Grow, baby, grow!

Phyta expands the concept of games as art. That was the sentence that has been bouncing around in my head in the days since I played it. It's just such a beautiful game, and yes, I use the word game pretty lightly.

The concept is simple. You control a black sun which coaxes dark vines to grow in a certain direction. Your goal as you move through the five short levels is to capture orange bugs with your vines. As you progress through the levels, your sun gets bigger and the plant yields more vines for you to capture with. Also, with the progression come stronger bugs, some of which can chew through your thinner vines. Phyta has no ending which seems like an odd choice, but I would love to see some sort of continuation or sequel come out.

This game is absolutely gorgeous and set to a light acoustic guitar track which loops slightly too frequently, but doesn't take away from Phyta at all.


tl;dr

Concept: A work of art that you can play. Capture the bugs with your vines.
Controls: Mouse and button only. Easy enough.
Sound: Light acoustic guitar which is great, but needed to be longer to avoid loop annoyance.
Graphics: Just amazing. Black on white contrast.

Overall: 9/10

ESSENTIAL LINKS
http://www.cambriangames.com/current.html
http://www.cambriangames.com/Phyta.zip

Run Dino, Run

I fell in love with a little flash game today called Dino Run from Pixeljam, where players take control of a little dinosaur and attempt to stave off extinction. There are seven main levels, with some speed runs available as extras. In other words, enough to keep you busy for an afternoon.

You maneuver your dino from left to right attempting to escape a wall of doom (which we can only assume to be extinction). Along the way you'll encounter other dinosaurs on the escape route as well as smaller animals, which you can eat for extra points. There exists just enough frustration to keep the game from being a cakewalk, but easy enough as to keep you moving through the levels.

The kick ass 8-bit sound compliments the lo-fi graphics amazingly well. I really recommend this game for a lazy afternoon.

tl;dr

Concept: A hectic escape from doom has you running for your life.
Controls: Arrow keys, anyone?
Sound: Awesome retro 8-bit.
Graphics: Beautifully rendered lo-fi.

Overall: 8/10

ESSENTIAL LINKS
http://www.pixeljam.com/
http://www.pixeljam.com/dinorun/

Kirby Quake

Today's little number is called Teeworlds. I often describe the game Culdcept or Culdcept Saga as a cross between Monopoly and Magic: The Gathering. If you think that combo is weird, try this on for size. Teeworlds is a cross between Kirby and Quake.

Teeworlds is a cutesy 2D environment set up like a traditional FPS server, including capture the flag and basic deathmatch games. Players move their 'Kirby-esque' characters around maps reminiscent of the Worms series and collect weapons ranging from mallets to rocket launchers. Power ups and armor also exist. All these things with the traditional FPS control scheme give this game a great familiar feel on a new concept.

There is a pretty good established community which means there is always a server to connect to and lots of maps to play on. I personally love capture the flag games with this game and there's a great mix of fun and frustration as you kill and are killed by more experienced players. The only thing that feels a little broken is the aiming scheme and the difficulty knowing if you've hit your opponent in the fast paced gameplay. Trying to aim is about the only learning curve aspect of Teeworlds.

tl;dr

Concept: Kirby + Quake = Cute destructive fun.
Controls: Traditional FPS controls are very comfortable.
Sound: Nothing great, nothing annoying.
Graphics: Cutesy and simple, but cool.

Overall: 8.2/10

ESSENTIAL LINKS
http://www.teeworlds.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeworlds