Ghosty, by Shensetta, is about our fear of the unknown, our fear of death. Instructions of a most cryptic nature, like a riddle told quickly, sprawl upon the screen at a tortoise’s pace:
Your objective is to destroy the ghost and eyes that over populate the world.
Thus sprach Shensetta; and thusly it was received:
Sun-Tzu’s The Art of War. A misleading title at best, a poorly written account that is devoid of any intellectually stimulating thoughts regarding Art — focusing instead on the inanities of War. War, a concept as old as Art itself, yet so disparate that not even a book called The Art of War could bridge the two. War and Art, like two twins, separated at birth, never to learn of their biological link. That is, until two artists penned a figurative The War of Art, a work that seamlessly integrates two concepts, doing in one day what Sun-Tzu could not do in his entire lifetime. I speak, of course of cactus and Terry Cavanagh‘s latest gamepiece, Xoldiers.
The game makes Passage look like an autistic child’s crayon scribbles.
Like Passage, Xoldiers metaphorically comments on life through the act of walking right. You play not as a single entity, but as a collective — a 3 x 3 grid of soldiers who are armed with guns, grenades, and the ability to lay down. You must travel rightward towards the palace, facing insurmountable opposition in the form of enemy tanks, jeeps, and buildings, but none more opposing than your own team, for you see, your unit works as a whole — if one soldier gets caught on an obstacle, your entire unit cannot progress further.
“Leave no man behind”.
If Passage comments on love by saying it will prevent you from collecting treasure boxes, Xoldiers comments on love (albiet a different, more homosexual kind of love), by saying “there is no place for love in the battlefield. Love for your brothers will only hinder you from fulfilling your mission.”
Now, I know homosexuality is a bit of a touchy subject (especially with artists), but I am not pulling out this homosexual thing from the ether. The troop’s commander says quite explicity that “War is a man’s game”. And when it comes to man games, two’s company, nine’s a crowd.
Xoldiers (Direct Link) by cactus and Terry Cavanagh, 1.62 MB
Ah yes — finally! A game whose play mechanics revolve around time. Time, that which heals all wounds, yet corrodes the cardboard of the brightly colored rectangular coffins that line up the Best Buy aisles — turning them into dust. Sony, Microsoft take note: Indie games aren’t sold in “boxes.” You cannot corrode an idea.
Hempuli‘s Timerocketxby stars a character armed with a bazooka who must reach the goal in each level while avoiding contact with various men in suits. To do this, you must manipulate time, shoot rockets, and kill the men in suits. Now without imbuing my own meaning into the game, here’s a decoder ring by which to untangle the ideological knots that are presented in the game:
Men in Suits: Commercialization/Globalization/Microsoft
Protagonist: You (As in the royal “You”, as in all of you)
Bazooka: Game Maker 7.0 Pro.
You might say this game feels a bit like the indie game “Braid,” to which I might begin to retort but then simply stop, only to ask “Indie?”, pointing you towards Braid’s $180,000 budget, and then towards a small door. A green “Exit” sign overhead — flickering on and off – beckoning you to enter. You open the door and step through. You are greeted by Mario and Sonic on the other side.
Yes, whereas Braid presented time as a means to solve all problems, Timerocketxby presents a starkly non-apologetic view of time manipulation:
“Wouldn’t it be great?” says the old man, “If I could turn back time and feel young again?”
“Wouldn’t it be great?” says the newlywed, “If I could stay in this moment forever?”
“Wouldn’t it be great?” says the criminal, “If I could forgo my prison sentence?”
“No”, says Hempuli, “Time is useful for one thing, and for one thing only — to make platforms of us all.”
You see, time manipulation in Timerocketxby has one purpose — to turn everything in the game world into something upon which you can stand. Society was built on the shoulders of others — what if it had been built on the shoulders of other things like bullets, rain, and explosions? There would be no such thing as slavery. What a beautiful world that would be.
Timerocketxby (Direct Link) by Hempuli, 1.28 MB
I’d like to preface this post with a rather poignant quote. Not preface the entire post though, because I feel it cheapens my genius if I don’t place several layers of abstraction between myself and other writers.
You enjoy all the killing, that’s why!
- Liquid Snake, from the little known video game “Metal Gear Solid”, of the Playstation era (truly the cave paintings of our medium)
Despite the rabid squawking of the “mainstream press”, and I’ve put that in quotes as you’re reading a blog and so you were probably born in 1997 and have never even seen a newspaper, violence has long been the premiere method of exploring morality in art. This is more than simply due to the effect that being edgy and offensive has on the unwashed masses, but because mindless (and on occasion most rare, mindful) slaughter, simulated though it may be, allows us to tear down the barriers erected by our corrupt society and confront the innermost tennets of our being: right and wrong.
