My Favorite Free Games

Here's something a little bit different from my usual posts. The following is a list of my favorite indie games that are available for free on the internet.

Video games are a lot like music. Beneath the shiny veneer of the mainstream, there are a million independent artists creating brilliant, innovative, beautiful games with little or no budget, just for the pure joy of creation and of sharing their creation with others. These people, as much as awesome mainstream developers like Miyamoto, are setting the groundwork for the future of gaming. With the rise of download services like X-Box Live Arcade and WiiWare, there are more platforms for little games like this than ever before, and I hope the big video game companies take notice and advantage of this fact. As much as I love the idea of playing games by Nintendo/Squaresoft/Capcom/etc on WiiWare, for example, it would be way more exciting for me to be able to download a game made by a regular joe with a wild, batshit idea and a little bit of programming know-how. Hopefully that day will come soon, but until then, there's plenty of awesome shit you can play on the internet for absolutely free.

Here are some of my favorites. Check them out, and you'll see a glimpse of the bright future of gaming. Feel free to post YOUR favorites in the comments section as well!

5 Days A Stranger
by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw

A year or so ago, while searching for free point-and-click adventure games on the internet, I stumbled across a website called Adventure Game Studio. AGS is a program that allows a person to create his or her own adventure games, using a very user-friendly template. The associated website and forum became a trading post for passionate adventure game fans to share their own creations with the world. There are a TON of great games on AGS, a lot of which, in my opinion, actually rival the classic Sierra and Lucasarts adventures. My favorite AGS developer, by far, is a guy named Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. Croshaw has created a number of games using AGS, all of them excellent, but my favorite work of his is the Trilby series. 5 Days a Stranger is the first game in the series, and it is followed by 3 sequels (7 Days a Skeptic, Trilby's Notes, and 6 Days a Sacrifice) as well as a spin-off platformer (Trilby: The Art of Theft). In the world of point-and-clicks, where humor and horror are the two most prevalent elements, Croshaw excels at them both. This series is definitely on the horror side of the fence, and it is often extremely creepy. It's impressive how these incredibly primitive graphics (drawn, I believe, in MS Paint or something similar) can convey such a sense of dread and tension. The game's story is epic and completely enthralling, with some fascinating and shocking twists along the way, and the puzzles are top-notch. Play this great series of games and you will be hooked. Then play everything else Croshaw has ever made.







Passage
by Jason Rohrer

Passage is probably the best evidence I've ever seen that video games ARE art. I don't want to spoil to much about this beautiful game, but I think the most brilliant aspect of it is the way that its use of the cliched old video game conventions - mazes, treasure, points, hazards - are reworked as metaphors that serve the piece's main theme. Because of this, Passage is not just an interactive piece of art; it is actually an old-school video game, played for a high score. At the same time, its message is extremely powerful (so much so that it nearly brought me to tears - nearly). The concept of this game is so brilliant that I'm hoping it eventually gets noticed by a big developer, and made into a full-length modern game - this is a concept that definitely deserves to be expanded upon. Go play this game - it will only take literally five minutes. After you've played it, and formed your own opinion, check out the Creator's Statement to read about the author's intent with this game.

Cave Story
by Studio Pixel

Cave Story has been around for a few years and seems to have a pretty large fanbase, but I only just discovered it. The game is very similar to the 2D Metroid or Metroidvania titles, in that the playing field is a vast series of mazes to explore, while discovering new abilities that allow you to venture into previously unreachable areas. But it also stands apart from the aforementioned games by incorporating interesting RPG-esque elements. The most obvious is the story, which advances through interaction with charming non-player characters in town-like areas. Your weapons, of which there are many, also get levelled up (and down!) through a simple RPG-like experience system. The game's environments are beautiful, quirky and fun as hell. The characters and story are a step above most side-scrollers, and the music is great. Cave Story is a fantastic accomplishment that must be played by any platforming fan.

Mario Adventure
by DahrkDaiz

Mario Adventure is a Super Mario Bros. 3 hack. However, unlike most Mario hacks, which offer up minimal cosmetic differences (as well as brilliant names like Super Retarded Bros, Super Napoleon Dynamite Bros, and Super Mario Bros Except if Mario Was Black), this game is more than just the ROM equivilent of a bootleg Bart Simpson t-shirt. This is a whole new game, and quite frankly, it's one of the best Mario games I've ever played. Taking the "rules" of a Mario game and twisting them as far as they can be stretched without breaking, the end result is something that even Nintendo could learn a few lessons from. Brand new worlds, enemies, power-up costumes (Magic Mario is amaaaazing)... randomly generated weather elements that affect each level... gameplay goals that go beyond the "point-A-to-point-B" challenges of most Mario games. This game is incredible, and if Nintendo has any sense, they'll hire this dude as a level designer. There is also a sequel, entitled Mario vs. Luigi, which I have yet to play. But Mario can get a Mouser suit power-up in which lets him toss bob-ombs! Holy shit!! NOTE: You will need an NES Emulator to play either of these games.

