Side by Side, Deep Sleep, Mastermind: World Conqueror

This entry has been sitting in backlog for, like, two weeks! Go figure. Perhaps I was subconsciously saving one of the best horror-themed browser games for Halloween, yet laziness won out.

Side by Side

Mammoths need love too, and these two lovely beasts are trying SO HARD to reach one another's world. I'm not sure what THAT'S all about, but it's up to you to unite them through a series of puzzles. The controls are a bit tricky at first, and the map screen looks a liiiiiittle cluttered, but overall I think it's worth playing.

Deep Sleep

You're asleep. You've got to wake up. WAKE UP. Deep Sleep is a genuinely creepy game, with crazy sounds, a bizarre atmosphere that would make most survival horror games proud, and an... interesting... story. A point-and-click adventure that'll probably freak you out, even if it's just a little bit. Play it at night, with the sound cranked, for maximum potency. (Damn, shoulda saved this for Halloween.)

Mastermind: World Conqueror

You are MASTERMIND. You must rule the WORLD. Resource management and static tower defense, that's World Conqueror. This is a deep, robust game that's likely to last a hell of a lot longer than your average browser experience, and more than fun enough to warrant the time spent. Huzzah for sacrificing patsies and robbing gas stations!

All done! Next on Browser Rousers: who knows, I have no more backlogged posts.

AirScape, Attacher, Spacemen vs Monster

weeeeeeee

AirScape

Oh noes! The Earth has been flipped upside down and inside out and all sortsa crazy nonsense by robots! Only one creature can set things right, and that's the lowly dwarf octopus. Strap on a breathing helmet and wriggle through dozens of levels full of fiendish traps, defying gravity at every corner. AirScape is quite fun, though it's not recommended for anyone who gets queasy. I didn't get too far into the second world before I had to stop, my head swirling as much as the game itself.

Attacher

You are what appears to be a sentient box. What is your purpose in life? Where are you going? What will you be when you get there? Attacher asks a lot of kiiiiinda pretentious questions to its player, though more often than not they simultaneously serve a practical purpose in solving the game's many puzzles - and they're coupled with a really neat physics engine that allows you to cling to other boxes and move around. Very unique, very odd, very... well, play it and you'll see.

Spacemen vs Monster

Your fellow spacemen have been captured by monsters! Kill the monsters! Rescue the spacemen! Sounds like something out of a kid's book, and it would be if you weren't popping off aliens with a gun. Spacemen vs Monsters plays a bit like Worms and Scorched Earth in that you need to carefully aim your shots from a (usually) stationary position to hit your targets with a limited array of weapons. A fun puzzler, if a bit cryptic - some of the weapons could use names, as you occasionally forget what they do until you use it.

Weekend! Have fun rousing your browser, or whatever!

Rymden, Shadow Tag, Just A Cell

Today's three games are so wildly different from one another that the theme is difference. Yes, that's it. Difference.

Rymden

Perhaps the strangest space shooter I've ever played, Rymden is unabashedly Swedish. Pilot your crazy ship through increasingly difficult waves of space enemies, firing off special weapons and beating down bosses as you go. The game is littered with references to Sweden throughout, and, to people from North America (hi!), is probably impenetrably bizarre. Fun bizarre, but bizarre. A bit repetitive, but, frankly, that's what the creator was going for. Mission accomplished.

Shadow Tag

The simple act of going from your house to your car should not be anywhere as creepy as this. Shadow Tag has you navigating hedge mazes in the night, pursued by weird little children who 'only want to play with you'. Your only ally is your flashlight, and even it will go out after a while. Though not out-and-out scary, Shadow Tag IS quite unnerving - you're not fast, the children are annoyingly good at following you through the maze, and they'll talk to you while they hunt. Fuuuuuucked uuuuuuup. (And fantastic.)

