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Friday, August 12, 2005
Ah, yet again, I haven't posted in a while. Might move over to M's website soon, not sure. Meghan is super!
Three Interesting Games
I don't know why, but I've been checking out like thousands of games lately. Finding the Indepedent Games Source and this feature about free games at 1up.com has only increased my potential sources for new material. Trouble is, most of the stuff out there is pretty un-original. There's a lot of the same stuff out there: fps's, rts's, tetris clones, sidescrollers, you name it. I think the reason I keep on looking, though, is for those really neat and original games out there. Here's a few.
Seiklus
Even if you don't normally play games, I would recommend at least giving this one a try. It's interesting in that it has so few of the features one associates with video games. There are no "lives", no time limits, no killing monsters. You (a stick figure) just sort of wander around in a strange land, trying to figure out how to get back to (what I assume is) your significant other. All sorts of neat things happen, there's some puzzles to solve, it's all very pleasant. Low stress and very cool.
Doukutsu Monogatari (Cave Story)
I'd read about this game in a lot of different places and downloaded it a while ago (btw, you need to apply the English translation patch to it, all the directions are on the above link). At the time, I only tried it for a bit, as it didn't seem that interesting. The gameplay is not overly original, it's pretty much just plays like Super Metroid or any Castlevania games (that is, it's a platformer where you can shoot things and level up your weapons).
However, I tried it again a few days ago and started to realize why it's so highly recommended. It is one of only a handful of games I know of where the story and world is actually well-integrated into the game. So many games have a schizophrenic nature: one minute, you're playing the game, the next you're watching some cutscene explaining why you're playing the game. This one is different. For one thing, events occur when you're not around, which makes it feel not just like the world is waiting for you to do things. For another, characters actually approach you to talk, instead of always having it the other way around. Finally, the story is kind of interesting in that it doesn't reveal everything right away, you have to figure things out.
Hapland (and Hapland 2)
Crazy flash puzzle games. In both, you don't control any character per se, your only control is clicking on objects or people to makes things happen. Try to figure out what to do! (I don't know, btw, I'm still trying to figure it out).
Three Interesting Games
I don't know why, but I've been checking out like thousands of games lately. Finding the Indepedent Games Source and this feature about free games at 1up.com has only increased my potential sources for new material. Trouble is, most of the stuff out there is pretty un-original. There's a lot of the same stuff out there: fps's, rts's, tetris clones, sidescrollers, you name it. I think the reason I keep on looking, though, is for those really neat and original games out there. Here's a few.
Seiklus
Even if you don't normally play games, I would recommend at least giving this one a try. It's interesting in that it has so few of the features one associates with video games. There are no "lives", no time limits, no killing monsters. You (a stick figure) just sort of wander around in a strange land, trying to figure out how to get back to (what I assume is) your significant other. All sorts of neat things happen, there's some puzzles to solve, it's all very pleasant. Low stress and very cool.
Doukutsu Monogatari (Cave Story)
I'd read about this game in a lot of different places and downloaded it a while ago (btw, you need to apply the English translation patch to it, all the directions are on the above link). At the time, I only tried it for a bit, as it didn't seem that interesting. The gameplay is not overly original, it's pretty much just plays like Super Metroid or any Castlevania games (that is, it's a platformer where you can shoot things and level up your weapons).
However, I tried it again a few days ago and started to realize why it's so highly recommended. It is one of only a handful of games I know of where the story and world is actually well-integrated into the game. So many games have a schizophrenic nature: one minute, you're playing the game, the next you're watching some cutscene explaining why you're playing the game. This one is different. For one thing, events occur when you're not around, which makes it feel not just like the world is waiting for you to do things. For another, characters actually approach you to talk, instead of always having it the other way around. Finally, the story is kind of interesting in that it doesn't reveal everything right away, you have to figure things out.
Hapland (and Hapland 2)
Crazy flash puzzle games. In both, you don't control any character per se, your only control is clicking on objects or people to makes things happen. Try to figure out what to do! (I don't know, btw, I'm still trying to figure it out).
Comments:
I agree about the superness of me.
Seiklus was so simplistically beautiful. Like rain and daisies.
Seiklus was so simplistically beautiful. Like rain and daisies.
