It's been quite a while since I wrote a blog post, however considering I am trying to turn a new leaf the timing couldn't be better 
The topic today? Freeware. Freeware games are as the name suggests "free", gamers make the crime of overlooking these games. Free games surely can't be good right? False. Today, I will show you two, I will give you an insight on how they play and provide you with a link so you decide the games are worth checking out, so read on.
The first one, is "Mono".
Mono, looks simple dosen't it? And you would be right, it is. You control your ship/guy with your mouse, holding right click to turn it round, it automatically fires. So, all you have to do is aim and move, just like Asteroids right? Kind of. Your enemy's make stains on the backround once killed, the backround begins to shake and swerve (yes similar to getting drunk). So the game goes out of it's way to be a pain in the ass, as you survive longer you gain better powerups. Your enemy's start to shoot back, when you reach 50% it comes an intense uphill struggle to survive. With techno music and extremely addictive gameplay (this will easily last you a weekend) how can you go wrong? Exactly. Oh, did I mention it's free?
http://www.download.com/Mono/3640-2099_4-10379806.html?sb=2&v=0
(requires Winrar, download it then extract it into a folder of your choice. Having difficulties? PM me.)
Next up Nelly Cootalot: Spponbeaks Ahoy!
This is an adventure game, if you primarily game on consoles. This is a genre you are not likely to be familiar with, that surely makes it worth checking out alone? Although, people familiar with the genre will enjoy this game too. It's got a nice and simple interface, hold down left click to on people or objects and you will given options on how to interact with the environment, right click brings up your inventory. It's point and click, if you want Nelly to walk forward just click on where you want her to go, yep it's really that simple, although the riddles and puzzles aren't .
Obviously it owes its influence to the old Monkey Island games, but it also definitely has its own distinct and adorable $tyle and you're always aware your playing as Nelly rather than Guybrush. She's a great protagonist, and conversation trees are well worth exploring full just for entertainment rather than to finish the game. It's a little hard to talk about without spoiling things, especially since it isn't a long game either (though it's quite nicely paced) but it's well worth checking out, definitely.Oh, and I almost forgot. It's free!
http://new.bigbluecup.com/games.php?action=detail&id=860
(download from mirror one, requires Winrar, download it then extract it into a folder of your choice. Having difficulties? PM me.)
That's it for now guys, and there's plenty more where they came from. Stay tuned.
Comments
Mono is interesting, it's clearly inspired by asteroids but it's got it's own distinctive style. My high score is 70% ( my score sounds crap dosen't it, but the game is surprisingly hard, I can only get 30% on hard
)
I'd say in most cases, the thing with freeware games is they often are not up to par when compared to their commercial counterparts - especially when it comes to technical areas like graphics, audio but also in terms of things like game length.
However, there are a few games out there which are free, and are indeed that good - it's simply a pity that these games are usually overlooked - sadly to the point developers sometimes abandon them after a while.
And for no other reason than I finally get it, "It's Howdy Doody Time!"
I think I read it on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.......
edit* Oh I HIGHLY recommend you put Echos up in one of your freeware blogs (unless you have already done so). It is pretty much a modern asteroids, but damn is it awesome. The special effects and sounds are fatastic...
Game_Addict247