Monday, December 24, 2012

Capcom had to put Street fighter first in the name just because

Hey would you look at that! We aren't dead! Guess armageddon will have to wait for another time. Guess you could use all of that canned food you bought for Christmas dinner...or you could do the smart thing and keep that bunker stocked, because you never know
Well shit
Short post today, we all have stuff that needs doing so lets just dive right into the thick of it. This time I got a fan Megaman game that was officially sponsored by Capcom. Because its the 25th year of the Street Fighter franchise there's been a lot of stuff coming out of Capcom this year, like art books, music, and other tributes. However it's also the 25th year of the Megaman franchise, but since Capcom hates the shit out of everything Megaman related, it hasn't been a fun year to be a Megaman fan.
WHY
Recently, Capcom threw money at a megaman fangame instead of sending a cease and desist e-mail so they could use it for their anniversary thing, probably because it crossed over with their PAY TO WIN street fighter game. Street Fighter X Megaman plays like a typically Megaman game, you pick stages, get power ups from beating bosses (and you'll probably end up looking up what power up counters which boss)
Because that's just how the internet works
If you like Megaman, go snag the game, the street fighter bosses are pretty neat and have some cool animations. If you like Street Fighter, I hate you.
The sooner we accept that he's not getting off the moon, the sooner the healing can begin
You can snag Street Fighter X Megaman here

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The little guy totally jumped like Megaman in earlier versions of the game

Last day before the Mayan sky god Quetzacotal comes down from space and makes everything explode, or something (who knows, weld armor plates to your car just in case there are mutant bandits in the after math). In the mean time, pass the final hours teasing your brain, because you never know, that bit of mental exercise might just save your ass in the future when you need to defuse a makeshift bomb (hopefully not the one you made yourself to fight the mutant bandits).
Perspective is a neat puzzle game that's about just that: your own perspective. Using the combination of the little 2D guy you need to guide to the finish with the 3D environment full of platforms for him to run on and obstacles you need to get him past makes for a neat puzzle game, making a weird side scrolling platformer game that's also played from the first person perspective.

How many triangles? 100% of people who cant count get this wrong!
Perspective came out on 12/12/12, so when everyone else was freaking out because its a "once in a century event" not realizing that the next day and the day before only happen once in a hundred years as well, the developers behind this game, who go by the name "Widdershins" were probably doing last minute bug fixes and having a launch party. Widdershins also comes out of DigiPen, so you know they're not screwing around with this, probably planning on using this game to get a job in THE INDUSTRY, so here's hoping they do if that's their plan.
Orange and Blue color contrast is everywhere: THERE'S NO ESCAPE
 If you like puzzles, Perspective might be what you're looking for, you can snag it here

Sunday, December 16, 2012

"I cant shake this guy!"

Only five days left! All the planets are getting ready to break from their regular orbits and shift into alignment and the Mayan skeleton warriors are sharpening their spears in their caves, waiting for the big day. Got more video games for you to stick in your bunker computers so you wont get bored while waiting for the fires to die out and the air to clear. Today I got something new for you today, its got killer robots, nuclear missiles, spaceships, and genocide. Its called Diaspora: Shattered Armistice.

Diaspora is a fan made game based on the Battlestar Galactica show, not the series that played in 1978, the "RE-IMAGINING" that premiered way back in December of 2003, which has been in development for over four years. The game itself is made on Free Space 2's open source code, meaning that the reason this game is free is because the developers would get sued by two separate groups of people if they tried to charge cash for it. The game uses both the shows' source material and Free Space 2's code to full effect, making missions that feel like they're from the earlier episodes of the show, and the zero-G flying physics feels like it was lifted from the show as well. The cockpits for the ships are well detailed, and based off of the show.
The game has the giant clouds of SPACE FLAK as well
Gameplay wise the dog fighting feels fluid, and the game works with Track IR if you have that. During missions it almost always feels like shit is hitting the fan, with missiles everywhere and raider wings that keep jumping faster than you can shoot down the ones that are already there, all while the FTL system slowly charges. And then you have the civilian ships that join you, have fun trying to save everyone from everything at the same time.
"WE JUST LOST THE AZURE SUNSET!"
If you like Battlestar Galactica, or Space Combat Flight Sims, then Diaspora is definately worth a look.  There are episodic releases planned for the future so if you like what you hear then good news because there's going to be more of it. I mean it has space ships AND robots, who doesn't like that?
This guy
However, this game isnt no quick download, it's at least a gig, and it need a litte bit more "omph" from your computer to work, so I wouldn't recommend trying to play this on a toaster (My jokes are only getting worse as time goes on). You can get Diaspora: Shattered Armistice here

