BARBELITH underground
 

Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.


Underground > Games & Gameplay >

Freeware - New Releases [PICS]

  
  

Page: (1)2

 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
08:30 / 21.06.05
GUNROAR by ABA Games (Kenta Cho)



GAMEPLAY, ETC:

This is Kenta's first abstract shooter to feature obstacles and boats. You move with the cursors or joypad, and holding fire locks you in whichever direction you were moving in, to strafe. Button two fires a bigger shot. ESC exits.

Soothing, hypnotic. Best played drunk or stoned in short bursts.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
10:30 / 21.06.05
Can you tell us something about it - either the play mechanics or your opinion on the game, or something to try and give the thread more substance, Dudley? There's discussion to be had on homebrew games, especially Cho's - want to start it off?
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
11:12 / 21.06.05
OK, gonna mod the title to "new freeware releases", since there's room for a thread that just gives people a heads-up for when the new stuff hits.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
23:50 / 21.06.05
That's much better than his previous game, I must say. Torus Trooper's fun, but it's strangely unrefined - the scoring system is dead basic, bullet dodging is more a matter of luck than judgement or skill (and can be performed almost without fail by constantly flicking between left and right on the pad whenever you get yourself into trouble) and the wireframe tunnel either chugs or creates the impression of chugging. It's also a fairly good indication that a tunnel-based bullet hell shooter isn't a hybrid that can ever work very well - you don't need the extra hassle of trying to work out perspective and how far away bullets are when you're also concentrating on your own craft's hit box and deal with slowdown.

This, though, I like. I like a lot. It's back to proper Cho shooter style - the first time you play it you're knocked back by the sheer amount of shit flying around the screen, the second time, you suddenly figure out the trick to getting high scores and it all falls into place. The multiplier at the top right of the screen increases throughout the levels, up until you get to the boss, when it starts to count down. To make it increase at a faster rate, and so give yourself a better chance of having a decent multiplier when you defeat a boss, you need to force the screen to scroll faster by pushing your ship up to the top border.

Such a great idea - I've never seen it used before and you can totally abuse it. Keep your ship right up the top of the screen until you get a x200 multiplier, then destroy one craft. Major pointage. Doing so seems to cancel out bosses, though - I guess there must be something like a check on how many enemies you've destroyed by the point in the level where the boss should normally appear - so there must also be limits to how much you can use it and still get a decent score, because there are major points to be had on bosses normally anyway.

Each enemy craft also has its own multiplier, based on how many of its sections/turrets you've destroyed before the whole thing goes down.

That power shot's wasted right now. Expect that to change when ver. 0.2 drops.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
00:11 / 22.06.05
Oh, hang on. There's a counter at the top left of the screen that makrs the time left until the next boss. My bad. Also, the power shot's probably intended to be used to take out all turrets on an enemy before destroying its core, as the standard shot is too wide for precision targetting. The way that shooting locks your direction makes this more difficult than it should be, though. Does it support analogue movement? That'd sort the problem out.
 
 
Char Aina
08:20 / 22.06.05
cannae get it open.
it says i need OpenGL.
what is that?
more importantly, where?
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
09:59 / 22.06.05
Do you have a video card that supports it? This could be a problem.
 
 
Char Aina
10:37 / 22.06.05
its not my PC and i dont know how to check.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
11:14 / 22.06.05
If you're using Windows, it's My Computer> View System Information> Hardware> Device Manager. Expand the 'Display adapters' option in the list and it'll tell you what graphics card/s you've got installed.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:02 / 22.06.05
Okay, I'm going to stick up some links to and posts about a few older freeware shmups here some obvious and some, hopefully, not. The first few are older posts from elsewhere, so apologies in advance to those people who've already read them.

We should be able to build this thread up into a repository of links and information. Again, a few of us are undoubtedly going to know about these games already, but I'd like this forum to be as inclusive as possible and it's more than likely that most 'Lithers aren't yet aware of them.

First up, then, is the completely abstract and utterly beautiful Noiz2sa. Kenta Cho is increasingly recognised as a godlike figure in the homebrew scene, purely because of the games he's produced up until now. Noiz2sa forms part of a trilogy of releases, the other two parts being the equally impressive Parsec47 and rRootage (both of which we'll return to at a later date).



