Hello dear readers, and welcome to yet another episode of Link Dump Friday. It's me, Dora. Yep, that's right. Dora. And today I'd like to... wait, what's that? You don't believe me? An imposter, you say? Curses! I was sure the hair and glasses were the perfect disguise. Well, even though you're sharp enough to see through my clever ruse, perhaps you'll still take a gander at this wholesome portion of Link Dump goodness I have in my satchel right here...
Goo Bob - Goo's been a popular subject for casual games in recent years. You can build towers out of it, sling balls of it at things, and in Goo Bob, you can send it along on its merry way, rolling over a landscape filled with various structures, flora, and fauna. This physics-based side scroller has you relying on momentum and gravity to carry you to the end of each level. With its bubbly soundtrack and easy-going pace, Goo Bob just oozes with casual gaming charm.
Under the Star Night - It's Friday, and that means it's time to relax after a long, hard week. What better way to do this than with Under the Star Night. While the game's Puzzle Bobble concept should be quite familiar (shoot colored bubbles to form matches of 3 or more), its nifty graphics with particle and blur effects aplenty feels new. Couple this with a chill guitar and piano soundtrack, and you've got a refreshing game to get you into the weekend mood.
Pathos - How many games can YOU make in 48 hours? Bit Battalion accomplished this feat with Pathos, an experimental game that puts you in the mind of a young boy who simply wants to get back home. This mostly point-and-click adventure is a bit slow moving and quite short, but has a nice atmosphere, soundtrack, and storyline. While the game feels somewhat like a teaser, perhaps Pathos is a hint of more substantial things to come.
Black Thing - Many developers like to make games with traditional heroes. Some are big and burly, toting huge weapons, while others may be lean martial arts experts, resplendent in their outfits and impressive with their skills. Then there's a black glob of mucus that spits parts of itself at walls. Yep, that's you in Black Thing by Karma Team. This alternative platformer uses a concept popularized by the Unfinished Swan where you reveal hidden parts of a level by shooting black globs at it. Find different parts to your giant robot by moving and jumping your mucus across numerous levels. You can also use the included editor to experiment with your own levels. Overall, Black Thing is an interesting, stylized challenge.
Evilbots - Robots can be so misunderstood. Then again, they can just be pure evil, like they are in this retro-style platformer by Vartagh. Evilbots is a standard jump and shoot title filled with tile-based backgrounds and numerous enemies. Try to collect the coins and zap the robots on your way to collecting the secret blueprints to stop the worldwide robot invasion. One-hit kills add to the game's challenge, while secret weapon upgrades give your character more muscle to take on the robot menace.
Rapunzel 3 - No Link Dump Friday would be complete without a new Minoto Escape, so here's his latest point-and-click game, Rapunzel 3. Bizarre? Of course. About Rapunzel? Well, maybe not so much. This adventure will, however, have you encountering all sorts of strange characters from drunks and witches, to golf-playing birds and appendages growing from the ground. All par for the course in another short and enjoyable offering by Minoto.
Hope you enjoyed these Friday offerings - Dora should be back with another Link Dump Friday next week. Guess I'll have to take off my disguise before she returns...
Yay a new Minoto game! I don't care if they never make any sense, they're friggin' adorable. Thank you, Josh! Or is that the guy from the UPS whiteboard commercial? :P
Pathos was just....creepy.
*punches up the new Minoto game to wash the heeby-jeebies off*
Nothing bad about Minoto - cute and odd as ever - but this week's winner is the black inkspitting Black Thing blob!
Goo Bob is polished for a flash game, seems like a cross between Nifflas' NightSky and a little Gish.
Goo Bob seems awful. I'm not a fan of the kind of game where you can complete the first X levels by holding down the right arrow. (The most egregious example of this I've seen was a game where the first 8 levels completable in this way. Eight!) It's like a single-key game but in reverse: you have to hold the button for 95% of the game, and then let go of it from time to time. And if you fall off, you have to hold down the key for another 10 seconds while the blob laboriously works his way through the first half of the level to get back to where you fell off. Yeah... give this one a miss.
Every time I scroll down the page I laugh! Hoss, you don't quite pass as Dora, but you look frikkin' awesome with hair.. :D
Man, Pathos is creepy. I really wasn't expecting that, especially after the somewhat hokey beginning. I'm not usually a fan of games that are essentially just slightly interactive arty flashes, but just ... wow. This one really succeeded in freaking me out.
Apparently Pathos was so effective at unnerving me that I forgot to close my italics tag.
Haha, I played Rapunzel two days ago :D Beat you to it :P
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Pathos: Wake up,kid, it's a bad dream. Lay off the Doritos and Snicker right before bedtime.
First Dora disappears under mysterious circumstances, then J shows up with her hair and glasses.
Should we be contacting the RCMP?
walkthru?
Just played Rapunzel 3. I have to say I was surprised when
those arms and legs popped up out of the ground.
Minoto never fails to make me laugh.
Evilbots - high difficulty platformer with no save option? Why do you hate me?
It's fun - but I hate feeling like I have to keep it running until I finish, and I have no idea how long that might be.
About Under the star night.. is there any purpose in hitting the glowing orbs as they are falling?
Goo Bob was fun (except for the sore fingers) once it got past the levels where you just held down the arrow key and/or D key.
Until level 14, with the rotating squares. Then it just got frustrating.
I don't mean sore fingers metaphorically. My fingers really are sore from holding down the keys. Even trading between 6 of my fingers (all but thumbs and babies), there was too much key holding. I know I don't have to press so hard - I keep telling that to my fingers but they just won't listen.
Instead of requiring the key to be held down, how about having it continue in the current direction until say the down key is tapped.
Under the Star Night is a great version of the bubble shooter. The only thing I would change is to make it easier to see where the right edge is. I found it hard to ricochet off that edge.
Man, for a Minoto game, Rapunzel 3 almost made sense.
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