A lot of first person gory goodness on this edition of Weekend Download. Two of our featured games are first person shooters, while a couple others pour on the macabre in their own special way, even if they happen to be packed with colorful pixel art!
8-bit Killer (Windows, 15.5MB, free) - Created with Game Maker, 8-bit Killer is a first person shooter done in the style of an early NES game. Work your way through Wolfenstein-style maze levels while collecting ammo and health and shooting foes that stand in your way. Great chiptune soundtrack, a surprisingly long game, and even though the visuals are retro-simple, they're charming.
Black Shades (Windows/Mac, 1.3MB, free) - In this simple-looking polygonal FPS, you play the role of a psychic bodyguard who must protect the VIP dressed in white from all manner of evildoers in the city. Until then, roam the streets offing braindead pedestrians at your leisure.
Ainevoltas 2 (Windows, 12.6MB, free) - From the creator of Final Vision comes another intriguing (and sometimes campy) sidescrolling platformer laced with delicious role playing elements. The castle has been overtaken by monsters, and armed with your sword, a lofty pair of jump boots, and the ability to upgrade your stats with ability points earned by defeating enemies, you get to clear it of evil!
The Infinite Ocean (Windows, 4.1MB, free) - Sick of, you know, being happy and playing cheery, colorful games? This dark and depressing adventure title is the antithesis of sugar-coated gaming. We even had to brighten up the screenshot so it wasn't just a black blur. You've been warned!
Once again, all those games are free, so no reason not to try them ^^
Only one mac game? Ah well Black Shades looks fun anyways. There also seems to be a Linux version of the game as there is a link to its webpage at the bottom.
Ainevoltas is really good, but it's a bit buggy.
I found myself occasionally unable to attack or heal. Closing it down and reloading it can fix the problem for a while, but it's a bit annoying to have to do that.
Excellent call on Black Shades.
A great game, but make sure you read the manual to know all of your abilities.
I think I played the Infinite Ocean years ago and liked it in a biiiiiiiig way. Couldn't finish it without a walkthru but still it was a great game.
Ainevoltus would likely be a good game, if it wasn't for the horrable lag. I'm not sure how the creator managed to induce lag with such simple graphics, but I cannot enjoy the game as is.
I am really enjoying 8-bit killer, however. I never really play very many FPSes (FPSs? FPS's? Whatever.) but I thought that 8-Bit killer was entertaining. I'm going try black shades next.
Disregard the quip about horrible lag in Ainevoltus, I figured out what the problem was.
If you store the game on a flash drive, (Like I do) then the autosave feature will cause the massive lag. Simply saveing the game to my hard drive was enough to fix the problem.
Infinite ocean looks like a lot of fun, but for some reason won't run on my computer
To those of you who can't run The Infinite Ocean: Run it in administrator mode. (Also, I bet you're using Vista!)
Infinite Ocean is by the same guy who did The Museum of Broken Memories (Jonas Kyratzes), if you want to know.
Speaking of which, I can't get Museum or Last Rose in a Desert Garden to run even in Administrator mode (I'm on Vista). Only game I CAN run is Infinite Ocean, and even then the sound file doesn't always loop like it should.
Any help?
There may be only one Mac game listed here, but if you check out the Wolfire webpage, as a commenter noted above (particularly here), there are more free games and demos.
Let's pretend I got my html for the Wolfire website correct in my above comment. I did manage to get the games page right, though...
Also, in the interest of more content, I really love it in general when JIG posts Mac games. I do technically have a PC as well, but I rarely even start it up these days. And running Parallels or some such just for casual gaming seems, well, not that casual. :) I know there aren't that many Mac games to post, but even older games like Black Shades still have great replay value, and I'm sure there are plenty hanging around that JIG never got to linking.
I've played Black Shades pretty regularly for years and it's still amazing. I remember reading a blog by the people who made N, saying that good games make you feel like the character you're playing as. In Black Shades you really feel like a super-powered bodyguard surrounded by assassins.
Does anyone know what the whole point of the Z key/soul release thing is in Black Shades?
Aren't you guys ever getting tired of complaining "no mac games" almost every weekend download? It's not like the macs couldn't run the windows clients. I forgot how that tool is called. And why do always the mac people complain, but never the linux people?
Oh nooo linux clients, they are all ignoring me and my OS! Ohhhh. BTW I like macs and am buying the macmini commercially, but please... it's getting old the complaining.
I totally agree, Fuzzyface. ^_^
(And I'm a Mac user)
A word of caution, though: Mac Minis will not run the upcoming Spore — the video cards in them are not supported by the game.
