Articles

Looks like we've had a bit of a hack attack.  Everything is back up and running.

As for site updates, I've been in the process of trying to launch a company and thats been taking the lion share of my time- but in preperation for the companies site launch, I started to restructure some of my other sites (hence, noticing the lame attack... keylogged.. blah.) and I am committed to getting the site updates rolling again.

So stay tuned.

-Gandalf42

From Top Shmups:

Shoot2008 is a horizontal shmup created by Erik Leppen.  This game is rather interesting to play.  It looks like your run of the mill horizontal shmup..  The graphics don't really grab you, and I wouldn't blame anyone who skipped over it for the reason that it has a very generic look to it.  But you'd be missing out. 

This is an auto-fire shmup (not too many of those), it's also mouse controlled (which I thought I'd hate but it actually works quite well), and it has frantic action which can't be conveyed via a screenshot.  This game starts rather easy and quickly gets out of control... it's the horizontal shooter equivilent of Robotron 2084 (at least in that respect).  The game has a handful of power-up's which are dropped quite frequently.. and you'd do best to grab them because you'll need every one of them.

It has a lot of character and you almost hit a zen like state as you play it.. it's hard to describe, so have a go at it and tell me what you think.

The file is in our download section here.

-Gandalf42

From Top Shmups:

AuthenticKaizen recently pointed out this fun shooter to Top Shmups.  The game is a multi-directional space shooter with a quasi-Bosconian feel to it.  The games author claims the game to be a rewrite of Akira Higuchi's *nix game Xkobo... and who am I to argue, as I've never heard of it.

The game has ports for, and I quote: "Windows Vista (x86_64), Windows 2000/XP (x86), Windows 95/98/ME (x86), Mac OS X (PPC), BeOS (x86, PPC), AmigaOS (68k, PPC), Solaris (x86, SPARC), QNX (x86), GNU/Linux (x86, x86_64, PPC, PPC64, ARM), OpenBSD (i386, macppc, sparc, sparc64), FreeBSD (x86), NetBSD (x86), IRIX, OS/2, PlayStation 2 Linux, Xbox and Syllable"

The game is open source and all relevant source and libs can be had at the authors site here.

The games description from the documentation:

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Kobo Deluxe is a 3’rd person scrolling 2D shooter with a simple and responsive control system - which you’ll need to tackle the tons of enemy ships that shoot at you, chase you, circle around you shooting, or even launch other ships at you, while you’re trying to destroy the labyrinth shaped bases. There are 50 action packed levels with smoothly increasing difficulty, and different combinations of enemies that require different tactics to be dealt with successfully.

Kobo Deluxe has an improved graphics engine that delivers smoother animation, while keeping the game logic totally accurate and predictable regardless of frame rate. It also adds sound effects, new graphics, fullscreen mode, four extra skill levels with smoother gameplay and various other features expected from a modern game. (There is still a "Clasic" mode that plays exactly like the original XKobo.)

Kobo Deluxe uses SDL for sound, graphics and input, and builds and runs on all major operating systems, as well as some more unusual platforms. It can also use OpenGL for accelerated rendering, through glSDL.

In short, Kobo Deluxe is loads of classical arcade style fun for just about any machine with graphics and sound!

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Ha ha!  This is classic.  A japanese PSN member recreated the entire first level of Gradius on Little Big Planet.

-Gandalf42

CasualReview.com has posted an interview with Jets'n'Guns developer Rake in Grass.  The only important info concerning the shmups community is that they have no plans to start development on a sequel any time soon...

No news on any plans for development of other shooter IP's, but they did say that they would like to revisit the Jets'n'Guns universe at some point in the future.

Someone wake me up when that happens.

Anyway, read all about it here.

-Gandalf42

For everyone who's been waiting for Postman to weigh in on the recently released Thunder Force VI, here is his video review.  I'm at least happy to see that we agree on most of the good and bad points of this game.  It does seem to be meeting with mixed feelings among fans, and I think it's mainly because when you have a game of this obviously high quality it does tend to stand out when they drop the ball..

And I agree, the endboss seemed a bit... odd.  At least for this game.

Still, not a game to be missed.

-Gandalf42

Physics Invader is an interesting flash based variation of the classic arcade game Space Invaders with a healthy dose of physics goodness added to the mix.  It's a fun diversion but in the end it's just a "cluttered" version of the original... you'll figure it out.

Cursor keys move, Space to shoot, knock debris off the screen to earn points.  Rinse and repeat.

Here is our local copy, or head over here for Yoshio Ishii original games page.

-Gandalf42

This video review of Thunder Force VI for the Playstation 2 was posted just a few days ago.

The video is in two parts.



-Gandalf42

Charlie released another update to his stellar arena shooter "Bullet Candy" and I must say this game is getting more slick and robust everytime I have a play through it.  It also appears that the game had a price drop from $5.00 to $3.95.  That price is comical, as the game is worth much much more than what he's asking for it..

So why not drop by and buy a copy for yourself before Charlie wises up..

Version 3.0 Updates

• Added Achievements
• Updated menus and menu graphics
• Added local high score saving support
• Game now saves player names
• Various Graphics Refinements
• Improved compatibility in some cases
• Official Intel Mac support
• Bug Fixes

-Gandalf42

Ok, I admit it... I've been out of the loop for a little while.. So, to make up for lost time, I'm going to be giving my impressions of a few of the games I missed in my absence.

One game that piqued my interest is an arena shooter by the name of Rainbow Wars.  Now those that know me, know that this is one of my favorite styles within the shmups genre... (Yes, I consider it a part of the shmups genre).

So to get this right out in the open, Rainbow Wars is a Game Maker game and it's heritage is present in the form of slowdown starting around the top of Wave 7.  Still, this game doesn't disappoint in the least.  The fluidity and control is unparalleled... in spite of the fact that the game is a product of the Game Maker scripting engine.  Dual Analog controls work right out of the box and the whole product has very polished and professional feel overall.

One aspect to the game that puzzled me during play was that when your ship gets hit it gets progressively smaller.. and as such, gets harder to hit.

Still, you've got to love a game that rewards you for doing poorly.

Download the game here.

-Gandalf42