Indie | PC Freebies Roundup – 01/04/10

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PC Freebies Roundup

The PC FREEBIES ROUNDUP rises from the ashes as a semi-regular mini-review series. Lewis Denby looks at some of the more notable web games and free downloads of the last while.

The independent development scene is overflowing with talent. But while we try to ensure Resolution covers as many wondrous indie gems as possible, some of the smaller releases – those glorious freebies to be found dotted around the world wide web – inevitibly end up slipping through the net.

That’s why we’ve chosen to reinstate our forgotten PC Freebies Round-Up. There are a few changes to the formula, in that we’re treating these more as reviews now – although it should be made absolutely clear that the scores at the bottom of each one are in no way to be compared to those we award commercial games. But the ideology remains the same. We want to uncover some of the absolute best in amateur game development, and through this semi-regular round-up, we hope to stumble upon a few spellbinding little gems.

The picks this time are varied and eclectic, which I hope is a theme that continues. After all, it seems to reflect the diversity of the indie gaming scene as a whole. There’s a reasonable range of quality displayed by these titles, as is to be expected, but they’re all at least worth a quick look. These developers are working outside the constraints of the industry proper, and precisely because of that, more than one of the games below is truly unmissable. Long may Christine Love and Ken Grafals keep writing games. If we’re especially lucky, and they’re especially selfless, they might even continue to give us them for free.

Onwards, then!

Teleportower

Link
This is a neat and distinctly Japanese puzzle-platformer in which you must navigate your way around a series of mazes and collect a prize at the end of each one. The twist is that reality is split between the left half of the screen and the right, with different obstacles to face on each side, and you’re blessed with the ability to teleport freely between the two. A translucent ghost of your character mirrors your position on the other side, assisting you in not falling to your spike-filled death should you teleport at the wrong moment.

It’s a smart puzzle game that introduces an array of new concepts fluidly, always guiding you gently by the hand until each new feature becomes second nature. That’s perhaps slightly to the detriment of Teleportower’s difficulty level, though, which remains notably low until at least half-way through the game. It took until level 20-something out of 50 for me to be stumped for a solution for more than just a few seconds, with only some fiddly precision-jumping blocking my progress up to that point.

Had it been a little more demanding, Teleportower could have been a gem of a freebie. As it stands, it’s a clever and attractive puzzle game that never quite scratches all the itches. 7/10

Specter Spelunker Shrinks

Link
I think I did a tiny squeak the first time Specter Spelunker Shrinks asked me to… no, I can’t say it. I can’t bring myself to spoil this remarkable little game’s central mechanic, just on the off-chance that you haven’t figured it out from the name, or if you haven’t upsized the screenshot to the right. It’s another puzzle-platformer based around a quirky control gimmick, but it’s one that works so brilliantly and so enchantingly that I can’t believe it’s not been put to use in a more high-profile release.

Though painted in stark black and white, with just your character rendered in blue, it’s a vivid and infinitely joyous little game. Its puzzles are never enormous, but they’re fun diversions among the platforming and make fantastic use of your character’s ability to… nnng, no, still can’t tell you. It’s such a remarkable thing to see in action that I’m genuinely half-tempted to censor the title. I won’t, as I suspect that wouldn’t do it any favours on the search engines, but rest assured you should fire this up knowing as little as possible, in order to come out as delighted as I did. 8/10

Continues…

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