Wednesday, December 30, 2009

MODNAR SSOB by QuiteOddGames


MODNAR SSOB is a colorful shmup from QOG. Basically the game is your average shmup, where basically you shoot bullets (automatically :D) to kill your enemies. But those enemies are randomly generated and made of several pieces. Each of these pieces will do something different, some might follow you like a turret, while others will just sit stationary and blast away. This element of randomization combined with the excellent bullet physics will make you spend forever on this game.

Now here's a warning for you, this game is very hard. So hard that I got to level 6 only once. ONCE! But the difficulty of this game is only a slight annoyance because you go right back to the title when you die, and it's pretty quick to get far. This difficulty also adds a raw bullet hell shmup experience that i have never seen.
When you play this game, you will find yourself often spending time in the corners and then when time comes, unleashing hell on your enemies. If not for the difficulty this would not be possible.

Oh and the music, I can't believe I didn't mention the music. This game easily had the best music out of all the entries in my competition. I sometimes walk through my house humming the theme song to this game. I played this game for the first time, and once I heard the music, I knew I was seeing something good.

Well anyway, here's what I think of this game on a catagory level.

Graphics: 3.75/5-They're nothing super impressive, but they are interesting.The bosses are made up of transparent squares, pixels fall from the top of the screen, and the colors are random.

Music:4.5/5-Amazing, an upbeat theme which you will whistle or hum awkwardly in public. If you don't like shmups, download the game just for the music anyway.

Gameplay: 4/5- The shooting physics and movement work great, but sometimes dying is a bit easier than you had hoped.

Replay Value: Practically infinite- This game has randomly generated enemies, and their shapes are not just randomly generated, their shooting patterns are too! If you don't believe me with it's replayability, I played it at least 35 times by now.

 Overall, if you want the Spelunky of shmups download this game.
4.3/5


Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Puke 2 by Zack




Puke 2 is a shmup similar to cactus' ad nauseum 2 and it is a sequel to his original Puke. Basically you fight several different types of round enemies inside of a tv screen esque arena (which is a standerd graphic style with Zack's games) and when you lose too much health, you die. Despite these simple features, there's a catch. Your bullets are puke. Now why this might just sound like a gimmick, it's far from that. The puke sways from left to right as you move and it spreads out as you play, making the game a bit easier for you.

Now even though the puke makes the game a bit easy for you, the several different enemy types will keep you on your toes. Similar to cactus' game, you have several enemy types. For example,there are some enemies which shoot homing missles and there are enemies that shoot spikes all over. But these mix and match every wave, so you will deal with multiple types of enemies at once.

After so many enemies, you fight a boss. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but when you beat it you recharge health and go through a slightly harder second round. If this happens to be to hard and you die, you can submit your score to Zack's site and see how you rank among other players.

Now even though this game is great, it has it's few flaws. Whenever you kill an enemy, the arena turns that color. Although this is cool, it can get pretty annoying when an enemy of the same color is in the arena. This ends up causing difficulties in seeing the bullets, which is a pretty small but still annoying problem. Another very rare problem is just a small amount of lag on the final boss.

Now this game got second place for a reason, it's a great game and is overall a must play. Don't worry about the problems, they don't affect much so give this game a try.

Overall this game is a 4/5 .

Have fun and happy puking.

PLAY
PLAY THE ORIGINAL

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Arena Shmup Competition Awards!

Recently, i had a competition. The goal of it was to make an arena shmup which could be either a traditional shmup or a platformer shooter. I ended up getting quite a few entries and all of them obviously had a lot of work put into them. From around the start, two people submitted great games, better than the rest. They were so great in fact, that it was hard to pick a winner and a runner up. It's like picking between chicken and bacon, it can't be done.

But in the end, I picked a winner. They ended up having the game with the biggest replay value and the best shmup'n experience I have ever met.

QOG, you have won.

Here is a list of the users games and what place they made.

1st place: modnar ssob- QOG : A difficult but entertaining shmup where you blast the parts off of randomly generated enemies in order to kill them. Every part has a different function and the game has a very interesting graphical style.
2nd place: Puke 2- Zack : A fun game similar to cactus' ad nauseum 2, basically you puke all over enemies to kill them. Each enemy has a different power and there are online high scores. Kwiklook review
3rd place: Strootch-Kolj : A smooth, ambient shmup where three enemies spawn every few moments. Simple but it's beauty definitely means it deserves a try.
4th place: another one to die for- Zack : A poetic war shmup where you control a tank through the battle field.
5th place: retronauts- Indie games lite : A platformer shmup with a creative arena, online highscores, and it's in the dark.
6th place: bling- Spydog : An arena platformer shmup where gravity switches every so often, but it dosn't affect much. online high scores.

graphics awards.
1st place- strootch by kolj
2nd place- Puke 2 by Zack
3rd place- MODNAR SSOB by Qog

Sound awards
1st place- MODNAR SSOB by Qog
2nd place- strootch by kolj
3rd place- Puke 2 by Zack

Innovation awards
1st place-bling by spydog
2nd place-MODNAR SSOB by Qog
3rd place- retronauts by Indie games lite

Congrat's everyone for what you won for awards. By the way, Qog and Zack, expect your reviews in a few days.

Also to you who haven't entered PLAY QOG AND ZACK'S GREAT ENTRIES.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Legs!


I just finished Legs, it is basically the world's tiniest playformer. It's kind of simple but it only has ten levels. I still think it's worth a go. Prepare for the weirdest crap you've ever seen.