On the first week of Christmas, my readers I give to thee... one nightmare of a camping trip, two doomed-from-the-start robots, a whole bunch of kingdoms that need sieging, and a bunch of green dudes in a snack bar!... well? When do you think Mariah Carey is going to get back to me about that duet, eh?
Holy Crap, Bears!! - Megadev's latest is a surprisingly unsettling avoidance game in which you direct a scout leader through a series of pitch black environments to rescue his scouts and his mascots... without getting devoured by some scary freaking bears. Despite a lot of personality, the randomization tends to make the game easier than not, and being unable to replay certain levels (or save progress!) is frustrating. Still, it's a remarkably freaky little game with tense atmosphere and a lot of character worth checking out, even at the expense of never being willing to hang your naked butt over a log in the middle of the night while camping again.
TwinBots - Though it suffers from a moderate case of "fiddlius jumpingus andus stackingus" (I'm a doctor, it's cool), Marcos Díez's challenging puzzle platformer about tiny robot creatures trapped in a series of progressively sadistic lab challenges is still fun for the patient. The goal is to get all a bot to every door on a level, and with deadly spikes and pixel perfect jumping around, that's easier said than done. Oh well. It's not all bad. I hear after the testing, there will be cake.
Royal Offense - DN and Badim serve up this simplified defense real-time strategy game with some graphical help from HeroCraft. The goal is to spawn enough heroic units in each level to combat and eventually decimate the enemy spawn points, occupying structures along the way. It's not particularly difficult, and a shortened upgrade tree makes it even easier, but it's still a fun and great looking foray into casual invasion and destruction.
Find the Escape-Men 70: in the Snack Bar - This latest escape game from no1game has a little bit of the melancholy to it, as our hero (or heroine!) has just broken up with their girlfriend and gone to a bar to drown their sorrows, only to find themselves locked in until they can solve all the puzzles and track down all the little green men. No, no Absinthe is involved. It's cute as the dickens, if mainly only challenging because of the pixel-hunting nature of the beast, and should hopefully stand as a reminder that rather than drowning your sorrows, TP'ing someone's house is a much safer and more cathartic (if not more mature) answer to heartbreak.
Really enjoyed the Find The Escape Men, though the amount of pixel hunting was frustrating at times. The puzzles themselves are not too difficult though!
Just as an FYI, I had to disable my ad-blocker on the page for the game to load, in case anyone else has problems.
Ad blockers tend to cause problems with browser games, in addition to taking revenue away from the sites (like us) that use it to support themselves freely, so it's usually a good idea to disable it before attempting to play.
I have all the escape men except the last. I know it has something to do with the
scene out the window and the plug but I can't figure out what to do there.
Anyone? Bueller?
I'm also missing one, although I think I found the one Spike was missing.
I've found:
*The one under the plate
*The one in the icebox
*The one in the whiskey
*The one hiding in the banknote
*The one won from playing darts
*The two from the karaoke machine
*The one behind the couch
*The one found on the snack machine after plugging it in (I assume this is the one Spike hadn't found)
I've collected every item and have used them (they're all grayed out now), and I've frantically clicked everywhere to try to find what tiny little thing I've missed. I've got no idea what's left to try.
Oh, I finally found the last one. Since I've already mostly written a walkthrough, I may as well do a more complete one.
The Mysterious Porcelain Plates
You begin facing the 'snack' bar. Check out the plates. Under the center-left plate is an Escape-Man (1/10), and another one can be found on the bottom of the center-right plate (click the plate twice to move and then flip it over). (2/10)
The Many Wondrous Spirits of the Snack Bar
Above and behind the bar are a load of various drinks in oddly shaped bottles. On the lower center shelf you can find a mixing glass with an ice pick, and a locked box. The box has a number combination, with each digit linked to a specific shape. Conveniently, you might recognize these shapes as the shapes of the bottles and glasses on the shelves! For each shape count the number of bottles with that shape and input that number. The correct answer is
25465.
Open up the box and collect the darts.