Ben Jordan: Paranormal Investigator
by Grundislav Games

Another excellent series of games made with AGS. The Ben Jordan series (which has six installments so far) features a globe-trotting paranormal investigator, who tracks down monsters and ghosts in exotic locales (everywhere from Florida to Japan to Scotland to Greece). Though each chapter is a stand-alone story, certain plot elements span the entire series. So it's fun to see, for instance, a friend that Ben makes during one adventure continue to hang out with him in subsequent ones. With great puzzles, fun visuals, charming characters, and a unique sense of humor, these games are perfect for any point-and-click fan.

What Linus Bruckman Sees When His Eyes Are Closed

by Vince Twelve

Linus Bruckman will most likely drive you nuts. What we have here is essentially one long logic puzzle (like the type found in a Dell puzzle book) in the form of a game. Or... I guess, more like two long logic puzzles. You see, there are two seperate games going on simultaneously, on the top and bottom of the screen, each with a distinctive artistic style and mood, but with similar gameplay. The movement of your mouse in one playing field elicits a similar reaction from the elements in the other field. So you can solve each puzzle seperately (which I did, with the aid of like six sheets of scrap paper), or by god, you can even solve them SIMULTANEOUSLY (which I have yet to do, and holy shit do I tip my hat to anyone who can manage to do that). If you enjoy head-scratchers, Linus Bruckman is definitely worth your time. If you wind up enjoying the game, click here to read a great article about its development (it was inspired by the Nintendo DS!).

Game, Game, Game And Again Game

by Jason Nelson

Okay, so if you can't get behind the concept of video games as art, how about video games as wackadoo abstract art? A bizarre mixture of weird, pretentious poetry, crazy-ass crayon scribble graphics, and basic old-school gameplay, the final result is a strangely hypnotizing mess. This is the one game on this list that I'd be very hesitant to describe as good, fun or even effective in achieving whatever crazed, ether-inspired goal its creator was trying to accomplish, but it's still totally worth playing, at least once. If nothing else, it is a great example of just how much potential there is within the genre for new, different and completely innovative ideas. With all the dumb-ass, creatively bankrupt bullshit there is in the gaming industry (Hooray! A FPS with World War II as its backdrop!), something like this is refreshing to see. Whether or not you find it entertaining, the fact that things like this are even being dreamt up and executed is an encouraging sign.

Cursor*10
by Yoshio Ishii

So I was posting on my favorite message board, and I wondered why there had never been a time travel video game that actually incorporated intereaction with your past self and his or her actions. What I meant by this was, a game where you play through a level, and then later go back in time to that first level and there before you is a "recording" of your former self, performing the same actions you had performed when you played that level. If you had spent part of level 1 running around in pointless circles, there would the the old you, now a non-player character, running around in those circles. Your interaction with these "ghosts" of your former actions would make up the basis for the game's puzzles and challenges. Soon after I speculated on this imaginary game, somebody on the board posted a link to this flash game, which is pretty much a simplified version of exactly what I had in mind. In Cursor*10, as its title would suggest, you play as a cursor, and you have ten lives, each with a rigorous time limit.. The goal in each of its 16 levels is to find a staircase that will allow you to progress to the next stage. This game's gimmick is that once the time runs out and you move on to your next life, each of your previous lives' cursors will still be on the playing field, performing the same actions you had performed during that life. So, for example, if one level requires that you must push two buttons simultaneously to make the staircase appear, you'd have to hold on to one button, wait to die, and then use your next life to push the other button while the ghost of your former life pushes the first one. This makes for some extremely interesting puzzles, the likes of which I've never really experienced in a game before. This concept, fleshed out into a full-length game, would blow peoples' minds right out of their skulls. Check this out immediately.

The Simpsons Jeopardy!
by Hangoversoft

As dopey as it is, it would be dishonest of me to exclude this game from the list, since I pretty much play it all the fucking time. There is absolutely nothing for me to say about this game that you can't figure out from the title. It's a Jeopardy game with Simpsons questions. Choose your avatar (from a list of characters from the show), pick from different categories, answer questions, and die a little bit inside as you realize you've wasted your life. A fun little diversion when you have ten minutes to waste.

