Jake’s Game News 2

Written by Jake on May 19th, 2007 and posted in Game News
Tags : action, adventure, breakout, downloadable, free games, Indie, pc, platformer, shoot em up, web games

Once again I’ve been storing up some gaming news, and as I enjoyed making my last news post, I thought I’d do another! So welcome to Jake’s Game News 2 (I may think of a better name later).

First some gardening news: some b*stard slugs and snails ate all my spring onions and loads of my beans, so now I go on nightly patrols to eliminate them. Thinking I could probably turn the experience into a garden management sim. Anyway, here’s some mini-reviews of things I’ve been playing followed by some web games…

Archmage

Picked up Archmage today from http://game.giveawayoftheday.com/ . It’s a nice looking vertical scrolling shoot ‘em up with great particle effects which I’m paying close attention too so that I can learn how to program them myself. However, the game itself is a bit crappy a) because it’s way too easy and b) you can only move from side to side and the first level I played had monsters which home in on you, so you get stuck in one corner and they all bash into you! Mind you none of the next 10 or so levels had homing monsters, in fact everything flies in straight lines down the screen at you. This seems a huge limitation to me and spolied the game. Shame, because it seems pretty well made and has a novel “spell mixing” idea, but I guess if you wanted an EASY shoot em up maybe suitable for kids, you could try it out.

Pizza Panic

I played a demo of Pizza Panic a little while back. It’s a sideways scrolling platform game where you are a pizza delivery boy on a skateboard. You basically have to go from left to right across the level and avoid monsters (well… seagulls, cats and so on), pick up treasures and deliver pizzas to a few customers. It’s smoothly done (because it’s made by the Bricks of Egypt 2 developers, and I think that it’s faintly reminiscent of an Amiga game in it’s execution. However, I couldn’t but help feel that there was something missing. Sure, it has a map screen and bonus levels, but I was left wanting more - but I don’t know what. Try it out and see what you think.

Theseus: Return of the Hero

Got the full version of Theseus: Return of the Hero recently and I’m gradually working my way through it. It’s made with the Alien Shooter engine (great game by the way) and it seems to be set mainly outdoors. It’s pretty much the same game with some variation in graphics, weapons, sound and plot - plus it has some weird-ass music that I’m not sure I like. It also seems pretty damn hard, but then so was Alien Shooter. Not sure it’s as good as Alien Shooter but it’s definitely worth a blast.

Roboball

I haven’t played that many 3D breakout clones because I’m a bit retro and prefer 2D ones. However, since reviewing the rather good Gem Ball I thought I’d branch out a little - will somebody hold my hand please … Anyway, this game has loads of different 3D “scenes” that you smash up with your ball which is actually a little robot. It has all the normal powerups (+a “drunk” robot one) and you also collect a continuous stream of gems that fall down from the broken objects. It’s pretty neat, but a bit easy (Gem ball was easy too). Also it seemed too clinical for me, like a 3D engine more than a game. But it does have a good variety of scenes and both my boys really like it. I shall have to teach them to be more discerning!

Sunday Lawn

Sunday Lawn is a fun little web game where you mow lawns and have to avoid roaming creatures such as bull dogs which lay large turds on the lawn. My boys loved the pooing dogs of course and the noise as you mow over the delightful little presents, haha! It’s pretty simple but OK for a 5 minute play. The graphics are good pixel art and remind me of the Pizza Panic art for some reason.

Something Amiss

You may well have heard of this excellent free online adventure. Something Amiss has two chapters with a third in the pipeline. You are a young women who wakes up after an MRI scan that has gone wrong and you find yourself in a weird situation. The first chapter was set in the hospital and you have to escape. It didn’t take long. The second chapter is on some kind of weird island and took me quite a while to figure out (but I did it without cheating). I really enjoyed it and encourage you to have a go. Be warned that you can’t save mid-chapter (I think) so be prepared to play chapter 2 for an hour or so. Enjoy!

Whew, OK then I hope that you enjoyed my news. If you did, please post and let me know to encourage me to write more I’ve actually still got tons more news to write up so expect a another report soon!

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