For me, though, this is the best of the three. Where the other two follow a traditional shmup structure of leading the player through a number of levels in order, each of the ten on offer exists independantly of the others - you just pick the one you want to score attack. The game's visual beauty is in its simplicity. Enemies are all made up of basic squares. You're a red dot in the middle of a spinning cage of green lines. The backgrounds (such as they are) are abstract, repetitive wireframes. It's purposefully clinical, the lack of pointless extraneous detail allowing you to put all of your focus where it's required.

Gameplay is also basic. Shoot. Don't get shot. No smart bombs, no alternate modes of fire, nothing. Just fire and move, fire and move. A second button allows you to slow your ship's movement to a crawl, making for more precise movement. Newcomers to the genre might see it as a strange addition - surely in a screen that full of bullets you at least want speed on your side? - but there are moments where that increased level of precision is essential.

Your ship's hit box (the bit that's susceptible to enemy fire) is only as large as the red square inside the spinning green lattice. Even when an enemy shot passes over the hit box, you may still be saved from death - if one of the green lines is over the hit box to any degree, the shot will pass through without causing you damage. Only when the hit box is completely out in the open is it in danger.

And what danger. While all the other visual elements that go together to make the game are simple and austere, the enemy shot patterns that come your way are anything but. The secret to 'bullet curtain' games is to keep moving. Never stay in one place for too long unless you're bullet hoarding (the practice of staying in a certain section of the screen in order to lure enemy shots towards you, creating a clear space elsewhere, then moving into that clear space and taking advantage of the few moments respite it gives you). Never panic - if you see a gap that you think you might just about be able to get through, any gap at all, go for it. You'll often surprise yourself.

Destroy an enemy and it'll leave behind a group of smaller green squares. These are bonus points - move your avatar over them and your score will increase. A nice little touch here is that your avatar acts as a point of gravity for these green squares, meaning that you can try and keep them on screen if you can't quite get to pick them up yet.

Noiz2sa's intentions are clear. 'Endless' modes of differing difficulty reinforce the message that this is a game all about the score. Each of the ten levels is broken down into sub-stages, and while you're playing your previous best score for that sub-stage is diplayed on the right of the screen, with the difference between that and your current run shown next to it. It's also a brilliant way of training yourself up in the most basic discipline needed to tackle the best of today's commercially-available console and arcade shooters: bullet dodging.

The music is excellent and entirely fitting for the game. A bit of a shame that there are only the five tracks (level six having the same music as level one, and so on), but that's a very, *very* minor complaint. Not even a complaint, really. Turn it up loud - it's yet another addition to the game that pulls you even further into the screen, hypnotising you into the near-mythical gaming 'zone'.

If you're having trouble, keep at it. You *will* be overwhelmed at first. Bullet curtain shooters are all about concentration - I'm sure they're great experiences when you're hepped up on goofballs, but that's not how they're really meant to be played. Practice. Don't panic. Let yourself become one with the game, young apprentice. And all that stuff.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:08 / 22.06.05
Now, Noiz2sa might not be the best place for, ahem, teh n00bs to introduce themselves to shooters. For some reason, newcomers to games have difficulty seeing that kind of basic, pure gaming experience as anything special, especially when they perceive its visuals to be bland. Look at how Rez bombed at retail - you can put some of the blame for that on the increasing ineptitude of Sega's marketing department, of course, but a greater part of the blame has to rest with the visual design of the game itself. It spoke to me as a gamer, because it harks back to the days of green-on-black wireframe games (the original Star Wars arcade cab, for example), but I can understand why it leaves some people who don't have that sense of history cold. It also worked well as an example of how videogames can push artistic boundaries, but the very fact that it was a video game meant that those who should have been interested in that aspect of it instead dismissed it out of hand.

And if there's one title that Noiz2sa shares a design aesthetic with, it's Rez.

Which is why I point you now to another of Kenta Cho's little pieces of genius, TUMIKI Fighters.



The world of TF is one made up of a child's bulding bricks. Your aeroplane, enemy fighters, the backgrounds, all share this in common. It's more than just a visual thing, though, and provides the twist that makes the game unique.

Shoot the first enemy. Its front half drops off. Nothing particularly strange there, apart from the words "Catch me!" that suddenly appear. Sure enough, move your 'plane into the part as it falls and they become joined. Destroy the aft-scection of the enemy and that, too, can be added to your own. This can be done with every single enemy you see, eventually providing you with an avatar that can, providing you make it through unharmed, fill the entire screen.