Let's Get Casual

So I was thinking that I haven't really played video games since my last Umbrella Chronicles session with Jonnie Whoa Oh, but then I realized that wasn't really true. In fact, I've been playing video games pretty much every day, but in a way that barely registers to me as video game playing. What I've been doing has been playing "casual" games.

Let me start off by saying that this whole concept of "casual" games sort of confuses and frustrates me. It is often used as a criticism of the current trends of the video game industry (and most often, the Wii specifically), and it just seems like a bullshit buzzword. Casual gamers are ruining the industry for the hardcore, I've read. Excuse me? Perhaps I'm wrong, but since when is such a distinction necessary? When I was a kid, the same dudes who were playing Contra and meticulously working their way through Zelda adventures were also playing Tetris. It was the same people, the same industry, and there was more than enough room for all kinds of genres. And these ridiculous, arbitrary terms like "casual" and "hardcore" didn't exist. They were all just video games and we were all just gamers. So the next time you're reading an article or listening to some idiot ramble about how "casual" games are ruining the industry for the "hardcore", bear in mind that this entire issue has just been created by weirdo analysts and PR assholes whose agendas are to fuel this generation's console wars. Don't buy into it.

So what "casual" games have I been playing? Well, I mentioned in my last post that I've unlocked new levels in Picross so I've been working my way through those. I've also been hopelessly fucking addicted to video Boggle. Yeah you heard right, video Boggle. I bought my girlfriend, who is a big fan of word games (Scrabble, for the most part) a cheap little compilation PC game as a stocking stuffer. It includes Upwords, Boggle, Hangman and some other similar little game. The Boggle totally owns me. It's the type of thing where I'll sit down to play Boggle for five minutes and then keep saying, "Okay, ONE more game" until I notice that three hours have gone by. I finally finished all of the game's little "challenges", so hopefully I'll be able to pull myself away from it now.

I also got a new ipod for Xmas (160gb!), and it comes with a game called Music Quiz 2. Now, I always enjoyed the Music Quiz on my old ipod, and thought it was cute how it pulls songs from your own library and quizzes you about them. But the new version takes it to the next fucking level. Utilizing song titles, audio of the songs themselves, album titles and cover images, artists, and release dates, this shit is crazy fun. For example, it will play a Screeching Weasel song, and then be all like "Which album is this song from... My Brain Hurts, Dookie or Enter the 36 Chambers?" Or, in a lighting round, the category will be "BAD RELIGION ALBUMS" and a bunch of album covers will fly by, and you have to click on the Bad Religion ones. It's all in the format of a game show and it's soooo much fun. It's especially hilarious when I get asked questions about my own bands! I've been playing this way too much.

So, video games are pretty much a part of my life every day, even if it's not in the way I normally associate with gaming. That's a pretty cool thing to realize. How much a part of your life are they?

Masters Of Unlocking?

Earlier this week, Jonnie Whoa Oh and I had another Umbrella Chronicles session. To be honest, I am not sure exactly what we accomplished. This game has a lot of unlockable content, but there is no real way to discern how much there is or what you still have to do or how to unlock anything or how far along you are. It's a bit frustrating.

The main thing we did was play through all the levels we'd already beaten on the Normal difficulty mode, this time on the Easy mode. We were hoping that by making it easier, we'd perform better and thus unlock new stuff. This didn't really happen, and I'm not sure if the game or our performance was to blame.

We did take turns switching off on the one-player scenario modes, which were really fun. The game is way harder without a partner by your side! We unlocked a couple of new ones, so I guess we'll continue having these little get-togethers, which rules!

I suggested that the next game we tackle together should be Ubisoft's Lost game, which comes out next month (I think). As fun as this 2-player co-op gameplay is, it's not as fun as playing a long one-player adventure game together, switching off. As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my favorite all-time video game memories is playing Earthbound together with Jonnie, and a game like Lost will be more likely to emulate that experience than a two-player game, and we're both big Lost fans. Of course, for me, the fact that Jonnie has a 360 and I don't totally sweetens the deal. He seemed receptive to the idea. But, of course, we have a lot more zombie-shooting to do first.

On the solo front, I unlocked a whole new level in Picross that I didn't know existed! I thought I'd completely finished the game, and was replaying some of the puzzles... but I guess I'd timed out on a puzzle during my first run-through because I somehow unlocked a bonus level in Normal mode. And it's fucking awesomely Nintendo-themed. That should make the next few days worth of subway rides slightly more bearable!!

