Sunday Gaming Club: The Original A Team
|
Today’s links are brought to you straight from Iraq in a tank being dropped from ten thousand feet. By Iraq, I meant Moon Iraq, where the Moon Iraqis live. Yes, that is a real thing, and no, I wasn’t up too late last night drinking rubbing alcohol. Moon Iraqis. And video games. From the Moon. The cast of Star Trek are almost wholly unrelated. What is not unrelated: games. Two of them, in fact. They are the original A Team: getting gaming things done where others don’t dare to go. In this case, on the internet, for free, without any sort of previous commitment. They’re young, they’re hot, and they’ll do anything for you. I’ve kind of lost the plot here, but games! We will provide them underneath a sort of jump! Pixel Legions has meant to be mentioned for a couple weeks, at least, but it keeps getting overwhelmed by slightly more high profile free games. But no longer! No longer! Today, Pixel Legions will get the mention it so richly deserves. What this game boils down to is a simplified RTS, the player commanding groups of pixels across a map to attack enemy positions. Strategy is added in the form of flanking, which allows your pixels to do more damage, and mobile bases, which enable you to position your spawn point wherever you hope. This adds a degree of fast paced strategy to the game, and makes the game feel very fluid. It’s rare I have so much fun with a game in a genre I suck at (RTS and I do not get along), but this game held my attention. It doesn’t hurt that it’s fantastically pretty in motion, either. Give it a go. Heir, Flash Heir is Shadow of the Colossus in 2-D. That’s…really it. The game is summed up perfectly in a leap of faith about five or ten minutes into the game, where you jump across a big man’s face. And realize you’ve been climbing his face. It’s that scene that made the game stick in my mind, and made me realize there was something cool going on here. I haven’t beaten it yet; I can’t tell you whether it has the same level of spectacular ending that pulled Shadow of the Colossus together. But it’s got some fun platforming elements, and that’s pretty reasonable. You should give it a go, especially because it won’t cost you a dime. And it’ll give you lasting….minutes of entertainment. See you next week. |
