Wolfenstein 1-D

I'll let the game's description sum it up:

"In 1992, Wolfenstein 3-D revolutionized video games and created the 3D first-person shooter genre. Now, after decades of development, Wolfenstein 3-D has been converted to breathtaking, epoch-making 1-D. You can now play the game in a single, dazzling one-pixel line."

The top 5 scariest games

Halloween is almost here and what better way to spend it, then with a scary video game?

Here's five that scared the crap out of me:

The Uninvited (ICOM Simulations)



Sure the graphics don't look like much, but this game was the scariest thing you could find back in 1986 - good story, clever puzzles and some genuine scares.

Alone in the Dark (Infogrames)



As far as I'm concerned, the first true horror video game was this 1992 PC game. The graphics were considered pretty awesome for the time (check out that 50 polygon rocking horse in the above image!) and true 3D gaming was still a new thing. This game was all about mood and it had it in spades. Great story, creepy sound effects and great pacing. A classic.

Resident Evil 2 (Capcom)



The game that cemented zombies into the hearts of gamers everywhere. Despite a few head-scratching-ly obtuse puzzles, the sadistic typewriter save system and wretched "tank" controls (which I argue actually adds to the player's feeling of helplessness), Resident Evil 2 is a fantastic game filled thick with mood, awesome sound and cinematic design and genuine scares (alligator any one?)

Siren (SCEA)



One of the things I love about Siren is while it is set in a very traditional Japanese location - which gave a western player like myself a feeling of unfamiliarity throughout. The game feels is steeped in helplessness - only been rivaled by the recent Heavy Rain. When you realize that not all of the 10 playable characters are going to survive the game (despite your best efforts) a feeling of fate and doom settles on you. Then there is the sightjacking. Seeing an enemy coming (or even worse looking around to realize he's STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!) is truly terrifying. If all of this wasn't enough, Japan Studio's method of using real actor faces on 3D models dips deep into the Uncanny Valley, right into creep-ville. A truly scary game.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games)



I just started playing this first person survival horror game, but it builds such great mood and creates such great scares, I had to add it here. The player doesn't even get the option to fight the monsters, all they can do is run and hide and pray that it goes away. Beautiful visuals, great sound design and unique play really makes this one not to miss.

October is the time for tormenting children

For those of you who haven't played Limbo on XBLA, you are in for a treat. Limbo is the creepiest game I've played in awhile without being overly trying to scare you.



If you already have played Limbo and you are looking for another game that brutally kills small children, then look no further than Gretel and Hansel 2!



This game not only looks beautiful - with WATERCOLOR ARTWORK (!!!) - but it also has a very macabre sense of humor. It's obviously not for kids.

You can play Gretel and Hansel 2 here!

In full Zombie Mode

A lot of game designers and players have been telling me lately they are suffering from zombie burn-out. I can understand this feeling as zombies are in A LOT of games (close to 250 by my last count!) however, there's no denying that zombies are popular and there's a reason why they are so popular (at least to us video game designers):

Zombies are the perfect video game enemy.


Why don't you ruminate, while I illuminate with these ten reasons:

1) Zombies are creepy! Well, duh, but as a former video game artist, I can tell you that zombies are fun to draw. Go ahead. Draw one. RIGHT NOW!



Hey, that turned out pretty good! Are you sure you haven't done this before?

The truth is no matter how gross they are, rotting, skeletal, bloated, grotesque, humanoids just look cool. They are horrifying and they evoke a response of fear and revolution from a player. Which is good, 'cause they're suppose to be scary and that's plenty of motivation to get a player to run or blast 'em!

2) Zombies 'plode real good! They show off effects and gibbing particle systems and make the players go "ooooh!"



3) Zombies work in a variety of genres: They work in horror, they work in sci-fi, they work in action, they work in fantasy. They work in shooters, platformers, brawlers, action games, adventure games, fighting games... even puzzle games! See that image above? It's from "Rock of the Dead" a music/zombie game. THEY WORK IN EVERY-THING.



4) Zombies can be scary... and funny! Put a funny bear head on a zombie in Dead Rising? Hil-larious. The ones in Plants vs. Zombies with the traffic cones on their heads? Comedy gold.



