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The Joystiq Free Game Club: Time Fukc
Yes, the Free Game Club is back -- only for one man would we resurrect this classic feature. While we wait not-so-patiently for Super Meat Boy, creator Edmund McMillen has given us Time Fkuc (yes, all orders of the second word's letters are acceptable) to gnaw on. As with most of McMillen's Flash platformers, explaining its gameplay is almost as difficult as understanding its meaning (if there even is one). Suffice to say the game's mechanics play with time, dimensional shifting and forms part of, according to the release, "an allegorical game about stuff you've never experienced." McMillen continues to have an incredibly fresh perspective that hasn't disappointed yet: Time Fkuc is no exception. It's lovely, with better animations than the art would suggest, and a really cool soundtrack. Plus, it's free! If you're still not convinced, there's a trailer after the break, placed there because it contains a bad word and is ... well, it's kind of unsettling.
Fileplanet wants you to play Earth Eternal really badly
What's this taking up one of the center links on Fileplanet? Is it the upcoming MMO Earth Eternal? Why yes it is! Sparkplay Media's Earth Eternal has made it to the top of the free games listing... except for the fact that EE is still in closed beta.Fileplanet's link, while enticing, will not get you instant access into the closed beta. What it will do, however, is sign you up for an account that will let you be eligible to be selected for the closed beta. It will not let you play the game immediately, but it will certainly net you a chance at playing sooner rather than later.According to Sparkplay Media, Fileplanet will be involved with getting the game and the word out there, but it seems they've jumped the gun in releasing their link for the game. It's cool, we all make mistakes.As to what special in-game items Fileplanet members will be receiving for signing up and playing, well, that's still a secret to everybody.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: The Several Journeys of Reemus 2
Wow, what a milestone. After, like, eight months of doing the Joystiq Free Game Club, we finally have a sequel to a game we've previously featured. Wow, it looks like one semi-regular feature is all grown up. Ladies and gentlemen, please, give a big hand to our guest of honor, The Several Journeys of Reemus: Chapter 2. Sadly, on this proud, proud day, we don't have a whole lot to add to the discussion that we didn't say about the first one. We're still following exterminator Reemus and his purple bear buddy Liam as they travel the countryside fighting vermin. It's still lovely to look at and the point-and-click puzzles are still as well-conceived as they are amusing.More to the point, though, it's still free, free, totally free -- so what are you waiting for?
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Ben There, Dan That
We know that we normally wait until Monday to bring you fresh Free Game Club offerings, but, to be honest, we couldn't go another day without bringing this gem to your attention. If you have any place in your heart for adventure games (especially those of the LucasArts variety), then you must, must play Ben There, Dan That, a hilarious love letter to adventure games of yore.As best friends Ben and Dan, you'll be abducted by aliens, fall out of a cow's rectum and become a pan-dimensional murderer, all in an effort to return to their depressingly ramshackle apartment. The graphics are decidedly low-fi and the walking animations are comically terrible, but the presentation belies some preciously goofy puzzles and genuinely hilarious writing.We weren't at all familiar with developer Zombie Cow before we sat down with the game, and now we can't wait to see what they do next. What do you think?
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Closure
We usually use this space in the Free Game Club post to expound a bit on the gameplay of the week's subject. But we're not going to do that this time. No, the last thing we'd want to give away is the delightful, mind-bending mechanic that Closure is built around.Instead of spoiling all the fun, we'll spend our time trying to convince you that you absolutely need to check this game out. Would it sway you to know it was created by Tyler Glaiel, half of the team behind the delightful Aether? What if we informed you that it had a gorgeous, willowy look to which the above screenshot can't do justice? Would that make you more likely to click?If you're still not swayed, continue and read the comments below from readers that have come before. Who can you trust, if not the Joystiq BioMass?
