Best of 2012 (Top 5):
Pangolin from Feed Tank is a physics-based arcade game that does a fantastic job straddling genres to create a very different, very entertaining sort of game. You indirectly control a bouncing orange critter by creating temporary trampoline platforms on the screen, guiding the little guy through some crazy stages filled with bumpers, tunnels, portals and more. Pangolin is almost like a game of vertical mini-golf. Except not. And it's way better!
TNNS is a wild arcade game from Action Button Entertainment and Rabbx that plays like a cross between Breakout and Pong, only about a billion times better (rough estimate). Imagine using a rubber paddle to smack a rubber ball around a stage filled with blocks, stars and arrows, then using some sort of telekinetic powers to make the ball curve a bit. That's TNNS, and if you're not laughing with amazement each time you fail/succeed, you're probably doing it wrong.
Super Hexagon, the latest release from VVVVVV creator Terry Cavanagh, is the kind of game that makes you hate games. It will make you feel like an inept player who couldn't play an arcade game even if you were in Russia (where arcade game plays
you, we hear). You might even get mad at Terry, who crafted this fast, stylish game seemingly just to show you how often you can fail. But after you lose ten times in as many seconds, you'll suddenly realize that Super Hexagon has you by the collar, has already taken your lunch money, and if you want it back, you're going to have to keep playing. Strangely enough, that's a challenge you'll be thrilled to undertake!
Earn To Die 2012 is an update to Toffee Games arcade-style hit, and has all the post-apocalyptic racing action you could hope for, without the danger of infected bites! Customize your car and plow through waves of the undead. A zombie-smushing good time, though undoubtedly constructed as a teaser for the enhanced mobile version.
Om Nom returns, hungry as ever and with more puzzles than you can shake a rope at. Zeptolab's continuation of their hit puzzler Cut the Rope was previously released for iPhone and iPad and is now available on all your favorite mobile devices. Cut the Rope: Experiments includes 125 new physics puzzles set across five new settings in a professor's laboratory.
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