5) Zombies come back. A zombie is shot and falls to the floor. But if it gets back up, no player is going to yell "CHEAP!" The player expects it. (Heck, I'm a little disappointed if it doesn't) And as a game designer, any enemy that can provide "double-duty" is one worth having in a game.



6) Zombies (turtle) are in Mario games. As I always say, if they're good enough for Miyamoto, they're good enough for me.



7) Zombies travel in packs. The best basic enemy is one that can be replicated when it makes sense. This means ninjas, masked terrorists and zombies. Pirates? Not so much.

And with new technology that allows you to swap parts and decorations, you can push 100's of them on the screen with no two looking exactly alike!



8) Zombies eat players. If you were to ask anyone what the worst way to go is, I'm sure "being eaten by something else" would rate pretty high up on the list. And that's just creepy (see point #1) Fortunately, because zombies have to get up close to eat you, this allows the player some time to blast them with a shotgun or chop their heads off with a katana or simply run away. That's gameplay, folks.

9) Zombies inspire interesting gameplay - sure, shooting zombies in the head is always fun, but creating barricades to keep the zombies out, protecting helpless (hapless) NPCs, the constantly advancing waves of undead work great for shooters to brawlers to tower defense type games.



10) Anything can be zombified. OMG is that a ZOMBIE BEAR?!!! (I just want to go on the record as saying we had zombie crocodiles in Maximo back in 2001)

As a result, Zombie Mode" has become all of the rage in gaming. Every major game has one. Here are some of the better ones...



Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare - Cowboys? Zombies? Count me in. Low-tech weapons like reloadable six-shooters, bowie knives and lassos are not as effective as a chain-gun or flamethrower and therefore zombies become a much greater threat to the player.



Call of Duty: World at War Zombie Mode - two words. Nazi Zombie. Add the word "jetpack" onto that and you have the perfect video game enemy. The CoD zombies are particularly cool as they have glowing eyes. I don't know what it is about glowing eyes, but they're almost as cool as jetpack. Zombie mode is nothing new to the CoD franchise, but my personal favorite is in Black Ops where you battle zombies as President John F. Kennedy.



Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - To play this you need the zombie code. On the game's title screen, simply input down, up, right, down, up, right, down, up, right, right, right -- that's "DUR DUR DURRR", presumably the sound a zombie makes. It doesn't add too much to the game other than some enemy graphics, but c'mon Scott Pilgrim vs. Zombies!

So maybe the next time you see a zombie in your favorite game... be a little more sympathetic to the game designer and then blow those zombies away!!

Why can't I combine Warrior and Ship to get a Pirate?

Is it a game or merely a pass-time? The puzzle game DoodleGod presents an interesting dilemma.

First of all, it has nothing to do with Doodling. And you aren't really God in it - more like an Alchemist. And yet DoodleGod is fun and very addicting. Think of it as a simple (and free) Scribblenauts where logic plays a bigger part in solving the puzzle.

The goal is start with the four elements (Fire, Water, Earth and Wind) and create natural and technological advancements by combining them together two at a time. What makes this work is the great graphics and presentation.

It's not a bad way to kill a couple (or several hours)

Two great things that taste great together!

One of the first handheld games I ever owned was the Nintendo Donkey Kong Game N' Watch a friend of mine brought back for me from Japan. I loved that thing and sadly had to sell it while in college for some rent money. SIGH.

Years later, I designed the hydra boss fight for the original God of War - It's a pretty well-loved level and pretty damn hard, but had some great visuals (Par for the course with the talented GoW team)

How do these two topics go together? Behold!

The mad geniuses at Swing Swing Submarine created Greek and Wicked - a mash-up of Old Skool tech and New School cool... and it is glorious!!

By the way, have you ever wondered what inspired the "Kratos in the jaws of the Hydra" sequence? Well, wonder no more.

Who's the Boss?

Bossrush is a great fun internet game and idea that I'm surprised no one thought before now. In it, you play as the boss in a top-down shooter.

Go play Bossrush now!

Now THIS is art!

Two years ago, I reviewed Passage, the "game" from Jason Rohner.

