Really not a whole lot of game here, but a very interesting experiment in lo-fi 3D tale telling nonetheless. With a design sense that echoes age old Nintendo while smoothing out some rougher edges and a relaxed approach that will keep you guessing, Guardian Rock makes for a brisk and fun little item for your gaming calendar. You know how you’ve always wanted a game where you play a clumsy mythical beast in a glass shop that occasionally flies into a rage and smashes things to pieces? Well, your wait is ove - so head out to Flashbang Studios and get a taste of the rubbery and imprecise control scheme that fits the hybrid lead character here just oh so well.Ī colorful and engaging block puzzler that is probably not going to be the most innovative thing that you try this year but that still manages a take on classic gameplay that’s well worth what you’re going to lay out for it. Turning takes a bit of getting used to, but once you’ve got the hang of it you’re sure to find from Intuition Games’ an enticing offering. 8 apparently got its start as an art exhibit by one of the designers and that sort of aesthetic pervades its philosophical approach. Now here’s something you don’t see every day: a lovely riding-a-bike-thru-a-technical-drawing game and it’s got a sweet soundtrack to go with it as well.
So why don’t you take a break from big-budget games and see just what a feast there is out there in the wide world below the big ticket level? All you can lose, really, is just a little bit of time:
The following is a list of 99 free games (in no particular order) that I’ve enjoyed this calendar year, nearly all of which have been released in 2009 or very late in 2008. This is a very, very good thing - for games, for players and ultimately for your very own wallet. And you may even want to donate a few bucks to a budding game designer who has put his or her sweat equity out there for you to play at no cost.īut otherwise, the sheer number and quality of the games available for nothing is a simple testament to just how broad and active the development community outside the corporate AAA space really is at present. Now sure, you do need a computer as a platform, and might also sometimes have to suffer through some ads to get to the games. Creative talents all over the world are out there spinning out downloadable, browser, Flash and Unity games that you can while away enjoyable hours on without having it cost you one red cent. To that end, I’ve since turned my eyes towards the burgeoning free games scene and to be honest what I’ve found is pretty darned spectacular. This past year will go down for me personally as the year in which my spending on video games plummeted, due to personal dissatisfaction with the costs in money and time demanded by most of the AAA products out there on the shelves.