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Dodge
The industry is finally slowing down on the twin-stick shooters, but we've found their successor: One-stick no-shooters. Submitted for the approval of the Joystiq Free Game Club, we present Dodge.It feels (and sort of looks) like a forgotten gametype from Geometry Wars. You pilot an unarmed ship with only one means of defending itself: Steering enemy bullets into other foes. By circling your enemies you can get a whole train of missiles following you, and direct the whole lot into the opposition's hulls with a single quick maneuver.By stringing together a bunch of kills you can build your combo meter and earn more points, points that can be exchanged for a refill of your health bar.We're fans of the basic gameplay here, as well as the fairly derivative sights and sounds. But we think it gets repetitive just a bit earlier than we'd like. What say you about it?
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Mario vs. Spartan: The Game
Yes, the idea of Master Chief being dispatched by Bowser to kill Mario tests the limits of even disturbingly circuitous fan fiction logic. And OK, fine, the gameplay leaves a certain something to be desired. And no, we don't know why our favorite Spartan brought only grenades and no guns. But Mario vs. Spartan: The Game is what we're going to talk about this week, so you're gonna have to deal with it.It has a lot of shortcomings, but the idea of Master Chief fighting Mario is just so devastatingly badical, we found ourselves powerless to resist. Seriously, we bet you could find the design doc written on the back of a binder in Wite-Out somewhere. Awesome.Are you leet enough to finish teh fightz0r against Mario? Share your accomplishment in the comments below.[Via Hawty McBloggy]
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Auditorium
You've probably seen Auditorium already on numerous other sites, so, since the Joystiq Free Game Club can't be the very first, we're going to be the very best, with the most insightful analysis yet of this melodic, meditative Flash puzzler. Ready? Here goes.What the hell is going on in this game?Seriously! OK, so we don't have any problem moving our space ship around, but our light bullets are almost impossible to control. Also, no matter how many bullets hit the little castles, they never explode. If we didn't know better, we'd say they're actually getting bigger! And, come to think of it, they don't even look that much like castles!Also, the music seems to cut in and out at random, and we're not even sure any of the instruments is an electric guitar. ... Oh, and the first level is called "Hajimemashite." Nice localization, guys!We give it a 6.5.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Buggle Stars
We already told you about the Casual Collective's hyper-addictive Desktop Tower Defense iteration, but this week we've been swept away by another one of their confections: Buggle Stars, a platformer with an adorable shell to hide its difficulty.You're a little buggle who wants nothing more than to collect all the stars in each stage of his world as quickly as possible. The faster you grab them (while simultaneously avoiding spikes and other hazards), the higher your score. It sounds easy enough, and it is. At first.Before long, you'll realize that there's a "right" way to sail through each level, and if you're ... well, let's say a particular sort of person, you'll find it tough to resist the siren song of the perfect run.Graphically it's simplicity itself, but we have to give a little love to the music, which is just charming enough to keep your fist out of your monitor when things get tough.Give it a try and let us know what you think.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Hunted Forever
On its surface, Hunted Forever is a very simple game: You're madly scrambling as you attempt to avoid a vicious laser-and-missile toting A.I. Dig a little deeper though and you'll find ... well, it's still pretty simple. But it's also really fun.We don't know why the robots want to wipe this sad last human off the face of the planet, but they do, and, frankly, as a human yourself, that should be enough for you. With really fantastic animations, your shadowy protagonist will leap to avoid certain death, all while trying to collect machine parts that he can use to upgrade his abilities.For the duration, he'll be taunted/guided by a GLaDOS-esque support system that wants nothing more than his quick, painful death.As we said, it's a simple concept. But much like Castle Crashers, it bolts on some more contemporary concepts to its classic core for an experience that we think you'll really enjoy.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Warfare 1917
As you long-time readers know, Joystiq loves the zombie-battling action from The Last Stand and The Last Stand 2. Now, developer Con-Artists has moved on to a new project, Warfare 1917, and though it lacks a horde of brain-hungry degenerates, its take on World War I is no less addictive.You'll lead either the British or German forces as you try to overcome the steadily approaching opposition. It's both a battle for land and morale as you can win by either moving to the far right of the board or just beating up on your foes until they can't take it any more.You'll decide which unit types you want to send out when, as well as the best time for them to move from trench to trench. Also at your disposal is a wide array of different big weapons like mortars and artillery, which you can rarely deploy without making sure your forces are far, far away from the target area.We haven't completeld Warfare 1917, so we can't quite put it on the level with Last Stand yet. But if the early bits we've played are any indication, you might want to free up a couple of hours before deciding to give Warfare a try.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: I Wish I Were The Moon