Just A Cell

Eat. Evolve. Survive. Rhyme. These four things are important to a successful game of Just A Cell. Starting off as a single-cell organism you eat other creatures and steadily build your way up to the top of the food chain. A fun game, but two pieces of advice: a.) Stay away from the walls, you'll get killed by bigger creatures if you sit there blindly; and b.) DO NOT PLAY THIS IF YOU SUFFER FROM EPILEPSY. Seriously. There are a lot of flashing colours when you om another creature, especially in the later levels.

Next up: an entry I've been saving for close to two weeks, now, because I keep finding other games I want to review. Until then!

Cloud Wars, Funkin' Defense, Echo Bullet

Today's Browser Rousers intake is somewhat cutesy, the third one aside - and even it can run the adorable gamut if your tastes are odd.

Cloud Wars

Ever wonder why clouds move around so much? It's simple - they're colour-coded in ways we cannot perceive from the ground, and that pisses them off. Wars happen when skin colours are different, y'know. Cloud Wars is all about controlling the most clouds, and you control them by sending smaller clouds out to take over enemy cumuli, rather like parasites. It's a simple game, perhaps not as nice as other games in the same genre, but I do like the upgrade system.

Funkin' Defense

The vile Gorliks seek to conquer your forest. YOUR FOREST. Put them down for good with a variety of towers, some items, and the power of funk. Funkin' Defense is kinda neat in that music helps determine the strength of your attacks, and you can change up that strength by changing up the music. There's less variety in that statement than it sounds, but it brings so variety to an otherwise par-for-the-course tower defense game.

Echo Bullet

No upgrades, no super-fancy graphics, no sprawling levels, just good old fashioned one-on-one bullet hell action. Your primary mission here is to avoid the countless waves of incoming enemy fire while firing back non-stop. This is an excellent game for practicing your bullet hell techniques. Players who get easily confused should probably look elsewhere.

And now, I hunger for food. I will continue to feed until Wednesday, when next we meet again. Ciao!

Wilt: Exordium, Medieval Shark, Monster Saga

Introduction? Nay. Unnecessary. Off we go!

Wilt: Exordium

Jon, your daughter is in trouble. (Or is she your daughter?) Save her in a nightmarish landscape... or don't. Who knows exactly what's happening in this little game, as it's supposedly part of a larger adventure to come later in 2012. I enjoyed the experience overall, short though it may have been - but the programmers reeeeeeeally need to work on the controls. Precision jumping is a pain in the ass in Wilt.

Medieval Shark

Shark.

SHARK.

SHAAAAAAARK

I don't feel that any of these games need an explanation. It's more of the same silly, murderous fun. This time with a jester's hat.

Monster Saga

You are a child, blasted into a strange land full of monsters and dominated by a tyrant. Free the kingdom with your own band of mighty warriors! Or something!

I dunno. Monster Saga's got rather an oddly generic story. The visuals compensate for the narrative, however, and the game play is decently fun. Train monsters and send them out to battle other monsters. It's unfortunate that you have nooooo say at all in how the battles turn out once they've started, but it's not difficult to blaze through most of them with sufficient prep. A decent game, albeit glitchy and easy.

Prediction: next week will feature more Halloween games. I can sense this happening, somehow.

Hunt of HORROR, REW 2, FrankenSplit

Today's Browser Rousers features a smattering of moe Halloweeny games. We're getting close to that magical day, ladies 'n gents.

Hunt of Horror

A Where's Waldo? of the cinematic horror scene. Pretty basic, but the mural's fun to look at and there are a TON of references. I pride myself on having seen a lot of horror movies, and I didn't catch a lot of the references. Go fig.

REW 2

Sequel to another great game that I've reviewed, REW 2 is a Memento-esque foray into the world of storytelling in that it goes through the plot backwards. Figure out what's happening while journeying through a point-and-click landscape. It's a really neat concept, as you're often left wondering how the landscape got to be the way it is. I didn't find REW 2's story to be quite as neat as REW's, but it's still a good game.

FrankenSplit

Frankenstein's monster always wanted a friend, and now he's got one - more or less a clone - in this unusual platform-puzzler. Controlling two monsters, you must guide your compatriots to exits with only mouse clicks to make them jump. No other control is needed. A challenging game, as you need to keep track of two restless wanderers at the same time. You'll really appreciate being able to guide your own characters after playing FrankenSplit.

