June 2004 Archives

Here's a stylish and unusual game, simply called The Telephone, created as a university project by Michael Clague. In it you embark on an adventure by dialing in destinations. The destinations are 3-digit telephone numbers that you find in each 'level' that take you to the next. Each destination is unique in its objective, sound, and interface. For example, one destination requires you to win a game of rock-paper-scissors 3-times to advance to the next. It's a very simple premise for a game; one that allows for a free-form expression of creativity and art: And it works.

The following is a reader-submitted review by Yukito (6/09): The Telephone is a rather old and short point-and-click 'adventure'—somewhere in between an escape-the-room puzzle and a webtoy. It's rather hard to pigeonhole into a single category.

That being said, The Telephone, as short as it is, provides some unique and different puzzles. As with most interactive art pieces, discovering the rules oneself is the whole point of the game.

Beginning with nothing in front of you save an old rotary telephone, you are asked to call into hidden worlds, each world providing you with a new telephone number—a new world to call.

While some of the puzzles are easier (the right word might be "straightforward", as the easiest puzzle is also entirely luck based) than others, all of the are doable with a little clicking and a little patience.

The most interesting aspect is that, while the game has a linear progression, if one knows a number (or tries random ones) they can skip over worlds to a section they like, or do any of the worlds in any order.

The art itself is the best part of the game. From paper cutouts, to photographs, to brush paintings, each world has it's own unique style.

The Telephone may be short, but it is a nice little escape.

Play The Telephone

Micro Life is quite easy to play, and it has a lot of charm to compensate for the relatively light challenge it presents. Accessible to all ages, but probably designed for a younger audience, the game appears on the BBC's website for children. But that's no reason to ignore this cute little Flash game with exceptional graphics and an overall design that has lots of potential.

Interestingly, the game looks and functions very similar to projects that come out of the "turtles" project at RIT in the course Programming for Digital Media: Students write scripts to cause intelligent autonomous agents to interact with each other, thereby creating a simulation of sorts.

This game is one part simulation, one part strategy, and one part Insaniquarium. Mix them all up and you get... Micro Life.

Play Micro Life

Chris Hilgert has finished yet another game in his YetiSports series of Flash games; this one features a flamingo, and of course the penguin obliggato. The object of the game is to hit the penguin as far as you can while avoiding obstacles such as an elephant, a giraffe, and a tree. For best results, don't hit it too high, and use the obstacles to your best advantage whenever possible.

Play Flamingo Drive

I came across this version of the original Prince of Persia game recreated in Flash, and wanted to share it. The original game, created by Jordan Mechner and released in 1989, used an animation technique called rotoscope to give the characters human-like qualities. It was also a lot of fun to play. This special Flash edition isn't quite the whole experience, but you should be able to at least get a taste of what the original was like.

Play Prince of Persia

For anyone who missed it the first time around, and because I'm up to my gonads in papers to write for the summer quarter and too busy to post something new right now. And besides, it's a really great multiplayer game that's easy to play, and that can help you increase your word power—even if that means being able to rattle off 3-letter words like there's no tomorrow. Click.

Here is another classic that needs no introduction for many: Duck Hunt. Released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1985, the original Duck Hunt came on the same cartridge with another classic video game: Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt was one of the first home console games to utilize a light gun to shoot at the television screen.

Written in Flash by Johnny Slack, an interactive multimedia technology student at Purdue, this version of Duck Hunt uses the mouse for aiming and shooting. It looks, acts and sounds just like the original (though it offers only one mode of play). Very nicely done.

Play Duck Hunt

Today I learned of this full-featured, multiplayer, turn-based strategy game developed in Shockwave. It's called Conqueror, created by Blip Amalgamated Internet Pleasureworks. Although Conqueror! is very similar to Risk, its gameplay is a lot richer. Instead of armies alone, each territory has a peasant population that can produce both gold and soliders. However, if you don't tend to their needs, they can also rebel against you. It's all handled through a system of influence you maintain over each of your territories—such as sending diplomats, developing culture, and building fortifications—you either increase your control over the country, or chance losing it from neglect.

Here's what their website says of the game:

"Conqueror is a turn-based, multiplayer strategy game that takes place on a map of medieval Europe. Play on the web against as many as 16 human or AI opponents, for games as short as 30 minutes or as long as 4 hours. An ingenious system of simultaneous turns means that you don't have to wait for other players to make their moves!"

The graphics are really superb and the sound effects add a nice subtle touch that addresses the medieval theme of the game. Although the site says the game is still in beta release, I was able to play the game for over 3 hours without a major problem. This is an excellent game for anyone interested in turn-based strategy games.

Play Conqueror!

Crimson Warfare is a real-time strategy game in... Flash! I couldn't believe it when I saw it, but it truly is an RTS in the genre's most basic form. The gameplay mechanics are quite simple: you decide which buildings you'll need—one type gathers resources (money) and another allows you to build two types of soliders and an armored vehicle. There's even a background story which sets up each campaign that is very reminiscent of a Blizzard RTS game. While Crimson Warfare is a far cry from Warcraft or Age of Empires, this is one Flash game that is an impressive use of the web-based medium.

