Top ten games you've never heard of.

[Blue-ninja]

All right, this was on the GameInformer magazine a while back...issue #156 if you want to know. Anyways, I'll just copy it off the page and put it here for open discussion and criticism on some of the games listed.
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1 SOLDAT

www.soldat.pl

Developed by Michal Marcinkowski when he was still in high school, Soldat (released on the net in 2002) has consistently been one of the most popular freeware titles on the Internet. After playing the game for about five minutes, you'll quickly understand why: it's damn fun. Marcinkowski's basic premise was to take simple, 2D Worms-influenced level designs and gameplay, then infuse it with a greater degree of control and multiplayer modes from popular FPS series like Quake. After a quick bout of zooming around the levels via jetpack and unloading massive firepower on your foes, we guarantee you'll be hooked. For hardcores, there are numerous Soldat clans, mods, and forums, all easily found via Google or the Soldat home page.


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2 FACADE

www.interactivestory.net

While some games, like Soldat, are happy to provide us with nothing more killer gameplay, the experimental side of freeware community is well represented by Facade, an "interactive drama" created by AI researchers at the upstart company Procedural Arts. The game places the player at the center of a story about Trip and Grace, two disaffected friends whose marriage and urbane life distintegrates before your very eyes during the course of a dinner engagement in their upscale apartment. By typing in dialogue and using the mouse to interact with objects in the environment, you will eventually be forced to choose sides in the conflict and ultimately help determine the couple's fate. In gaming, where "adult" usually means Kojima's convoluted dialogue or GTA's prankish lad humor, Facade is shockingly well written and more than a little depressing. Not "fun" excactly, but a real revelation to anyone interested in just how emotionally gripping interactive media can be. Deservedly, Facade won the Grand Jury prize at the recent Slamdance festival.


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3 OCULAR INK

www.pistachioproductions.com

If you're sick of cliched game characters like soldiers, we've got a hero for you! Ocular Ink details the adventure of a detached eyeball armed with a paintbrush. While strange, the title features gameplay that manages to be innovative yet intuitive at the same time. While rolling your eyeball through top-down levels, you use the mouse to manipulate the paintbrush, which can fling objects and enemies in the environment by painting lines on the ground. Needless to say, the action quickly ramps up to a sublime level of chaos. Ocular Ink also displays a finely crafted, cel-shaded look and humorous dialogue. Of the more "experimental" games we've checked out, Ocular Ink is the most ready to make the leap into the realm of commercially released products, and would be a great fit for the DS.


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4 RUNESCAPE

www.runescape.com

A java-based MMORPG that operates on most Internet browsers, Runescape is an extremely long-running and successful shareware game. Recently, the amount of live players on Runescape eclisped the 185,000 mark -- a number envied by many commercially released MMOs. Originally released as 2D/3D sprite-based title, Runescape is now in full 3D, and offers such amenities as full camera control, friends and ignore lists, and a wide array of items, skills, and quests. Considering the amount of features and content available, along with the fact that it's exclusively browser-based, Runescape is one of the most impressive feats of programming ever. It's certainly not the most refined MMO, and the visuals are more Ultima than World of Warcraft, but it does provide most of the basics of the genre in suitable form. If you've been skeptical of the genre, Runescape is a great, no-cost opportunity to get your feet wet in online questing without shelling out a hefty sticker price and subscription fee. If you become hooked, a fuller-featured version of the game is available for the reasonable price of $5 a month.


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5 NARBACULAR DROP

www.nuclearmonkeysoftware.com

Don't judge Narbacular Drop by the screenshots (or its unwieldy name). What appears to be a slightly shabby looking platformer is actually one of the most creative action/puzzle games we've seen in ages. Developed by Nuclear Monkey Software and recently featured at the Slamdance festival, Narbacular Drop, like most great puzzle games, makes use of a concept that's both simple and incredibly deep. Here's the gist: you can place one blue and one red red gate almost anywhere in the environment.  When you walk into one, you will instantly walk out of the other one. By using this principle, you must navigate the main character through a series of increasingly complex 3D levels. It takes a while to understand just how this concept works in the game world, but once you get the hang of it, it's completely engrossing and impressibe in how much it changes the way you think about navigating the environments. You simply must experience the first time you see yourself going into one gate and coming out of the other side-by-side. Remember those pictures of a man watching a television broadcasting a picture of him watching television? Kind of like that, man...trippy.


