From life sims to indie music to painfully difficult 3D games, we've got your weekend in gaming covered! Covered like your morning piece of toast! Covered like the wagon you rode in to reach Oregon! Covered like... something else that's covered!
~airwave~ - I Fought the Law, and the Law One (Windows, 59.9Mb, free) - Another grand little adventure game from Ben Chandler, creator of Annie Android, Eternally Us and Featherweight. ~airwave~ stars Elodie Major, host of an indie radio station called Airwave Radio. She and her friend Zak have gathered a small following in the town of Wave. Now, a mainstream record label is stirring up trouble in town, enforcing laws that push indie talent deep into the shadows. As with Ben's previous releases, expect a short outing for an adventure game, but the dialogue and puzzles are well-written and engaging. ~airwave~ is the first in a planned series of episodes, which is good news for adventure fans!
Trials (Windows, 21MB, free) - A 3D "virtual reality obstacle course" from Tijital Games that does something no first person game should do: require jumping puzzles. Somehow, though, that ties in perfectly with the game's difficulty and trial-and-error gameplay. Work your way through a series of levels, each with a particular theme you must learn to overcome. At first it's simple jumps and narrow ledges, then spikes shoot from the ground and blocks move from beneath your feet. You'll die many, many times in Trials, but like the title suggests, you should keep trying until you get it right!
Another Day in the Life of Bob (Windows, 28MB, free) - Another day, another life to live. This charming little game is a full-fledged life simulation machine, allowing you to take the role of Bob as you wander around the psychedelic town and do whatever things you please. Enter buildings to explore the city, checking out various shops, the gym, stores, the university, etc. Almost everything you do requires cash, but you also increase your stats which have an affect on the things you can do in the down. It's very open-ended, and there's no real way to "win", but boy is it fun running around this colorful isometric town!
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 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!
Jay, on the download link for `Bob, you are listed as the developer. Are you polystyrene man (excuse my lack of a question mark, my computer thinks I`m on a French Keyboard)
[Nope, must be there's another person named "Jay" in the world. Weird. -Jay]
I just checked the rest of the games Jay released, and HE IS! Hi, Jay!
I'm playing ~airwave~ right now. Due to a bit of glitchiness in the program I'm using to run it, there's no background music. The sound effects are okay, though, so I don't mind. I'm just worried that since the game is largely music-themed, I may be missing out on something important.
I'm currently trying to X, and I'm completely stuck. I've already done Q, but I don't know what to do afterward. I've done J, and I think I need to Y somehow, but I have no idea how to do that. The objects I'm currently in possession of include Z, and I think I need to use some of them to R, but I don't really know how. Anybody who could give me some sort of hint (not a full answer, just a hint) would have my gratitude.
X = wake up Mayor Ophelia
Q = wake her up slightly with the fumes from the specially mixed mango cocktail
J = speak to Damon about resonant frequencies, learn that Laurence has a crush on Ophelia and that Damon likes metal
Y = get Damon to visit the grill so he can determine Ophelia's resonant frequency
Z = three bottlecaps, a handful of nails, a copy of a notice, the aforementioned cocktail, a pair of pliers, a cable, and a food basket
R = construct some sort of musical instrument on which to play a resonant tone
ADITLOB would be a neat game if it weren't for the annoying bugs...
Starting the game, I walk up a few screens and turn right and end up on a screen with a person in the middle and I'm nowhere to be found. Also I can't move or exit out of that screen back.
Exploration games that don't let you explore are ridiculous...
Never mind! I got it. It turned out I didn't need to Y at all, because I didn't need F-- I needed G. And I was able to obtain that just fine once I figured out I could B.
Also, I did end up having to do R with three of Z, but not for that particular purpose.
F = Ophelia's resonant frequency
G = the resonant frequency of fat
B = pick up one of the free samples at the grill once Laurence was present
How do you sell stuff in ADITLOB? or talk to people?
Umm, in the Bob game, how do I get power?
Get near them (about a square away) and click on 'em.
How do you save? My friend can't find out how!
For power in the Bob game,
Max out professions.
A good place to start is the police station; you only need 120 str 60 int for max.
ADITLOB keeps crashing and not saving! how do i deal with this?
I'm confused on what to do in airwave. I know I need to wake Ophelia, but I have no idea about how to do it.
