Piling on the clichés can be fun, and the heaviest-hitting release this weekend, GunGirl 2, does just that. So remember: big releases come in small packages. Also, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. And there's no time like the present.
GunGirl 2 (Windows, 118MB, free) - GunGirl was asleep in her giant bed dreaming about puppies when a zombie apocalypse wiped out every human on the planet. When she woke up, she grabbed her pistol and readied herself to take on the hordes. GunGirl 2 plays like Cave Story or Metroid with lots and lots of blood. You work your way through a non-linear world, shooting zombies left and right and gathering tons of items and equipment to play around with. The gameplay is extremely satisfying, and the music by Josh Whelchel is superb. A top-notch freeware exploration shooter zombie game!
Lackadaisium (Windows, 7.7MB, free) - A short, surreal puzzle project with imagery based partly on the creator's dreams and personal experiences. Use the [arrow] keys to fly around the screen, and you'll spend most of your time banging your head against objects. Seriously, that's how you interact with this freaky world, with your skull. It's an interesting and fairly short experience, but a great exercise in oneiric gaming.
Baggage (Windows, 3.4MB, free) - You know that feeling when you're running late for your flight and can't find your luggage? Baggage makes that a little more real. The slanted, static landscape filled with spikes feels just like a more-true representation of an airport, and the constant sense of urgency never leaves you. The platformer is short and you'll die dozens of times. But you gotta find your bags and make your flight, so, you know, perservere!
Beeps and Blips (Windows, 1.8MB, free) - A game from the Action 52 remake project, Bleeps and Blips puts you in control of a flying purple ship trapped inside a bigger ship filled with enemies. Hover around blasting missiles with your own gun, upgrading it with orbs you'll find along the way. It's a classic shmup in many ways, including the high difficulty level, but if you can summon the vim you can charge through the game in a relatively short time.
Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows Vista and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!
I love the ending of Lackadaisium.
I guess it isn't surprising after banging one's head into a wall the whole game.
As for Baggage, it really encompasses the look and feel of an airport security line.
Gungirl 2 is stupid. It promotes passive play too much. What fun is an action game where you can't trade blows? If there is a weapon in this game that makes it enjoyable, like the weapons in Cave Story, then I haven't crossed it yet.
"Trade blows"? It's a shooter/platformer.
GunGirl2 needs its own page, with a full review. This is one of the best indie titles I've seen in years.
I agree, GunFirl2 was awesome riiight up until I wanted to load my saved game from earlier only to find the 'Load Game' selection greyed out on the menu screen.
I hope I can fix this...
Sorry about the double post but apparently the developer is aware and there's a work around.
From the forum:
"This is another random glitch that happens sometimes. It's hard for me to figure out what may cause this. But if that happens to you, simply leave the main menu by pressing the [ALT FIRE] or [MEDIKIT] button. After the menu has closed and you see the title image, open the menu again and the load button should appear correctly."
Having trouble with one of the fetch quests in Gun Girl.
I can't find the
Antimatter Cube. I know it's in the Desert-station Hell, but there are three directions from there. Right, left, and through the door. I don't even know what the chest is supposed to look like.
Frustrating...
The power of the Post. Of COURSE I find it immediately.
It's the screen to the right.
how do you beat the second level thing of Lackadaisium? The one with the flowers and the rain? All I know is
that hitting the far right wall bashes my head in, and the top of the first screen has a platform thing that i can't bash my head against.
I will rescind the force of my previous statement. Gungirl 2 improves into the middle of the game, but I still think that the fighting is foolish.
Baggage was cool. A good mix of hard and fun.
I lol'd at the ending. The guy was supposed to be a terrorist, right?
It took me a bit to figure out where the controls are, they can be found and changed in the GGsetup file.
Default are:
Arrow keys to move left and right, up to interact with objects (doors, switches, save points, talking, etc)
A to fire, S to jump, D for secondary fire once you unlock it for a given weapon.
