Hellllooooooooo Friday! Are we glad to see you! It's been a long week, full of days that are not Friday, and it's high time we kicked up our heels with a little bundle of gaming joy. This week we bring you demakes and haiku, dwarves and ragdolls, and even a little bit of old-school PC maintenance. It may seem like a lot, but we think you can handle it.
... what? No, the other guy. Not you.
Summit - Made in 48 hours, this little platformer tells the story of a dwarf who has no choice but to climb a mountain in search of a cure for his dying father, even though the odds are against him. The controls are simple enough, and it even manages to be a little touching, but the slippery terrain combined with the time limit later on may cause you to rip out your hair. Or your beard, if you're actually a dwarf. In which case, we feel compelled to ask; in all your centuries of great craftsmen and nobility, nobody ever thought to invent grappling hooks? Or ladders? Or stairs?
PC.DEfense - In this stylish looking defense game, you're in charge of placing down proper antivirus measures to fend off the various spybots, trojans, viruses, and other baddies coming towards your precious Amiga 64. If you're a defense fan (like I am), then this will probably entertain you for a while; the visuals are great, and it's exceedingly simple to play. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of variety to be had, and some extra maps and different enemy behaviour would have gone a long way towards making this one more addicting. What's an "Amiga" anyway? Is that another old person thing, like manners or disco?
Ragdoll Spree - This physics game features adorable ragdoll graphics, but overly simplistic gameplay. The goal is to simply pop all the balloons on screen by firing helpless ragdolls at them. With no real restrictions, there's nothing to prevent you from using the brute force approach and flooding the screen with bodies until you reach your goal. Still, it's cheerful and peppy, and if you don't care about challenge, there's something to be said for eye candy. Usually, "Wheeeeeee!"
Halo 2600 - Apparently there is this thing called Halo that is pretty popular. I don't know, I haven't heard of any "Halo", but maybe you have. What I do know that ET for the Atari 2600 was one of the first games I ever played, and if you're in the same boat, then this demake of the popular flashy shooter to old-as-it-gets-school retro action will likely bring back some fond memories. Or maybe ragequits. Fond ragequits? If it sounds impossible, then clearly you are not from my generation, when games hurt so good. (Or at least, that's what we told ourselves to make up for how bad they were.)
Haiku Hero - How are your creative juices flowing today? How about your zen? This clever game challenges you to come up with a haiku that matches a certain criteria, whether that be restricting your syllables or forcing you to use a particular word. The word "hero" might sound odd attached to "haiku", but trust me when I say there is nothing we ladies like more than a gentleman who can get his poetry on. All the cool kids are doin' it.
Wait, Halo 2600 is made by Ed Fries? The same Ed Fries who used to run Microsoft's gaming division?
Haiku Hero:
after a few rounds
I just spammed obscenities
"good haiku" it says
("use 'polite' in this"
but that's unnecessary
4chan poetry?)
I beat Summit, both with getting all the powerups (or at least I think so, I didn't see any others) and without getting a single one. I'm a bit disappointed at how easy a no-powerup run is.
Oh, question: the review mentions that there's a time limit. I didn't see it. I'm not missing half the game, am I?
I didn't know about a time limit in Summit. I got an ending where
Something - a black bird? appears by your father and the screen fades to black after you bring back the flower. The text says "sleep, father". Did I kill him? Wait too long to come back? I'm not sure.
Haiku Hero would be much improved if it had a more readable font.
Hooray for haikus!
Needs to be expanded on
to be really good.
Haikus in English are too easy.
Oh man, the control method in Summit had me going crazy, and I just couldn't be bothered to persevere with it!
holy wow, with 144 i just beat the old third place in summit, i even have my highscore written down, but in case it got moved i'm ihateyoutoo. i have third place(all time)(for now)(
Haiku Hero:
Sly thief I once was.
Ripping off a gas station,
the cops kick my butt.
Now work in coal mine,
coughing like I'm deathly ill,
I despise this job.
Someone is nearby,
payment is due for the rent,
I run from landlord.
Contemplating luck,
wonder why I never win,
girl spills my soda.
It's strange how, even with the constraints the game puts on you, a story just seems to weave itself with your words. Would be nice if the game would accept unusual pronouns like "Rykros".
Not one for tower defense games but I am very much enjoying P.C.DEfense.
Any tips on getting through the HARD level? I keep getting mashed with my current strategy (although my current strategy is very much click madly and hope).
Kangra:
It's a little "Zz"; I think he's all right.
Love Haiku hero!
Yes, there could be improvements... but for what it is, it works pretty well :)
Personally, though, I did get a bit haiku'd-out after playing just a few minutes.
@jimlefevre
I beat all three levels of PC.DEfence pretty much using only
blue "N0032" towers. Put one at the inside corner of every turn in the road, then start upgrading them. On Hard there are only two corners, so put new towers to either side of the first. Once the blue towers are all fully upgraded, add a couple yellow "AVG" towers. On hard, I placed them behind the others -- after the first upgrade they have the range to hit the whole corner. Easy peasy.
I wish the game had been a little tougher & more varied, but I liked the visual style.
Summit doesn't have a time limit, but Kongregate ranks the shortest time players completed it in.
I patched the game to make controls a little tighter. Hopefully this will make it less frustrating!
PC.DEFense:
Fun. Very fun. But antivir is NOT a friendly program. It screws up your comp...basicly, it's a virus in disguise. :|
Ragdoll Spree isn't complete without challenges! The balloons can become covered up and inaccesible.
On RS, how do you keep either of the balls from rolling over the green balloons. I can't get to them! Argh!
Little bug in Summit: If you "fall off" by going off the screen on the left or right, Shockwave crashes. At least, it did for me (Chrome 7, Windows 7). Fine otherwise, but it probably shouldn't be so easy to do (especially since it looks like the right could lead to another screen).
Also, my favorite haiku:
(Rules: Use at least one three-syllable word and the word "ground")
With three syllables
I have satisfied the rules
Oh, and also, "ground"
PC.DEfence strategy that works for all levels:
* Add 1 or 2 blue NOO32 & a Norton to start and upgrade the 1 of the NOO32 as soon as you can. Use the cheaper Norton as a safe guard to ensure any left overs are mopped up.
* Around about the time you'll be reaching the 1200 upgrade for the NOO32 (before or after depending on how far the viruses are getting & your fund level) add an AVG.
* Try to get your AVG Upgraded to the 2000 level as quickly as possible because it then fires 2/sec and pretty much owns everything
* Around this time you should have started to store up a bit of cash - and you'll have a trojan horse round about to appear. At this point add a Antivir to slow then down, and if/when you have the money add a Kapersky *important* add the kapersky around 2-3 blocks further along than the Antivir. This will mean the viruses get slowed down, then reach the kaperski get kicked back, to the Antivir once again.
* Profit!
* On hard I ended up having a smaller much less upgraded contingent on the 2nd corner to help clear any left overs, after a while though the first corner should start to be enough to destroy all of them. You can always add an extra Antivir to ensure everything gets taken out on the first corner if needed.
I personally can't seem to play Halo. Every time I enter a new screen it's like I lose total control as if I'd clicked out of the game and I have to click back in, often far too late as it is.
Ah well.
I meant on RS level 26. I'm stuck there.
Power of Posting! I finished Ragdoll Spree! Yay!
Summit was a bit annoying.
PCDefence alright.
Ragdoll Spree awesome!
Halo 2600 clueless.
Heiko Hero alright.
Thanks Tedric! Worked beautifully!
Love Haiku Hero. Good training for creative writing as well.
Question: If I want share my Haiku on Facebook, what do I type after clicking on the Facebook link in HH?
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