I gave Trials a tentative try - and found it thoroughly enjoyable - and thus, sadly, a little short. But the low number of levels made it possible for the developers to come up with really diverse levels - and they did. You definitely need your share of luck at times, and if you fail, you ahve to start the level from the start, but they are short, so most of the time you won't feel you lost a lot of progress - though dying just one step away from completing the level may give you a few seconds of frustratin - and you wil die in the few last seconds a couple of time :)
All in all, I liked the game a lot. Thx for including it.
bio
Well, I've done everything in Another Day in the Life of Bob except get into the, ah, "herb shop". Anyone know the password?
Also, a few tips to make the game less tedious:
Use crack. Seriously. It boosts your energy and lets you do far, far more work and study and whatnot between rests. But never use more than 5g at a time; even if you heal after using the first 5g, any more will kill you until you use up your energy. And don't worry about the messages telling you you're an addict, it doesn't do anything as far as I could tell.
Crack is, however, fairly expensive at the start at $400/g, so I'd suggest holding off on it and working your way to the top at the police station - which is the only place that doesn't require a degree to get promoted at any point - and then starting to use crack. A bit ironic, I know.
And if anyone missed it, there's a boy in the southwest corner of the map who'll trade you a skateboard for gum from the general store. Figured I'd mention it since it makes travel much faster, though it also makes it harder to get into buildings.
And if anyone wants to know where any easter eggs are:
1-3. In the mailbox beside your starting apartment.
4. Beside the large cyan Rehab Center building.
5. Above the left side of the pond, beside the head of a cattail.
6. Beside the Hospital.
7. Beside a magenta tree next to the small red Eugenics Lab building.
8. Beside a magenta tree just northeast of the small green Herb Shop building.
9. Just left of the medium green and cyan Mushroom House building, on the edge of its shadow.
10. Just right of the large brown Club building and beside a rock.
11. Beside a violet tree east of the large brown Club building.
12. Beside a violet tree just north of the large hole.
13. Beside a cyan tree just next to the large orange Casino building.
14. Beside a violet tree just northeast of the large orange Casino building.
15. In the northwest corner in the forest, next to a cyan tree east of a lone rock.
16. In the salt room with Freddy (talk to the woman between the small blue Guitar Shop and the large grey Crack House) below a salt shaker just north of the entrance.
17. In the salt room with Freddy below a salt shaker just south of the entrance.
18. From an eggplant. Obtain by giving a cactus to the girl beside a magenta tree northwest of the pond.
19. In the graveyard in the northeast corner of the map. Gain entry by planting a sunflower purchased from the light blue Greenhouse building and taking the seeds when it's grown, then entering Freddy's salt room and taking 10 salt from one of the piles; open your inventory and click the salt to make 10 salted sunflower seeds. Take the seeds to Pacman in the northwest corner of the map, then take the pill he gives you to the Carrot in the northeast corner outside the graveyard. Talk him so he threatens you, then click the pill in your inventory to give it to him.
20-23. From the Cyan Bopsquare. Find him by taking a magic mushroom spore from the pink mushroom in the graveyard, then planting it and eating the resulting mushroom (you can only eat it in the garden, don't put it in your inventory).
@Night Stryke You can get into the Herb Shop by typing 420 and pressing enter.
re: Night Stryke
The password is
420. Thank you, Doug Benson. :D
I had enormous difficulty with bugs on ADITLOB, so I didn't get to solve all the puzzles, unfortunately. Every time I saved and exited, then came back, the game would not work properly. :( It was fun while it lasted.
@Bob & Rachel:
Well, I guess there's something wrong with my game. I tried that but it didn't work. No matter what I type it always tells me I need to enter some digits first; I figured it was a general sort of error message, but I guess it's actually not registering anything I type. Oh well, not a big deal. Thanks, though.
Hi Jay! This is tijit, developer of Trials, just dropping by to say thanks for featuring my game on your site. :)
GameCheater: Have you spoken to the chef at the grill yet?
For ~airwave~:
waking of MayorOphelia
Ring the bell on the counter, above food. That gets the chef out of hiding and lets you do things.
Should be easy from there, but
get the free sample, take it to the guy at the shack, use it on him, grab an instrument from his bag near the shack;
Go to the bar, check the menu, ask about ingredients, find the one with mango, add a shot of ouzu;
Use ouzu on mayor, use horn on mayor.
And for the next thing
use the pliers from in front of the battery at the shack on the cord at the radio tower;
use the cord on the girl;
Go to the grill, use cord on frier, get basket.
Hope that you've been collecting those bottlecaps; grab the basket from the grill;
Use the bottlecaps on the basket;
go to the bar, grab the nails;
Use nails on taborine; give to guy.
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