Currently Playing : The Manipulator

Take control/Manipulate an enemy, make him kill everyone else, jump to the exit. That seems to be the gist of what you have to do in this game. It is very well presented. There doesn't seem to be a save-game option which is what made me stop playing. That, and the fact that 4 levels into the game there doesn't seem to be much use of the 'manipulate' mechanic. The platforming controls are also a bit out of tune.

Currently Playing : This is Africa a.k.a Far Cry 2

Instead of writing about the gorgeous locales and graphics, or the sandbox design I just thought I'd post an entry from Qurbani Singh - The turbanator (since he resembles another patka-wearing assassin) journal.

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I had one mission where I'm supposed to destroy a truck that is bringing in arms supplies to the city. So go to my safe-house, set the timer to sometime around 10 pm so I can move around in the dark (and intermittently look at the spectacular moon). I wake up, hop into my vehicle. On the way I lay waste to one of the guard posts. The next guard post is across a bridge, and they spot me while I approach and open fire. My vehicle is trashed, and as I try to evade them I fall onto a ledge jutting out of a cliff, with no apparent way of getting back up to higher ground. I look down at the river flowing beneath me. Seeing no other option I dive, survive the fall, and swim to the shore. Another guard post lies somewhere ahead on the river bank. I slowly move through the grass, sneak up behind one of the guards, kill him with my machete, run, grab the boat and set off towards the area where the arms-truck is expected to arrive.

So I'm tracking the truck as its moving along its route, and about a mile away I hide behind a rock, pull out my rocket launcher. As the arms-truck approaches, I jump out fire the rocket and blast it, it flies upwards. I'm just admiring the wreckage, tires bobbling around, the nearby grass is on fire, the driver and armed guards are dead, and there's a nice message on the screen saying "Objective completed".

Then I look up, the truck is falling down, heading right towards me. Too late. I'm crushed beneath it and die.

What a game!

Currently Playing : Cricket@Foddy.net

The one flash game I keep returning to every other day is this cricket game up at foddy.net . Really good use of the Box2D physics engine. Nothing can beat the real feeling of creaming a gently swinging half volley through the covers, but the controls do feel quite good. The awkward style of the batsman suggests that he was modeled after either one of

1) Anil Kumble

2) Curtly Ambrose

3) Courtney Walsh could be a candidate but you'd need some special combo for his 'between-the-legs' leave.

Currently Playing : Audiosurf and Trials 2

Audiosurf and Trials 2. Both are quite brilliant. Audiosurf is probably the ideal indie game. Chris Crawford, founder of the GDC, once said how games should aspire to be process-intensive rather than data intensive (read about that here). This is probably more relevant to an indie developer who can't afford to spend time 'creating data' (such as manually placing markers on a Guitar Hero track and licensing popular songs). I'd also venture to say that it would have been a lot of fun to design, constantly pruning the ruleset and then testing it out to see the results on various songs.

'Nuff has been said about Trials 2 over at RPS. I love the fact that they actually modeled the effect of the shock absorbers on the rear wheel. Lean back, accelerate, and at the edge of the ramp lean forward to get a boost. Which means that you can now have courses involving all sorts of crazy jumps. I'm also glad that they didn't have a 'Choose your Avatar' screen, or allow you to add decals to your bike or any such nonsense.

Audiosurf and Trials 2. Both are quite brilliant. Both are on Steam at 10$ apiece. Go buy.