Strange Free Games: Unmanned

Posted on March 2, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Taking the words right out of Metal Gear Solid 4, “War has changed.” Here’s another game from La Molleindustria that brings this topic to light. It’sUnmanned, and as its title implies, is a short flash game about unmanned aerial vehicles used for war.

Unmanned can be played right on your browser, or downloaded on Windows or Mac at La Molleindustria’s website.

Unmanned is an eery, disconnecting visual novel that employs split-screen to convey dialog. You guide Chris, an unmanned aerial vehicle pilot set to spy on a suspect at a middle-eastern desert. His life is probably the most accurate depiction of a soldier’s life in combat: it’s boring. Even when you accomplish your mission, it’s unceremonious.

Yet, the game makes you think. It contrasts from the first-person shooters, making it clear war isn’t glorified or fun at all. It makes you go through the typical documented procedures, then makes you consider whether that procedure is too loose or not. Perhaps most scariest of all, it questions Chris’ sanity as a pilot, with the excellent intro depicting his xenophobic tendencies.
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Strange Free Games: Super Press Space to Win Adventure RPG 2009

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Taro Omiya

About to watch the video? Stop. Play the game. Now. It’s short, don’t worry. I guarantee you’ll like it. Super Press Space to Win Adventure RPG 2009 is the best Flash-based RPG ever created. Play it on NewGrounds

I’ll let the game explain itself. It’s surprisingly well-thought-out.
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Weekly Game Music: The Village Green (zOMG)

Posted on February 12, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Next up in my library of game music: Gaia Online. Yup I’m talking about that game-centric online community. I can only expect a lot of flaming between opinionated internet users, but first, lets put our differences behind and enjoy the music. It’s so good, even I took interest in the game it came from, zOMG, despite its ridiculous name. Here’s The Village Green, by Jeremy Soule.

zOMG is playable online, and even better, doesn’t require registration to get a good demo out of it.

zOMG is a flash-based MMORPG, intended to be smoothly integrated to the Gaia Online website. As such, your avatar’s gender, clothes, and accessories carry over to this stylized world. zOMG starts with you just getting off the train into the Village Greens. Quite immediately, you learn that all the inanimate objects have come to life…for the worst. It’s up to you to find what’s behind this mystery.

Like most MMORPGs, zOMG doesn’t have a strong focus in story, and certain quests end up conflicting in details (though it’s clear several of them are lies). Similarly, the combat is the basic point-and-click-to-attack fare. Unlike most MMORPGs, however, there are no weapons, armor, or heck, even a level-up system. Instead, you collect special rings that provides you different power and abilities. This includes swords, guns, magic, stat-boosts, etc. Furthermore, the combined stats determines what level you’re at.
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Strange Free Games: Every Day the Same Dream

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Taro Omiya

The theme for this year’s Global Game Jam was an image of an Ouroboros — a snake eating it’s own tail. It’s supposed to be representative of how things in life are commonly cyclic, and as such, many games revolved around this theme. Of course, one short flash game has already beaten them to it: Every Day the Same Dream.

Every Day the Same Dream is playable on Molleindustria’s website.

Every Day the Same Dream is a mostly black & white game themed around the 80’s lifestyle. You play as a faceless, every-day businessman who repeats the same chore every day: wake up, go to work, deal with the traffic, and sit in your cubicle, clicking through things. It’s quite an extraordinary existential game, where everything is made to look bleak and terrible.

But wait! There’s hope! The point of the game, as the Let’s Play video above demonstrates, is to break this cycle. The gameplay is so bleak, it demands that you push the boundaries, and break the rules of the game.
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Strange Free Games: Global Game Jam Edition

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Taro Omiya

Alright, here’s a dump of all the games I ended up loving from the Global Game Jam 2012. Going in no particular order…

Susie’s Summer Home

Yay, my game! It’s a maze where you play as Suzie, attempting to escape her haunted summer house. Best played with no preconception of the game.

Largely inspired by Yume Nikki and Paper Mario. Seriously.

You Again?

Here’s a rather incomplete game that, despite seeming to have no ending, have an extremely promising gameplay. You Again? is a simple dodging game that changes music and graphics as you collect power-ups and collide into enemies. You Again? has an interesting transition: enemies makes you older, until you eventually die of old age. In the after-world, however, colliding into enemies reverses your age, therein allowing you to reincarnate again.