Not sure if that's a concern for you, just a word of warning. :)
If you beat Ainevoltas 2 completely you can play as
Richter Belmont!!
@alex,if by completely you mean 100% then maybe,but if you mean completely utterly and entirely,not true.
8bit killer is grand.
I don't know if it's a glitch or if it was purposely programmed into the game, but there is a way to get infinite stats.
Go to the dining hall/room and have at least 9 recovery stats. In the bottom right-hand corner of the room there is a wall. If you have 9 recovery stats it will be broken. Walk through and go on the spring to get +2 stats. Then exit out of the dining hall/room then come back in. Go back to the stats and repeat. Normally the stats would be gone, but since it's not in a jar or anything, it reappears.
yeah, i can't get infinite ocean to run on vista either, even in administrator mode. which stinks, because i really wanted to experience that game.
ah well...
I guess I haven't been a regular enough commenter to see that I've repeated other people's complaints -- sorry, guys! :( I just get so disappointed every time I read about a cool game and it's PC-only. I know running Parallels or some such is an option, but that's another expense (plus cost of Windows!), time-sink for setup, and chunk out of my limited hard drive space.
I hope I haven't come across as taking it out on JIG. I really like how clearly games are labeled here as to compatibility. I just wish more people would develop for Mac in the first place.
(And as for Linux people not complaining, I'm pretty sure their Windows emulation software is free and they are usually more technically competent for getting games to run in it...)
I'm probably beating a dead and off-topic horse, here, so I'll stop complaining and go back to quietly enjoying the (majority of posted-here) games I can play.
to above guest...
Using the soul release allows you to scout for any nearby assassins. They show up as solid red.
Ainesvoltes was really fun, IMHO, but I was only able to find one gem, and I didn't see anything about any 'guilds'. Can anyone clue me in?
@Meesh: At the very beginning of Ainevoltas 2, go to the left and leap down (totally ignore the sign that claims you'll die if you jump off). Continue left, and there's the guild.
Also, a few questions for those who've been ripping through A2:
1, Does it really matter who you marry?
2, In the likely event that you do marry, does the child change? I married Rose and had an ax-weilding child.
3, For those who married and bore a child, have you lost said child?
4, Is there a 4th gem slot, and where was it?
5, Was I seeing things when I saw 186% complete before killing the final boss?
And, finally, 6, was it really worth it to put 12 points (the max) into Jump?
Yes, I saw a couple graphical glitches, such as stat books looking like transparent people or candles.
And yes, Fishy ruined it for me, as I ended up taking advantage of that broken stat book glitch.
Okay, apparently I can answer a few of my own questions now.
1. Talk to each of the girls first, otherwise you'll end up marrying them before they give you stat points. Also, after marrying a girl, leave (one screen away), then come back and talk to her. She'll tell you she's pregnant (I'd like to know how, since your character was away). Leave again (one screen away), and the baby will be born. Rinse, repeat, and she'll ask you to take your child with you, which may sound like a call for Child Protection Services to come in, but that lil' kid swings an axe and follows you almost step for step.
2. Every child you get weilds an axe, which is kinda' disappointing, but oh well.
5. I was wrong. I just did the Richter run through at 202%, before the final boss.
Upaut: whaaat? About half the questions you brought up where about things I didn't know existed in Ainevoltas. You can MARRY? And have KIDS?? Heck, I was surprised I found a second gem before stumbling into the final boss!
Also, that thing about how to find the guilds was tricksy.
>:(
Found something I haven't seen reported in Ainevoltas!
I think below 100% complete doesn't get you anything besides a win, between 100 and 200% lets you play amos, who has nicer looking sword (you'll see a silver cup in the new game slot) and +200% lets you play Richter Belmont, who has a whip (you'll see a yellow cup (or star?) in the new game slot)
I got a third keyboard or white thing displayed, what does it do and how do you use it? Thanks!
I am playing Ainevoltas 2. a I got this white thing for completing a quest. Looks like a keyboard key. Shows up next to original 2 all the time now. What is it? Whats it do? Great game!
A word of advice for anyone playing
The Infinite Ocean, if you can't see too well and have an older Dell monitor (or whatever other monitors have the Brightness and Contrast buttons), up the brightness on your computer. It works wonders for playing the game. (I also used this for playing another game, but I can't remember what it's called. It's been reviewed here before and is the sequel to the one where a little cubical robot has to get to the end by figuring out all of these different puzzles.)
Ainevoltas's links are broken or something, they won't work for me. im on firefox. does that matter?
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