In last week's Link Dump Friday, I thought it was a phenomenal feat to feature six games in one article. Well, looks like we've done it again, and this time there are pirates and aliens, too! Still no waffles...
Pel - A fun little reflex-based arcade game. Use the [arrow] keys to move the paddle and try to bounce all of the squares before they hit the bottom of the screen. Can also be described using single words instead of whole sentences: bouncey, musical-ey, Atari.
Shore Siege - Your pirate ship has crashed on the shore, leaving you stranded and defenseless! Use anything you can find (or anything your "pirate scientists" create) to keep the baddies at bay, upgrading between rounds as you see fit. Simple but fun arcade gameplay works like a cross between a tower defense game and Defend Your Castle.
Space Station Jason - A fairly standard platforming game with a nice twist: it utilizes 3D (cue cheesy swirly-eyed guy from the 30s) to create some interesting perspective puzzles. You can only move horizontally, so changing your view is the key to finding secrets and completing each stage.
Polinko - A simple pachinko game where you aim and fire balls to clear red pegs from the screen. It may not be as unbelievably awesome as Peggle, but it's quick and free, so we can't complain.
Typeracer - Put your typing skills to a fun use by hammering out paragraphs to push your car along the track. The fastest, most accurate typist wins!
Multiplayer Space Invaders - You know Space Invaders, right? Shooting aliens, avoiding their fire, ducking behind shields? Add online multiplayer with competitive scoring and you have a slightly new experience.
Shore Seige is impossible on a laptop with only a trackpad. At least, I think so.
I don't believe trackpads were meant for anything other than an input device of convenience for portable computers.
Use a mouse. :)
@Caya: No, I used one (and escaped in 29 days!). Then again, I'm used to using a trackpad for FPS games, so I might be an exception. It is possible though.
Aww, no waffles. :(
Shore Siege might be awkward on a laptop if you're not used to playing games with it... or maybe you're like me and didn't realize right away you needed a popping motion with the pin, hah. (by the way, 15 days first try!)
224540 in Pel, second try... how's anyone else doing?
Shore Seige is easy yet fun!
@TheEternalFire, same here except I don't know how many days it took me to escape.
Owww... Typeracer hurts my hands. But it's so adddicting. :)
I agree about Typeracer. Addicting and somehow painful.
However, done in moderation, it's great as a limbering up exercise if you've got a lot of typing to do and are already a proficient touch typist. (I learned on cranky old Underwoods with platens, so keyboards have never been a problem...)
Shore seige is lots of fun - could do with many more levels!
19 days first go :)
17 days first try in Shore Siege, probably because what could've been a lot of faster repairing turned into a lot of laughing as 4 turrets annihilated everything before they even came onscreen. Also 4 fully-upgraded snipers who rarely saw action.
Shore Siege made me see the effect on the player, of making them work at something, and then make it easier for them. I got a strong sense of satisfaction from upgrading the water and fire.
I guess this is part of any upgrade game, but this is the first time I've felt it (perhaps because it is such a powerful upgrade).
Any idea what port(s) the multiplayer space invaders needs open?
Shore Siege took me 28 days, but most likely because I didn't realize I had to repair the ship. It's an awesome game, and one I really enjoyed playing.
Shore Siege was nice, escaped in 16 days. Artillery is probably the best upgrade, it's way more useful than turret guns (and much cheaper too!)
I didn't bother upgrading ship health at all, since I hardly ever got hit. Could be done quicker, maybe 12 days or so if you optimize.
polinko is so addicting.. i can't stop playing.
:(
Shore Siege was easy? God, I must really suck at the game. I found myself quickly overwhelmed. I kept buying turrets, but for some reason they kept disappearing between rounds. I never had enough money to buy snipers because I was continuously having to replace two to three turrets per round. I also never saw any option to upgrade the turrets.
What am I missing?
Shore Siege -
Really great fun (Suho - when you get the balance right it's really nice and leisurely - don't rely on those turrets, snipers are a little more useful and also you can replenish the turrets when they run out if you have enough cash!) and great that they gave a thanks to to Dan Paladin at the end. I wish it was longer or escalated into a really nice pay-off/boss at the end or even that they sailed straight into another island with more wierdos! Develop this more! And well done for a very pleasant game.
