December 2013 Archives

As of this writing, the Freebird Games website is experiencing heavy load! You can download the game directly for Windows from here.

Remember To the Moon? The spellbinding narrative adventure game from indie developer Freebird Games? Well, a) you should because it was amazing and there's a sequel coming, but b) even if you don't because you haven't played it, you can still get a bit of holiday cheer with the free short adventure SigCorp Holiday Special. The game stars Eva and Neil, the protagonists of the original game, who have the rather unusual job of working for a corporation that modifies the memories of people who request their services... sometimes to make a wish come true in their final moments. But this time around, it's just another day at the office, albeit with some seasonal mischief in the air...

All you need to do to play is click, since both Eva and Neil will follow your cursor when you do so and interact with objects lit with a sparkle the same way. Alternately, you can move with the [arrow] keys and use [C] to interact. The only thing you really need to remember is that there's no save function, so you have to play it all in one go, but given the game's short length, that won't be a problem if you have a half hour to spare. Like To the Moon, there's not really any puzzling to be had, and all you basically need to do is follow the story as you explore SigCorp HQ as both Neil and Eva. Make sure to talk to characters multiple times!

Though it is, in part, a cheery and goofy holiday game meant to ease the wait between now and the sequel, fans will still find a lot to like here. It gives you an extra glimpse into Eva and Neil's world, expanding on SigCorp and the people who work there... as well as what other people might think of them. Freebird Games has always excelled at writing, and here they manage to infuse a remarkable amount of warmth, humour, and depth even in characters we've never met before in just a few lines, managing to make their detailed little sprites extremely expressive. The game sort of takes a turn for the... uh... weird at one point, with an odd minigame that might wear out its welcome for some. Still, its an appealing if fleeting glimpse into the lives of people a lot of us came to care about a lot over the course of To the Moon, and as a lead in to the upcoming sequel, well... you'll laugh, but you'll get chills too.

Windows:
Get the free full version

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

There's only one good reason why we haven't already wrung in the New Year, and it's not because of time or anything lame like that, it's because we haven't solved Mateusz Skutnik's latest calendar-flipping point-and-click puzzle game Where is 2014? The aim here is to literally ring in the holiday by finding out where our New Year is hiding, so just click around to gather items and solve puzzles. Chances are it won't take you very long, but hey, that just means more time to party after, and it's a cute, beautifully illustrated little point-and-clicker from the master. What's not to celebrate?

Play Where is 2014?

I want something tough but sweet. Something so fine when it's been beat. Maybe something in a physics platform game vein, where you play as a big sweet rolling smaller sweets into a little kid's gaping maw. In short, I want Candy Ride, by Levon Vardanyan.

Use the right and left [arrows] or [A/D] to roll the big pink sweet around. You cannot jump, so you'll have to use the various ramps, conveyor belts, teleporters, windmills, and elevators to guide the tinier candies with your momentum towards the mouth of that hungry little boy in the lower right. The bare minimum for victory is to get Big Pink to the mouth, but the higher percentage of candies consumed, the higher your score for the level will be. A slow-paced kind of work, with gameplay reliant on proper timing and movement, Candy Ride is more "rolling" than "rollicking". But it's a entertaining implementation of a creative premise. Play it, and you'll want Candy Ride all the time!

Play Candy Ride

Well, it's The Vault you've been waiting for! Since it's pretty much been proven that gamers are physically compelled to read anything in list format published online, it's time for Tricky's Top 2013 games of 2013! 1. Gone Home! 2. A Dark Room! 3. Rogue Legacy! 4. Anodyne! 5. Super Hot! 6. Infiltrating the Airship! 7. GeoGuessr 8. Kentucky Route Zero! 9. Antichamber! 10. Crystal Story 2! 11. Room Gamma 12. Save The Date! 13. Simian Interface! And... uh, let's just say that the next 2000 entries are all Night Rider Turbo.

Right. Now that that's out of the way, let's ring in the new year with some excellent strategy, platform, and fighting titles from the JiG archives!