That's all for now. Friday ho!

A Merry Thanksgiving to you all!

Assuming you live in Canada. If not, you will have to wait. Either way, day off. See y'all Wednesday.

Into Space 2, Demon Shift, Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0

As Halloween draws steadily closer and the leaves begin to change colour, we play three games that are not at all thematically appropriate. Except maybe Demon Shift. Yeah.

Into Space 2

I played the original Into Space a while ago (though apparently never reviewed it? Go figure), and this new offering isn't much different. Upgrade your battered rocket into a sleek spaceship that can make it all the way to Mars. The game's pretty much the same, though it adds in a lot more upgrades and a bunch of missions to spice up the play. I would probably plow through the whole thing if it didn't slow down so catastrophically much on my computer. Sigh.

Demon Shift

You are demon. Incompetent demon. You try fetch souls for another demon; you fail. Track down souls. Or whatever those jolly green things might be. Demon Shift is a platformer that borders on puzzle: shifting between two planes, one more dangerous than the other, you must collect the green souls from each level until your job is complete. A fun game, overall, and aesthetically pleasing.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover 2.0

I've already reviewed Super Mario Bros. Crossover, but I hadn't realized that it was updated and upgraded. This new version is the same old game, but with new classic characters and more graphical formats. An improvement to an already awesome concept. (Though playing as Bass, above, is WAY too easy.)

Woot! Another week complete. Until next time!

Lost Villa, Hop Bop, Snake Squad

Today's Browser Rousers is proof that I seldom adhere to themes. These games couldn't be more different from each other if they tried. BEHOLD!

Lost Villa

I usually prefer my exploratory puzzle games to feature original backgrounds over semi-jaggy photographs, but Lost Villa is a decent enough game that I'll overlook that this time. The puzzles are fun and inventive without being too difficult, and it doesn't take a disgustingly long time to play. The music is also catchy, though mine cut out without explanation after a while. Too bad.

Hop Bop

Hop. Jump. Shoot. Collect coins. Kill enemies. Run to the goal. This could describe a billion games already on the market, and, admittedly, Hop Bop isn't that much better than a lot of them. Nevertheless, there's a lot to enjoy in this quick, retro shooter, and I had no trouble playing through it twice. (Especially since you get a significant speed boost the second time 'round.)

Snake Squad

Remember Frantic Frigates? Yeah. Snake Squad is juuuuust like it. That may explain why I've lingered over it for the last forty-five minutes, despite totally getting the gist of the game from the get-go. You are captain of a squad of burly army dudes. Kill everything in sight. In SIGHT, you hear me?! Your guys do all the shooting for you in this bullet hell game; you just have to steer them out of harm's way. Die, then upgrade into something more potent. It's a fun formula, if repetitive.

(I can't get my train of guys above six. Sigh.)

All done! Friday!

Desutori, Wicked Rider, Oppa Gangnam Run

Have I given up on writing proper introductions and extroductions? Entirely possible! (I don't even care if extroduction isn't really a word. It showed up in the Urban Dictionary. Legit enough for me.)

Desutori

A young woman whose village has burned down. A capricious goddess, willing to grant said woman the lives of her friends... at the cost of her own. A trek through horrifying traps to gather crystals. One thousand lives. A whole lotta frustration. Yay Desutori! You need patience to get through this game. Lacking that... don't bother playing.

Wicked Rider

Wicked Rider is a testament to the crazy things good programmers can do with Flash. Just look at those visuals. Then picture 'em in motion... or play the game. Easily as good as an SNES game. The game play gets a little bland after a while, I'll admit, but it's a great play up 'til you get tired of coming in fourth. (Seriously. A bit too hard on the early tracks. You shouldn't HAVE to use nitro to win a race.)

Oppa Gangnam Run

I felt obliged to include this game because it's utter nonsense. PSY running across rooftops - nay, DANCING across rooftops - while chased by Slendy. What in the hell. Really just another Canabalt clone, but it's so silly that I advise giving it at least one play.

