physics posts

You're living at home with your loving wife and two children: a little boy and a little girl. The wife does groceries and cooks you dinner, the little boy loves sports and being mischevious, and the little girl loves her plushies and bedtime stories. It's like a sitcom from the 50s. However, you are being stalked by a Japanese chef who wishes to turn you into sushi. In most cases, this would be the plot to a horror flick (Sushi Slashers 2: Return of Sushi Chef). Here it is different, though: you are actually an octopus pretending to be a human. Thus the plot of Octodad is revealed, and both the story and gameplay lead to it being an incredibly hilarious, albeit short, freeware game.

There are very few videogames that set us on edge through atmosphere rather than startles. Games like FEAR and Resident Evil can be scary, sure, but more because the game suddenly flings things at you rather than creating an oppressive, depressing, degrading setting. Developer Frictional Games tried to do so with Penumbra, and it didn't work out too well, despite Penumbra's status as a great game. Now comes Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and despite its generic-sounding title, it's quite possibly one of the most unique games we have ever played. It utilizes story tropes (such as the titular amnesia), physics-based gameplay, and a disturbing setting to great effect. It's quite possibly the only time we've ever been truly frightened by Lovecraftian fiction, and it serves as a good example of the polish indie developers can put into a game.

Tumbledrop seems to have inspired an entire genre of "shapes with faces" that are popular on the Flash game portals at the moment. Hungry Shapes is yet another one of these games. It's starting to get a little tiresome, but at least the gameplay is solid and the art is clean. We just wish that this trend wasn't so prevalent everywhere we look, and poorly realized in a lot of areas.

Hungry Shapes uses block creation instead of removal as the focus of its gameplay. You have three different colors of blocks, all of which must turn green by the end of the level: green, yellow, and red. Green blocks are sated, yellow blocks require one burger, and red blocks require two burgers. It's used to great effect in the levels, but the game is rather short on official content. Luckily, there is a level creator like so many other casual physics puzzle games have nowadays to extend life.

Physics games are everywhere, and yet we never seem to get tired of them. It's partially due to the fact that most Flash-based physics engines are free, and partially because everybody loves physics! Max Damage is one such physics game. Incorporating simple, cartoony graphics with an interesting premise, it's an addicting and clever take on the genre and easily worth a good playthrough.

Max Damage is all about destroying the household objects. You do this by launching different types of balls out of your cannon at various strengths. These balls include normal cannon balls, bouncy basketballs, or even fireballs. Each type is best suited for certain tasks, and as the levels get tougher, you'll have to manage just which ball is best for which job. It's excellent, but we can't help feeling that there should have been some sort of level editor.

There has to be something ingrained in the human psyche that says "burn things." That is the only explanation for how Pyro II can be so fun. An obvious sequel, Pyro II does not expand greatly in gameplay, but rather in accessiblity. Through finely-tuned physics gameplay that revolves around the mechanic of setting things on fire, it is an absolute blast for any player, casual or hardcore.

Pyro II has you lighting torches through the use of fireballs. This could mean hitting the torch directly with your fireball, or hitting a burnable wooden crate which then sets the torch alight by itself. Every level can be completed with one toss, and doing so unlocks new content to play through. There is also a robust level editor that allows you to share levels through a built-in community browser. It's all the rage with physics-based flash games for a reason, after all.

Everyone wonders about just how cool it would be to knock a golf ball around planets in outer space. If they deny it, well, they are just rejecting their true feelings. Don't worry, they'll come around eventually. Gravitee 2 is an excellent take on this concept, and a vast improvement over the original. Combining gravity, stellar objects, and the fine art of golfing has never been so much fun!

The basis of Gravitee 2 is very simple: Knock a ball in a direction and let the gravity of various stellar objects, such as planets and suns, do the rest. The difficult part comes in the form of the challenges, which include things such as scoring, collecting items, passing through hoops, and your average, everyday golf course (make it into the hole). There's lots of awards and specials to unlock through continual play, which makes it a great coffee break sort of game.

It's always interesting to see how different developers interpret gravity, and Boxgame is one of these games. A unity-based browser game, it doesn't do any of the fancy, complex physics that one might associate with the average Unity game. Rather, it focuses on difficult, cerebral puzzles all based around the basic physical mechanic of gravity. And while it is short, and you can play the levels in any order, it's an absolute blast.

Boxgame takes place on platforms surrounding a transparent box. Gravity is determined on the box according the the edge you are on. This allows the player to travel around the box across platforms in search of the door. It's hard to explain, but easy to understand once you start the game. Then toss in color-matching and key-finding, and you've got Boxgame. There's nothing more to the game than this simple puzzle-platforming, so give it a try!

[Via IndieGames]

Games that mix awesome physics and innovative gameplay are some of the most addicting and entertaining, and that is the focus of Splitter 2. A game comprised entirely of cutting through different kinds of objects, Splitter 2 mixes physics and Incredible Machine-esque contraptions to great effect, especially since it has a level editor and even more people have made such levels!

The goal of Splitter 2 is to simply get your ball to the end of each level, represented by a button. You do this by slicing wood and rope so that physics pushes the ball to your goal. It's a very casual game, which fits, given that it is developed by the Casual Collective. You can play through the given levels, try out other user's levels, or create your own. It's all up to you!

Hammerfall, one of the entries in IGF 2008, has been recently rebranded as Hammerfight. While this doesn't change anything within the actual game, it is accompanied by a new trailer. The trailer is quite good, and shows off the unique gameplay at present in the game. Watch the trailer all the way through for some awesome, bone-crunching action. Some of the things showcased include the control scheme, basics of gameplay, and the story mode.

Hammerfight is a shmup-like game where you control ships with a rather unique array of medieval weaponry. Through use of physical laws such as momentum, you can annihilate all who stand in your way. It's a stunning game as well as a fun one, so definitely keep it on your radar.

[Via TIGSource]

Good physics games involving blowing apart buildings at their structural weak points are always appreciated. This is why Demolition City is such an addicting browser game. It is made by the same guy who did the incredibly fun Crush The Castle, and he applied his demolition know-how to this game as well. After all, who doesn't like explosions and toppling buildings? Nobody, that's who!

Demolition City is an incredibly easy game to learn. You have a limited amount of explosives, which you then place on structural support beams. Any great beam can be placed on, while the black beams can not be damaged by explosives (but can still topple). Knock over the building with your explosives, get it below a certain height, and on some levels, avoid hitting the buildings around it. Fun and simple! It would have been nice to see a building editor that lets players create and share their own levels, but hey, it's still great as is!

[Via IndieGames]