Lately, the perplexing trend in casual games involves turning repetitive, nondescript, and otherwise mundane (or completely shitty) real-life jobs into games that somehow, people seem to enjoy. Seriously, there's a captive audience that just fucking LOVES tending fake farms, flipping virtual burgers, running imaginary sweatshops and feeding digital fish. Ok, I made one of those up. Well, I mean, it doesn't exist... yet. But I digress. Anyways, in such a bizarro gaming environment, I...
Firecracker HD is yet another entry in that obscure, 'is it a game/is it an app/is it a screensaver/what the hell would you categorize this as, exactly?' genre-that-isn't-definitive-enough to be called a 'genre'. I certainly appreciate the concept of the game; Blowing up shit for no apparent reason is approximately the second most manly thing one can hope to accomplish in life, right behind singlehandedly culling an overpopulated herd of bison with a pointy stick...
Avatar Drop is a campy little ragdoll physics game that has bravely ventured out of its natural habitat in Wii-ville all the way to XBLIG. Though this title seems a little thin on content, even by indie game standards, what it does offer- a free-falling, pinballing, plinko-style adventure- is fairly enjoyable if you've got a few friends hanging around. The premise of this title is pretty straightforward; You and three of your best human or...
Bennu is a quirky, lovable little puzzle game peppered with Egyptian mythology. You play as the title character, Bennu, a bird-like creature (similar to a phoenix) who inhabits the afterlife. He wields the Sphere of Ra and the Chains of Osiris, swinging and rolling around the world and solving puzzles along the way. This game is an enjoyable exercise in physics and momentum, definitely refreshing in the wake of many formulaic side-scrolling puzzle games. You're...
Ever since the U.N.'s binding “Tetris for Peace” resolution singlehandedly ended the Cold War and spared us from nuclear annihilation, puzzle games have exploded onto handhelds, consoles and browsers in an attempt to capture the wallets and minds of the masses. The 'falling block' concept has seen more than its share of prospective heirs to the throne, including: Dr. Mario, Columns, Yoshi, Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Lumines. While each iteration has attempted to...
Shellblast is kind of like a cross between Sudoku (where columns have to tally) and Minesweeper. Each bomb is a puzzle with randomly placed "pistons" which must be properly identified in order to diffuse the thing. Though the game is played on a grid, each puzzle uses a different "shape" for its bomb. Though there's no real difference between a tile which isn't used in the puzzle and one which is used in the puzzle...
It's actually a little unfortunate that Nintendo has set the bar so monumentally high in the "kart racing" genre--any casual racing game will inevitably be compared to the Mario Kart franchise and most likely lose. Wacky Karts has everything you'd expect from a retro Mario Kart clone: a variety of "karts" (each driven by different large-headed characters with different speed/acceleration/handling attribute), a campy soundtrack, a grand prix mode, time trials, and a battle mode. The...
When I'm reviewing a game, I have a pretty high tolerance for things that make me say, "WTF?" With Shardscape Assault, I went so far past my WTF-limit that future games will be rated on a WTF scale of 1 to Shardscape Assault. The game opens with an unskippable text intro sequence, with a single line of text appearing at a time. While it's nice to see that some thought went into the backstory, I could...
The best thing about Jungle Blocks is the cute little Aztec/Mayan-themed background. The gameplay, like the rest of the game, is completely unremarkable. Collision on the paddle is pretty weak (I often "hit" on the edges only to have the ball fall through), but it hardly matters. Taking out the bricks above works in a simple combo routine--the more blocks you hit between successive paddle hits, the more each of those blocks is worth. You get...
Nebulon is a pretty badass looking game, but unfortunately the awesomeness doesn't translate to the actual gameplay itself. You play as a little glowing ship flying around and blasting the crap out of things. Enemies have a natural progression--their "difficulty" is based on the number of orbs which make up their ship. Blast enough of them and they'll drop powerups, which you can use to improve your own gear. Unfortunately the powerups often drop in...
