platformer posts

Trine is great, sure, but judging by the trailers, Trine 2 looks to be way better. This particular trailer shows off some of the new puzzles and elements to the indie platformer, and we're loving the aesthetic it brings to them. Our personal favorite is watering a plant to cause a giant snail to move out of the way. It's all very charming, soft, and storybook-like, which is all we can really ask for. This trailer is also almost entirely in-game footage as well!

Download Trine 2 'Alluring Adventure' Trailer
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Sometimes, the best game is the one that is so incredibly simple that you wish you had thought of it yourself. Rocky Memphis is such a game. It has plenty in common with gravity-defying platform VVVVVV, but not because it follows the same mechanics. Rather, Rocky Memphis follows strict platforming rules almost to the letter. What makes it great is the plethora of areas to explore, the excellently-done retro sprites, and the perfectly tuned difficulty that keeps you playing for just one more room. It's not exactly the most replayable game, but it doesn't have to be, and it knows it.

Contrary to popular belief, Super Meat Boy is not a hard game. Rather, it is a challenging one. A game where missteps are punished with a light slap on the wrist. A game where, if you blow it, it's alright, since the last checkpoint was only a few seconds ago anyway. It's definitely a game with a lot of difficulty, but it misses that key definition of "hard" that makes people so frustrated. In the process, it becomes one of the best independent games we've ever played. In fact, it's better than most mainstream games. Slick level design, a relatively smooth difficulty curve, excellent 2D graphics, and plenty of secrets and bonuses make Super Meat Boy a must buy. You can spend hours, or even just minutes, on this game and feel like you have gotten somewhere.

This is the playable demo for A.R.E.S.: Extinction Agenda, a retro style side-scrolling action platformer where you play as Ares, a combat robot created for the sole purpose of saving humanity. Continue reading after the jump for system requirements.

Note: To avoid potential problems, users must first uninstall the demo and delete its profile before installing the full game.

"You are Ares, the first Zytron immune robot. A symbol of how far human technology has come, you are the most advanced robot in existence; built to run faster, jump higher, and fire quicker. In addition to these core attributes, your design includes a system for converting spare parts and resources into valuable items, armor, and weaponry. You will need to use everything at your disposal in order to reach and rescue the survivors aboard the Zytron infected space station."

Download ARES: Extinction Agenda Demo (114 MB)

Most indie games has a semblance of normality about them. The ones that don't, like the games from Cactus, are usually done in such a way that they have their own internal, game-like logic. Dadaists Gone Wild takes this notion and throws it clear out the window. Combining surreal, disturbing imagery with a pastiche of amateur game making, it's a hilarious (and ultimately very playable) game that pokes fun at the sort of art games that the indie community has come to love.

You play as a photographer sent to an island in order to photograph beautiful girls. Unfortunately, rather than being girls gone wild, this happened to be dadists gone wild, and as such he is subjected to a strange, frightening, and ultimately funny world. The rules of logic and physics are bent and broken regularly, floating eyes judge his every move, and he comes into contact with everything from floating static to the personification of Death. All in all, though, it's mostly just a platformer that satirizes the art house crowd, and it does a good job while still maintaining playability. You can download it from the developer's website, and beating it takes approximately 10-15 minutes.

Trine was one stellar indepedent game, and Trine 2 looks just as good as the first. However, it's not merely going to be a rehash with new levels. It's also including some new gameplay mechanics. The two new ones shown off in this trailer are air currents (which push around the wizard's conjurations) and the knight's projectile reflection. There's also multi-character co-op play, but that's not a new feature, as it was in the original game. The more we see of Trine 2, the more excited we get. The original was pretty fantastic, after all.

Download HD Trine 2 Gameplay Teaser Trailer
Check out all Trine 2 downloads

There's something to be said for complete ridiculousness an unbelievability. After all, many of the most popular games in history, such as Mario, make absolutely no sense except within themselves. Fishbane is one of these kind of games, and it styles itself as a classic platformer-puzzler. It succeeds at this in a spectacular fashion, which makes it one of the better browser games we've played in quite a while.

Fishbane follows the adventures of the titular hero as he seeks out the magical golden harpoons. He does this by riding on harpoons, avoiding instant death zones, collecting goldfish, and popping evil underwater balloons. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, but it doesn't have to. It is both awesome (riding on harpoons, after all) and amazingly polished. After all, you have to both figure out the solution to a puzzle, then put together your route and time it to perfection. It's hard, but a satisfying kind of hard. We expected as much, however, as the developer is the same one behind Probability 0.

Ever feel that a game just doesn't contain enough rainbows? Frozenbyte has got your back. The success of their puzzle-platformer Trine has opened the way for a sequel, which they have dutifully revealed to the public. Some of the most interesting things about Trine 2 are the variety in enemies (more than just skeletons!), the addition of online co-op, and the aforementioned rainbows. 500% more rainbows, in fact. Don't believe us? Check out this excellent trailer, and behold the splendorous colors.

Download HD Trine 2 Teaser Trailer (63MB)
Check out all Trine 2 downloads

This is the playable demo for the interactive physics based platforming adventure game, Max & the Magic Marker. Players take the role of Max, and using his magical magic marker, anything he draws becomes physical objects. Players will be use this tool to overcome different puzzles and challenges. Continue after the jump for the official trailer and system requirements. Max & the Magic Marker is available for purchase now on Steam for both PC and Mac.

"Max is a young boy, and like most boys he loves to draw. One day he gets a mysterious marker in the mail. There is no letter attached – only the plain orange marker. Max decides to test it right away, sits down and starts drawing. He draws a monster but as soon as he finishes the lines on the paper start moving and to Max's great surprise the monster runs off the paper and into another drawing. Stunned Max now sees how the Monster messes around with his drawings. Max realizes that he has to stop the monster. So he draws himself on the same drawing that the monster is in and immediately finds himself inside the drawing."

Download Max & the Magic Marker Demo (37 MB)
Download HD Max & the Magic Marker Trailer (83 MB)

Now this is a rather interesting development. Developer Zombie Cow (the studio behind the stellar indie adventure games starring Ben and Dan) have been commissioned by Channel 4 to create a game about your privates. Specifically, the game seems to be about the danger of unprotected sex and the diseases that can be caught through it. Naturally, Zombie Cow has twisted this into a hilarious satirical perversion called (appropriately) Privates, and that's a good thing.

Playing as a group of condom-hat marines, you must delve into the privates and bottoms of people and blast away at all of the germs and viruses inhabiting them. The game is boasted to be technically accurate, as long as you don't count the marines or germs have teeth, which means that it will be roughly anatomically correct to someone's body. We're sure the game will be educational for those that don't know much about the human anatomy, and hilarious for all players. Release date is currently unannounced, although it is planned for sometime this summer.