31.01.06

Games With Style: Part 26

Posted in everything, games, opensource, shmups at 4:59 pm by the2bears

rRootage is the 3rd of Kenta Cho’s games I’m showcasing here, I’ve already shown Noiz2sa and Tumiki Fighters. rRootage has a couple of interesting aspects: you fight a series of increasingly difficult and intelligent bosses, and you have 4 modes in which to play the game. Each mode is an experiment in gameplay, giving you 4 quite different approaches to fighting the bosses. The normal mode consists of just shots and bombs, the Psyvariar mode allows for bullet grazing which builds up your shield, an Ikaruga mode has polarity switching and absorbing bullets of your colour cause lasers to be generated back at the boss, and finally a Guwange mode provides you with a reflector to bounce bullets back.

As with his other games Mr. Cho provides the D source with rRootage, contributing I think to the host of ABA inspired games out there. Additionally, this is another game that uses BulletML, but interestingly it also uses Bulletsmorph. Bulletsmorph applies Genetic Programming (GP) to evolve the bullet patterns. If you wonder why the bosses are getting better and more accurate over time, it’s because they’re adapting to the way you play.

abstract free games guwange ikaruga japanese kenta cho opensource pc psyvariar rrootage shmup shooter vertical

Permalink Comments TrackBack

30.01.06

Dojin Company With Style

Posted in everything, games, shmups at 5:47 pm by the2bears

Dark Hell Company is a Dojin Soft developer from Japan. They’ve got 3 games as far as I can tell, and I’ve tried them all: Urban Uprising (image 1), WarMachine Overload (image 2), and Psyche Metal The Bleeding (image 3). These games are definite old-school shmups. But what I like best is the style, all 3 have a similar palette of dark colours and an H. R. Giger feel. I love the backgrounds as well, alien city type stuff. Great to look at, fun to play.

dark hell company free games horizontal japanese pc psyche metal the bleeding shmup shooter urban uprising vertical warmachine overload

Permalink 2 Comments TrackBack

29.01.06

Hitogata Happa

Posted in everything, games, shmups at 1:43 pm by the2bears

Hitoga Happa is another dojin soft game. It’s a very well done vertical shmup, with incredible graphics. This one threw me into bullet-curtain hell almost right away… thankfully your player slows down when you hold the shot (‘Z‘) button down allowing for more finite movement control. ‘X‘ seems to put the game into slow-motion for a period which obviously helps out too. Don’t let the cute theme of the graphics fool you, this is not an easy game. Download the demo from the link.

bullet hell demo games hitoga happa must have pc shmup shooter vertical

Permalink 2 Comments TrackBack

28.01.06

Steam Brigade

Posted in everything, games at 2:41 pm by the2bears

Not so slow today after all… courtesy of Independent Gaming comes Steam Brigade. It’s a real-time, side-scrolling strategy game with steam-powered dirigibles. A beta demo is available for download now, and the game proves to be quite promising. You control a steam-powered balloon with a magnet. You must manage your resources by creating soldiers and engineers from your factory. The goal is to get one of your engineers into the enemy’s factory. There look to be more unit-types not present in the demo, perhaps tanks which your enemy can already make. So, capture those bunkers and artillery units, pick up men and move them, drop your opponents men to kill them… and have fun, all in real-time. The graphics style works very well, and there’s hint of a background story to progress through. Shame the demo is only 3 missions, but you have to keep them wanting more.

demo games indie pc steam brigade steam punk

Permalink 1 Comment TrackBack

Exelica…

Posted in everything, games, shmups at 1:43 pm by the2bears

…might be the name of this shmup by Warashi. This is one for the arcades in Japan, but the reason I mention it is that if you scroll down the page you’ll notice “Naomi” near the bottom. It’s a slow day I know, but the Naomi board (still) used in arcades is very similar to the Dreamcast hardware (very similar). So here’s hoping for another Dreamcast game.

dreamcast grappling hook mechanism shmup shooter tractor beam mechanism trigger heart exelica vertical warashi

Permalink Comments TrackBack