Category: What We're Playing
What We’re Playing: Robot Unicorn Attack
Need a laugh? Have a burning desire to play more video games that look like they were based off the old Trapper Keeper binders from middle school? Well, you’re in luck! Robot Unicorn Attack is a new video game from the nuts over at Adult Swim Games and is definitely worth a play. The premise is pretty simple; you’re a robot unicorn chasing dreams and fairies with your three wishes. The aesthetic is what’s truly memorable (nauseating) as you’ll see when you start playing. I highly recommend playing with the sound on – the soundtrack is epic.
As a side note, I have to hand it to the Adult Swim Games guys. Rather than just churning out crap titles based on their well known IP they focus exclusively on new content that generally has a really catchy idea behind it, and their games are generally higher quality as a result. Well done!
I beat 20,000 on one wish. I challenge you to do better.
February 19, 2010 | | Comments (0)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: adult, always, attack, erasure, fairy, robot, swim, unicorn, wish
What We’re Playing: RunRunRunJump
The Global Game Jam was last weekend, and a lot of amazing games were made (for a recount of how one went down check out Jason’s awesome dev blog). A full run down of the more interesting Boston offerings is coming soon, don’t worry!
The current front runner for our favorite GGJ game? That would have to be RunRunRunJump, a delightful and short game by Owen Macindoe, Scott Macmillan, Daniel Perry, Alex Schwartz, and Stephie Wu. The game is a simple platformer, but what is interesting is that the environment literally tells you what to do – if the ground says run, then run! If it says jump, then jump! The soundtrack is especially amazing as it is self referential as well – listen for a few seconds and you’ll know what I mean.
Of course, the theme of the game jam was deception so you should expect a couple of twists to be thrown at you as the game goes on. Keep playing though – the victory screen at the end of the game makes it all worthwhile.
One important thing to note is that the game requires the Unity web player to work, download it here. And then go play RunRunRunJump!
February 3, 2010 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: game jam, global, jump, run, runrunrunjump, unity
What We Played in 2009
2009 was an awesome year for games! And we played a lot of them! Here’s a recap of the great games we played this year. If you haven’t tried them yet, now’s your chance! They are all FREE and just waiting for you to enjoy them.
Our year started off with a great little platformer called Eversion that has a scary twist (a retail version is in the works). We then laughed a ton while living out the Olympic dreams of QWOP. There were a few fun games in the Boston Global Game Jam, and The Redistricting Game taught us about how messed up our current electoral system is.
The Legend of Princess gave us a glimpse of what could have been a sequel to Zelda 2 (on the NES), and Dino Run ate up a bunch of our time as we ran away from Armageddon with our dinosaur brethren. Speaking of dinosaurs, have you checked out Robot Dinosaurs that Shoot Beams When They Roar yet? It’s a pivotal work in gaming. Gemcraft is an addicting little tower defense game with a fun chromatic twist, and Facade is an older game (2004 or 5, I think) but still a lot of fun to play today.
Effing Hail is a neat little flash game where you destroy buildings, airplanes, and satellites with hail, or if you are in a more constructive mood you can try building with Grow Cube. Don’t Eat the Mushroom (and Knytt Stories) is a hilarious game about what happens when you do (or don’t) eat the mushroom, and is a must play for any serious gamer. Finally this year we enjoyed racing through the apocalypse in Canabalt, and subsequently relaxed with the music of Auditorium.
These were all terrific games, if you haven’t tried them yet be sure to go play them all now!
December 28, 2009 | | Comments (3)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: 2009, Auditorium, Boston, Canabalt, cube, Dino Run, dionsaurs, don't eat the mushroom, effing hail, eversion, free, fun, game jam, Games, GemCraft, global, grow, legend, mushroom, princess, QWOP, redistricting, roar, robot
What We’re Playing: Auditorium
I like music games. Rock Band, Guitar Hero, the new DJ games, AudiOdyssey, if it is a music game I’m gonna play it. Auditorium is made by Cipher Prime and Will Stallwood, and is a fun new flash twist on a music game. Rather than being a traditional rhythm game in which you have to “play” (type) notes in order to hear a famous song, Auditorium is a fun puzzle game in which you have to push colored light into music boxes which then play a sort of repeating classical tune. It starts off fairly easy but gets pretty damn hard after a few levels, and most (if not all) of the levels are solvable in many, many ways.
Personally I think the game is great. The pseudo-classical music is nice, and the neon lights on black background aesthetic is quite compelling and enjoyable. I think that normally I would find such a complicated game frustrating but the music is so nice that I don’t mind spending huge amounts of time figuring out each puzzle. I also like how each music box plays a different instrument so you can hear each individually before combining them for the full song. My only gripe about the game is that once you do solve a level you don’t get to hear your composition for long, as the game almost immediately flows into the next stage. Having an option to keep listening for a while would be nice.
Normally we only feature games that are free in “What We’re Playing“, but Auditorium only has a free demo of a couple of levels (you have to pay for the full game). In this case we thought the game was good enough to mention it anyway.
October 12, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: Auditorium, Cipher, classical, music, neon, Prime, puzzle, rhythm, Stallwood, Will
What We’re Playing: Canabalt
Canabalt is short, sweet, and a lot of fun. Created by Adam Saltsman and with music from Danny B (Benmergui?), you can play the whole game in about 10 seconds, but you’ll probably get addicted and keep going for an hour if you’re anything like me. Set in a post apocalyptic nightmare, you take the role of some well dressed dude just trying to run away. The game is incredibly simple – jump to avoid obstacles and clear the gaps between rooftops. That’s it. What makes the game so enjoyable is the sense of urgency that the developers manage to pack in, largely thanks to the music. It really feels like you’re in the Matrix, trying to outrun robots who will sooner or later destroy you. The fact that they managed to get that aesthetic in a game that is so simple (pixel graphics, grayscale coloring, one button controls) is pretty damn impressive.