Pro Killer Man is more than a Hitman parody, it is a stark indictment of human behaviour and the seedy underbelly of our world that we refuse to acknowledge.
“I need you to kill people.”
“Ok.”
There are people, people like you or I (ok maybe just plebes and ruffians like you, I am a man of refined taste and unparalleled culture) for whom this is not a satirical statement. People kill for money, for a variety of reasons, and much like video game developers, some are professional (me) and some are amateurs (Phil Fish, I very much doubt he has killed a person at all). Loud bumper stickers instruct us to praise and glorify the most prolific killers of our time, indeed, theirs is seen as a glorious task. What of the contract killer? Here we find a great silence.
In Pro Killer Man, you find yourself as a stylised member of the faceless masses, with orders to kill other human beings, for reasons unbeknownst to you. It’s not your job to care, as the vastness and depth of human emotion you will confront in the act of taking a life is enough to wrestle with. It’s a simple keyboard and mouse setup, which I decided to unsimplify, by using a laptop trackpad as a constant reminder that snuffing out the great spark of consciousness in a sentient being is no easy task. The eternal soul, at once so resilient, and yet so fragile, dissipates to another plane upon contact with a bullet. The choice you face is simple, them or you.
There are consequences for killing. There are laws. There is a balance to be maintained, though it is not so steadfast that a resilient man cannot upset it, that he cannot take so many lives and his own remain intact. But what kind of hollow life is this?
The hollow life of the Pro Killer Man, riding into the horizon with his bountiful wealth, and his abyssal soul.
Pro Killer Man (Direct Link) by JW, 2.85 MB
(Note: This review was written for the first demo of the game. All the links in the post have been updated to a more recent version)
Ninjas. The last refuge of the truly untalented, the jazz music of video games. Did you ever wonder why Arnold Schwarzenegger was always wildly firing guns, and not delivering complex soliloquies? Consequently, his talents never led him to the ultimate prize. No, not a big shiny statue, but anonymous people on the Internet lauding his artistic merit.
Such is the fate of the ninja game.
To be sure, there is not the faintest whisper of an artistic message, nor the dullest glint of an inner, obfuscated yet exquisite beauty to be found in JW‘s Super Ninja Hunter, and it has fallen into the filthy pit that commercial games writhe in until they embrace death.
Using your, it pains me to say, grappling hook (sigh, let me bust out my accented e) you maneuver the game’s protagonist about the levels, shooting your enemies – I’ll not stoop to typing the n-word again in this article – until they are dead, and you can progress to the next level, culminating in a boss battle. I just checked my shelves, and rest assured, the molds are still there and intact.
Sure, there’s a visceral thrill, fun, if you will, about the mechanics of it all, but this is the year 2008, is this really what we are playing games for? We may be lagging on the technology for flying cars, and monogrammed silver jumpsuits, but I would have hoped for a level of intellectual development amongst the game-consuming public.
If you’re an uncultured savage, by all means, download this game, I’m sure you’ll have a “blast”. However, if you’ve ever spoken a word of Nihongo, ever thematically analysed a French silent film, cried at an art game, or picketed a Gamestop, halt thy clicking finger, lest thy eyes roll so hard they eject from their very sockets. This isn’t buried treasure, it’s a shiny penny atop the sands, lying in wait until it is spirited away by a pea-brained magpie.
Super Ninja Hunter Ancient Civ Edition by JW, 1.82 MB
(Click the ”Download Now” button under “Play Offline” on bottom right.)
Hello! I’m the high score whore that Mr. Podunkian had been warning you about. Now Pug Fugly (real name Chris Roper, but don’t tell anyone) has a new game out, titled The Hordes. If you’re as old as he is, then you’d probably remember credit-guzzling games like Galaxians and Space Invaders. You’d also recognize that the same ship from Namco’s arcade shooter makes an appearance here, but with a new lick of paint and maneuverability that wasn’t found in the original.
Here’s how the game works: you shoot aliens for points, and blow up larger aliens for power-ups. Grab the collectibles to upgrade your weapon and increase the difficulty level of the next enemy wave. Repeat this for massive points. But, hey! Don’t let upgrades go uncollected, or your weapon will “power-down” automatically. If you last three minutes out there in space then you might make it into the top ten. If not, stick to WoW instead.
The Hordes by Pug Fugly, 1.51 MB