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6 CLOUD

www.thatcloudgame.com

Created by students at USC's new, state-of-the-art Interactive Media Lab, Cloud is another game from the more esoteric fringe of the freeware universe. Interestingly, it's almost completely at odds with the current climate of video games, generating a mood that's at once calming and dreamlike, at the same time getting across a subtle message of ecological consciousness. This zen-like atmosphere is greatly enchanced by a gorgeous and meditative musical score. In terms of gameplay, it's a bit like a more diffuse, abstract Katamari Damacy -- you fly through the air, gathering up groups of clouds, internalizing them, then using them to form shapes in the sky. Although at times it feels more like an "experience" than a proper game, it's definetly something you owe it to yourself to investigate. Along with Facade, Cloud seems to point to a bright future for games, one that will be filled with a range of emotions far beyond what most commercial titles are capable of invoking.


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7 N

www.harveycartel.org/metanet

Not surpisingly, given the budget and personnel restraints that many upstart developers operate under, many of these titles take inspiration from old-school PC and arcade titles. One such is N, which is a clever and surprisingly addictive amalgamation of Lode Runner and Pac-Man, with some moder-day character control, animation, and physics modeling thrown in to make this game feel like much more than just the sum of its parts.Basically, you control a small stick figure...er...ninja (because, well, it's just cooler if you call it a ninja), and navigate through dozens of single-screen levels outfitted with labryinthine layouts and other extras like switches and jump pads. Along the way to the exit, you most collect as many small Pac-Man style pellets as possible. N is timeless fun, simple and well-crafted.


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8 STREET BIKE FURY

www.s64games.com

Eschewing the high-brow, philosophical bent of some of the student-created freeware games, Street Bike Fury is a product of the underground, homebrew development scene, and packed with loud, rude, and over the top thrills. Created by scene veteran Shawn Noel, Street Bike Fury was recently released to rave reviews on the popular freeware site Acid Play (www.acid-play.com). Bascially, it's simple and fast destruction. The game places you on a high-powered motorcyle, then sends you careening through a series of side-scrolling levels as you shoot down everything in sight. Using the mouse for aiming and the WASD keys for bike control, you'll set of a number of massive explosions and even trigger impressive scripted events. The environments, which are rendered through unique,  comic-book inspired visuals, are highly destructible.


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9 EPOCH STAR

www.epochstar.com

Epoch Star is an example of a game that, while not really pushing any left-field concepts, or truly innovative gameplay, managed to succeed by sheer craftsmanship and attention to detail in a genre that's largely been left by the wayside in gaming: A 2D, top-down space shooter in the vein of Asteriods or Star Control. It's pretty simple; you traverse through multiple galaxies by way of warps, using your mouse to target various enemy ships, and other dangers like asteriods. It's good fun, bit tje real addiction comes by way of the game's very robust upgrade and economics systems. When you dock at various space stations, you'll be able to buy new ships, engines, power-ups, and weapons. Overall, Epoch Star features a level of customization that rivals many currently released commercial products.


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10 STINKOMAN 20X6

www.homestarrunner.com/games

While many freeware games are overtly attempting to push the art of game design forward, Stinkoman, which runs on most browsers, instead looks back to the heyday of NES-era side-scrolling platformers like Mega Man and its ilk. Hosted by the popular Homestar Runner site, Stinkoman displays that site's goofy sense of humor. This is most evident in its dialogue, which is a satirical tribute to the often grammar-mangling Japanese-to-English dialogue translations of many popular 8-bit titles --  one example being the "Keep Try!" message that appears on the game over screen, Sure, the control won't put Super Mario Bros. 3 to shame, but it's quite entertaining, filled with funny characters and the requiste visual non-sequitors. It's definetly a good way to while a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, especially for those of us who grew up in the NES era.


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[SadistAtHeart]

Facade was hilarious, I loved breaking my own "Get kicked out really fast" records.

[Spyder]

Runescape in top 10? You kidding me rite?

[BondJamesBond]

I do believe this is incredibly old. Maybe. I could be wrong. But I don't think I am.

[bja888]

I do believe this is incredibly old. Maybe. I could be wrong. But I don't think I am.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Blue-ninja]

All right, I finished the list, and added small screenshot images.

This list was made in that said issue in April 2006.

[Svirin Kerath]

Hahah! Stinkoman.. i need to play that again.

[echo_trail]

That cloud thingy seesm pretty cool.. I'm definitely trying that out when I get home!

[InuYasha]

OMFG THEY FORGOT MAPLESTORY!!!! NOOOO!!

[Tallacaps]

Cave story?

[echo_trail]

OMFG THEY FORGOT MAPLESTORY!!!! NOOOO!!

Just kill me allready! That game isn't fun at all.. I tried it out once, and frankly it made me feel offended

They could've added EVE though.

[Zero72]

Ah, yes, Facade. I've had some moments with that. I'll have to dig up some logs later.

God I love the music in the Stinkoman game. I wonder if the final level will ever actually come out.

[Dascoo]

Why is Runescape there? Everyone knows about Runescape...

[Henito Kisou]

Strange, no one mentioned Notrium ?
http://www.monkkonen.net/notrium.php

[Rainbow Concussion]

I think Gunbound should be somewhere on that list. Much better than Runescape honestly.

