3 articles Tag platform

Metagun

Metagun by Notch

Gah – I’m just off to bed and the really awesome Ludum Dare 18 competition entries are starting to arrive. Curse the rotation of the Earth causing the staggered arrival of sunrise and sunset around the globe!

Anyway, didn’t want to go to sleep without highlighting Notch‘s superb Metagun. Seems pretty cute when you stumble across pint-size enemies firing their adorable little guns at you. Becomes fairly amazing when you pick up a ‘grenade’ launcher where the ‘grenades’ are actually those same enemies. Suddenly you’re looking an action-puzzler where you fire your own adversaries out of a gun, then position yourself so that those angry little basts destroy the very blocks that are blocking your escape path.

Also: you get your fedora knocked off if you’re shot. You will mystify both yourself and students of human psychology and motivation by actually caring about your missing hat, and always going back to fetch it.*

This is all exactly the kind of madness you’d expect from a man who’s been live-streaming a video of the actual creation of the game. And it is 100% guaranteed to make you smile as you sprinkle a room with scores of pistol-toting pixel-men. They might want you dead, but they really are quite cute. Play Metagun (Java)

*Update: ‘Course, turns out the fedora works like Ghosts ‘n Goblins’ armour – lose it, and you’re vulnerable. Neat.

Toast Boy

Toast BoyUpdate: Toast Boy too tricky for ya? here’s a Toast Boy save file with all the levels unlocked. Just download it and stick it in the same folder as ‘Toast Boy.exe’.

Blocky pixelated characters propelling themselves around levels with reverse-thrust jetpacks are sooo hot right now. The cute but adorable Nolegs was released just yesterday — and now here’s the all-shooting, all-flying Toast Boy, who clearly isn’t content with the warmth of a toaster and would rather risk frazzling his legs right off courtesy of combustible rocket fuel. This simplistic little platform-shooter isn’t complex, or varied, or easy to control. But it’s got a couple of mini surprises — and cute-as-a-button characters with wiggly arms. Only 25 teeny levels, too, so no need to cancel that crucial lunch, business types. Play Toast Boy (Windows download)

Blasterman vs Yellowskull

This little platform-shooter gets it right in all the right places. It’s about shooting roving droids and solving the odd door puzzle — but the slickness, the sounds, the little ‘boomph’ as you stomp on a switch and bounce perfectly off — it’s several notches above the average. Link to download (Windows, 9.2Mb)