Suho - I quickly gave up on the turrets. I found the artillery much more useful, as it is capable of attacking anywhere on the beach. But most of my time was spent using the nail/water/fire.
Overall, I think Shore Siege could make for an awesome game if paced itself a little more with the creeps... I feel like it reached its difficulty plateau too quickly (and at too low of a difficulty level).
THE LAST LINK DUMP FRIDAY!!! NOESSSSS!!!
Typeracer is great. My first playthrough (as "Guest") was 146 WPM, which is currently at the top of the "Recent High Score" list. Of course, I've been able to match that score since registering.
Pel is an amazing game! My best score: 100100!!
Pel is Fire! (or Bouncing Babies, if you prefer). Such good memories.
Shore pirates is fun and also very much possible with a laptop touchpad. I too got 19 days my first try (and that was after a few days of not even realising that the whole point of the game was to try and get off of the island, rather than the typical tower defense game objective of "stay alive until you die").
I'm having a real love/hate relationship with Space Station Jason. I'd really like it if only I didn't keep dieing so frequently. *grr*
polinko crashes my firefox, anyone elso has this problem?
Ben!, is your keyboard on fire?
Thanks for the tips, jimlefevre and zxo. I'll have to take another crack at it today.
How do you kill those big squirrel/beaver things in Shore Siege? I tried all my weapons and the only thing I could get to work was the turrets, but they did practically nothing and the things always made it to my ship.
Escaped the island in Shore Siege in 12 days. Here's how to do it:
First purchase is the artillery. You could possibly wait on this since the enemies that you need the artillery for come later, but this was my first purchase.
After that, purchase the nail, fire and water upgrades. When upgraded those weapons provide insta-kills on every enemy they work on.
Those purchases alone should get you though. Sometimes you might have to be quick on the draw, but I never had any baddies get by. The money saved by not making any more purchases is sufficient to get out in 12 days.
If you're really careful about your artillery usage you might be able to save just enough money to achieve 11 days, but beyond that would be pushing it.
Nevermind, I refreshed the page and it told me this time. For some reason last time they were in the first level with the fireballs. I guess it was just a bug.
Wow, I love Space Station Jason. Great original tweak on 2-D platforming, clean controls, smooth graphics and excellent level design. Only criticism is that the lives/saves structure isn't ideal.
Here's a vote for given SSJ its own review!
I love Typeracers - who said touch typing isn't fun?
I hope they have facebook application soon ;)
I love the fact the texts are from real books/ CDs / movies - that they are not just gibberish like some of the older stuff.
Well, Space Station Jason crashed Firefox for me, just like every other game on kongregate.
Polinko does not work in Firefox. It just loads and sits there. You can select a different level but you can't play any level.
Polinko is a bit too easy to 'cheat' in...
Spend some balls to clear a path to the bottom. Then, fire your ball right at the 'Free Ball' target. If you miss it, you hit nothing and get a free ball. If you hit it, you get a free ball and you score whatever you hit when your ball bounces off. Repeat until stage is cleared.
Shore Siege seems to depend on randomness for spawning enemies to the point of several day's worth of gold at times... I finished in 10 days only upgrading the nail and getting artillery, but when I tried only upgrading artillery (since I had 4k left going into the last day, it might have been possible to do it in 9!), it took 12 days.
Are you supposed to lose a life for missing a power up on Pel? It's kinda impossible to keep up with the little squares AND the power ups. Is this just me, or everyone?
For those playing Shore Seige, make sure you only hit the "Next Day" button once. If you keep hitting it, you'll pass past days. Day 60 wasn't too bad, but 90 was too much for my computer to handle, even at low quality.
shore siege: I tried many times without purchasing anything except artillery, and could not get 10 days. 11 days every single time. Came within $667 once. DOH!
I'm using a mouse, and I found Shore Siege unplayable. It needs keyboard shortcuts, at the very least. Dragging and gestures may work on a DS, but when you have a mouse, it's just asinine.
Space Station Jason stranded me when I made it all the way to the end of the Portal world but couldn't make it back to the start.
I cannot stop playing Pel. That's the mark of a good game.
(Missing power-ups does not cost you a life, nor does it break your combo. As such, the red flash and "bzzzt" sound effect are somewhat misleading.)
My high score is over 850,000, but I usually struggle to break 200K.
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