Friday, December 7, 2012

I have no idea whats going on and neither will you

The Mayan day of reckoning, December 21st edges ever closer, gotta get more video games up here before time runs out! What I got for you today is so strange, so odd, so far out there that I need to put up a warning first before I start talking about it. The game for this week is Middens, and I cannot recommend it if you have a poor mental constitution, are prone to nightmares, or are easily over stimulated, because this game really doesn't screw around.
This game might cause mental illness, we don't know
Middens jumps right on the crazy train right at the start and never lets up. Even the title screen is strange, what with the earth being in the middle of getting a new piercing in the background. All aspects of the game art ooze surreal weirdness, from the strange shifting sprites to the backgrounds where freaky beings roam just out of reach.
Why yes, that gun does have a face
The sound work in this is top notch, the sound sometimes being actual music, others just ambient background noise. It is dissonant, disturbing, delightful, and probably other describing words that start with "D" that I cant remember, the point is: its awesome.
The protagonist looks pretty slick in this
Gameplay wise, at the surface Middens seems like a "regular" RPG, or at least as close to regular as anything gets in this game. But thats not the case: in every battle you start off alone and you muse summon aspects of your mind, body, and soul to fight alongside you. Middens is structured around freeroam exploration, you are given the vaguest hint of a plot and then set loose upon a strange ever shifting landscape. Getting lost is part of the game, and part of the fun if you ask me: wandering around seeing new things is great, especially when you pass through an area you've been before and you discover new stuff. Though it might seem like its trying pretentious, it doesn't seem that way to me, rather that it's just trying new things.
How do i get back to the bus from here?
If you like turn based RPGs, open world exploration, weird music, or really screwed up art, then Middens might be for you. It might even prepare you for the aftermath of the Mayan apocalypse (that is if whats left of the world is a shattered and twisted landscape filled with broken souls, otherwise it wont help). Again, I cannot recomend this if you dont have the mental fortitude. If you play this then only have the drab concrete walls of your bunker to look while angry mutants claw at the doors you might lose it if you cant handle it.
An open window? Dont be crazy, they'll throw spears at you through there! Get some bullet proof glass
You can get Middens here

Monday, December 3, 2012

Skeletons, whales, and cats

Time for video games! Also an important public service announcement, but first video games. Today I got something really short. Like, two minutes if you rush short. So much so I concidered not putting it up on here, but if I did the weird werewolf music video game I can do this one too. It's called Dear Esteban, and yes, it's basically a big riff off of Dear Esther.
Look at that cursive "Begin" button, so sophisticated
Made back in November as a part of "Fuck This Jam", which is about making games for genres you dislike, rather than smashing jars of jellied fruit preserves, the developers have said that they actually like Dear Esther, and that, in their own words: "We love Dear Esther. Dear Esteban was made in good fun & parody. Dear Esteban is not so much 'Fuck This'. It's more a love letter to Dear Esther from the weird kid who doesn't have a shot but you kind of feel bad for." So if you liked Dear Esther, or like weird surreal stuff, then Dear Esteban might be your thing, and even if it isn't its not like it will take up much of your time to try it.
Doesn't any melting clocks though
You can get Dear Esteban here, and with that said and done its time for our the really important part of this post, the public service announcement.

"Buy canned food and shotguns!"
December twenty first is rapidly approaching, are you prepared? If you already have a bunker stocked with food, water, a generator, and a computer filled with video games, then you're ready. If not you really need to get on that, because how else will you deal with the waves of flaming Mayan skeleton warriors looking to use your torso as a pin cushion and your skin as a decorative throw rug?
Seems appealing, but its Walmart so you know those boxes are filled the to brim with Chinese lead
I mean sure, some of you might be looking to preserve things like "art" and "literature", but that's boring. Have some common sense and snag a flash drive and fill it with games so future generations can know the joys of games of the video variety.
Look at this guy, why don't you have a place like this?
 I mean obviously not everyone is going to escape from the mutants, fallout, and angry skeletons but you should at least put some effort into it.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The guy you control doesnt seem to care that he's trapped in a black and white void