We're usually into featuring more fully formed products on the Free Game Club, but they are, after all, free, so we hope you won't be too bothered by the inclusion of I Wish I Were the Moon, a precious little experimental gem by Daniel Benmergui.In the simplest terms, you're manipulating a short story with the use of a camera frame that can relocate objects from one location to another. With a few clicks, you can alter how the story of a boy, a girl, the moon and a seagull comes to an end.By Benmergui's own admission there are some failings, but the central idea is really solid. In fact, the designer went on to use a similar mechanic in a more fully-formed concept called Storyteller.So please, play around with IWIWTM and then come back to let us know what you think. We're curious as to whether you see this as more of a toy or the possible cornerstone of a full, compelling game.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Urban Brawl
We bet when you woke up this morning, "Playing a mod of Doom 2" was probably pretty low on the list of things you thought you'd be doing. But believe us when we tell you that you absolutely shouldn't miss out on Action DooM 2: Urban Brawl. It's free, it doesn't require Doom 2 to run and it's really, really good. We swear.You play a washed up cop who's forced by tragedy to take to the streets and fight through an army of thugs. The story is related to you through Sin City-inspired cut scenes that have some of the best writing you'll see in a game this year. Yeah, we know, we found it pretty hard to believe too.As for the actual action, it's a beat 'em up/FPS hybrid, somewhere between Double Dragon and Condemned, with a colorful visual style that really pops despite the graphical limitations.We should say up front that it's pretty hard and doesn't make a lot of allowances for modern FPS conventions (you will, for example, have to press a button to enable mouse looking) but the whole package is so shockingly good we hope you won't let those hurdles keep you from the goodness within.[Via IHTP]
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Aether
Oh boy, do we ever love Aether, and we bet you're going to as well. Simply put, it's the story of a boy dealing with feelings of alienation as he discovers (with the help of his pet monster) that he is, in fact, not as alone as he once imagined.As the game begins, you leave your home planet on the back of your beast, which gets through the universe via his long, elastic tongue, allowing him to snap to nearby clouds and planets and then hurtle to the outer reaches of the galaxy. There you'll find several planets, each with their own unique puzzles to solve, requiring a combination of quick reflexes and some non-linear thinking. It's all presented in attractive, washed out pastels and with a hauntingly otherworldly soundtrack.It's everything you want an "art game" to be, with a unique visual style, a creative gameplay mechanic and a real sense of an artist's touch (two, in this case, Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel). It's a uniquely personal, touching game that we can't wait for you to try and share your thoughts on in the comments.
Joystiq Free Game Club: Epic War
Video games based on the Lord of the Rings franchise have been a mixed bag at best, but, as you know, there's one sure-fire equalizer when it comes to quality: Freeness (or is it freeosity)? Using that logic, Kongregate and ArtLogicGames' Epic War, an LOTR-inspired strategy game, may just be the best of the lot.The premise is simple: you defend your castle with a turret and an army of Tolkien-created creatures, all the while trying to get your forces to the enemy castle to demolish it. No, it's not exactly canon, but that's good news, because it means you can inexplicably throw out an army of dwarves, elves and hobbits with no worries of watching a favorite character die.As you progress through the battles on the world map, you'll earn experience you can use to train your units, acquire new types like wizards and dragons and gain new powers for your turret. It's hard to break the addiction cycle when the upgrade or character is just a quick battle away.Give it a whirl, let us know what you think. And if you know of a free game that you'd like us to feature, let us know in the comments.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Fantastic Contraption