R reloads, Q and E cycle to your next weapon left and right respectively, 1 through 6 select that weapon, and W uses a med-kit.
A few tips: Save money for the good stuff, namely the power orbs and a flux capacitor when you need it later in the game. Money is very rare and seems wasted on ammo and health which is often laying all over the place.
Auto block is a powerful upgrade but it drains a shield point whenever it happens which can leave you with no shield in a critical moment because you auto blocked a bunch of 1 damage zombies 10 seconds ago.
I started on hard mode, so I'm not sure how normal mode is, but every time you see a gravestone of some kind, it means zombie will be flowing out of it very soon. They will eventually stop, but it is often better to simply run through these areas before the hordes start spawning. Sometimes you will have to backtrack through these areas, however, so be careful.
Get the shield early, I walked past it 5 or 6 times before I stumbled across it, it can be found early in the game in
the city to the left of the first bunker area you come to (with a savepoint, shop, and dudes you can't reach yet), there is an underground passage which has a shield icon and an arrow pointing down it.
Do not upgrade one weapon exclusively, they are all very handy in certain situations. It is up to you to get a feel for which gun is best for your present predicament. It is difficult to gauge how much of a difference the upgrades like "this is my boomstick" make since there are no damage numbers when shooting enemies, not do they have a health bar.
Don't waste G power, if your current gun is maxed, switch to a different gun before you pick them up. Later in the game any gun which is not at level 3 is pretty worthless, so try to keep them maintained.
Finally, shoot them zombies, shoot em till they's dead.
Pressing the download button of Lackadaisium redirects me to the exact same page. What am I doing wrong?
Chaotick: The download should start automatically. If it doesn't, here's a direct link to the .zip file:
http://ultimatewalrus.com/games/lackadaisium/lackadaisium.zip
I got a malware warning when I tried to run the gungirl config file. something like srtdrt.exe was the culprit? anyone else see this?
regarding Lackadaisium:
I'm a complete sucker for these kinds of simplistic graphics. atmosphere was nice.
The sudden changes in scenery don't seem bizarre at all.
Here's my take on this thing:
The person is a secret experiment in a laboratory, given the ability to fly, but it severely damages their mental state, causing them to have hallucinations, and causing them to be suicidal by continuously banging their head against things, causing their mental state to further deteriorate, creating an enless vicious cycle of floating rocks and mist and fairies. but I'm sure y'all figured that out already.
Then again, if this is based on personal dreams and experiences of the author...it is a tad strange. Just a tad.
@Sarah
Hit the rock until it's positioned above the hole in the ground on the right part of the play area. you'll know when it's right; the hole starts glowing.
in any case, i echo what the review says. Short and sweet. great game.
Lackadaisium was like a platforming Yume Nikki.
I love GunGirl! Tho I hope there was a map of the areas or a diary of some sort. I keep running around after forgetting where something was. Could someone refresh my memory, where was the weapon expert again...? I've been searching through dimensions and I'm going mad!!
I finally deleted GunGirl2 after over nine hours of play. Someone please tell the designer that a difficult fifteen minute jumping puzzle (trying to get the fifth piece of whatever plot device was needed towards the end of the game) with no save points is not considered "fun".
I had been prepared to grant this game 4/5 (it would have been 5/5 but the level bosses fights weren't fun, either - they just involved jumping around randomly, shooting as fast as possible, being killed and having to re-start from the nearest save point). Now I'm afraid it's a tepid 3/5 - it's fun if you don't bother to get involved in the game and have no intention of finishing it.
In GunGirl2 how do I go down ladders? It seems silly but it's really bothering me =\
I played some years ago more or less all platform games existing.
It was fun. Gungirl 2 becomes very quick NO FUN.
Eternal respawning from zombies, more or less impossible jumps (or you are dead xxx times)
No saves, even when you get an item, save and reload, the item disappeared and the full story begins again.
Nice design, but no fun, too much difficult, no "beginner" mode, eternal zombies and so on.
No place in hall of fame.
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