• Phage Wars 2 - If I could create a virus in my laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact, a virus that would destroy all other forms of life, would I find that a good idea for a strategy game? Well, I'm with Davros on this one, because Phage Wars 2, the 2009 work by Joey Betz, is a horrifying piece of fun. With it's unique virtual-desktop presentation, Phage Wars 2 makes one microscopic blob consuming another microscopic blob much more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Because hey, that one's my microscopic blob! That I made myself! FOR SCIENCE!
• Heir - It would be easy to dismiss Heir, Antony Lavelle's 2010 action-platformer, as merely a 2D version of Shadows of the Colossus. And maybe it is. But doesn't a 2D version of Shadows of the Colossus sound like it would be kinda awesome? And so Heir is as well. It may wear its inspirations on its sleeve, but climbing up huge creatures, desperately trying to seek out their magical weakness spot is as exhilerating in two dimensions as three. While Heir is short and has an ending that hints at a sequel that never was, it is an impressive work all the same.
• Portal Defenders - I was a Newgrounds-er from way back in my angsty junior high years, and while I appreciate how the portal has matured along with me, I know that I can always count on the site to deliver a good dose of the old ultraviolence. Case in point: Portal Defenders, the 2009 fighting game by BoMToons. So few sites have built such a mythos behind themselves that a game like this, filled with recognizable characters and inside-jokes aplenty, would even make sense. But it helps, of course, that Portal Defenders is a great old-school style beat-em-up on it's own merits, even if you don't recognize every obtuse reference being made. And there are plenty.

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!

A clever little twist can turn a game of skill into a hilarious frenzy. Add a chess clock to Jenga. Build a house of cards on a block of ice in the middle of the summer. And if you're feeling particularly gutsy a/o insane, play billiards with live explosives. For those who don't want to risk singeing off an entire eyebrow or torso, there's always the alternative of Blast Billiards Revolution by Andromedus, a take on pool where you've got to pot balls as quickly as possible, before they explode. And as if using bombs for balls wasn't enough, you've also got sticks of dynamite in the pockets, mines that detonate when hit too many times, and crates of TNT littering the table. In fact, we suggest playing this virtual version of combustisnooker over any real-world versions involving explosives. Safety first, kids.

Your specific goal will vary from level to level, but generally you want to hit balls into pockets as fast as you can, as speedier play gets you more points, and more importantly, prevents detonations. In some levels, each ball is a bomb with its own timer, or each pocket requires a ball to be sunk in it before its timer runs out. Use the mouse to aim the cueball at where you want it to go (note that you're lining up the ball's destination, rather than the stick behind it). Click and hold and drag the stick back to select the power of the shot, then release to set your play into action. You can also use [WASD] to put a bit of spin on the ball, if you're familiar with how that works.

Your score for each level is usually determined by how much time is left on the balls (or pockets) when they're potted. Scratching (hitting the cue ball into a pocket) deducts ten valuable seconds from your timers and should be avoided at all costs. If you score high enough to earn a three-star ranking, you can add an additional lifeline to your arsenal. These lifelines let you use a guide that shows where your balls will go for three shots, add extra time to the timer, or undo a shot. Unfortunately, spending a lifeline is permanent, whether they help you beat the level or not, so be careful how you deploy them.

If you've got a friend handy, there's also a two-player mode where you take turns potting balls as quickly as you can. each player has their own timer which determines how many points a pot is worth. When one rack is cleared from the table, another one is brought on until both players run out of time. This setup relies on both players fairly sharing the mouse (since there's no downtime between turns, unless if there's a scratch), but it's a good way to add a competitive edge to the game.

Analysis: The control scheme of using the mouse to point directly at where you want the cueball to go, rather than trying to swing the stick behind it and hope you have the right angle, is pleasantly welcome and less frustrating than many other pool games (and, to be honest, playing pool in real life). However, this ease of play is balanced out by levels that don't allow you to make many mistakes before your time runs out. You've got to be very accurate and very fast to earn high star ratings and extra lifelines.

Occasionally, the levels might feel unfairly hard. The crates of TNT, which explode with even the slightest contact and end the level instantly, are just a bit too harsh of a punishment when setting up a decent shot might be hard enough. In levels where you've got to fill the pockets in a certain order, you might need to play (and lose) a few times to memorize the order of the pockets so you can set up shots more efficiently. On the other hand, this steep difficulty curve forces you to play more carefully. Eventually, you learn to break your amateur pool instincts and only pull the stick halfway back instead of full power every time, and fiddle with the english to learn how to get the ball exactly where you want it after a shot. Even under the pressure of the clock, you can still pick up a few helpful tricks for the next time you're playing in the break room or bar.