There isn't really much to say about Bust a Wall- if you've ever picked up an Atari joystick and played Breakout (or any subsequent port of it in the last three decades), you're not in for much of a surprise here. A spot in one of the opening screens excitedly promotes this game as “OLD!”, which is 100% accurate. Unlike any of the dozens of variants of this game that offer powerups such as multi-ball,...
Track Architect is a simple game that brings simple fun, much like a tiny wind-up car you might snag at a dollar store. The graphics are pretty basic and unexciting, the background music is initially catchy but gets a bit redundant after about five minutes, and your adorable clunker only faces left-to-right as it travels across the screen. Yet despite this rather mundane description, there is an innocent charm to this game- the kind of...
If the year was 1993, there is not even the slightest chance in hell that you could purchase this game for a measly $5. You would gladly shell out $40-50 from your hard-earned lawnmowing income for the chance to play this exhilarating, superbly-polished platform shooter into the wee hours of the morning on your Sega Genesis. Veks & Silence is my current nomination for best XBLIG ever created, especially when it comes to overall production...
Timing-wise, I picked a pretty good day to review Nasty--which I downloaded and tried out this morning. When I sat down to do the review, there was a press-release in my inbox announcing it had been updated: The 1.5 update to Nasty features several tweaks to gameplay and new weapons that promise to make Nasty a more fun, more action packed experience. Many of these changes were made to address concerns gamers had about the...
Ninja Guardian is a lot like Machiavelli's Ascent (which we reviewed here), only with Ninjas. And smaller. The game screens are each divided into three panes, each textured to look like canvas. When not in use (i.e. a game screen or some sort of message), each screen sports a Hiroshige-styled Japanese landscape painting. While playing the game, the center 1/3rd of the screen acts as a platforming bounce-field. Depending on the level or game mode,...
While most games try to do a bit too much, Fishing Girl is content with being a bite-sized little mini-game. Two young lovers are separated by an ocean, and you have 10 minutes to re-unite them. This can be accomplished by casting your line all the way to the next island and reeling the whole thing back in. To be able to cast that far, you'll need to upgrade your rod all the way (I...
Are you tired of solving complex puzzles? Does computing damage buffs and distributing character growth points melt your overtaxed brain and make you yearn for the simpler games of yesteryear? Well have no fear, Drop Zone is here to rip off that thinking cap and replace it with a badass viking helmet. No more pondering, no more planning, no worrying about friendly fire- just point your turret at anything that moves and blow it out...
I didn't have high hopes for Spaceman. Going simply on the screenshots and the description, it looked like yet another game based on the platform starter kit provided by Microsoft. And not even a good one--the screenshots look ugly as hell! I don't know if they're just badly compressed or weirdly distorted, but the game looks much better than advertised. The premise is fairly simple: you start on a platform, and you must gather a...
There's a lot to like about Gum Drop Celestial Frontier. The game is gorgeous, the music is great, and it's hands down one of the most polished games on the Indie Game channel. It's also trying something new, which is great to see. With all my caveats out of the way, let's get straight to why I don't think GDCF is worth 200 points: my thumb hurts. Like, a lot. And I play a lot...
If you're looking for a summary of this quirky title, Skwug is best-described as a 'precision-teleporting-puzzle-platformer'. You play as Skwug, a little blue ball with beady eyes, who I have unofficially anointed “King of the Skwigglodites”. When he's not rolling and bounding around (as balls are wont to do), this adorable creature can teleport up to 3 times before he must touch the ground again. Though you can walk and jump, you'll find yourself traveling...
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Writers
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spahzz
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You can dance if you want to, you can leave...
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savamizz
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i like smashing, crushing, maiming, brutality, destruction and general chaos. ...
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platypusavenger
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I'm a cheap-skate and a martyr. If I play these...
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SimianLogic
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I eat games like you for breakfast.
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