[SDFilm]

They forgot Uplink!

[Kszchroink]

OMFG THEY FORGOT MAPLESTORY!!!! NOOOO!!

Just kill me allready! That game isn't fun at all.. I tried it out once, and frankly it made me feel offended

They could've added EVE though.

You don't find maplestory fun (it isn't fun)... but you like EVE online?

[Blue-ninja]

Why is Runescape there? Everyone knows about Runescape...

GameInformer answered a fan's question about Runescape. As quoted:

It isn't surprising that people who are already a part of the online freeware community are familiar with Runescape. You are correct to point out that the game is fairly high-profile among those "in the know," but there are many gamers out there who rarely venture beyond their controller tethered to a home console. We simply wanted to spotlight those accessible and fun alternative gaming options; the aim of the article wasn't to unearth the most obscure and underground titles on the Internet.

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OMFG THEY FORGOT MAPLESTORY!!!! NOOOO!!

And in the same reply paragraph by GI:

However, we know the list was far from comprehensive, and we received a mound of letters suggesting other games that should have made the final cut. So, if you're craving even more of the unique flavor these games provide. check out one of these recommendations from your fellow GI readers:

Lands of Hope (www.fh02.com)
Gunbound (www.gunbound.net)
Maple Story (www.mapleglobal.com)
Little Fighter 2 (www.lf2.net)
Future Pinball (www.futurepinball.com)
Rubies of Eventide (www.eventide.net)
Astonia 3 (www.astonia.com)
Cyber Nations (www.cybernations.net)
StepMania (www.stepmania.com)

[Dascoo]

Are you kidding me? Everyone in my  elementary school knew about Runescape, and at my brothers school in Toronto it was the same. It was like the new Habbo Hotel.

It's bull  that it's on this list. Especially the number 4 spot.

EDIT: Same with my friend who lived in another province!

[Blue-ninja]

Have you even done programming? Runescape is impressive not by it's graphics and choppy animation, but by a huge inventory of items, skills, and friends list. Plus the fact that's it's browser-based and took a hella programming to do.

So if you've DONE programming before, appreciate the work the JageX team has done, for they aren't really computer programmers with yellow cum-stains on every one of their white shirts.

To put it bluntly, they have done more with the game than you have done with your entire life.

[Dascoo]

You're so   ing pathetic. I didn't even insult Runescape.

I was making my point that RUNESCAPE IS POPULAR! It's stupid to have it on that list.

EDIT: No, Runescape in my opinion is not a good game. It's a crappy game. I'm not going to admire them because they put lots of there time into a crappy game.

NOW ADMIRE ME FOR DRAWING THIS PICTURE, IT TAKES AS MUCH EFFORT AS DESTROYING A GALAXY AND ME DOING THIS IS MORE THEN WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN YOUR LIFETIME

[LtKillroy]

Cave story?

Heck ya.
Gonna go with since this is the top games you've never heard of , and everyone has heard of Runuscape, Runescape fails at yet another thing.
Looks like pretty good games I guess...

[Lord Frunkamunch]

Have you even done programming? Runescape is impressive not by it's graphics and choppy animation, but by a huge inventory of items, skills, and friends list. Plus the fact that's it's browser-based and took a hella programming to do.

So if you've DONE programming before, appreciate the work the JageX team has done, for they aren't really computer programmers with yellow cum-stains on every one of their white shirts.

To put it bluntly, they have done more with the game than you have done with your entire life.

A game that boring isn't worth getting blindly defensive over.

[Blue-ninja]

I thought it was boring too. I'm not defending or anyhing like that. Just trying to fucking destroy the powerpuff girl smilies.

RUNESCAPE IS POPULAR, DAMMIT.  WHY IS THERE A FUCKING 185,000 LOSERS IN THE WORLD THAT PLAYS IT ALMOST EVERY DAY AND ALL THEY GET IS A SHITTY SUBSCRIPTION FEE TO PAY THROUGH ONE NOSTRIL FOR.

I'm done.

I think Cortex Command should be on the list too, but it's still basically a test build, but it's a very promising game because of it's moddability and hilarity.

[Dr. Zombi3]

Why is Runescape there? Everyone knows about Runescape...

agreed, everyone just about knows runescape, and wtf? runescape is in the top 10?

[Espadon]

Can't believe they put up R00nscape yet left out Noctis. Maybe because members of the Noctis community are way too clear-headed for the average audience. *riffles through some Lounge threads*

[BondJamesBond]

For fucks sake I swear I just read three posts in a row all saying the exact same thing. Shut your fucking mouth about Runescape, everyone gets the idea now.