Ok, so. That last game was really out there, lets try to reel things back in, we cant have too many crazy games close together, sets a disturbing trend. So lets dial things back a bit with another platformer, its the elevator music to Space Funeral's two hours long orchestra that was written while on crack. The game today is Vertigo. The reason I'm not giving Vertigo crap over being an INDIE PLATFORMER is because it isn't just a platformer, its also a puzzle game.
You have fun with that
 Vertigo's gimmick is screen wrapping. You know what that is right? Its when you go off one side of the screen and pop up on the other side. Vertigo takes that and just goes completely insane with it. Screen wrapping up and down, left and right, switching between them, switching gravity, going upside down and walking on the walls.
Kind of like this, but without Nolan
The game's simple black and white art doesn't make the obstacles difficult to see while "feeling" fun, if that makes any sense. The music is similarly cheery. Gameplay and platforming itself is simple though, with only two buttons, Z to jump and X to shoot, whats actually difficult are the puzzles, with locked doors, and switches to make you gnash your teeth and pull your hair out. OR you're really good at puzzles and you'll blow through this in little over an hour. If you like platformers, or puzzle games, then Vertigo might be for you.
Not these kinds of puzzles though
You can snag Vertigo for Windows, Mac and Linux with windowed mode versions here

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

"Philip is okay with this"

Today I got...well, something for you, certainly. Its like an RPG maker engine took a few dozen blotters of acid and went to an Independent Film Festival where they were playing nothing but depressing movies all night, and then maybe hung out at an Emergency Room until the trip wore off. Its a weird game, is what I'm try to get at here.
BLOOD
This game is called Space Funeral, and while there are some coffins, the game takes place neither at a funeral, or in space. The weird name is only the tip of the iceberg, the whole game is screwy from top to bottom. The art and game sprites are like something someone committed to a mental hospital drew, and the walking and fighting animations for the protagonist are either the best or worst ever.
Meet the protagonist
The actual RPG game play is still turn based, so they didn't mess with the basics, but that doesn't mean its completely normal. Not even getting into the strange enemies you fight during the game, there area number of odd status effects such as "Distracted" or "Moral", and there's even a special move you can do once per battle that has a chance to do anything!
ANYTHING
Space Funeral's soundtrack is top notch and frankly one of the best parts of the game. Using strange and disjointed music cranks up the weird factor even more. Using that kind of music rather than chip tune tracks (Not that there's anything wrong with chip tunes) that are all credited at the end of the game makes it that much better, so if you think that battle theme is pretty catchy you can look up the song and the artist later!
This is just the start, it only gets worse
If you like weird surreal stuff, turn based RPGs, neat music, or any combination there of, then you should give Space Funeral a shot. Its only a couple of hours, but it certainly leaves an impression.
Most likely this kind of impression
You can sang Space Funeral here

Saturday, November 17, 2012

I Wanna Be The Sequel

Another short post because of another "short" game. Do you remember the game "I WANNA BE THE GUY"? The one that's made people all over Youtube tear their hair out and turned a few of them into soulless husks? That game has a sequel now, and it is just as good at breaking people's spirits as the first was.
"Can I REALLY be the Guy?"
The game is called: I Wanna Be The Guy: Gaiden, the first act of it was released in the summer of 2012. What makes this different from the original was the change to stage based gameplay (including an overworld filled with traps) and the biggest change: the addition of the swinging mechanic from Bionic Commando. Thats what keeps IWBTGG from being just more of the same platforming from the original game.
Still the same Kid from before
There is only one act so far, with three stages, each with its own boss, there may be more acts released in the future but Kayin wants to complete another game he's working on so it might be a while before that. Besides, there may be only three stages but its not like you'll be able to beat any of them.
"Can ANYONE really be the Guy?"
You can get IWBTGG here, and you can watch the play-through of the special EVO edition here

Saturday, November 10, 2012

BEHIND YOU

Today I got another weird game for you, a game with a cheering facade that dives in deeper, darker territory that you'd think at first glance. This game is Eversion, and JESUS CHRIST WATCH OUT ITS AN ~~**RETRO INDIE PLATFORMER**~~ TAKE COVER EVERBODY BECAUSE WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.
Its beautiful and terrible at the same time!
In all seriousness, before you cry foul and try to burn down the website, hear me out. The problem with most of these indie platformers is that they come across as pretentious. I personally don't think thats the case here, I think Eversion is more weird than anything else. Released way back in December of 2008, Eversion is clearly made as a throwback to old platforming classics, the goal of each level being to move right to the end and get the gems, gimmick this time around being the ability to "evert" between dimensions to get around obstacles. Sounds simple right?
Just what the hell do you play as, anyway?
The game gets progressively creepier as time goes on, so much so that theres a warning on the website saying outright that the game isnt meant for children or people who get nervous eventually. Which is garbage of course, kids need to get toughed up eventually, and nervous people need to get exposed to as much nerve wracking stuff as possible, because if they don't how will they survive in the aftermath of the Mayan Apocalypse?
When the skeletons of your distant ancestors come to take you away you need to have your bat ready to swing
 If you like platforming, lovecraftian stuff, gem collecting, and meta spooky stuff, then Eversion might be for you. If you are a child or are a person of a nervous disposition, then you really need to jump on this so you can lighten up, Francis.
See? Its harmless
You can get Eversion here, theres a HD version on Steam but thats not free so who cares.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Does this count as a musical?