The point of all this? Well, first of all every captured enemy part adds its firepower to your own. Secondly, for every second or so that you manage to keep hold of an enemy part (they disappear when shot) you receive bonus points, the number of points dependant on the size of the part.

The bigger your 'plane, the easier it is for the enemies to hit. Pressing and holding a second button will hide all the additional parts you've gained, preventing them from being damaged, but at a cost. Firstly, the amount of bonus points you gain from extra parts is reduced when they're hidden. Secondly, your movement is slightly restricted (something which, after a little bit of play, you can use to your advantage, as it allows you to attack enemies from above or below). Thirdly, while extra parts act as a shield around your plane (the hit box of which is the one orange square in the centre), when they're hidden they no longer do this. Fourthly, while this button is held you can't add any other parts to your craft, meaning that you have to risk getting some of them shot off if you want to catch a new piece.

It's a very clever mechanic, constantly tempting you with larger and more powerful pieces. The fact that extra bits mean not just more power, but also more points, is the killer.

If Noiz2sa didn't grab you, give this a whirl instead. It's a horizontal scroller, demonstrates an appealing sense of humour (while a lot of shmups give the player of an impending boss encounter with sirens and a large red flashing "WARNING! WARNING! HUGE ENEMY ON RADAR!" notice, TF's bouncy building blocks form the words "WARNING! A HUGE TOY IS APPROACHING!") and just feels altogether more open to knockabout play. The music and sound effects, as in all of Kenta Cho's titles, fit the action perfectly.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:41 / 22.06.05


A bit of a hero of the homebrew scene, Warning Forever. No levels as such, just boss after boss after boss, each one similar to the last, just with more turrets added. You've got two different shots to take them down with. First is a standard, forward-firing laser, second a rotating alternative which you can fire in any direction and/or alter the spread of shots it fires. You've got two buttons - one fires, the other switches between modes.

Nice visual design, all green-on-black wireframe 2D. Sound design follows the same less-is-more ruleset.

You're awarded infinite lives, but every death will rob you of 20 seconds from the Game Over countdown. Score is based on a number of factors, including speed of destruction, destruction chains (taking out adjoining limbs) and the strength of the base unit when destroyed (the central section of the boss - limbs are easiest to destroy when they're only linked to another at one end, but offer fewer points, the base unit is worth huge points if destroyed while still connected to a number of limbs but takes far more punishment before it explodes. Juggle it - do you take the enemy out part by part, giving yourself fewer attacks to dodge and more room for maneuver, or do you go for the big points by concentrating all your fire on the central section from the beginning of the level?).

Oh, and the boss apparently evolves into different forms depending on how you go about destroying it. Not that I've noticed this myself - I still can't get past level 12.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:48 / 22.06.05


Chunky. That's the best way to describe Cho Ren Sha. Chunky graphics, chunky music, chunky sound effects, chunky gameplay. This is shmupping that comes from the 16bit era, with enemy attack waves that need to be memorised if they're to be beaten successfully (and that are actually memorable, which isn't something that you come across all that often) and a simple but smart powerup system. There's one specific enemy type that always releases powerups on defeat - the powerups appear in the form of a spinning collection of three balls, one of which will increase your shot rate and power, one of which will gift you with an extra smart bomb, and a final one which gives you a one-time shield.

And that's about it for game mechanics. The important thing to remember here is that Cho Ren Sha contains more personality and is more likable than pretty much every homebrew shmup around. Its lack of subtlety is part of its winning charm. The background shoots past at a frightening rate, enemies appear on screen with equal speed. Colours are thrown around left, right and centre. It's wonderful.

As with the visuals, so too with the sound. The music is the sort of thing that probably sounds terrible out of the game, fit only for lifts and supermarkets, but is exactly right within it.

Altogether, this is the kind of thing that you thought had died along with the Megadrive - a shooter that leaves you with a huge grin on your face. Happily, you were wrong.

Get ready for sore thumbs, though. The old school sensibilities extend to a lack of autofire.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:53 / 22.06.05


Two warnings: not only does End Effector require a decent PC to get the most out of (although not anything major - my poor old P3 733 struggles a little with certain sections of the game, but it's always playable), it's also a huge download. 80MB - if you're on dial-up, forget it.

Is it worth it? Very much so. Apparently created by the Kyoto University Micro Computer Club, what you're getting for your nomoney (like all the games linked to here, End Effector is completely free) is a shmup that you could justify charging full whack for.