The Deviously Concealed Fridge
The fridge is hidden just behind the bar. Click on the space between the center of the bar and the shelves (too far to the sides and you'll miss it) and you'll find the fridge. Resting on top is an input device of some type, take it with you. Inside the fridge is an ice box, and inside that is a frozen little Escape-Man! Hurry and free him with your ice pick. (3/10)
The Dangerous Combination of Whiskey and Darts
Turn left at the bar to see the next part of the room. Here there's a bottle of whiskey on the bar, go ahead and take it, you can pay for it later. There's also a dart machine and a money exchanger. Investigate the exchanger first. You did remember to bring a wallet, so investigate it to find a single $10 bill (presumably 1000 yen if you put it on Japanese). However, trying to insert the bill into the exchanger does nothing! It turns out this machine is old and finicky and requires you to smooth out any creases on the bill, as well as make sure any Escape-Men that may have been hiding in your cash are properly secured (4/10). Insert the bill and get ten coins!
Now it's time to spend your money. Let's start with the dart board. You can throw your darts at the board, but the board won't keep score unless you pay up. Click to the right of the board to see the board from the side, where you can insert $3 to play. Go back to the board view and throw your darts, and get a win! As a reward, an Escape-Man has appeared at the top of the board, on the darts logo. (5/10).
While we're thinking about it, let's investigate the whiskey. If you click the label, you discover it comes off easily, but the bottle is still covered in a bunch of unappealing gunk. Scrape it off with one of your coins to discover an Escape-Man! (6/10)
The Inscrutable Karaoke Machine
Turn left from the darts and exchanger to come face to face with a karaoke machine! It demands $3 for it to let you croon to it, so go ahead and give it a few coins. The screen will turn on and request that you enter the song number. You have the input device, but you don't have the number yet. Time to move on for now.
The Enticing Flier and the Honestly Quite Tacky Couch
Turn left from the karaoke machine to come to a table and door, and the world's ugliest couch. Investigate the flier on the table, and discover that it's advertising a new song! Why not input that number (789501) into your input device now? The karaoke machine will spring to life and play an awesome song... that stops right when it gets started! Oh well, peel the Escape-Man off the screen (7/10) and return to the table and couch.
While you don't particularly want to sit on the couch, maybe there's something behind it? Click to its side and sure enough you can see an Escape-Man hiding behind the unfortunate upholstery. (8/10)
Freedom
Unfortunately the door to the outside is locked. (Apparently this establishment lets people wander in when the place is closed, but they can never leave!) Thankfully, the manager forgot to lock the window! Open it up by clicking on the right panel, and escape to freedom!
...Except you can't leave yet! You have yet to properly drown your sorrows, and you haven't even paid for that whiskey, you thief. Outside there's an unlit sign for the snack bar. Maybe you could plug it in to make it feel like the place is really open and you're not breaking and entering! Click at the very top of the cable between the sign and the wall to be taken to the power outlet. Plug in the power cable, and return to the sign. It's all lit up and an Escape-Man has revealed himself below the sign text! (9/10)
One Last Song
You're nine-tenths of the way done with whatever it is you're doing, and you still have a bit of unspent money. The dart board won't give you another game, so why not sing another song? Return to the karaoke machine and feed it another three dollars, and the number for a new song will appear on screen! Use your input device to input 75239 and load a new song, which lasts a bit longer than the last one. And just as last time, the song will pause and an Escape-Man will appear on screen! Pick it up... (10/10) and enjoy your ending!
Bug on Twinbots lvl 29:
The guy on the bottom half ( the one going down the barriers) can jump into the left wall, and you can't get him out.
Warning: pet peeve ahead.
IT IS NOT THE FIRST WEEK OF CHRISTMAS. We haven't even hit the first day of Christmas yet, never mind the first week. The first week of Christmas will end on New Year's Day.
The week this was posted was the first week of advent. Advent is not Christmas.
Also, if you take down your Christmas lights on the 26th of December, you're Doing It Wrong.
I had no idea the Christmas police read my articles! I'm so flattered!
Hey, I did warn you up front. :)
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