Dino Run
Utilising old school large-sized pixel graphics, Dino Run looks like something from a very old arcade machine, yet it is the latest offering from the heavily talented PixelJam team. At a first glance you could be fooled into thinking there was nothing much to this game besides getting from one end of the level to another (much like the original Mario and Sonic games were), yet there is a vast array of interactive elements that appear and disappear as you race across this soon-to-be destroyed terrain as a hungry Velociraptor.
As you are escaping the wall of doom on the left edge of the screen you need to jump to avoid obstacles and duck to pick up precious eggs and eat smaller ‘critters’ to collect bones. At the end of certain levels you can spend your ‘bones’ on upgrades for your dinosaur.
The game does progressively get more difficult and falling down a hole in the scenery is not the end of the world, there are vast tunnel systems below for your to explore, just don’t be down there too long, the wall of doom is still catching up with you.
There are many other dinosaurs dotted throughout the game. Hitch a ride on a pterodactyl, a stegosaurus or a triceratops to help you along the way and take advantage of speed boosts (pressing <SHIFT> when your feet begin to spark).
An extra feature of this game is a multiplayer mode which I thought was amazing. Race against other players and increase your ranking over the other players who are currently online. I felt this game ran smooth over the multiplayer mode, I was expecting an amount of lag of affect it.
Bowja the Ninja on Factory Island
As the name suggests, you play as a ninja named Bowja and your mission is to defeat the evil Gi8000 (Randy the Robot). This game is beautifully drawn with highly entertaining characters and scenery that grabs your attention from the very first screen.
You control Bowja using nothing more than your mouse, clicking on objects for him to interact with (usually firing an arrow at the object) in order to try and progress towards the next level. As you continue through the levels, the puzzles do gradually harder and the very first level is quite simple and serves as a great introduction to the game.
If at anytime you find yourself stuck and aren’t able to find out how to progress, pressing the <TAB> key on your keyboard will highlight any objects on the screen that are available to interact with, this can be a great aide when some of the objects are quite small or look like they may be a part of the scenery.
Bowja is a great game with some highly entertaining levels and as mentioned previously, great graphics.
I would highly recommend this to fans of the Hapland series and cannot wait for the planned Bowja II!
Rollercoaster Creator
Ever since line-rider, games involving drawing have become very popular with many designers using this concept to develop new and interesting ideas. I have spent a lot of time playing the many Rollercoaster Tycoon games and was excited when I saw Rollercoaster Creator being showcased on Newgrounds.
Along with the typical task of drawing a line to get the main character from the start to the finish, Rollercoaster Creator also gives you a variety of Rollercoaster ‘parts’ for you to use. These parts include a lift, a vertical drop and a loop. As well as getting the rollercoaster trains from one side of the screen to the other there are also ‘coins’ which you must collect. On most levels there is a target number of coins you must collect in order to progress to the next, any coins you collect after this are a bonus. The game could have been made much more user friendly if it was possible to see a transparent version of the item you are about to put into place for help when positioning, I spent quite some time trying to position my loop so that it collected all of the coins on one particular level.
The graphics look great and it is obvious time has been spent making the game look as attractive as possible. There are theme park sound effects in the background adding some nice atmosphere to the game as well as a soundtrack that reminds me very much of a carnival (though the loop seems to be broken and there is a slight skip between each play).
If you have been a fan of line-rider, draw-play or any of the other drawing games, then I’m sure you’ll be interested in Rollercoaster Creator.
Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3
Being a big fan of Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2 I had high expectations from this as a sequel. The first thing that you will notice is the expanded screen area, giving much more room for visual goodness and you can see that the graphics have been improved.
Featuring 14 songs and 10 guitars to choose from, SCGMD3 is by no means a game that can be picked up and completed in one sitting. Let’s be sure to thank Shinki for ensuring that the game saves your progress as you complete each stage.
To be honest, this game is nothing more than a Guitar Hero or Frets on Fire clone, yet it has been executed in a smooth, organised and entertaining way which keeps drawing you in to play it over again. The main game interface utilises a large number of different indications of how well you are doing. Along the top is the song title and your progress through the song, on the left is your current score along with your hit percentage and number of mistakes you have made. On the right of the screen is a multiplier, continue to hit the correct notes and your multiplier grows.
The game utilises your computer keyboard, namely the arrow and number keys, though this poses problems for people running Linux, Windows and Mac users shouldn’t have a problem.
At the end of each song you are awarded with a medal. Get every note perfect and you are given the perfect medal.
A great game overall that would possibly benefit from some pop’ songs in order to appeal to a wider audience like MiniClip did with their rhythm game offering Up-Beat. Although it is also a great idea to use unsigned artists as it gives them an opportunity to get their music known to a wider audience.
Play Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 3 today!
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