If you're looking for an invigorating take on an old favorite, Blast Billiards Revolution is an excellent choice. The difficulty curve might be a bit steep, but it's a lot safer than strapping bombs to the pockets of a pool table.

Play Blast Billiards Revolution

As the mobile marketplaces wake up from their holiday slumber, new games start emerging like little flowers in the snow. Steady your gaze and look towards the future, the mobile game drought is almost over!

Vacation Vexation (iOS, Android, Kindle) - A brand new adventure from Nostatic Software, Vacation Vexation is a sequel to Quiet, Please! with an extra helping of sun, sand, and mini-games. Explore your seaside vacation world with the arrows at the bottom of the screen and use the "interact" and "item" buttons to work with the environment. You have limited inventory space, you'll need to do a lot of investigation and experimentation to get items where you need them. A nice and simple diversion that's perfect for a quiet evening of fun!

Star Trek summons the freemium rage - Everybody likes Star Trek, right? And clever mobile simulation games that use pretty pixel art? Combine the two and you've got Trexels, a fully licensed Star Trek game that recently appeared on the iOS marketplace. There's just one problem: the game is so loaded with in-app purchases it'll make you want to hurt your iOS device. Not only are there early and frequent paywalls, absurd in-app purchase prices, and broken timers that exist to prevent you from playing, but the game carries a 3 USD price tag. Pay to pay some more, yay! As a friendly word of warning, avoid Trexels until these microtransactions are balanced.

Dungelot 2 trailer - Did you forget how crazily addicting Dungelot is? You're about to be reminded in a very dramatic way. Red Winter recently released a trailer for the upcoming Dungelot 2, a sequel that improves on the original's tap-based casual roguelike gameplay with an overworld map, better visuals, new abilities, and plenty of new baddies. Don't worry, though, it's still all about tapping to reveal squares, fighting enemies, and gathering loot! Look for Dungelot 2 on Android and iOS in January.

A couple months ago, iojoe asked you to count to 10 in a clever number sliding puzzle. Now he wants you to count to 10 again, but this time, with more maths! 10 is Again is a follow-up to the math puzzler that introduces multiplication, division, and inversion to the mix. As before, your goal is to add numbers together by clicking and dragging to slide them into each other. When the sum reaches ten, they lock into place; combine all the tiles to make tens, and you've beaten the level!

At no point in time can a tile's total go over ten or be a non-integer, so you've got to plan how you'll use the multiplication and division symbols carefully. Large numbers can also be tricky to move around freely, so there's still more of a challenge than just mindlessly smushing numbers together. If you can finish all 55 puzzles in this second level pack, you deserve a high five! Twice!

Play 10 is Again

Loot Hero by Varagtp (also available free on iOS and Android) is the sort of brilliantly simple arcade game breaks were made for. As a brave knight out to defeat a dragon terrorizing the kingdom, you're using your lance to bash your way through the hordes of monsters in each stage, picking up the coins they drop along the way to level up your equipment at the stores that conveniently lay alongside the road. To play, all you do is click the mouse, and the hero will charge left or right in the direction of the cursor, and you run into enemies to attack. Enemies will respawn behind you, so you can always go back to grind cash and experience points to level up as much as you like... something you'll need to do to topple the stronger monsters and bosses!

Loot Hero looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous with its detailed pixel style, and though it plays like a simplified Slayin it captures the breezy addictive arcade flash and fun so perfectly it's hard to put down until you're done. While, unfortunately, won't take very long since Loot Hero only has a few levels and there's zero variation to the gameplay. There's also no real challenge to be had, realistically speaking, since the prevalence of towns and the lack of any variation to enemy abilities (like, say, status effects that might have otherwise hindered you and called for strategy) means you can basically just charge back and forth until you're flush with coin and levels. Loot Hero is, in short, a good idea, but one that really needs a lot more fleshing out to be good for more than a single play through. Once you finish the game, it does allow you to replay with stronger enemies, but the lack of any significant variation means there's just not much incentive to do so. The potential is definitely there, and Loot Hero is still a simple pleasure while it lasts, and one we hopefully see expanded on in the future.

Play Loot Hero

Forget flesh-eating zombies, knife-wielding clowns or Kiera Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet (shudder). All of your nightmares pales in comparison to space leviathans who eat whole planets! But, of course, this is what you're forced to face as the protagonist in 8Bit Skull's action adventure title, Zos. It's been thousands of years, and the great monster, X'o'chthu, who was previously fended off by seven great heroes, is back for another round of celestial chomping. The heroes long gone, it is up to you to gather the lost essences of those heroes and use those powers to fight it off once again. Because why couldn't a single man do what it took seven before?