It looks good, for a start. Although the gameplay remains resolutely two-dimensional, everything is created from polygons (bar the bullets, which remain 2D). And, again, it sounds as good as it looks.

Okay, so the first level is disappointing. The visuals look dull - shittybrown sandscape backgrounds are never a good idea - and enemy placement and patterns are equally boring. There's little challenge there and little sign of imagination or flair. Things improve drastically with the arrival of the first boss, the warning screen accompanied by some smart camera direction. The soundtrack really kicks into gear, giving proceedings a sense of the urgent, and everything begins to sparkle.

You're equipped with both a standard shot and a cool black hole-style secondary weapon. Charge this up by holding down your secondary fire button then, with the button still held down, move your ship in the direction you want to fire it off. Let go of the button and the black hole flies off from its point of origin towards whichever direction you indicated. It's a satisfying system, allowing you to destroy enemies sneaking up behind you or those that you missed the first time around. It also allows you to get out of some of the very tight spots the designers put you in - level two sees you surrounded by two tiers of enemy ships moving in a circle around you and use of the black hole weapon here is the only way to get through unscathed (pictured above). At full charge, it flies though most everything it hits (apart from bosses, natch).

One minor complaint (other than the underwhelming start) is that your ship's hit box is poorly defined, making snaking through some of the shot patterns that come your way more difficult than it needs to be. Otherwise, this is an absolutely top-notch shooter, with high production values and a good understanding of how to provide a balanced challenge (the difficulty cure is perfect, letting you get that little bit further each time you play) with an enjoyable and thrilling experience.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:14 / 22.06.05
Durpe, you're my fucking hero. When I have more time on my hands I'll spill what I can remember of (the godlike) Cho Ren Sha 68k's cheat modes.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:25 / 22.06.05
Cave Story



(AKA "Doukutsu Monogatari", "The Story of the Cave")

I haven't so much as nearly finished this yet, but oh, lord. Like Cho Ren Sha 68k, it's kind of a shrine to a much older asthetic. The pixel art is done in a fantastic, consistent manner with the focus on design, so it looks absolutely brilliant, and it'll still look absolutely brilliant in 10 years from now. The music is jolly chipsound, which I like. I can see other people hating it, though.

Anyway. Movement is kind of one part Mario, one part Gunstar Hero and one part Megaman. You're a trooper stuck in a cave, and to escape you have to interact with the inhabitants of such. The people you meet are charmingly scripted and rendered. Upgrades are found in heart tanks (very Mega Man X) and by collecting chips from defeated enemies to level up your weapons. You loose chips from being hit, so you can level up as well as down. So far I have a pistol, a rocket launcher and a fireball. There may be more. Weapons visibly power up depending on which of the three levels you're at. Players can shoot left, right or up, as well as being able to shoot down in mid-jump.

Progression is similar to the recent Castlevanias and Metroids, though not quite - there are still distinct levels, and the automap doesn't tell you how they fit together. Players move between levels via teleports and such.

That's pretty much all I know. Get it, it'll put a big grin on your face.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:26 / 22.06.05
Oh, and the boss apparently evolves into different forms depending on how you go about destroying it. Not that I've noticed this myself - I still can't get past level 12.

Confirmed. Try shooting just the front, and it'll evolve rock solid forward defenses.
 
 
I'm Rick Jones, bitch
16:31 / 22.06.05
Akuji The Demon



I may have to make some better screen grabs later on. Basically, you're Akuji, and you used to rule this land Castlevania style until the resident Belmont analog sealed you away in a maze. Now, as a cute little imp, you have to find your sealed powers, escape and get revenge.

There isn't much to say about this one. It's traditional, will appeal to fans of Mario and Castlevania alike, has incredible design and fucking annoying BGM. Get this one, too.
 
 
Yoz
11:51 / 04.07.05
Star Wars: Battle of Yavin (look on the left nav - bloody frames)



In summary: a more complex version of the classic Star Wars arcade machine. For something mostly written in Visual Basic, it's remarkably good. Okay, the graphics are little more than functional, but they do the job.

Firstly, there's the thrill of a really busy space battle - in the thick of it you'll have at least 70 or 80 fighters flying around in a not-terribly-big space. It's pretty fast (on my Nvidia 5200, anyway, and that's a four-year-old card) and pretty hard. The battles are a lot of fun.

