flash Archives - Page 2 of 3

Strange Free Games: Tower of Heaven

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new game. Remember Tower of Heaven? Probably not. It was one of the earlier Weekly Game Music I’ve introduced. In any case, it’s a fun and extremely challenging platformer with Gameboy-like graphics. It’s Book of Laws adds a unique, challenging twist to the classical platformer genre.

The game starts with Eid, a big-headed silhouette, entering the Tower of Heaven. Upon entering, an omnipotent voice grudgingly welcomes our hero, warning him almost immediately that the path is dangerous, and that time is limited. When Eid ascends a few floors, the disgruntled voice forces him to carry the Book of Laws. As Eid climbs higher up the tower, the number of laws imposed by the book increases.

As mentioned earlier, Tower of Heaven is hard. Breaking any of the laws written in the Book of Laws causes instant death. These laws include, “don’t touch the side of blocks or walls,” “don’t walk left,” and my personal favorite, “don’t open the Book of Laws.” The laws points out the frequently unwritten rules in difficult platformers such as touching the side of platforms on mid-flight will lead to death.

Developed by 3 people (including the composer), Tower of Heaven is playable at NewGrounds.
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Strange Free Games: Feed the Head

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new game. If it wasn’t obvious, I love surrealism. What if there was a game that was built around many famous surreal art, like those from M.C. Escher, and René Magritte? If you’ve ever asked that question like I did, look no further than Vectorpark’s Feed the Head, a free flash game.

Feed the Head involves, you guessed it, feeding the head with various different colored balls. To find those balls, however, requires a little experimentation. What happens when you knock on the head’s forehead? What about poking its eye? Perhaps pulling his noes would work? By toying around with the head, you eventually create a surreal narrative of exploration.

Feed the Head can be played at its own website.
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Strange Free Games: Achievement Unlocked

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new game. You have a new Achievement Unlocked! What, hate that notification? Well, surely you’ll like this game, a parody of the achievements system first introduced in the Xbox 360. This fun Flash game requires you to achieve a few, obscure goals in a static level.

Achievement Unlocked can be played at Armor Games.

Achievement Unlocked, as you would expect, have absolutely no story. Instead, as an elephant, you have to complete a bunch of vaguely named tasks that appears on the right side of the screen. The game is “completed” when all achievements are, well, unlocked. A funky and surprisingly addicting game, for what’s clearly a parody and an insult to the achievement concept.
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Strange Free Games: Dys4ia

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Taro Omiya

New week, new game. What would an auto-biographic game would be like? An interesting question to consider, and this short flash game might have an answer. Dys4ia is a recount of a transsexual game designer, describing her experience in becoming a woman.

Dys4ia can be played at NewGrounds.com.

Dys4ia is described as a simulation, a recount of how the designer came to her decision. It begins with how the designer came to her decision, and the lack of comfort felt at the current state. As the game progresses, the designer — and by extension, the player — faces numerous roadblocks, including the search for a physician, dealing with pre-conditions, and getting used to the transformation.

Dys4ia is, I admit, a very simple game. Despite this, though, the gameplay deliberately makes you feel confused and uncomfortable. Added with the disturbing music and flashy graphics, the game has an uncertain and momentous feel to yet. By the end, the final quote feels significant: “It’s a small thing, but I feel like I’ve taken the first steps towards something tremendous.”
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Strange Free Games: Small Worlds

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Whoops, a little late today. Here’s another flash game that’s all about exploration. Created as an entry for Casual Gameplay Design Competition, Small Worlds is a pixelated platformer that involves exploring a seemingly small world. Small, until the fog moves away to reveal the larger, shocking premises, that is.

Small Worlds can be played in your browser at the site below:
http://jayisgames.com/cgdc6/?gameID=9

“There is too much noise.” A strange and surreal way to start a story. As a 3-pixel high character, you traverse through each world that slowly reveals a scene: an after-math of a certain event. Since the story lacks any other narrative, however, the player must come up with their own conclusion in what the game meant, and what each landscape stood for.

Despite this ambiguity, it’s atmospheric gameplay is intriguing. Nothing can kill the 3-pixel character, so you can explore at your own pace. The character can merely move and jump, but by doing so, your width of vision increases. As a consequence, the game begs for exploration, even to dead-ends, as more and more of the stage is revealed.

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Strange Free Games: Mega Mash: 7-in-1 Game Cart

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Do you guys remember ROM CHECK FAIL? Had fun with it? Then you’re definitely going to enjoy this quirky flash game: Mega Mash: 7-in-1 Game Cart (shortened to Mega Mash)!

Mega Mash can be played on your browser at Nitrome’s website

Like ROM CHECK FAIL, Mega Mash starts with the poor player attempting to play the game, but the cart ends up all glitchy. As a consequence, you’ll play as a bipedal-rabbit hopping for carrots, then shift to a spaceship firing aliens, then into a treasure hunter dropping bombs, and so forth. Unlike ROM CHECK FAIL, the game plays it safe: all the game references are covered by the developer’s own artwork, instead of using the old-school graphics.

Mega Mash combines the gameplay of different games via “zones.” That is, when a character jumps into the space zone, it turns into a spaceship. Likewise, if you jump into a Tetris zone, you’ll start playing Tetris within that limited area. As such, Mega Mash plays like a 2D platforming puzzle game. Different gameplay to assist your puzzle solving includes: Super Mario Bros., Gradius, Bomberman, Tetris, Bionic Commando, Balloon Fight, and Breakout.
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