[Carlitos]

They forgot Uplink!

ok so i was playing it when i saw ur post

[a-4-year-old]

runescape makes me want to puke, its an awful game. You want to talk about how its browser based, I don't care. If you waste your programming genius on something that is so hard and so fruitless then you are an idiot.

[Blue-ninja]

Good. Now can we move on? We got Runescape down, what else?

[a-4-year-old]

Cloud is retarded? What the hell is the point?

oh and runescape is like a communist KKK member who uses a mac. Thats how bad it is.

[Graham]

One game that could be on the list is Space Cowboy.... its fun as crap to get into those air battles... only drawback is that the quests are extremely boring. If it wasn't for that I would still be playing.

[Yes]

Why is Runescape there? Everyone knows about Runescape...

Well because of two reasons.
 1. People who think runescape is cool because they have never played any other real multi-player games. When ever I ask those people if they have played a shooting game that they have to download they say "no." Because those people don't know how to install downloaded games and/or because they are sacred they might get a virus if they download it. So they play a online trustworthy game.

2. Because it got boring and it started sucking. So people always wine about runescape.

[InuYasha]

ahh yes, Ever winter knights. Soo old but fun

[Kerrazyeye]

ahh yes, Ever winter knights. Soo old but fun

NeverWinter Nights? Or is it some kind of parody....

Anybody ever heard of Continuum? 2D Space game...10 or so ships, mindless action (but not as fun as soldat IMO)
I played this game a few months ago, I forgot its name, but its a top down, 3D game like soldat, but you roll around in balls....with guns attached......10 or so weapons also...
Both are multiplayer.

[Dr. Zombi3]

ahh yes, Ever winter knights. Soo old but fun

NeverWinter Nights? Or is it some kind of parody....

Anybody ever heard of Continuum? 2D Space game...10 or so ships, mindless action (but not as fun as soldat IMO)
I played this game a few months ago, I forgot its name, but its a top down, 3D game like soldat, but you roll around in balls....with guns attached......10 or so weapons also...
Both are multiplayer.

havent heard of that,
Did anyone play stellar frontier? the game has some history in it, The game was doing fine until some hacker shut down the server. You can still play it on single player though.
heres a screenie:

[InuYasha]

ahh yes, Ever winter knights. Soo old but fun

NeverWinter Nights? Or is it some kind of parody....

Anybody ever heard of Continuum? 2D Space game...10 or so ships, mindless action (but not as fun as soldat IMO)
I played this game a few months ago, I forgot its name, but its a top down, 3D game like soldat, but you roll around in balls....with guns attached......10 or so weapons also...
Both are multiplayer.

Whoops i ment neverwinter knights not everwinter knights. Got mixed up cause i never played it for a long time

[Dascoo]

*snip*

The title is Top ten games you've never heard of, and Runescape is very well known. Also, I got 10 minutes out of Runescape and found it crappy.

[InuYasha]

*snip*

The title is Top ten games you've never heard of, and Runescape is very well known. Also, I got 10 minutes out of Runescape and found it crappy.

Thats because your not a member.

[Kagesha]

*snip*

The title is Top ten games you've never heard of, and Runescape is very well known. Also, I got 10 minutes out of Runescape and found it crappy.

Thats because your not a member.

If he hated it why would he wanna pay money on the shitty game...

[numgun]

-Gunarms
-SilverKnights
-Cave Story (I just finished my first playthrough and I LOVED IT.)
-Cortex Command (Soon will be a commercial game with the same registration thing like in soldat)
-Fraxy (Boss fights are WIN.)
-Warning Forever (Boss fights 2x)
-Knytt Stories (Its so cuuute.)
-Within A Deep Forest
-Knytt
-Soldat

All those above are freeware. Just google them out and go play them : D

[Lord Frunkamunch]

-Fraxy (Boss fights are WIN.)

Holy crap, thanks for pointing this one out. It really deserves to be on that list; I'd never heard of it, and it fuggin ROCKS.

Seriously, anyone who hasn't played this game, download it NOW.

*EDIT* Also, wtf is with that list, no Cave Story...

[Blue-ninja]

Cloud and Ocular Ink were great, but I never got the full experience because of this P.O.S. computer. And that my laptop doesn't have both programs on it already. =[

[LtKillroy]

*EDIT* Also, wtf is with that list, no Cave Story...

Agreed, Cave Story the win.

[Lord Frunkamunch]

If that game were released for the DS I'd buy it even if they added nothing new. I must have died 80+ times beating hell...

And Blue, I have the 2nd crappiest computer I've ever seen* and ocular inc runs fine if you turn the settings alllllllllllllllllllll l l l l l the way down.

*Not counting broken ones

[Kerrazyeye]

Geometry Wars (pc version)
http://gaming.tweaktown.com/reviews/794/geometry_wars_pc_review/index.html

Subspace: Continuum
http://subspace.legendzones.com/screenshots.php