Your first reaction to Fantastic Contraption is going to be one of complete befuddlement. Not only will you not understand the game, you won't be able to comprehend why we selected it for the FGC. But trust us: Hang in there. Because once the game's intricate mechanics reveal themselves to you, we predict you're going to have a really hard time stopping.The idea is, at its core, simple. You're trying to build a contraption that can get a pink ball to a pink square. You don't even have that many tools to work with, just a few different types of wheels and rods. The challenge (and the joy) is figuring out how those components all work together in-game.If we have a problem with FC, it's that the tutorial could be a bit better. But at the same time, we can understand why playing with the physics is probably a lot easier than trying to get someone to understand them. Give it a spin and let us know what you think.[Thanks, BitPicnic]
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Tap Tap Revenge
After expanding our horizons with Flash games and GameTap games in recent weeks, we thought it might be time to delve into everybody's favorite new game console that isn't: The iPhone. Though there are plenty of good purchasable games, you have to look a bit harder in the App Store to dig up a decent free one. We've picked one of the most popular choices this week: Tap Tap Revenge.The concept couldn't be simpler. Three columns of dots hurtle towards the "Home" key, and you have to tap them in time with the music. As you nail more notes in succession, your multiplier (and, in turn, your score) continues to climb. You'll occasionally have to use the phone's accelerometer to shake it instead of tap.There's also a surprisingly enjoyable two-player mode that allows you and a friend to grip either side of the phone (make sure they wash their hands first) and tap the dots now careening toward both ends of the phone.Besides being free, the game also has some additional songs you can download -- not a bad value-add for a game that was free in the first place. iPhone owners: Give it a shot and let us know what you think. Non-iPhone owners: Please be more dedicated about trying to get an iPhone.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Psychonauts
We thought we'd take a break this week from our usual Flash-based fare this week on the Free Game Club to talk about a slightly meatier experience that you could be having for for free right now: Psychonauts. Yeah, that's right. Tim Schafer's bizarre, hilarious action-platformer is available right now as a free selection on GameTap.So here's the question: Why haven't you played it yet? You might have had an excuse a couple of years ago, when it was just a poorly-marketed Majesco game. But how has it not made its way onto your must play list at this point? It's cleverly written, it's got some really memorable levels and characters, it's just an all-around great way to spend your time. OK, so maybe some of the actual platforming and combat gameplay is a touch spotty from time to time. But we can look past it, and we're betting you can too.If you've played the game, feel free to use the comments below to share your thoughts/gushing adoration. If you haven't, we'd love to hear your excuses. If you're about to play it for the first time ... well, don't let us keep you. We'll still be here when you're done.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: Kongai
We hook you up with two different kinds of games in the JFGC. The first are just titles that we hope you'll think are fun. The second are ones we've been paid to post about by the Chinese government to make the English-speaking world less productive. Posting about Kongai ... well, let's just say if you want to go to a fancy meal that will cost no more than 457 yuan, you don't even need to worry about it. We've got you.Kongai is a really excellent digital collectible card game hosted by Kongregate. The strategy is sufficiently deep so that explaining here wouldn't really be practical but, in short, you'll pit three or five character cards against three or five of an enemy's. You'll then have to balance choosing the right attack for the right situation with knowing when to retreat.
The Joystiq Free Game Club: GemCraft
There have been a bevy of tower defense games in the past months, none of which were able to usurp the king (of our hearts) Desktop Tower Defense 1.5. But Game in a Bottle and Armor Games' new offering GemCraft ... well, it still doesn't, but it does some interesting stuff that we think is definitely worth talking about. The best way of thinking about the game is a Puzzle Quest-ian take on the TD genre. You're trying to protect your base from oncoming hordes with varying strengths and weaknesses, but instead of building different types of towers, you use mana to create different gems that are placed in towers. Each color has different qualities and if you're willing to spend more mana you can create stronger versions of each, creating a risk/reward question of building a weaker gem or waiting to build a more powerful one.There's another layer on top of that, though. As you complete stages, you earn experience that you can use to buy more starting gems, a lower mana cost for gems, quicker mana regeneration, etc. And each time you beat a level with more experience, the difference is added to your total. That means that while it may be easy for you to beat the opening stages, if you don't work to get the best score you may not be powerful enough for some of the final conflicts.There's a lot going on here, some of it working better than others. But who cares what we have to say about it? What's your take on GemCraft?For another look at the Freeware scene, check out BigDownload's Freeware Friday series.