Move your character around with the [arrow] keys, using [down] for actions marked with the exclamation point. [Spacebar] uses whatever potion you have equipped. Oh? You don't have any potions? Well, make some! Potions are made from the ingredients you collect off the ground on the seven planets you'll be exploring. Through helpful hints from the native people you encounter as well as info-spewing computers, you'll learn the recipes necessary for various potions from the fiery Fire Potion with infinite uses to the jumptastic Fortify Jump (for a limited time only!).

Travel from planet to planet with Master Movo as he guides you to each of the essences. How to get them exactly is all up to you. Each new surrounding presents a different challenge and puzzle to overcome as you learn to use all of your acquired skills toward each new goal. When you've collected all the heroes' essences, only X'o'chthu will stand in your way, and you'd better be ready for a battle that'll make your breath quicken and heart beat faster.

Analysis: Zos has a great 8-bit quality about it from the pixel graphics to wandschrank's chiptune music that'll stick with you when you're not playing the game. The difficulty is well balanced with areas that require precision platforming, bosses that are tactically different from each other and puzzles needing only keen observation. With well-placed save points and not all monsters regenerating (nothing like dying as you defeat a boss), you feel more rewarded for your actions and less punished for your mistakes.

While Zos may have you sipping a glass from your finest bottle of Nostalgia®, it can also cause frustration over the attack methods left to you. While infinite ammo is nice, having your bottles always fly in an arch is annoying. You'd better believe if an enemy were running toward me that I'd throw a Molotov cocktail straight into their faces. In addition, the absence of a melee weapon leaves you wishing for a pipe to swing. Other than these battle-specific issues, there is little left to be desired in this well put together game. Oh, except more, more more! This title will surely be one you'll remember and 8Bit Skull a developer you'll be excited about.

Play Zos

Hey there. Last Weekend Download of the year. Are you scared? What if all the free games disappear in 2014? There could be a massive plot to stop making them, you know. It's just so secret that nobody knows about it, so they go on and make freeware releases anyway. Now that's top secret.

Heroine's Quest: The Herald Of Ragnarok (Windows, free) - A very nice combination of elements from different genres, Heroine's Quest is set up like a classic adventure game but features a story, battles and character customization like an RPG. Frost giants are preparing to destroy Midgard, and naturally mankind's only hope is you, the heroine. Explore over 100 locations as you fight fiends and interact with NPCs scattered across several different cities. Surprisingly active and epic for "just an adventure game". Mac and Linux versions are expected in spring 2014, as well as a mobile mobile release, so this is definitely one to keep your eyes on.

PUSH (Windows, free) - A simple game created for Ludum Dare, PUSH is a fine example of smart puzzle design. You play as a little guy who can push rocks to fill in holes, all in the name of making it to the golden idol. The catch is that you can only push one rock per level. Throw in some switches, arrow-firing statues and shaky ground tiles and you've got a great recipe for a straightforward but very captivating puzzle game.

Kappa's Adventure (Windows, early demo) - A preview release for the full game that's still in development, Kappa's Adventure is a platform game designed like 8-bit masterpieces of old. The planet Cuore's crystal core has been shattered, and as the boy adventure Kappa, it's your job to restore pieces of the Crystal Heart. Otherwise, who knows what may happen? Pretty basic action as far as jumping, shooting, collecting stuff and buying upgrades in the shop is concerned, but the sum total is a delightful platformer that serves as a great teaser for what's to come.

Ed Ryzhov's Xonix 3D 2 is an interesting little beast... a 3D take on the dice-em-up arcade avoidance of games like Fat Slice, complete with power-ups and a super funky techno beat. Using the [arrow] keys, your job is to drive the ball across the field to create a line that will raise up whatever is on the other side of it... providing it doesn't get hit by an obstacle before you're done drawing it, or you don't run into it yourself, of course. The goal is to cut off a certain percentage of each level, and as you play, everything from speed boosts, to score bonuses and even hazardous fireballs will drop from the sky. Later, some of the obstacles bouncing around within each level's confines will even be able to chip away at the walls you build when they bounce off!

