Okay, so lately I've been playing freeware games on the 'net, and one thing I realized is that a lot of 'em are just as good as most console games, if not better. Because of that, I decided to mention my favorite ones right here:


1. Cave Story
A freeware game that plays like Metroid or Castlevania, but with a much better story (at least in my opinion). Really long, really addicting. If you wanna know how it plays, go to my Youtube channel - I have a few videos of me playing some of the hidden leves.

Download the game here: http://www.miraigamer.net/cavestory/downloads_1.php (don't forget to download the translation patch unless you already know Japanese)


2. Chzo Mythos (series)
A point-and-click adventure/horror series made by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw (the guy from Zero Punctuation). Don't let the retro graphics fool you - this game does a good job of scaring people. The story's good, too.

The games in the series are (in this exact order):
-- 5 Days a Stranger - http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/5days/
-- 7 Days a Skeptic - http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/7days/
-- Trilby's Notes - http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/notes/
-- 6 Days a Sacrifice - http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/6days/

3. Iji
A 2D action game with RPG elements, it tells the story of a girl who wakes up to find herself in the middle of an alien invasion. Challenging game with multiple endings depending on whether you kill everyone or actually take a pacifist route and go without shooting anyone - and for once, that last option's a valid strategy (make it to the end boss with zero kills and you get a stronger weapon to fight him with).

Download it here: http://www.remar.se/daniel/iji.php


4. the white chamber
Another point-and-click horror game that plays like an adventure game, but feels like Silent Hill. It tells the story of a woman who wakes up with amnesia on an abandoned space station. Genuinely terrifying (at least on the first playthrough), but the true genius comes from the twist ending. I'm not spoiling anything, but...oh my god.

Play it. Play it now. http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber


Know any other good free games on the 'net? Comment away.

Games thet didn't make the list 'cause I was too lazy to write about 'em at the moment:
--Eversion
--I Wanna Be The Guy

Hey, everyone - miss me?

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...Yeah, didn't think so. Anyway, I'd like to talk today about a type of game that I'm REALLY addicted to: bullet hell shoot-em-ups.

I love these games, though I don't know why. I'm not that good at playing them, yet for some reason they always draw me in. Is it the colorful graphics? The nostalgic feel? The fact that the whole screen is filled with an endless barrage of bullets that require inhuman abilities to just survive for a few seconds before pressing the bomb button (or as I like to call it, the "oh, crap" button)? One thing's for sure, though - they're REALLY F***ING HARD!!!

...So since I like that genre so much, I decided to review three games here at the same time - partially 'cause I'm too lazy to write full reviews on them individually...but also 'cause GameSpot doesn't seem to know of the existence of "Embodiment of Scarlet Devil", so I can't really write a full review of it in its own page.

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First off, Ikaruga:

Definitely one of my favorite XBLA games, Ikaruga is definitely a hardcore gamer's dream come true...well, either that, or a game made for masochists, but that's beside the point. The game's presentation is top-notch, mixing some tried-and-true shooting mechanics with a nice narrative (for those quick enough to reat the whole of the tiny text under the chapter name before it leaves), as well as removing the panic button and replacing it with a color-switching mechanic. How it works is that depending on the color you currently have your ship on (black or white), it absorbs enemy attacks of that same color and adds it to a power meter. Once the meter is full enough, the player can use it to unleash a barrage of homing attacks on the enemies. Also, hitting enemies with a bullet of the opposite color deals double damage, which actually brings a nice choice of gameplay: Do you take it safe and stay the same color as the enemy, or do you change to an opposite color and risk getting shot in order to deal more damage and end things quickly?

Another aspect that I like of this game is the music: From the epic-yet-somehow-depressing song at the first stage, to the heavy trumpets of most boss battles, the music really sets the mood, and - if you're as addicted to music as I am - you'll find yourself getting distracted by it while you're playing the game - it's that good. The graphics are nice also, but what console game doesn't have nice grap... oh, yeah (more on that later). The only complaint I have is that sometimes the controls for the ship can be a bit slippery (sometimes it keeps moving even when I let go of the control stick), but that only happens ever so often, so it's just a minor inconvenience.

