Good morning, shiny, happy casual gameplay consumer! Do you feel any different? It's the start of a new year for most of us, and we bet you're just brimming over with resolutions that stand no chance of surviving the week. Here at JiG headquarters, situated deep within a dormant, skull-shaped volcano somewhere in the Pacific, we've decided to keep things simple by making resolutions we can't possibly break! For example, we resolve not to make the Stegosaurus extinct. We also resolve to eat food, and breathe air. We further resolve to continue bringing you the neatest casual games the web has to offer! I also wanted to resolve to do more bike jumps through flaming hoops over Dead Man's Movie Cliche Canyon, but apparently it's too "dangerous" and our insurance won't cover it. Spoilsports.
Alter - While it's so-sweet style unfortunately isn't backed up with equally potent substance, this point-and-click/platformer hybrid is still clever enough to entertain for a bit. Use the awesome powers of shrink'n'grow to change the world around you and solve the problems plaguing the populace! While the mouse-and-key combo isn't as silky smooth as one might wish, how can you refuse this adorable... little... flame-y lookin'... uh, thing?
Shrink It - It doesn't represent much of a challenge, but this cute widdle physics puzzler is still fun to play. Once again, you're growing and shrinking the environment, though this time to get your smiley into the target area. Which is a little perplexing, since the game's music sort of makes me think I should be frolicking through a meadow somewhere with an elven hero with too many syllables in his name. Oh well, next time!
Blasting Agent - I like my platforming heroes like I like my coffee. Short, pixelated, and leaping/shooting its way across a secret frozen enemy base. Why Starbucks never understands my order, I don't know. But I do know that in spite of slightly clunky controls and straightforward gameplay, Blasting Agent is still pretty rad. Kids today still say rad, right? I'm hip!
The Well - You can probably firmly place this one in the "this seemed better on paper/like a good idea at the time" category, but I'm including it anyway because of how awesome it almost was. A game created to run alongside the BBC's horror miniseries of the same name, The Well is a point-and-click adventure that is extraordinarily ambitious, but trips itself up with strange, awkward gameplay. The storyline is a bit cliched, but if the game itself had been made to be actually, you know, fun, it still would have been a remarkable achievement. C for effort, see me after class.
Icebreaker: The Gathering - Part 3 of Nitrome's weekly set of levels in its popular series about smelly frozen vikings is now available! Play as the Raven Clan and write sad emo poetry nobody ever, ever reads or cares about... uh, I mean, deal with bouncy moss. Sorry. Easy mistake.
wow this is the first time i have ever seen a completely empty comments section. let's hope it doesn't stay that way. :) (by the way, happy new years everyone!)
how do you get past the bathroom game in The Well? Whenever I get close more drop and I run out of time.
Wow, it's take a dump Friday already?
I have played alter, it is interesting concept and beautiful world but sometimes I wonder why enlarging something like spoon give you evil or lame points or otherwise. A lot of stuffs have no obvious / logical reason why it give the points. The text story also weak in some parts, though I love the climax and the endings.
Going to try the well. Not interested with ice breaker-- nothing bad, just not my game.
I tried Alter, but I found the gameplay annoying. So now playing the Well, but I can't find the batroom. I've already found the stone in the kitchen, hall, study and sitting room.
Help please?
I tried Alter, but after about fifteen minutes my attention span sent me a nasty text asking why I was still playing this instead of watching paint dry because its way more exciting.
I've played Alter before on armorgames. Unfortunately, this game takes a nice concept and spoils it with poor execution (Many games do this, I.E. Scribblenauts) I somewhat enjoyed Blasting Agent. It has nice music.
@corona: Phew! I've been waiting all week!
I really liked Alter! I think it should get its own article.
How did the Well get such a bad review? The story was smooth, and the minigames too. Granted, they were not shiny new ideas, and very much on the easy side, but it's a very solid game overall. And the mix with the movie episodes is great.
I'm not a big fan of Alter. The concept is an interesting one, but I don't feel like anything at all is ever done with it. The closest thing to a puzzle the game has is getting the key, and nothing really interesting is done with the mechanic. I didn't find the text funny, and though the ending was fun, it was strangely anti-climactic. The karma/awesome thing is a neat idea, but the ways of getting those points are too arbitrary.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed Blasting Agent. Sure, it's a lo-fi, simplistic Metroid/Turrican/Cave-Story hybrid, but it's still a Metroid/Turrican/Cave-Story hybrid. And that's awesome.
I don't like to complain about games that creators have put together for free and for the casual enjoyment of us gamers, but Alter - gaarrgghh!!!
Having to switch between keyboard and mouse constantly became tedious very quickly, and I just don't like playing platform games.
@Juliet - re: bathroom
upstairs - if you can't get up there you have missed something
there are *5* games downstairs
sitting room has 2
The Well was great - atmosphere, light puzzles and interesting story - not too keen on the ending though...
It's one of those make you jump in your seat types of ending, just to warn those who, like me, find those sorts of game-playing events just nasty
I did enjoy The Well very much. The dialog got a little lengthy, but overall it was a good time. I really liked the link to the episodes.
Alter, Blasting Agent, and The Well I thought well well put together(other then a few pet peeves). Especially The Well.
i have the first seven stones, but i cant get the 8th in the right order because i havent unlocked the cellar yet... i guess ill go out of order
Blasting Agent reminds me a bit of the old Secret Agent shareware game Apogee made around 1991 or so (16-color EGA graphics, PC speaker sound, etc.) Anyone who likes Blasting agent might be interested in grabbing that off the net and giving it a try in DOSBox.
Thankyou!
I've finally finished it. I really liked the game. The scrolling on the pages was a bit annoying, but that's all.
Shrink It was after 15/20 levels too hard for me. Now trying Blasting Agent, everyone liked it?
By the way A Happy New Year!
I love The Well! Especially the video clips. A bit creepy though
My problem with the Well lies in that the episodes are of much, much higher quality than the game itself. The show is fine and entertaining, but the actual "game" part is tedious, finicky, and unoriginal. I had to force myself to finish it, and that's hardly a sign of a good game. I can recommend the series easily enough, but I couldn't do the same for the game.
It was worth a look, however, for what it tried to do, and I'm glad some people have enjoyed it! My opinions are hardly the be-all, end-all of what is right about gaming.
I actually really enjoyed Alter. It was a reasonably coherent package with a lot of amusing scenarios to come across.
Some of the acts for good/awesome points were simply guesswork. Others (like the rubber duck) just seemed like pointless distractions. Some (like jumping over the gate to town for points) actually were fun and clever.
If the game featured better designed puzzles throughout it would go from "okay" to "great", in my opinion. The framework is certainly there, and the grow/shrink mechanics are pretty consistent throughout the game.
-SirNiko
Okay, someone drop the big secret of how to actually play Blasting Agent.
I get a dumb hand icon (presumably something to do with High Five games) but it responds to no keys -- I tried the whole keyboard -- and no clicking or dragging that I can find.
If there are directions on how to actually start the game anywhere, I do not see them. Not sure how this could fail to be noted in the review and on the game's site...
[Edit: it is most likely due to a conflict with your own setup. Try disabling any browser extensions you may have. -Jay]
I can't believe nobody's mentioned Shrink It that much. It's worth a quick playthrough if for no other reason than to compare your level 20 solution to the YouTube walkthrough. Be sure to solve the level first, then watch the walkthrough video.
I thought The Well was really good, it's a good and smooth story-line, good graphics, interesting mini games and it ties in perfectly with the episodes. :)
I can't understand why it got a bad rating.
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