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::TECHNOLOGY NEWS::
LE Newsletter - August 26, 2010
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Summertime, And The Gaming Is Easy
Source:
www.thestar.com - Darren Zenko
(August 20, 2010) Look, I know I'm not supposed to be
propagating the archaic image of video games as “time
wasters,” but sometimes that cruel shoe fits. Especially in the
summer, when maybe you've got a little bit more clock to kill
before vacation, or you're idling in an airport lounge, or
huddling in a tent against the rain — admit you take your laptop
camping, man; it's the 21st century — there's a role for
quick-playing, light-hearted, cheap-as-free gaming diversions.
Allow me to make some recommendations of the house . . .
FAIRWAY SOLITAIRE
(bigfishgames.com;
Windows; $6.99, one-hour free trial)
This is my feel-good summertime jam, the “Me and Julio Down By
the Schoolyard” of gaming. Basically, it's the mechanics of
solitaire expressed through a golf metaphor, right down to the
soothing birdsong, the sighs and polite golf-claps of the crowd,
and the folksy corniness of the announcers. Agony and ecstasy as
your strategy pays off with massive drives, or you duff it and
fail to clear the water hazards. Completely addictive; the
one-hour free trial is more than enough for this perfect gem of
a casual game to grab you tight.
ROOM ESCAPES
(various; browser; almost all free)
Of all the strange sub-genres that comprise gaming's
indie/underground scene, the strangest — and, strangely, one of
the most familiar to gamers of a certain age — may be the “room
escape” games. Locked in a room, players must hunt every nook
and cranny for the means of escape, solving weird puzzles along
the way. Varying widely in style, themes and quality, there are
hundreds of these little mindbenders; casual-game blog Jay Is
Games maintains an extensive, and extensively reviewed,
clearinghouse — complete with walkthroughs for the frustrated —
at
jayisgames.com/tag/escape.
CANABALT
(canabalt.com;
browser, free; $2.99 iPhone)
The pace and strategy of golf-as-card-game is too pokey for
you; the moon logic of room-escape puzzles just ticks you off.
You want action, you want it quick, you want it in short,
intense bursts, and you don't want to monkey with a bunch of
controls. Buddy, you want Canabalt. A sweet-looking,
breakneck sprint across collapsing rooftops, this little
endorphin-dispenser is controlled with a single click/tap, and
the entire instruction manual can be boiled down into a
paraphrase of Curtis Armstrong's famous skiing tips from
Better Off Dead: “Go that way, real fast; if something gets
in your way, jump!” Simple and hot, like summer should be.
SPELUNKY
(spelunkyworld.com;
Windows; free)
Kicking it old-school in a blend of Lode Runner
cave-crawling, Indiana Jones-style adventuring and platform
action, Derek Yu's Spelunky is never the same game twice
. . . but it's always intense, always fun, and always
punishingly difficult like you sometimes want games to be.
Levels are randomly generated, so you never know where the next
Golden Idol, Trapped Damsel or Shotgun Salesman is going to be —
and watching how each level's random elements interact is a big
part of the fun. Maybe the best free game ever.
CLOCKWORDS
(clockwords.us;
browser; free)
I just got into this game last week, and it's made it pretty
tough to get anything done . . . but I'm a sucker for games that
combine traditionally low-intensity abilities (a large
vocabulary; good spelling; typing skills) with frantic action
(blasting steampunk robot spiders). Type words, as big as you
can and as fast as you can, to blast incoming creeps bent on
stealing your secrets, making use of powered-up letters for
extra impact and special shots. You haven't felt a video-game
rush until you've splutted a half-dozen mechanical insects with
the power of PRESTIDIGITATION. |
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::LANGFIELD
ENTERTAINMENT:: ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADIAN TWIST::