So what’s extra cool about the game? The little touches are great – making the screen ratio 2.86:1 really works for the game, allowing you to see what’s coming up in the distance. The procedural level generation makes the game always feel new and fresh. The way that your character isn’t always centered vertically on the screen helps the sense of jumping and height as you dash from rooftop to rooftop. The way the smashing glass flys a distance proportional to your speed makes the world seem real. And that somersalt the hero does after a long drop is awesome.
Interestingly enough, the game is actually pretty accessible too, as it is a one button game. It loses some points for being so dependent on reflexes, but if you are a one switch gamer I would *strongly* recommend checking this game out.
My record so far? 4984 meters. Beat that Turnip!
September 6, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: accessible, Adam, awesome music, Benmergui, Canabalt, Daniel, Matrix, one button, pixel, post apocalyptic, procedural, Saltsman
What We’re Playing: Don’t Eat the Mushroom
Don’t Eat the Mushroom… what can I say, the game is hilarious, unexpected, and a ton of fun to play. It’s guaranteed to be different from just about anything you’ve seen before, and if you’re anything like us you’ll be cracking up the whole way through. I don’t want to give away too much because of spoilers, but I will say that it’s probably ok to disregard the advice in the level title. Go give it a shot!
Most of the time the games we post on “What We’re Playing” are simple browser based games, and don’t require complicated setup. This one is a bit of a doozy, but trust me it’s worth it. First go and download and install Knytt Stories, which is pretty badass in its own right. Once it’s installed go and grab the user generated level Don’t Eat the Mushroom by Uncle Sporky. You might have to sign up to get on the forums, which also sucks. Once you’ve downloaded the level use the built in installer to pop it into Knytt Stories, and enjoy! There are several endings, so you might want to play through several times.
Of course, if you like it there are many other user made levels for Knytt Stories, but I’ve yet to find one as awesome as DETM.
July 24, 2009 | | Comments (1)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: burger king, don't, eat, funny, generated, knytt, mushroom, nifflas, sporky, stories, trippy, uncle, user, what is love
What We’re Playing: Grow Cube
Got a few hours to kill? Are you really into trial and error? Then do I have a game for you! Grow Cube is a fun and addicting little game in which you add elements to a cube and watch them interact. It seems simple but the combinations possible through trial and error make the game really interesting. It’s also wicked cool to see the little dudes do their thing and run around the environment. While the end goal may not be clear I can assure you that you will know when you’ve won.
If you like the game I’d recommend checking out all the other offerings at by EYEZMAZE, like the Grow RPG. I might do a separate blog post on that one later.
June 22, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: addicting, cube, eyezmaze, grow, rpg
What We’re Playing: Effing Hail
We like simple games, and we like simple games that are pretty, polished, and funny. Effing Hail is all of these things, and certainly worth a go! You take the role of a pissed of gust of wind, and try to juggle huge balls of hail in order to rain destruction onto the unsuspecting society below. You’ll get the chance to destroy homes, skyscrapers, airplanes, weather balloons, an even satellites. Fun stuff! Greg Wohlwend is the nut behind the game, and it looks like he’s made a bunch of other titles too and has an awesome portfolio that is like old school Logo.
Take five minutes and go rain some destruction down up the masses!
June 1, 2009 | | Comments Off
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: effing, greg, hail, logo, wohlwend
What We’re Playing: Facade
If you come visit us at Fire Hose (and you should!) on any given day you will hear many bizarre comments, like “Always the joker! Ha ha…” , “Ahem…. hem…”, and “We’ll be fine, just GO”. At this point you’d probably think that we’re totally bonkers and/or completely awkward, but in reality you’d be only half right – we’re really referencing Facade, a terrific if not strange game by Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern.
Facade is a very weird 2005 title in which you are invited to a dinner party by a pair of old friends, Trip and Grace. During the course of the evening the happy couple reveals that they are kinda miserable, and their marriage disintegrates in front of your eyes. Personally, I like to see how quickly I can get thrown out by being a jerk; Ethan has managed to get booted before even setting foot in the door. The really interesting part is that the game does natural language parsing (albeit poorly) and you interact with Trip and Grace by typing with the keyboard.
This game pushes the boundaries so much it’s terrific. It’s free too, so go download it now.
May 4, 2009 | | Comments (2)
Category: Games, What We're Playing
Tags: andrew, facade, mateas, michael, stern
What We’re Playing: GemCraft
Tower Defense has somehow become its own genre lately, and what an addicting genre it is. The games center around preventing enemies, or creeps, from traveling from thier source/spawnpoint to your sink/base by building upgradable, stationary attack towers. They also tend to have a terrific sense of flow, as it’s all you can do to keep up with the never-ending waves of enemies while building up your defenses. Because of the hightened sense of flow it’s easy to waste hours upon hours playing them, so be careful with this one.
You see, GemCraft is a highly polished TD game with distinct stages, a “level up” mechanic for improving your stats, and a much needed save function as the game is easily several hours long even if you’re good. The most interesting thing though is the importance of color. All weapons (gems) in the game have a hue value, and gems are especially effective against enemies of opposite hue. So an orange gem works well on blue enemies, and a green gem works nicely on red creeps. The game gets really good when you start “mixing” gems to make them more powerful and combine colors, bonus stats, and of course change the hue value. It’s hard to explain, but great once you start playing.
Be warned, the game is highly addictive.