Overall score: 9.0

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Up next, a title that deserves at least a bit of attention: Triggerheart Exelica:

Evidently targeted at anime fans (there's a lot of anime-****eye candy here, folks), Triggerheart Exelica is a fairly basic maniac shooter, which - despite a really cool grab mechanic and scoring system - doesn't really match my expectations. Whenever I look for a bullet hell game, I expect to find long levels, punishing difficulty and some really pretty (yet really hard to dodge) bullet patterns, and this game has none of these traits. First off, the levels end too quickly - just as things start to pick up in a level, there arrives the stage boss, obviously way too early to the party for me to expect something cool. After all, one thing most levels on these types of games do is build up anticipation for the boss that's about to come by pitting you on a long and arduous fight against many enemies with seemingly-impossible attacks that leave you exhausted by the time you reach the boss, only to have you scream "What the f--" as it blows that last life of yours to kingdom come in an overkill of epic proportions. Instead, what we have here is a lot of enemies firing boring and predictable bullet patterns at you (a triangle of bullets? really?), and by the time you reach the first boss you'll have barely been a minute in the game - that is too quick for it to feel epic (though the lame boss designs are also partially to blame). Oh, and let's not forget the digfficulty, which - while challenging - it's still too easy for a game of this type (I actually beat it on my first playthrough). The player choices at the beginning of the game are also extremely unbalanced (as in, spread shot is basically unplayable). Oh, and the graphics (despite the game being on XBLA) suck.

But enough of the bad stuff - there are still a lot of good things here that are worth a look. First and foremost, the aforementioned grab mechanic. How it works is that you can grab onto an enemy with the press of a button, which not only slows down the player (something that helps a lot in dodging attacks), but also focuses all attacks on a single enemy, allowing the player to focus on a single opponent. The twist? If you grab a flying opponent, it'll circle around the player and act as a shield, which you can also throw at your opponents for additional damage. Another good thing is the scoring system (that which differentiates each and every game in this genre), which is actually really well made: Every time you blow up an enemy, they drop some yellow orbs that grow in size (and grow on points) the longer they're on screen. If the player accumulates a lot of these by the time he/she reaches the boss, he/she will get to fight an aditional boss form besides the usual ones (but only if the player doesn't die while fighting it). Lst but not least, the music, which is pretty decent, and actually feels like the stuff you would hear on an old-school shooter game at an arcade - it has a pretty nostalgic feel to it, really. All of these things would've made a good game great - instead, they just make a mediocre game average. Only recommended to fans of the genre.

Overall: 7.0

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Last (but definitely not least), we have The Embodiment Of Scarlet Devil:

Now THIS is my favorite of the bunch. Embodiment of Scarlet Devil is the sixth Touhou Project game, and the first one that was made for Windows. The difficulty is extremely high (just look at this video), but that's what people have come to expect of these games, so it's actually a good thing. The scoring mechanic's pretty balanced, also: You get more points by grabbing stuff near the top of the screen, as well as a bonus for flying near bullets, grabbing a lot of items, and defeating a boss's bullet patterns without dying or using the ol' genocide button. What really makes it stand out, however, is the bullet patterns - people who watch it will be hypnotized by the shapes these bulets will take, while the players will inevitably shout "You have GOT to be kidding me" (trust me, that rainbow folwer pattern on level 3? pretty, but oh-so-hard to dodge).

The music in this game really sets the tone - from the chinese theme of the third level, to the dark, hopeless tune of the fourth boss, to the rock theme in the fifth level, the music really stands out as one of the best things about the game. In fact, the only thing that's actually sub-par in this game is the graphics, but this can be easily forgiven when you consider that the whole game was entirely made by a single person (music, graphics, code, everything). If you can find the version with the English patch over the internet, then do yourself a favor and get it. Highly recommended.

Overall score: 10

...Well, that's all from me for now. Take care, everyone, and if you find a really good bullet hell game (that is NOT from the Touhou series - I already have those on my list), please let me know.