Ok, so. The SPOOKATHON is over so no more spooky scary games for a while, lets have a moment of silence in respect for Halloween, and to mentally prepare ourselves for the coming onslaught of Christmas music blaring from every store and generic "Holiday" ads. God Help us all.
There will be no escape
...You done? Ok good. Today I got something that should act as a stepping stone from the SPOOKATHON back to "normal" games. This update's gonna be short, because the game itself is short, just over three minutes in fact, if you dont screw up that is, and I don't want to spoil anything about it. This game is called
 KEYBOARD DRUMSET FUCKING WEREWOLF
Look at that box art. LOOK AT IT.
This game plays like a supercharged cocaine fueled fever dream. Kinda like how I would imagine transforming into a pinkish purple werewolf would be like, all of normal sensibilities forced aside while your brain goes into sensory overload and voices in your head tell you to go on a rampage. This game was made by that Cactus guy back in October of 2011, so you know you're in for it. If any of that sounds appealing to you, hold onto your ass and go download it. I wouldn't recommend putting it on the computer in your end of the world bunker, game's too short for any lasting post apocalyptic entertainment.
Furries and Twilight mean no more real werewolf movies. We live in dark times
You can get both the windows version and the mac version here

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The monster is unimpressed with your sick graffiti tags

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, one last post for the SPOOKATHON before we go, one last game before we dive into massive bowls of candy and go into sugar comas and get diabetes. Go get some video games in before you get hospitalized.
It was worth it
Today the game is called "Erie", made by Utah Game Forge out of the University of Utah, which
actually gives cash to the students for what they make, and lets them keep the rights to their creations, but it doesnt make up for the fact that they probably still make their students pay four hundred dollars for two textbooks, so they lose whatever cool guy points they might have earned with that.

Erie takes place in an evil mad scientist laboratory, and your goal is to (of course) escape, because a SYFY original movie broke out and everyone there besides you (and some cats for some reason) is dead. Things might look bleak, but its not all bad. You're unarmed but you do have a can of spray paint to mark the walls so you can know where you've been (the lab is actually pretty big so getting lost can be a problem), and you can run pretty fast so if you can get around the monster you can leave it in the dust.
"Hey man, wanna hang out?"
The sound work put into this is great, the sound of the experiment's breathing as it approaches is genuinely creepy, as a horrific experiment's breathing should be, and the meowing of the cats is annoying as hell, also as it should be. The unrelenting pursuit of the monster keeps you on edge, and the facility itself is also creepy, with its long dark hallways, insufficient lighting, and general rundown look.
All of the budget went into making ungodly abominations
If being the protagonist of a low budget sci-fi sounds good to you, or maybe you want practice crawling around ventilation ducts (though you could probably just play Half Life for that), then Erie might be for you. And you can get it here for either Desura or standalone.
TAKEN TOO SOON
But wait! Theres more! Earlier in the SPOOKATHON I said I'd talk about a "fan game" made for Yume Nikki called .flow, and though I waited till the last minute, i'm still doing it, so im not a liar, just lazy. I've heard its just as good as the original, with its own art and music. The game play is constructed the same way Yume Nikki's was, in that you need to find a number of objects in a semi open environment to get to the games end. Ao Oni also has had numerous fan games created, each based off of the game play of Ao Oni, but with different characters, locations, and monster.