Second Wind, Demon Decimator, Jacksmith

Second Wind

Fans of roguelike dungeon exploratory forays will love this sucker. Second Wind is a strange, silly, strategically-difficult game of combat, levelling, and constant descent towards a horrifying destiny. Graphically simple, perhaps, but there's so much stuff jammed into this game that you're likely to play for hours and not find the bottom. Be wary of your HP at all times, as Second Wind is utterly unforgiving.

Demon Decimator

Demons. What're they good for? Nuthin'. Nuthin' at all, save one thing: utter decimation. Death wants them all DEAD, and that's what you're gonna do. Demon Decimator should instantly remind Pokemon fans of the old days in the ice caverns of the second generation, as that's essentially what this is - a puzzle game based on sliding. Move the demons into lava pits that'll fry their little butts. The graphics are a little bland, but the puzzles are spot-on fun.

Jacksmith

In an appropriate end to what seems to be a rather medieval-themed day, we have Jacksmith, a game whose like I have ne'er played. You are Jacksmith, a donkey with expert smithing skills, and you're out to save a princess from her evil wizard captor. You aren't so good with the fighting, though, so your role is to make weapons for OTHER people to use. The assembly process for each weapon is unique, and there's a lot of ground to cover and bits to collect for your weapons. Really neat concept with a cool setting. The art in Jacksmith is great.

That's all! Happy weekends to you lot!

Infectonator 2, WorldBox 2, Endless War 6

Infectonator 2

I've been waiting for an Infectonator sequel for a while, now, and I was more than pleased with the results. Your goal is still the same: eliminate the world with a horrifying zombie virus. The scope of the game has increased dramatically, however, with TONS more levels, a lot of upgrades, much-improved graphics, and a better sense of humour. There's almost no point in playing the original Infectonator anymore, as number two is better in virtually every way.

WorldBox

WorldBox isn't so much a game as it is a simple simulator. You have a world, you can build more of a world. Or take it away. Or other stuff. This is basically a very limited version of a Sim game with few consequences if you lose. It's not that great, but it appears to be a base for something a hell of a lot better, and I look forward to whatever it might create in the future.

Endless War 6

You are tank. You blow shit up. That about does it for Endless War 6, like the previous games. There is OTHER stuff to consider, of course, but it boils down to mashing your opponents. I haven't played the previous games in the series, but I like this one, if for no other reason, for the fact that you get to drive alongside a bunch of other troops. You're part of a coordinated whole, and that's pretty cool.

Tallboy, Cop Crusade, Gravity Duck 2

I'm not feeling intros today, so let's jump right into the action.

Tallboy

You're tall. You're hungry. Your mouth can move along the length of your body. You're Tallboy, and you're a complete freak of nature. Objective: eat as much food as you can while ducking under and jumping over obstacles. This is a weirdass game, lemme tell ya, and that should be reason enough to play.

Cop Crusade

Bad, bad, super-bad men are on the loose and on the highway. You gots to take 'em down in your cop car that admittedly doesn't much look like a cop car. Cop Crusade is an upgradeable birds-eye-view car chase game; go a certain distance and you'll earn money to upgrade your ride. Occasionally blow up other cars with the GIANT CANNON that's apparently hidden in your front bumper. Basic, but it reminds me a little of Spy Hunter, and that ain't never a bad thing none.

Gravity Duck 2

I lack context since I haven't played the first Gravity Duck (yet), but what I understand is this: a Moai statue-type thing has been nabbed and brought to 'the city', and its minion, Gravity Duck, is tasked with bringing it 'delicious golden eggs'.

Sure. Whatever works.

 Gravity Duck is a fun gravity-flippin' game once the plot's out of the way. You have to navigate various perils and change the duck's gravity to reach a golden egg. Do so in 40 levels and you win! It's a decent puzzle game, if a little easy, and should eat up about an hour of your time. Depends how good you are at platforming and puzzling combined.

Finito. Until Wednesday!

