You Can't Make Me

Terrordrome

2010-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder who would win in a fight between Freddy Kruegger and Ash Williams? What about Leatherface vs. Jason? Well ponder no more because Marc Echave has given gamers the ability to decide for themselves with Terrordrome.

A simple fighter, but very well produced. There aren't that many different types of attacks, but again, they're well done. Being a huge fan of the slasher sub-genre of horror films, I am really excited about this demo.

::>DOWNLOAD<::

Windows

Nezumiman

2010-01-10T01:30:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good parody, and here's a good parody: Nezumiman.
It's clearly an homage to the NES-era Megaman games, and if you haven't played those treasures -- I feel sorry for you. Go play them right now. No you don't get a choice, go.

As for the rest of you(...non-existent readers--should be the end of that statement) this game has it's tough moments, but it's as rewarding as any Megaman game ever was. You go pick a stage from 8 different... nezumis.... platform through it, fight the boss, get his power, rinse and repeat.

Presumably after that you go through some Wily-esque stages. I say "presumably" because I'm really quite bad at video games despite it being my main hobby. I haven't been able to finish all of the stages yet. Overall though, not super hard I'd say. About as hard as Megaman 4. It has a save feature so that cuts down a lot on the frustration.

One of my favorite aspects of this game is it's weird factor. It's very reminiscent of the Parodius games in that it has enemies that just don't make sense. Period. Also when you get your powers at the end of each stage, instead of changing colors like Megaman, Nezumiman gets another strange accessory.

This game runs in a window, and a small window at that so folks with really high-resolutions should probably give me their monitors.

::>DOWNLOAD<::

Windows
Joystick Supported
No Fullscreen Support

Continuity

2010-01-10T01:23:00.000-08:00

This game is cool.

summary: freeware brower game, Braid level of awesomeness and originality.
It's part slider-puzzle, part platformer.

You are presented with a number of sliding "tiles" which you control with your arrow keys. When they're lined up the way you want them, you hit spacebar and it'll zoom in on the "tile" with your little dude in it. From there you use left and right to move, up to jump, and spacebar to zoom back out to the slider view. The object is to aquire the key, then get to the door.

You can move your character between tiles only if they are lined up, and lined up the intended way. It might look like you can go through but it'll buzz (or you'll fall and get sent back to the tile you originally spawned from) No time limit, and unlimited lives.

::>PLAY<::

Browser Game
No Joystick Support

The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks: First Impressions

2009-12-11T21:12:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday I started playing the newest Zelda installment for the Nintendo DS, Spirit Tracks. During the first ten minutes of actual gameplay, I was a bit put off. It doesn't grab you instantly like most titles in the franchise do with some wholesome feeling. Instead you are told that it's your day of graduation in engineer training and you have to meet the princess as a rite of passage. Fine, but not gripping.

After playing for about a half hour, I was more into it but still not hooked. It wasn't until about forty-five minutes in that I had my first real taste of dungeon play and then I was hooked, as expected. If you haven't played the previous title, Phantom Hourglass, then you will probably need some time to get used to the touch-only controls. Don't worry the game doesn't leave you hanging as there's plenty of explanations and tutorials to get you going.

This game makes fantastic use of the DS microphone however. To play your panflute you "hold" it by touching the screen and slide the flute back and forth while blowing at the mic to play notes. The mic is also used in a similar fashion when using your first tool which is a pinwheel that fires off little tornadoes to blow objects and disorient enemies. It's really nifty but during the first dungeon you're using that pinwheel constantly and I was honestly afraid I was going to hyperventilate a couple of times.

I'm finished with the first temple at this point and I can safely say that I am excited to see what more this game has in store later on. I will definitely post a full review when I've completed it.

Torchlight

2009-12-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

Do you like Diablo, but just can't wait for 3 to come out? Need a little...sumpin' sumpin' to tide you over until then? Look no further because the folks over at Runic Games have just the cure for your malicious melancholy: Torchlight.

This little ember-in-the-rough speaks for itself, being designed by some of the people who were behind the original Diablo. It's short however. Short and oh so very sweet. There's a good deal of post-game to offset this though.

But you might be like me when I heard about it. I asked "Will it run on my computer? It's not exactly a gaming machine..." but lo and behold it does run! And quite nicely I might add. You should definitely download the demo from the official Torchlight website at least. Get a feel for it, then please buy it ($20, how fucking cool is that shit?)

No joystick support (you'd never want it in this kinda game anyway...)
Windowed/Full Screen
Microsoft Windows

Seiklus

2009-12-09T07:31:00.000-08:00

The epitome of minimalist platforming = Seiklus by cly5m. You're an unnamed little white dude tasked with collecting all the floating colored flames to get back to your woman. It looks like the graphics were drawn in MS paint (but endearingly so) and the music is completely reminiscent of the synthesizer that LJN used to use on it's NES carts. Glorious.

If you've never heard of this title, hit yourself with a large implement of some sort...then download it at cly5m's site before you lose consciousness. It's that good. Whatever that's supposed to mean.

Joystick support
Windowed/Full Screen

Death Worm

2009-12-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

I fucking love this game. It's simple, yet engaging. You can play it for 5 minutes, or 2 hours. Ahh... perfection. In Death Worm you are a giant sandworm that travels up to the surface with a giant gaping maw, eating and destroying anything that lies in your path. If this happens to be flesh you get some health restored. That's all there is to it, but damn is it addicting.

Not the deepest of video game experiences but worth playing for sure. Please note however that it doesn't seem to work with Windows 7. I can't seem to figure out why but perhaps somebody knows a fix they can throw my way. Worked fine for me in Vista.
Download it here.

No joystick support
Windowed

Cave Story

2009-12-08T12:34:00.001-08:00

This is by far one of the coolest freeware games available. If you haven't heard of it, it's as if Metroid had crazy sex with some puny 8-bit shooter like Journey to Silius and this was their lovechild. It packs challenge and exploration into a nice neat little package. Oh, and the soundtrack is made up of really catchy little chiptunes.

You can download the game, english translation, and pretty much anything else you could think of over at SkyeWelse's website. Big props to Pixel for making such an enjoyable title.

Joystick support: Yes
Windowed/Full Screen supported
Microsoft Windows (Macintosh adaptation available)