Weekend Download contains 80% of your recommended weekly allowance of awesome. It is recommended you supplement your intake of downloadable games with a balanced diet selected from other sources, including Flash games, mobile games, and that game you play with a paddle where you hit the ball on the rubber band.
Ultra Mission (Windows, 1.3MB, free) - A moody action game created by prolific indie developer cactus. Ultra Mission gives you a gun and some explosives and challenges you to rescue hostages being held by armed kidnappers. Use the bombs to blow up sections of the wall, then make your way to the civilians while avoiding turrets and other smart stationary-type enemies. Surprisingly challenging, and with cactus' usual flair for the minimalist dramatic.
Shoot First (Windows, 3MB, free) - Shoot First is sort of a combination of a shmup and a roguelike. So, can we call it a rogue-'em-up? Let's pretend you said yes, and then downloaded the game. Run around procedurally generated levels taking out enemies with your projectiles. Pick up new weapons from fallen foes, but you can only carry one at a time, so choose well. You also grab other pieces of equipment from your journey, and weapons are automatically upgraded after you use them for a while. Other than that, just keep heading downwards and rescue damsels whenever you have the chance. Bonus: a two player local co-op mode is also available.
Uchuusen (Windows, 2.3MB, free) - A fun little 20-level arcade game by the creator of A Mini Falafel Adventure. Your cute craft has two burners you can fire, one facing down-left, the other facing down-right. That means you can really only move up and at an angle at the same time, forcing you to tap the keys to move straight up and maneuver yourself through tight passageways. Grab all of the coins in each stage to open the exit, then zip through to move on to the next level!
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows Vista and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
I prefer "shmoguelike".
Why can I not pick anything up in Shoot First?
I've set the key to Ctrl and Shift and neither did anything.
@ThenAgain: I had the same problem. Try right-clicking, that worked for me. However, I cannot proceed past the part with the big green guy (about 30 seconds into the game). How do I go into the next room after I've killed him?
! My mistake, the levels are randomly generated and my first play was just impossible to complete I guess.
Ultra Mission is painfully hard but very very nice. I wish there was a progress save though as I keep having to put it down due to stress.
Shoot First is pretty addictive but it also annoys me GREATLY that you cannot save. That way it gets pretty boring traveling through the same style of cave over and over again...
Maybe I should just improve my skills and not die, but still... It was especially annoying when
I entered a room and the walls were closing in on me
. Pretty cool it was, but it caused me to die and start all over again.
Shoot first is pretty cool, but seems a little too punishing. Unless you aren't really supposed to explore the whole map and find stuff, I find it hard to get past the second floor if I can even get that far.
So after playing around a bit, I found that (at least for me) using the mouse to fire made it much easier, which I didn't expect to be so. I also found the machine gun (I think it was called "Assassan") and that made things go better too! Now I think I mostly miss a save feature...and maybe some "manual" type info on stuff in the game. Does the donation version have this? Not to be stingy, but is it really worth it for the extra level and guns?
Update