Rot Gut, Days of Blood, Dude and Zombies

Ever feel like drawing some blood? You probably shouldn't, not in real life, but that's what video games are for. Playing out those epic fantasies that would get us arrested. Prepare for a triple dose of brutality in today's recommendations!

Rot Gut

Woefully few browser games sport a film noir tone, and that may be because the rest were waiting for Rot Gut to show 'em how it's done. Featuring a 1920s prohibition-style story of murder and intrigue, Rot Gut is a hop-and-bop, shoot-em-up style game that brings back fond memories of the NES and SNES. The controls are great, the weapons a lot of fun, and it's just challenging enough to enjoy without tearing your hair out. Also, tiny cigarette being the only source of colour is a great idea.

Days of Blood

Evil cultists need a virgin sacrifice to power their dark magicks, and you're just the knight to make sure that doesn't happen. (Would be nice to see an inversion of this tired trope and have a FEMALE knight rescue a MALE virgin, but, oh well.) Lotsa back and forth killing, here, while you protect the poor woman from stabby cultists. A bit repetitive, and unforgiving in its timing (get it EXACTLY RIGHT each time or you dieeeeee), but still fun.

Dude and Zombies

Today's first two games were pretty damned bloody; seemed only right to make it a triumvirate and play a game about zombies. Your car has broken down in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, and you need to put it back together before the zombie hordes overwhelm you. Blast their heads off with a variety of guns while fixing your car. Good, upgradeable fun, though once you have a fully automatic machine gun of the highest calibre, it's pretty easy.

Next week: perhaps some cuddly games. Yes?

Sunshine, Knightmare Tower, Purple Planet

What's we got today? Aside from a dip into the medieval, mostly outer space fare. First up iiiiiiiis

 Sunshine

You are a photon in a universe full of black holes. Make those bastards pay by becoming SUNHIIIIIIINE

Bizarre concept, put into motion in a fantastic way. You orbit around small planetoids and collect motes of sunlight while avoiding black holes. Simple-as-hell premise, more difficult than it initially looks. My only complaint is the music, which, while well-composed and fancy, is poor quality.

Knightmare Tower

Save the princesses! They've been captured! They're in a big, incredibly-impractical tower! Fling your manly knight self to the uppermost limits of the tower, slicing shit on the way! Knightmare Tower is great, upgradeable fun, but you CAN'T PLAY IT ON AN OLDER MACHINE. Or laptops that aren't so great with graphics. Seriously, don't, it'll lag every five seconds. (Hence my crappy position in the screenshot. I'm better on my PC, I swears.)

Purple Planet

Invade an alien's house and mess with his stuff. Sounds like a good plan for an astronaut. Purple Planet's a fun point-and-click adventure that's got a surprising number of challenging, intuitive puzzles and neat visuals. I'd like to see this team do a full-scale puzzle game, reminiscent of the old Castle of Dr. Brain or Myst titles.

I know I promised an extra title today, but I've hit on a revelation: I'm gonna run out of (good) browser games to play if I keep at a four-a-day pace. I think three is a better number. Gives me more time to play each one and sort the good from the bad. Agreed? Agreed. See ya Friday!

bit Dungeon, Spaceship, Farm and Grow

Today's Browser Rousers takes place as I watch I, Robot! The entry has next to nothing to do with that fact, but I thought I'd point it out. Decent movie. Nothing fantastic.

First up: a point-and-click dungeon crawler! Weird combo.

bit Dungeon

You and your wife have been kidnapped and locked in a dungeon. She's presumably helpless (haven't beaten the game yet), you presumably aren't. Save her with a mass of swordplay clicking reminiscent of Legend of Zelda. Interesting concept, though the action can be awkward with the wrong device, and the interface is a little basic. No saving? Boo.

Spaceship

Usually in space shooters you're a human protecting the motherland against aliens. In Spaceship, you're an alien fending off humans. (I think. Story's sparse.) Fun, relatively basic side-scrolling shooter, a little slower-paced than other, similar games, with lotsa pretty backgrounds and funky ships. I love the art style.

