the limitless resources of the web at your fingers, the timer keeps things tense. The biggest flaw of Pursued is the rough periods of long loading times that occur as you move from location to location, probably the result of the game pushing Google Maps in ways that it probably wasn't ever meant to. (Installing the Pursued App from the Chrome Web Store relieves some of the loading times, though, of course, that is only possible in the Chrome browser.) Still, Pursued is an engaging world tour of a game, and as it takes you from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe, Chicago to Czech and Slovakia, and back, players will find it a pretty sweet journey.

Play Pursued

"Greeeeeeetings, boils and ghouls! It's your old pal, Creepo here, everyone's favorite master of scare-i-monies! Today we're creature-featuring a new point-and-click adventure from Carmel Games. Or should we call it a pain-and-crypt deadventure? Well, when patrons start disappearing from a local food court, just as a killer new burger stand gets hideously popular, a competitor's employee decides that he's hungry for answers. But what he unearths may put him off red meat for good! It's Creepo's Tales: Chopping Mall, and trust me, kiddies... it's a meal to die for!"

Thank you, Creepo. Gameplay is standard for the genre: click around to interact and pick up items, clicking on something once it's in your inventory to use it or to combine it with another item. The map in the lower right will guide you to various locations around town. Carmel Games has steadily improved with each of their adventure game releases, and Creepo's Tales: Chopping Mall continues the positive trend. The story may be horror, but the cartoon art and quality voice-acting keeps things comedic. The puzzles have generally sensible solutions, and even the few that don't should pose no problem to anyone versed in adventure game logic... though just once, it'd be nice to, when faced with an antagonistic hungry person blocking your path, get them to move through reasoned conversation, rather than tricking them into eating something gross. Creepo's Tales: Chopping Mall could stand to be a little longer, and the twists of the story are fairly predictable, but classic adventure game fans should find it an entertaining way to fill a lunch break... because man, they probably won't feel like eating afterwards.

Play Creepo's Tales: Chopping Mall

What's a pirate's favorite kind of onion? Arr, chives! And the pirates in our audience should be quite very happy, since featuring quality games from the JayIsGames archives is what we here at The Vault do best. This week, we've got first-person omniscience, snarky lab guys, and multiplying plumbers, just waiting to test your gaming mettle!

• Doodle God - We shouldn't have been surprised Avalon Alliance found such success with Doodle God, their 2010 puzzle game release. After all, it combines the power of playing God, with the visceral joy of smashing things together to make something new. With simple gameplay and clever waves of humor throughout, players instantly knew that Doodle God was something special. By the end, the experience does get a little trial-and-error, but all those trials and errors never stop being fun. Doodle God provides a glorious set of building blocks, and leaves players happily making ALL the things!
• Epsilon - The release of 2008's Epsilon, developed by Dissolute Productions, was originally intended to coincide with that of Portal, the mega-hit from Valve. It's just as well that Epsilon was delayed, however, as though its inspirations are apparent, the game needs no comparison to be recognized as the polished physics work that it is. Yes, there are portals. However, there are also time-freezers, time-reversers and gravity manipulators. That makes all the difference, my friend, and the end result is very shiny, very science-y and a joy to play.
• Enough Plumbers - Usually getting ten extra lives is a good thing. When all those lives are on-screen at the same time, though, it can get pretty complicated. Enough Plumbers, by Glen Forrester and Arthur Lee, is the best kind of retro-style platformer. Its aesthetic isn't there merely to appeal to nostalgia, but to complement the old-school philosophy of its gameplay design: simple central mechanics combining in creative and logical ways. Many games succeed in aping the 8-bit Nintendo look, without nailing down the feel. Enough Plumbers is the exception. Could someone on the HAL Laboratory design team have found inspiration in Enough Plumbers, when putting together the quite-similar and also quite-awesome Kirby Mass Attack? Probably not, but man, no one would have been surprised.

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

Quantum Corps is a fast-and-furious run-and-gun retro platformer by HypnoHustler. In the post-apocalyptic future of 2002, Neo-Detroit is facing a terrible crisis. Ruffians across the fair city have packed themselves into the abandoned factory district, churning out barrels of the new designer drug du jour, "Illegal Substance". Seeing the police helpless, the government forms a new strike team to combat the menace. Gifted with powers over time and gravity, these super-soldiers are all that stands between the gangs and their total domination of the city. You are one of them, a member of the Quantum Corps!

After level selection, your corp member will charge in guns-ablazing with the [X] key. He's weighted down with his heavy lasers, but [C] will reverse gravity, allowing him to clear those inconvenient bottomless pits. Also, if the action gets too furious, you can slow down time by holding [Z] (though doing so deactivates all bonus stars in a level). Blast bad guys and their equipment, while collecting stars and hostages and dodging bombs and missile firing laser grids. Occasionally, you'll come upon a Corp Clone, who, when collected, will join your pursuit, mirroring your movements and gunfire. Complete all 30 levels and you'll show them that winners truly don't use drugs!

Quantum Corps is definitely a game for those who thought Canabalt and VVVVV had nowhere nearly enough guns or exploding vats. It wears its faux-80s aesthetic well. and the addition of the time-slowing mechanic helps mollify the sharp learning curve typical of the genre. (It must be from all the quantum!) The mechanics it's based around are a little simple, but all in all, Quantum Corps will keep shooter fans gleefully speed-running... and slow-running, too!

Play Quantum Corps

Get ready to be metagrobolized, lovers of ludo, by this week's collection of confounding complexities from the JayIsGames archives. That's right, in this installment, puzzles take the forefront, as The Vault features quality works from casual gaming past. Certainly it's a wide-open genre, but whether you like your puzzles with a side of strategy, adventure, or luck, the subsequent selection is sure to satisfy.