Vision Quest

So I started playing Puzzle Quest last night. I really regret not getting the DS version. The problem is that when they ported this shit, they forgot to make it bigger than a fucking DS screen. This wasn't a HUGE problem during the "puzzle" part of the game (although that's way too small too), but it's seriously ruining the "quest" part. The text in particular is ridiculously small. I actually love the concept of the game - accepting various missions that result in Bejewled battles with monsters - but it's difficult to follow the plot when I'm reading about journeying to Algaroth on a mission for the Emperor in a .005-point font. And then having to find these locations on a teeny tiny little fucking map screen. I find myself just randomly clicking until I find myself engaged in a puzzle battle, which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of the way I want to play this game. I want to use strategy. I want to pick and choose the quests I take on, I want my imagination to be captivated by this wonderful fantasy of a kingdom built on puzzling. Due to this stupid problem, that could have been easily fixed by them putting ten fucking minutes of effort into this port, I can't.

For example, isn't this fun to read? Now imagine you were sitting 6 feet away from the screen. Now imagine that instead of me blabbing, it was your beloved ruler instructing you to go deliver a message to the queen of a faraway kingdom, and how to kill the bloodthirsty minotaur that guards her throne room. That'd be annoying, huh?

It's a shame though, because the game is fun as shit. Between last night and today, I played for about three hours, until my eyes started to bleed. This game should come packaged with acetaminophen. I really, really wish I'd opted for the DS version. Oh well.

Let A Smile Be Your Umbrella

<---- Yo, check out the dope-ass hoodie my girlfriend got me for Xmas. Isn't it great? I hope you all had a merry Xmas and a happy new year and all that.

In addition to the hoodie, I also got a copy of Umbrella Chronicles. My friend Jonnie Whoa Oh and I had decided that we were going to tackle this game together, because it had been way too long since we sat down as a team and dedicated ourselves to beating a game. Not since Earthbound for the Super Nintendo, in fact. Remind me to tell you about that experience one day.

So last night, I headed over to his house with my zapper in tow, and we spent an evening gleefully shooting zombies, crows, and other hideous mutants. It felt great to be playing a cooperative two-player game with a good friend, since video-gaming has been a stricty solitary experience for me for way too long. Hooray for teamwork! Hooray for friendship! Hooray for S.T.A.R.S!

I am really enjoying this game, not just as a male bonding experience, but as a great Resident Evil experience. It's fun as hell to revisit all the swinging hot spots from previous RE games, and I often found myself squealing with girlish glee with nostalgia. "I remember this room," I'd say, or "We're gonna have to fight a shark soon I bet!" I don't really understand why Resident Evil 2 was excluded, but I guess it would have been pretty much the same type of shit as part 3 anyway, so whatev.

The game also seems to be somewhat of an interactive Resident Evil wikipedia page, what with the various expository documents you collect while blasting your way through the levels. I am in love with that idea. Collecting these intriguing manilla envelopes became our A#1 priority, and we'd often negect shooting at alligator monsters or Yetis who were attacking us just so we could pick up a document that told us Claire Redfield's favorite color. I hope Wesker's document offers an explanation for the hilariously awful voice chosen for him in this game. He didn't sound this ridiculous in Resident Evil 4, did he?

Anyway, we blasted through the game on Normal mode, and I'm not sure to what degree we "beat" it. We got through the third level of the Resident Evil 3 section (which climaxed, predictably, with a battle against the Nemesis), and then our available options suddenly and unceremoniously dried up. We opened up a handful of "scenario" missions that we haven't tackled yet, but is the Nemesis boss fight the end of the main game? I look forward to finding out! I solemnly swore not to touch the game until we had a chance to play it together again, and I intend to stand by that promise. I look forward to next time!

A word on the zapper: About halfway through our session, Jon decided that he didn't enjoy playing with the zapper, and switched to the normal wiimote/nunchuck style. I stuck it out with the zapper. I will say this: For games as simple as rail shooters, they've got to think of a better way to set up the control scheme if they intend for people to use the zapper with their game. Reaching for the A button or the nunchuck's trigger buttons takes a lot away from the illusion that you are holding a handgun. Not a huge deal (as I said, it wasn't irritating enough for me to abandon the hunk of plastic like Jon did), but a bit of an unnecessary annoyance.

I also picked up Puzzle Quest for the Wii. All the reviews and word-of-mouth I've read seem to indicate that it's a fantastic game, but that the Wii version is by far the worst. I grabbed it on sale from Amazon for $15 though, so it's no biggie if it doesn't knock my dick off. I haven't cracked it open yet, but I will soon and I'll report back. I know, faithful reader, that you'll be waiting with baited breath.