Posts tagged with “Canabalt”

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!

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!