Farm and Grow

Ever created a farm in a video game? Yes? Well, do it again anyway. Farm and Grow dispenses with cutesy graphics and conversations with town folk for pure farming strategy. Labour your days away in this simplistic-looking but surprisingly complex sim. No tutorial, so you'll have to learn as you go.

Alllllll done! Bit busy today, so I only did three. I'll toss an extra one on Wednesday. See ya then!

EsPoir, HUEBRIX, I'd Change The World For You, Kitty Punch

Right! Two in a row, off to a good start... we begin today with a little horror game that reminds me very much of a slew of Capcom titles, mainly because it nicks much of its audio from said games. Yay EsPoir!

EsPoir

Survival horror ain't nothing new to gaming, but I'm not sure that I've ever played one in a retro style before. In comes EsPoir, a side-scrolling escape game where your one goal is to flee from a horrifying abomination. Because it's a survival horror game, EsPoir's background is shrouded in darkness, and you're forced to remember the pitfalls every time you die. Short, difficult, fairly fun - though I'm not sure the Mega Man sound effects fit, y'know?

HUEBRIX

Puzzler! Easy enough concept. Stretch your coloured bricks across allllllll the white spaces. Each colour can only accomodate so many squares, though, and little special features throughout each stage will complicate your path. Starts out pretty easy, gets damned challenging by the end - I'm stumped at level 24.

I'd Change The World For You

Would you change it for me? Hope so - being stuck in that tiny container would drive me to suicide. Fairly simple platformer: move around a contained maze thing and manipulate the world's shape by pressing switches until you can free your loved one. If you get stuck, hit R to go back in time and change the way you did things. Won't take long to beat, but it's still fun. You may have to play on the designer's website rather than Newgrounds to prevent rampant lag.

Kitty Punch

Just... just play it... I'd have no idea where to begin on describing this fantastic monstrosity...

All done! See ya on Monday, folks.

We return!

Yep, after months of procrastinating and work on other projects (I swear it's ACTUALLY the latter), I'm back...

... but the format's gonna change. I've got so much stuff going on that I don't have the time for full-on reviews anymore. That's kind of a lie, admittedly, but they eat up time I need to devote to other stuff. I still love playing browser-based games, though... and will do so whether I review 'em or not...

SO HERE'S THE DEAL! Rather than force myself to do reviews I'd rather avoid, I'm gonna turn Browser Rousers into a recommendations website. I play Flash games, I tell you which ones I enjoyed the most. Three times a week - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I think - I'll post a list of four games I enjoyed, and a brief blurb on why. You play yourselves, you enjoy. Sound good?

Off we go, then, with our first entry!

Unnatural Selection

Another of those glorious Ludum Dare 48 challenge pieces, Unnatural Selection is kind of an RTS. Your little monster controller dude has to create an orb by gathering crystals, and he protects said orb with a horde of obedient monsters that swirl around him. Could use a bit more strategy, but overall a fairly good game, especially since it was made in 48 hours.

Escape from the Very Bad Planet

Why's it so bad? I have no idea! You don't stop to ask these questions! Run for your liiiiiiiiife

Fun side-scrolling shooter game. Collect money while dodging obstacles on your way to the end of a course. Get blown up, buy upgrades, become stronger. Eventually reach the end of the course and escape the Very Bad Planet. Mildly addictive, especially with those flashy retro visuals.

Nemonuri Tower

Climb tower. Avoid buzz saws. Get points. Climb faster. Die! Then start over. Yay! Not much more to say about this one; it's simplistic, but addictive. The control scheme's annoying at first, but you get used to it. I enjoy the jaunty tune in the background more than anything else in this game.

Reign of Centipede

Centipedes? Ruling the world?! I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO. A combination of platform shooting and real-time strategy, here, all dedicated to the destruction of those bastardly insects (though some of them are QUESTIONABLY centipedes at best). Lots of fun, if a bit easy... though I've only played the first level of five, so I'm sure it gets harder.

That's all for today. Back on Friday! I promise!