Pixelhate

In my experience, people don't really hate pixels. If anything, pixel LOVE is more the order of the day, as retro gaming has been slowly but surely coming back in big ways. (Hell, most browser games kinda RELY on pixels, and generally do so to critical acclaim.)

But not here. Here, in Pixelhate, you abhor pixels. You must, for destroying them is your all-consuming purpose.

Concept

Pixelhate is a scrolling shooter title. You, the little yellow fighter pictured above, are placed on a vertically-scrolling screen filled with baddies, like so:

And, just like any game of this kind, you need to weave around and destroy as many enemies as you can before succumbing to their attacks. A classic arcade shooter - and at its core, that's all Pixelhate is: a shooter. Nothing REALLY innovative about it.

The catch? Well, this game has a weird sense of humour. As mentioned it hates pixels, and consequently your attacks chip away pixels one at a time. As a result you may wind up fighting enemies who look like this before they actually blow up:

Yes, that ragged mass of yellow in the north IS an enemy. (And, yes, those are the Pac-Man ghosts. The ragged mass is Pac-Man... just... not lookin' so good.) The fact that the enemies get ripped apart bit by bit is both neat and frustrating, because it can prevent them from shooting back... but it may also mean that one or two little pixels will be left floating around, barely noticeable, that will kill your ship on contact.

Beyond all this, you also get weapon upgrades (purely to your guns) and shields that will protect you from taking accidental dings. That's the sum of Pixelhate.

Controls

Very easy: move your mouse around. The ship will follow. The only big problem comes from steering too far, for if your mouse leaves the Flash window, your ship will fly wildly out of control - and probably smash into something.

My major gripe, and I don't even know if I SHOULD gripe about this, stems from firing. It's not difficult to do, mind - just hold down the mouse button - but every time you do, you start to overheat your weapons. Do so sufficiently and your rate of fire will drop to almost nothing until your guns run dry. This is doubtless a conscious choice to keep the game from being too easy, but I got killed too many times from sheer bad luck because my weapons decided to crap out at a bad moment. (Though you could argue that I should have paced myself, as well.)

Graphics

Pixelhate is one step up from Atari but one or two steps down from SNES or Sega Genesis. It's pretty, but in an extremely simplified way - which makes sense since it's all about pixels. I personally like the overall aesthetic, though the repetitive, uniform backgrounds are boring after a while.

What I really appreciated in Pixelhate was the incorporation of retro icons, such as the Pac-Man above or the Atari symbol below:

Both of which, I might add, are bosses. It's nice to see references that aren't hidden in frantic action, particularly since most players wouldn't stand a chance in hell of catching smaller easter eggs if they were hidden in the game.

Sound

The music in Pixelhate is space shooter fare, which is to say, weird alien sound effects. Not especially impressive. That said, the music is accompanied by a male and female voice, both computerized, who comment on the on-screen action and bring a great deal of charm to the game...


... that is, until you reach the later levels. Hearing the female voice tell you every time you collect a shield upgrade that shields are for weaklings - and you get the upgrades CONSTANTLY, so she's always jabbering - is really irritating. Mute, mute, mute.

Challenge Rating

Pixelhate is not that difficult. If you didn't have shields it would be near-impossible, but since they fly out of enemies all the time you'll have no trouble zipping through massive crowds of enemies. Consequently, reaching the final stage - 7 - can be accomplished after just a few practice runs.

What makes this game so weird is that, at least on the Newgrounds version that I played (which I assume is THE version of the game), it craps out halfway through stage 7. The game will freeze, and there's no way to fix it. And though I thought at first that it might just be my computer, glances at the comments lead me to believe that it's intentional. I suspect this is a reference to the infamous 'kill screens' of the old Atari-era gaming systems, though it's hard to say without input from the programmer.

Conclusion?

Pixelhate is pretty dang fun. Anyone who ever owned an Atari - I can raise my hand there - will appreciate its adherence to old-style gaming; and everyone else, well... they'll get a fairly solid shooter with a bizarre sense of humour. Just, ah, be careful swinging that mouse around.

PLAY PIXELHATE

Chibi Knight

Never has the saviour of a land been quite so stubby as with the protagonist of Chibi Knight. And while it's true that I have no proof to scientifically back this up, you gotta admit, this little powerhouse is very... tiny.

See? I know of what I speak.

Concept

The land of Oukoku is in deep trouble. Three legendary beasts have emerged unto the world to wreak havoc, and nobody can stop them... until the little Chibi Knight comes along. What follows is a long journey to destroy the three beasties and restore order to the land.

Or maybe not so long. This is a browser game, after all. Either way, Chibi Knight is, at least to me, most closely compared to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in that it's an action RPG where you spend a bit of time on a map, but most of the game in side scrolling screens, killing monsters with swords and building up your abilities via experience. A fun formula, but does it work in practice?

Well, to be brutally honest...



Yes. Yes it does. (I'm so clever.)

Controls

Chibi Knight may be an RPG, but it's a fairly simple RPG in terms of control. Up is jump, side to side... takes you side to side... and A swings your sword, while S lets you choose from a small selection of spells. Very easy to get used to, and the controlling is so smooth overall that the chances of suffering cheap deaths on Chibi Knight is almost nil (and it helps that you can take several hits before keeling over).