• Magnetism - It's always interesting to see where popular authors got their start, and doubly so if they secretly knocked it out of the park the first time. Tyler Glaeil may be best known these days for his work on Closure and Aether, but as a 14-year old he made his debut with 2005's Magnetism, an excellent ball-dropping blend of physics and strategy. Though a little rough around the edges graphically, Magnetism spotlights both Glaeil's talent for conceptualizing intriguing gaming ideas, and his skill at implementing them in his programming. It may have been a long road from "High-Difficulty Ball Bearing/Magnet Simulator" to "Experimental Metaphysical Shadowy Exploration Platformer", but clearly, the ride got off to a good start.
• Industrial Place Thingy - I tell ya, I'm just about always in the mood for a helping-a-hapless-stickdude-make-his-way-across-an--obstacle-filled-screen-by-clicking-the-various-objects-in-his-environment kinda game, and 2005's Industrial Place Thingy by James Trofe is a perfect way to satisfying that craving. Certainly, the debt it owes to the Hapland series is huge, but Industrial Place Thingy holds it own with clever puzzle design and a deliciously dark streak in its physical humor. Be sure to check out its sadly-incompete sequel too!
• Reeelz - Oh, slot machines! The flashing lights! The clanging sounds! The thrill of finally getting a "Nothing But Calories" or "Lunar Outpost" bonus combo! Okay, that last one is only a factor in Reeelz, released in 2010 by Game In A Bottle. Reeelz's gambling veneer hides a work of surprising strategic depth, as you nudge and lock the seven wheels to achieve the specific sets of icons needed to clear the board. As addictive as a real one-armed bandit, but with no cupfull of quarters required, Reeelz will win you over with its elegant simplicity. Jackpot!

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

Welcome to this week's installment of The Vault, where we take a look into classics from the JayIsGames archives. With the recent celebration of our fair site's 10th JIG-iversary, it seemed like just the time to go retro with a set of awesome browser remakes from the mid-aughties.

• Klax 3D - First, it was the nineties, and there was time for Klax. Then it was 2005, and there was time for Wheel House Creative to put together an isometric reimagining of the arcade classic. Now, in the present, players both new and old to the Klax-iverse should definitely find time for this fun game of tile stacking and clearing. With gameplay that's simple to learn, but a challenge to master, the excellence of Klax 3D may not have been enough to save the Atari Lynx, but it will certainly give fingers a happy workout
• Qix - Qix! JiG tested, JiG approved! Originally released by Taito America in 1981, then brought to browsers by the skilled work of Drunk Men Work Here in 2004, Qix was the first and still one of the best in the oddly-specific "cutting pieces out of a larger square while avoiding the things flailing around in the middle" genre. As addictive as it is challenging, Qix consumed a lot of quarters back in the day. Though the bleeps and blorps its faithful recreation here is so 80s it hurts, even the most jaded game should get a few Qix from playing a round.
• Prince of Persia - Ever since its 1989 release on the Apple ][, Jordan Mechner's Prince of Persia has seen all manner of sequels, remakes, re-imaginings, reboots, re-reboots, and Jake Gyllenhaal movies. Somewhere in that mix came this fun "special edition" flash game UbiSoft released in 2004. Though there are a few changes, it should definitely give players a taste of what made the original so special: the fluid rotoscoped movement that launched the "cinematic action-platform" genre, the cunning level design, and devious difficulty. You have eight minutes to stop the evil plans of the vizier. Can you make it?

While we welcome any comments about this weekly feature here, we do ask that if you need any help with the individual games, please post your questions on that game's review page. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and rediscover some awesome!

Live Puzzle is a jigsaw game by Pipkin Games that presents players with a fun set of animated pictures to reconstruct, with subjects ranging from fish, to spirals, to planets, to cards. Click and drag the puzzle pieces into the central grid to complete the animated scene. If you wish to see a preview of the completed puzzle, it will be found in the upper right. Once all the pieces are in their correct places, the puzzle is solved. There are ten in all.

Live Puzzle's use of animated pictures is, admittedly, kind of a gimmick to add interest to an otherwise standard jigsaw game, and a gimmick already perfected by Banjo Kazooie at that. Still, as gimmick it's pretty cool, and the developers of Live Puzzle clearly thought through how different pictures would be solved in different and interesting ways ways. This attention to detail puts it a cut above other similar programs, and pictorially-minded puzzle people should definitely give it a play.

Play Live Puzzle

We join our hero, The Naked Alien, just as he sets tentacle down on an uncharted world. His mission? Make a name for himself by fulling mapping the mysterious terrain. But, with no spacesuit to protect him from the vicious local wildlife, he'll have to rely on all his skills (and a large supply of lotion) to finish his task. The Naked Alien is an action platformer by Lucas Paakh that offers players a quirky encounter of the nude kind. Move and jump the naked alien around the landscape with the [WASD] or [arrow] keys.

In each level, the goal is to make your way to the flag, bouncing off enemies and avoiding spikes. The naked alien will dry up if it moves too much, so you must complete each level before the movement tracker in the upper right counts down to zero. Staying still will not affect the tracker. Various power-ups like double jumps and super stomps will help the naked alien with his mission across 18 levels of action, leading up to the final boss. While a visually stunning showcase of artistic talents, it does feel a bit like a missed opportunity. You'll probably want to explore the alien landscapes rather than fret over the countdown in the corner. However, while the platforming fun is a bit more by-the-numbers than we might expect, new elements are introduced as time goes on and, in any case, hopping and bopping the little naked guy around is strangely amusing.

Play The Naked Alien