Good Game Get! Realistic Summer Sports Simulator
Justin Smith has done it again.
First he created the most accurate virtual representation of bear hibernation that even puts naturalist, David Attenborough and his wonderful voice to shame. After that he took on the incredibly daunting task of giving the historically correct account of The Oregon Trail a chance. He has thrice succeeded in his goal of complete realism and has created the ultimate summer sports simulation game.
It’s an intense challenge that requires excellent one finger dexterity that only true champions possess. Imagine that you are a God with a yellow pixel bungie cord that magically attaches itself to a winner (or a loser) that you then can control through various events.
Justin once told me that he hopes his players get “a laugh. One solitary chuckle is all [he hopes] for. Maybe with a shade of bewilderment. Or a sigh of longing as the player gazes out their window on a rainy day, dreaming of simpler times.”
He has accomplished this daunting task again, and now you can cancel your seven hundred and fifty dollar opening ceremony ticket to the London 2012 games and just spend one dollar on this.
Tickets haven’t even been sold yet. I lied.
GO GOLD.
- Kyle
Good Game Get! Spell Tower
I’m terrible at Scrabble, Words With Friends, and even though I found it totally cool - I’m awful at Quarrel too. Zach Gage isn’t really good at these games either, or at least I would assume so as he hates the genre.
He however is the dude who crafted Spell Tower, a delightfully minimal and easy to pick up word game for iPad. Spell Tower is a mash-up of Tetris and a kinetic crossword puzzle (I.E. like a home brew Boggle).
The game allows you to bend the rules of your normal crossword puzzled by allowing you to do things diagonally, horizontally, and backwardly* - all at the same time. The game’s modes also can give you a let’s just look for words game, or a look for words quickly or die game. The latter is a blast.
And you know, that’s it. It’s just an elegant and simple word game that works and works well.
Gage’s story behind the game is also pretty rad.
- Kyle
*Not a word that you could play in Spell Tower.
Good Game Get! ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection
It’s not quite a consolation for the numerous delays and shows in which The Last Guardian wasn’t even mentioned, but a budget priced high definition collection of two of my favorite games is welcome.
Fumito Ueda, Kenji Kaido and Team Ico’s Ico and Shadow of the Colossus are quintessential play for any gamer. Their work is truly masterful, and for Ico and Shadow of The Collosus they took a minimalist approach that is not seen very often in modern games.
Unabashedly these two games pull at the minimalist inside of me, and I appreciate the simplicity and linearity of the titles. Their design forces them into a niche that not everyone can appreciate, but it’s a niche that sits comfortably off the natural mainstream path of game developmental history. They remain classical because they did not try to follow any trends, and remain true to a designer’s vision through and through. You will find no evidence of a creator’s magic snuffed by non-understanding executives and investors.
Numerous reports say that the gaming industry will be approaching $70 billion dollars by next year. This is undoubtedly a good thing, but as profits soar, it will take bigger profits to measure a game’s worth through investor eyes.
What is proven through ICO and Shadow of the Colossus (and Sony’s generous re-release of the titles) is that these amazing types of games can co-exist with the Call of Duty’s and Angry Birds of the world. Deep, engaging, and beautiful single player experiences will never go away, and as we move towards more collaborative and competitive popular gaming, we must remember that games are so much more than games. They represent a collaboration of art, technology, and every other critical component of all other entertaining mediums.
Video games are video games, and games like ICO & Shadow of the Colossus are sensational.
- Kyle
Good Game Get! Goat Up
*** GOAT OVER ***
*** GOAT OVER ***
*** GOAT OVER ***
Says Goat Up when you die.
Llmasoft’s vertical platformer is a silly venture upwards with a simple and pure goal of topping the score, and copulating with other goats for babies. The babies are important because you can hit enemies with them, and you can avoid enemies too by whipping yer kids around.Your billy goat and co. will pass through super retro zones full of classically inspired graphics and items.
The game is a pure pick up and play blast. You’ll die, and you’ll restart, and you’ll die, and you’ll restart. It’s good.
It’s real good.
Congoatulations.
- Kyle
Good Game Get! Allied Star Police
Owain has pre-B Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. A terrible disease that requires various stages of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Hearing about children with awful diseases like this can be heartbreaking, but it’s always wonderful to hear about the great things these children can be allowed to do.
Make-A-Wish and PopCap teamed up to help Owain design an iOS game, and the result is ridiculously cheesy, streamlined, and fun castle defense game called Allied Star Police.
The game is free of course, although I think they probably could’ve charged and had the proceeds go to charity, but either way it’s really lovely to see a cool company like PopCap allowing a child in pain to direct his own video game.
- Kyle