It’s hard not to like the excellent graphical and musical effects this game played. Where it lacks in gameplay, this game excels in presentation.

#Snake2

#Snake2 plays like a terrible Japanese advertisement, and it’s well worth your time to play it from start to finish.

Tenderizer

Typically in a game, you want to stay alive. In Tenderizer, it’s better to be dead. An excellent, moody platformer about a lone soul who wants nothing more than peace. Yet, in this grainy black-and-white world, death is the only way.

Eurydice

Here’s a call-out to my pals from IGDA DC: Eurydice is a game with absolutely no graphics, only sound.

Wait, what?

Yup, a game with no graphics. The entire game is narrated and played via audio, and you have to be careful in what choices you make. The narrator will provide the actions you can take, via a text-adventure fashion. It’ll confuse many new gamers, for sure, but the old text-based guys will feel right at home.

Immaturity

A strange game with a foreign gameplay. Immaturity is a puzzle game where your action is recorded as a ghost, and you use this to solve puzzles. It’s pretty short and uncomplicated, but as a prototype, it’s very promising.

BIG HELL

Here’s a strange HTML5 game that I personally wasn’t sure what’s going on myself. BIG HELL is a simple communication game where you talk to other characters, and learn about their story. Then…you become that person.

I’m not sure if there’s an actual ending to this game. Still, its presentation and narrative are truly commendable.

Ascent | Descent

Another call-out to my pals from IGDA Albany! What’s a game that’s programmed by you? Well, the Game of Life, of course! Ascent | Descent adds an extra twist where Game of Life are the blocks you have to use as stepping stones to your final destination.

GPS: Gracius Princess Savior

OK, I couldn’t resist this sorta-strange, sorta-not game, since it’s very fun. Here’s GPS: Gracious Princess Savior from South Korea. It’s an adorable 2D puzzle game, where death is a necessity. An all-around adorable game.

Day of our Lives

Day of our Lives is a strange visual novel, where your choices leads to a different conclusion at the end of the day. Game’s story is with little surprises: you wake up, go to high school, meet up with your girlfriend, and then the school explodes.

And then you wake up. Then go to high school. Then meet up with your girlfriend. The school explodes.

…then you wake up.

An extremely intriguing story, with a rather disappointing ending. As they say, though, it’s the journey that counts, and this game certainly has one!

Don’t be square aka “The revenge of the psychedelic boring boxes” aka “vice versa”

Most people don’t like abstract art…unless it’s moving. Well, it’s a lucky day for you guys, because D.B.S. is most definitely a moving art. Granted, the gameplay is a little pointless: collect all the shape, and move on to the next level. Worse, the game loops itself, really deprecating the art factor. Despite this, it’s a visually pleasing game, and I definitely recommend giving it a spin.

Past Life

Past-Life is another game where you have to die. Unlike the last few games, though, you trigger your own death, rather than succumb to it. It’s a very neat 2D puzzle game, where you can die only so many times.

Trapped! In the Chamber of Eternal Darkness

And my favorite game from Global Game Jam 2012 is…Trapped!

Seriously, awesome game all-around. A simple (if typical) gameplay with excellent music, artwork, and presentation. I’ve got no complaints on this game. Well done, team Miniboss of Brazil!

Note: yes, I admit, this really doesn’t classify as a strange game, but I recommend it all the same.
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Strange Free Games: This is the Only Level

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Taro Omiya

If we’re talking about strange games, we’ve got to go into the flash game category. This is the Only Level – Adventures in Singularity is a game where, exactly as the title implies, there’s only one level. Despite its seeming simplicity, the game makes fun of you as you’re forced to think out of the box.

As a short game, This is the Only Level will make you think for quite a long time. The game is playable at Armor Games.

Playing as a forgetful elephant, you learn that your controls or level physics changes every time you visit the same level. Various changes in physics and controls include using the arrow keys to control the character, using the mouse, refreshing the browser, floaty jumps, and the inability to move backwards. The game keep tracks of how many times you die, so your goal is to complete all the iterations while suffering the least number of casualities.
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