Play Crimson Warfare

Play Cube game

Here's another game that's been floating around the Web for quite some time. Reflections, created by Input Entertainment of Germany, is a very challenging puzzle game. The objective of the game is to position the mirrors and lenses provided such that the laser passes through and illuminates each of the light bulbs. An easy game to pick and get started with, but later levels present increased difficulty and more complex lens types.

The only complaint I have with this game is that when you finally position the last lens correctly, the fruits of your labor are immediately covered up with a SUCCESS! screen, thereby robbing you of the delight of seeing the correct solution displayed in all its glory. Still, it's a fun game that should provide a couple of hours of mind-bending, puzzle-solving, skill-honing fun.

Play Reflections

The objective of Blockdude is to get to the exit door. You must pick up and move blocks to solve each level. You can get yourself into a 'stuck' situation, if so press [R] to restart the level. The other controls are:

• Left/Right Arrow keys - Move left/right
• Up Arrow - Jump up on a block
• Down Arrow - Pick up/drop block
• Shift + Arrowkeys - Scroll around the level, for overview
• R - Reset Level
• Q - Quit to menu

Use the arrow keys and press Enter to select from the menu. There are 11 levels from the original game, plus 3 bonus levels. Click the image for original size. For 200% size, use this link.

Play Blockdude

Another game from Japan, this an adventure game from Japan (therefore I am naming it Japanese adventure since I no speak Japanese) and it is a bit of a mystery but looks promising in that it appears to be another one of those point-and-clicks like this and like this, yet with a bit more action involved. There is a help screen, but it's in Japanese and I haven't yet learned all the characters of the Japanese writing systems. And since I'm already up to my eyeballs in homework from this summer quarter, I'm going to have to leave you on your own to figure this game out, and report back with your findings.

Play Japanese adventure

This gorgeous little game, The Malibu 9 Rescues Mr. Malibu (and 6/9 of the Deepfried Posse), was originally an advergame for a club in Stockholm, Sweden (Club Malibu), and that may not even be in existence any longer (you know how clubs just come and go). It's an irreverent game that pokes fun at Mexicans, Eskimos, and the Chinese (most likely references to the people involved with the club), but it's delightful none the less in its graphics, soundtrack, and gameplay. The gameplay mechanics are very easy to pick up, initially using only the [7], [8] & [9] keys on the numeric keypad, then building in complexity as the game progresses. There is even a little intro sequence which sets the story of the game and establishes the characters, and cut scenes along the way. Top-notch production in a fun little Flash game.

Play The Malibu 9 Rescues Mr. Malibu

Not a game per se, but definitely fun to play with—maybe "webtoy" or "interactive art" would be a more appropriate categories to file this one under. Infinite Wheel is a series of "Dub Selector" Flash movies by Jim Johnstone that borrows samples from various Dub artists and presents them in a virtual playground in which you click, drag, and mouse-over the unique and compelling interactive controls to create your own dub music mixes. Wonderfully engaging presentation—sweet!

Play Infinite Wheel

PsychoPong is not new, as it dates back to 2001; yet it is a worthy game just the same. With gameplay similar to Pong, the granddaddy of all video games, this Shockwave game has a mind of its own. There are five (5) levels of increasing difficulty... though I bet you'll have trouble making it past even the second level.

Play PsychoPong

The designer of the game, Andreas from Switzerland, has an amazing site full of Shockwave experiments worth checking out. The 'P'rojects navigation menu of his site is worth the visit alone.

Play PsychoPong

From Popcap comes this cute, strange and addictive, action strategy game called Insaniquarium (online version requires Internet Explorer). Originally developed by Flying Bear Entertainment, Insaniquarium won the Innovation in Game Design award at the 2002 Independent Games Festival (IGF).

You begin by feeding fish to keep them alive, and collect the coinage they drop to buy eggs that complete each level. The eggs buy you upgraded fish that help you in your quest. It all seems realtively believable until the aliens arrive, the equivalent to Godzilla in the classic SimCity. Crazy fun.

Play Insaniquarium (Sorry, Windows only.)

If you enjoy the online version, the downloadable deluxe version offers 20 all new levels, and 4 different game types: Adventure, Timed, Challenge, and Virtual Tank! You can even name your fish in a custom tank, and create screen savers, too.

Windows:
Download the demo
Get the full version

Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.

From Way of the Rodent comes this gem of high-tech classic gaming goodness: paper arcade, your very own classic arcade game replicas made out of paper. A do-it-yourself project for a rainy day, provided you have a color printer, some paper, scissors and a bit of old Elmer's glue. Someone clearly has too much time on their hands. Click.

I've been having a lot of fun lately playing this old-school style, top-down shmup (shoot-em-up) called Hurricane developed by Nuvorm in the Netherlands. Along the lines of the arcade classic Galaga, this one has power-ups to increase shields and weapons with lots of cool pyro-technic particle effects. There is also a downloadable PC version of the game available (for $15) that includes a level editor to create your own custom levels, if that's your thing. Hurricane comes courtesy of Mini-Clip, where they host lots of other free flash games as well.

Play Hurricane