Xonix 3D 2 is a fairly simple twist on a fairly simple game, but it's fun and energetic in a way that more arcade games should be with its myriad of power-ups... and power-downs! The main problem is that the level design and overall difficulty can be sort of erratic, with some stages just not that interesting compared to the obstacles and setup of others. (Also, why can't you press a key to restart or advance a level if the rest of the game is keyboard controlled?) It just feels like the sort of thing ripe for the flashy, chaotic feel of classic arcade cabinet games, and if more of the levels had embraced that with the Tesla towers and explosion launchers, it would have been a magnificent thing to be hold. As it is, Xonix 3D 2 is fun and creative for such a simple idea, and with what feels like a very '80s style and flair to its colourful looks, makes for a great coffee-break style diversion.

Play Xonix 3D 2

Well, this is it. The last Link Dump Friday of 2013. And you know what you have after the 25th, right? Christmas leftovers!

• Atomic Puzzle Xmas - Look, who says it has to be Christmas for you to enjoy a Christmas-themed puzzle game? Jerks and no-goodniks, that's who! Max Dereviagin serves up soothing, lovely seasonal puzzling where all you have to do to win is click to remove the Christmas ornaments, which allows matching pairs to form and vanish when they collide, and do so in as few clicks as possible.
• Ziggy's Carol - Pixel Continuous' Ziggy stars in this upgrade-packed arcade game where the star of Humbug tromps through the snowy streets nabbing candy canes, evading the police, and punching people for presents. It's cute as the dickens, though an odd fit for a character who won hearts in surreal puzzle platformers, but is still an accurate representation of my family's holiday tradition nonetheless.
• Gift Rush - When the mall isn't an option and all the online shipping options are too late, there's only one way to get gifts to all the kids before they wake up on Christmas... by extruding a long, sticky limb and swinging your way around like a grotesque blobby Spider-Man, of course! Alexander Fedoseev's physics puzzle is a bit on the simple side and could have done with greater variety, but who amoung us has not wanted to solve gift giving simply by slinging either gift or giftee at one another as hard as possible?
• SNATA - No, it's not a typo, but it is really weird. This strange platform game by Gameshot.org about a deranged fat man in a red suit hopping atop reindeer held aloft by explosive balloons is simple, yet exceptionally funky and quirky in its own way. This truly is what Christmas is all about. Bless us, every one.

Martin Foster, Andrew Gleeson, and David Fenn were thinking... you know all those incredibly difficult, anxiety-inducing boss battles in games? You know what would make them better? If you had only one hitpoint, and one single arrow you had to call back to you each time you shot it to take them down. And then, presumably, having conceived this fiendish concept for Ludum Dare 28 (theme of "You Only Get One"), they all sat back and cackled maniacally, twirling their handlebar mustaches and stroking their white supervillain-issue cats while being backlit by lightning flashes. At least, that's how it happened in my fantasy. Titan Souls (also playable here), created in just 72 hours, is the result of that devious flight of fancy, as you control a young lad armed only with a bow and single arrow trying to take down four enormous beasts who each only have one weak spot.

The gameplay itself is fairly straightforward. You move with the [arrow] keys, execute a very Link-like roll with [Z], and press and release [X] to fire your arrow in the direction you're facing, while holding [X] will call it back to you after, or you can simply run over it to pick it up. Each of the monsters you'll be facing has its own style of attack and its own weak point, often only vulnerable for a split second, so you'll not only need to be dodging and darting around since a single hit will knock you back to the altar clearing where you began, but also be ready to fire at a moment's notice. All it takes is one true shot... but it's far from easy.

If you're getting some Shadows of the Colossus-y vibes from the game's concept, you're not the only one. Considering its tiny development window, Titan Souls is a beautiful, beautiful game with its slowly building soundtrack and stark mysterious landscape. Apart from the temples themselves, however, the surrounding area is, well, pretty boring largely because it lacks any visual interest to make up for the tedious plod back to a temple from the starting area to try again. The beasts themselves make for a nice variety, and though I almost felt like the gameplay was something that could have been suited for a joystick and an arcade cabinet, the controls are responsive enough to make navigating the battlefield challenging without being obnoxious. In a way, the setting and concept feels more compelling than the actual gameplay, if only because the lack of storytelling and strange atmosphere keeps driving you forward to see what happens. Titan Souls feels like a part of something bigger, but what exists is still a well executed piece of artistic action that uses its theme in clever and challenging ways.

Play Titan Souls