If you never got around to playing it, never fear, you can just play the Ten-Second version instead.

Shank!

I love 2D games. I admit it, I'm an art-school educated snob who loves his games to have personal artist expressions. I like seeing "the artist's hand" in the work. I'm not a huge fan of pre-rendered gorgeousness. I'd rather have style over realism any day. In comic books, all of my favorite artists are ones with very unique styles like:


Kyle Baker


Mike Mignola


Kevin Maguire


Evan Dorkin



Ben Caldwell

What I love about Shank is that it has a very definite style and carries it all the way through the game. It's not out yet, but I'm based on what I've seen, I can't wait!

Get some closure

Kotaku has been running a really good feature on indie games. Their most recent entry on Closure has pointed me to a game that is extremely original and atmospheric.

In it, you are a character that can only see by the light he carries. But Closure gives you a good reason to be afraid of the dark - you see (or don't see - ha ha), whereever the light isn't is where you can fall to your death. Mix a stylish scratchy art style with a moody soundtrack and you have a sinisterly clever puzzle game. It reminded me of the old Mac classic Dark Castle. (and that's a good thing!)

Worth playing!

Tuper Tame

Is it Mario Bros. or is it Tetris?

It's BOTH. You have to play Tuper Tario Tros. - it's very compelling and has got my mind spinning to what other great games would taste great together...

Pac-Man and Burger Time?
Sinistar and Quake?
God of War and Legend of Zelda?

The Horseman Cometh!

Tomorrow is the release date for Darksiders - a big sprawling action adventure game from the talented team at Vigil Games that I had the pleasure to help make.



If you like killing demons with giant swords, fighting through dungeons while solving massive environmental puzzles, gigantic bosses and trampling down bad guys with a kick ass horse with fire for hooves, then you should buy Darksiders. You will not be disappointed.

I have no idea why I didn't post this before...

I'm sure everyone on the internet has already played Canabalt, but here's a link anyway.

Sadly, no Barbara Crampton... but...

I am constantly amazed at the little gems that are stashed all over the interwebs. I found one tonight called "Deanimator" based on Lovecraft story "The Strange Case of Herbert West" (aka the "hero" in the movie Reanimator)

Skinny little Herbert has nothing between him and a horde of undead but his trusty six-shooter - which seems like it always need reloading. It also features some very nice animation. Pro-Tip: Use your mouse cursor to select the zombies rather than just "aiming" and shooting at the zombies.

It's very simple, very moody and very effective.

Scribblenauts

Today is the release day of Scribblenauts - the latest game from my pals at 5th Cell. (Who also did "Drawn to Life")

Scribblenauts is a very clever puzzle game for the Nintendo DS where anything you type comes to life. Write a Tyrannosaurus? Get a Tyrannosaurus. Type Rickroll, get Rick Astley. Then the two of them fight! Who will win??!! And that's not even the game!



You can pick up a copy at the link below (hint hint) and find out when you enter "Scott" (that's right, I'm also in the game - kind of :)

Burn the Rope!

I played "You Have To Burn The Rope" when it first came out, but a pal of mine recently reminded me of it. It's an action platformer with all the elements you need - a hero, jumping, object collection (fire), a puzzle, a boss and a big explosion at the end. Oh, and it takes about 2 minutes to play. But the best part of "You Have To Burn The Rope" is the ending credits song - which lasts about 4 minutes - twice as long as the game! Funny, brilliant stuff.


"You Have To Burn The Rope" reminded me of another game that I love - "Skullmonkeys" for the PS1. Besides the awesome clay animation, Skullmonkeys had the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a game - particularly the infamous bonus level song. If you haven't played the game, I recommend it, but beware, you will be throwing your controller as it is BALLS-HARD.

But that's the way we rolled back in those days.

I see STARS!

Sent to me by my old partner in crime Mark Rogers (no relation!) is the throughly addictive Hoshi Saga.

It's kind of like Wario-Ware but far more stylized and far more clever and some times downright impossible to fathom. There are three sets of 30 puzzles and there's at least one in each set that I have no friggin idea how to solve.

Great fun though and a great exercise in variations on a theme... find the star!