Fringe Busters

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GIRP

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
GIRP is a game where you have to use your keyboard and mouse to climb up a rocky cliff using the provided handholds. Now stop and think about how you expect such a game to control. Using the arrow keys, or click to move, or some similar convenient and silly abstraction.

Atom Zombie Smasher

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
I’ve been a longtime fan of Blendo Games, ever since their first-person vignette Gravity Bone inspired this very column. So the fact that Brendon Chung’s latest release excites me should come as no surprise.

Second Person Shooter Zato

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
Someone with a gun fighting waves and waves of enemies is literally the oldest trick in the book of video gaming. Yet Second Person Shooter Zato manages to take that formula and make it feel new simply by changing the viewpoint.
Well, do ya, punk?

Spent

Posted by Erik "wordsmythe" Hanson –
There were a lot of neat games to go through this week, but with all the talk about social games and meaningful mechanics going on around here, I'd be remiss if I didn't spend one post pointing everyone toward Spent, a serious game with social-network tie-ins.

Inside a Star Filled Sky

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
Jason Rohrer’s Inside a Star-Filled Sky is a game about levels. More importantly, it’s about the relationship between the levels that we perceive and the levels that go unnoticed. There’s spoilers ahead, if you’re interested in playing this game I would go get it now.

Elephant Quest

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
Comedy is an often lamented genre in gaming. Other than some notable LucasArts alumni like Tim Schafer and Steve Purcell, there have been few game developers making their career at truly funny comedy. For all the difficulties with comedy, parody is even harder to pull off correctly.

Stream

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
Time is a slippery weasel. I rarely stop to examine it, so most of the time it exists as a blur in the corner of my eye. When I do try to stop and really figure it out, it constantly slips away from me, twitching its little weasel whiskers as me before darting down into its little time cave.

The End of Us

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
One of the things I find fascinating about experimental games is their minimalism. When developers limit themselves, either by sound, visuals or the mechanics, their artistic sensibilities really shine. This is on full display with The End of Us.

Pipedreamz

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
Messhof, the experimental game developer behind Randy Balma: Municipal Abortionist and

Society

Posted by Allen "Pyroman[FO]" Cook –
One of the unspoken rules of gaming is that the player must always be moving forward. This is a sensible approach from a gameplay perspective. After all, it’s hard to enjoy yourself when you’re failing. But that frequently leaves the story trying to prop up the triumphalist gameplay with propaganda.

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