Graphics


Though it already looks fine in still frames, Chibi Knight is only truly revealed in motion. It's a smooth, picturesque ride, with lots of neat-looking baddies who are totally convincing when you see them in action. They bounce, they whirl, they slash, they... live. You'd swear you were watching a cartoon.

If I had ONE THING to complain about in Chibi Knight, it's a slight lack of selection. The enemies get repetitious. This is a browser game, granted, and each enemy (especially the bosses) probably required a lot of work, but some more tweaks to the sprites beyond simple colour changes would be appreciated.

Sound

The music on Chibi Knight is quite well done, with an appreciable epic fantasy feel that never really betrays its cutesy roots. There's a lot of symphonic stuff that fits right in with the setting, and it's not as repetitious as you might think.

What really stood out for me sound-wise, however, was Chibi Knight's voice. I don't know who they got to breathe life into the little guy, but they're perfect. PERFECT. It sounds exactly like I would have imagined a chibi character sounding, which is to say, they sound like they're five years old and possibly about to get their cheeks pinched by a bear of an aunt. Kudos to the voice actor for a job well done. (And if you DID just get a five year old, well, good idea.)

Challenge Rating

Chibi Knight is not a difficult game. It's not EASY, but it's not hard, either. The level grinding nature of the early parts of the game can easily be abused, to the point that the first few bosses are absolute pushovers. (And since I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing at first, that's exactly what I did. Musta killed the first boss in about ten seconds. Whoops.) If you're looking for extreme challenge, you're looking in the wrong place.

Does that make Chibi Knight a bad game? Not at all. It'll still take half an hour to an hour to fully complete, and even then it's fun to go back and challenge it again with a different take on your level progression. The enemy attack patterns could use some variation, perhaps, but I won't complain too much - this is a casual game, and should be treated as such.

Conclusion?

Chibi Knight is a browser game I have no doubt I'll revisit in the future. It's not even remotely groundbreaking, but everything it does - aside from a teensy bit of repetitious gameplay at the beginning - it does really well. Thumbs up.

PLAY CHIBI KNIGHT

Fall Damage

I have a fondness for falling games. It's probably their simplicity that draws me in: all you have to do is run back and forth and, in the process, survive. Nothing fancy, just avoid the top of the screen. The bottom is your friend.

Consequently, I liked Fall Damage. It wasn't revolutionary, it won't change the orbit of the Earth, but it was good, clean fun - and fairly cute, to boot.

Concept

You are an egg.

You probably don't LIKE being an egg.

Time to leave the nest!

Egg of what, though? That's what you're trying to find out in Fall Damage. You're just about to be born, you're confused, you need to wander off and look for your parents. Understandable. For some reason, however, you've been laid at the top of a rather massive, intricate set of cliffs, platforms and, er, spikes, and you need to wander your way down to the bottom. (Not that there seems to BE a bottom, but still.)

All that said, there's one thing that sets Fall Damage apart from other, similar games: you take FALL DAMAGE! Surprise surprise. If your egg plummets too far you'll take a knock to your hit points, the amount based on how far you fell. Do this too often and you'll smash, and the game will end. This is inevitable - to see the ending you HAVE to smash the egg - but the point is to last as long as possible, made more difficult because the scrolling gets faster and the area more varied and tricky.

Controls

Another simple game, here, which is ideal when you need to think quick. Run left and right with the arrow keys, push up against walls to skid as you're falling to prevent falling too fast. hit space to activate parachutes you'll occasionally find to negate any fall damage. Very easy to learn - though you'll quickly discover that you have to think about where you're falling, as there are things both good and bad along the way that you'll want to reach and, er, not reach.

And in case you were wondering? No jumping. This one little fact radically changes Fall Damage, and I think it's a change for the better, as Fall Damage is less instinctual than other falling games.

Graphics

Fall Damage is a pretty little game. Nice backdrop, cartoony platforms, cute graphics overall. Nothing to fawn over, but perfect for a game of this type. The egg is especially expressive as you're running around, which is appreciable for wanting to see it survive.

Sound

The music on Fall Damage is whimsical and kinda cheerful. Not bad - I like the harps - and pretty much what you'd expect. What I REALLY liked in this game was the sound effects: every time you fall just a bit too far, your egg lets out a tiny peep. It's a painful sound, one you don't wanna hear, and it raises the tension on an otherwise cutesy title.

Challenge Rating

You don't really 'win' Fall Damage, like other falling games - you just go until you can't go no more. Despite that fact, however, it's pretty easy compared to other falling games, perhaps because the screen never reaches the same high velocity. This makes Fall Damage a good title for cutting your teeth on the genre in preparation for other, more difficult vertical forays.

And while you can't WIN, per se, there is an ending...

... but you'll have to figure out what's inside the egg for yourself.

Conclusion?

Fun! Fall Damage is fun. It's got a neat little story... very little, but still... and the game play is innovative enough compared to other falling games that you won't get bored. And, true, it's not hard, but it's worth playing to see what's inside the egg anyway. (Don't be heartless, you know you wanna help the poor egg.)

PLAY FALL DAMAGE