If you want to try .flow, click here, if you like Ao Oni and want to try the fan games, click here for a big list of them. And of course remember to have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Too poor to call a generic RPG character to do the job

Another game for the SPOOKATHON coming right up! You think walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night was bad? How about trying to get to the basement of a drafty old house? An old drafty house that has been absolutely infested by little supernatural horrors? Kind of a step up in difficulty. That's the premise behind Candles, released March 10th of 2011.  Have a trailer.
A letter of warning tells you that while you were gone a bunch of hateful, territorial little imps took up residence in your house (Who let them in? Probably those scumbag neighborhood kids). That's bad. But you can kill them with light! That's good. Your house has no power. That's bad. But you can use, you guessed it, candles to make it to the basement to turn the power back on to get all of the lights back on. Have fun trying to get there.
HEY MAN, COME ON DOWN, IT'S PERFECTLY SAFE
Candles can be compared to Amnesia, from its first person perspective spookiness, and the monsters you have no real way to fight (aside from light). The graphics look great, especially for a game made by one person on the unity engine. There have been some fixes since the original release so they game should be solid, bug wise.
All that stands between you and painful death
If any of that sounds appealing to you, or you still need something to toughen you up so you can stop being afraid of the dark, or you like Amnesia, or maybe you'd like a job where you're a supernatural exterminator, but you want to practice because you don't think you're on the same level as the Ghostbusters yet, then you should give Candles a try.
You can't beat the Ghostbusters, I mean c'mon
The creator's blog is here, and you can get Candles for Windows here, and Mac here

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Fancy hats and knife wielding lunatics

TIME FOR SOMETHING UNPRECEDENTED. Today, for the SPOOKATHON, there will be FOUR games in ONE POST. The entire spooky Joe Defoe quadrilogy/Chzo mythos in one post for you to sink your teeth/fangs into. YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE ALL THIS FEAR? I DON'T THINK YOU CAN.
He doesn't think you can take it either
Each game in the series was made by that "Yahtzee" guy aka Ben Croshaw, the guy who does the Zero Punctuation series, apparently when he isn't talking very fast and calling games garbage he makes good games in his off time. Each game (except for one example that I will mention when I get to it) in the series is a point and click adventure game, made in Adventure Game Studio. Each game in the series has also won awards, the total for every game combined being thirteen won, and thirty six nominations. So it looks like this Croshaw guy knows what he's doing. The series jumps around chronologically, so I will post the games in order of release (which is also the order they are meant to be played)
Why would he choose to be nicknamed after a kind of hat?
First up is 5 Days A Stranger, the first the series released way back in September of 2003. In it you play Trilby, a skilled thief who finds himself trapped in the Defoe mansion he had planned to rob by some invisible force. Along with four others stuck in the mansion with you, you must find a way to escape. The game takes place over five days, with the story progressing over each day with weird dream sequences in between. This being a series of adventure game it's hard to talk about what makes the games good without spoiling stuff, so I wont be able to talk too much about the plots and such, you should just dive into them.
Cabin fever only gets worse in space
After 5 Days A Stranger comes 7 Days a Skeptic, released back in July of 2004. Set nearly four hundred years after the events of the first game, you play as a psychiatrist named Johnathan Somerset stationed on the ship Mephistopheles, which is out on assignment mapping the Caracas Galaxy. The mission is uneventful until the ship finds an ancient metal locker floating out in deep space, with a message to not open it, marked with a familiar Trilby hat. Playing in the same fashion as 5 Days, 7 Days has a distinct claustrophobic Alien feeling to it.
If you don't know anything about the series this looks like the start of a regular detective game
After/before that comes Trilby's Notes, released in June of 2006. Notes takes place four years after 5 Days A Stranger. After learning that the evil at the Defoe mansion wasn't destroyed for good, Trilby sets off to an isolated island in Wales, following a lead to find the cause of the Defoe incident so he can end it once and for all, involving cults and parallel worlds following similar themes to the Silent Hill series. What sets Notes apart from the other games is that it's the most violent of the four games, and its controls are unique in that how instead of the typical point and click format, you move Trilby with the keyboard, and you type in commands.
Why are circle's always the spooky shapes? Why not squares?
The final released game in the series is 6 Days A Sacrifice, taking place exactly between 5 Days A Stranger and 7 Days A Skeptic, 196 years after and before, to be specific. Following a survey officer named Theo Dacabe, what was going to be a routine Health and Safety inspection turned out to be something far more sinister, as he finds himself swept up in a sinister plot involving hateful ghosts, cults, and other worlds.
The art gets noticeably better as the series progresses 
Each game in the quadrilogy/mythos has a fancy pants special edition that used to require a five dollar donation in order to download it, but now they're all available for free, so if this post convinced you to give the series a shot, have at them, they're the best versions of the game after all. If you're a fan of point and click adventures then this series is definately worth your time.
Who's the son of a bitch who smashed the arcade machine and threw ketchup everywhere?
 You can snag 5 Days A Stranger here
7 Days A Skeptic here
Trilby's Notes here
6 Days A Sacrifice here
and there were three text adventures that came out before the final game in the series as a sort of countdown, you can get them here, here, and here