After playing a little while and wondering why you can't get past the third level, you realise that there's some strategy required too - if you don't look after your AI team-mates, you won't have the combined strength to make it through.

I managed to finally destroy the Death Star after about three days of trying, and boy was it satisfying. And after that there's the Battle Of Endor (which I haven't downloaded yet)

Key tip: use the 4-way fire mode. It's slow, but you'll get rid of the most TIEs with it.
 
 
admiral sausage
09:59 / 02.10.05
Havent tried this (Ive got a Mac) a shoot'em up where the baddies are made out of nekked ladies. Let me know if it is any good ?



Looks kind of horrible

http://akiragoya.sakura.ne.jp/game/hellbound_01/
 
 
Spatula Clarke
14:20 / 06.10.05
It's not actually too bad. Nekked ladies don't feature to quite the extent that the screenshot suggests.

Uses a similar scoring system to a lot of the vertical-scrolling freeware shoot 'em ups, where destruction of an emey turns any of its bullets that may be knocking about the screen into points-friendly pickups.

Also has a nice shield system that you have to use to get through the bosses. Holding down the fire button activates autofire. If you let go of it after a second or so, a shield will surround your character for a split second and turn any bullets that hit it into coins. Means you have to wait for an appropriate moment to let go of fire to kick the shield in and give yourself space to breathe. Also means that you can take risks in the name of score - get into the middle of as many bullets as you can, then let go of fire.

Otherwise, it's fairly simple. Good, but nothing breathtaking. Quite nice Castlevania-style music, if a little forgettable.
 
 
admiral sausage
14:57 / 06.10.05
From the screen shot it looked like the porno alien (err look at its guts !) was firing silicon enhanced milk out of its tits at the ship, which would be bad ?
All this free stuff and I can't use it. Damn you apple mac, I hate you !!! At least Ive got this

http://amigos.amiga.hu/ancientoys/a.html

Free amiga abandon ware. and this

http://mac.the-underdogs.org/

Mac abandon ware
 
 
P. Horus Rhacoid
15:32 / 06.10.05
Fear not, Admiral! OSX versions of most of Cho's games are available here. I can only run Psy-No and a7xpg, but I'm using OS 10.2, so there's a good chance the others will run if you have 10.3.

You can find Noiz2sa, which is my favorite of the lot, here. It tends to slow down when there are large numbers of enemies and bullets on the screen; I'm not sure if that's a problem with my computer or with the actual game port, since it looks like it was done by a fan. Anyhow, enjoy.
 
 
Spatula Clarke
15:50 / 06.10.05
The regular version of Noiz2sa has some pretty major slowdown when there's a lot on the screen.

I hadn't even noticed the porno alien breast milk weirdness before you mentioned it, admiral. Hellbound's biggest problem is that it's way too easy to destroy everything, bar the bosses, before it's even made its way onto the screen. There could be all manner of naughtiness going on and you just wouldn't see it - it'll have exploded in a shower of guts as soon as it's shown the tip of its nose.
 
 
P. Horus Rhacoid
15:57 / 06.10.05
AAAH! Crystal Quest! Spectre! Fuckin' Radical Castle! That Mac abandonware site practically contains my entire childhood. Thank you, Admiral. Thank you very much.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
20:20 / 23.10.05
Anybody know how to download that Hellbound game? The page is in Japanese and I can't talk to real g...um.
 
 
All Acting Regiment
20:47 / 23.10.05
Just downloaded it. Wow.
 
 
akira
12:15 / 09.03.06
PlasmaPong, an update on the origonal where you can suck the ball towards your paddle an fire it, or shoot waves of plasma to slow the ball down.

Im gonna give this game a 10 rating, as in played it for about 10 minuites.
 
 
ORA ORA ORA ORAAAA!!
03:01 / 11.03.06
I've been playing The New Satan Sam for pc recently, and though it is hard, it is also very good.

Similar to cave story, but with a bit more of a shmuppy feel, though I can't really explain why.




It plays fast and furious, except when you're killing ten enemies a second with your missile launcher or hadouken, in which case my laptop (celeron 1.4ghz, crap onboard videocard) slows down quite a bit. All sorts of powers, many levels, good times.
 
 
bjrn
20:41 / 12.04.06
Baz Auckland asked for free strategy games here, replying in this thread because this is the "real" free games thread. Just a quick list of a few free strategy games:

  • FreeCiv is a free version of the well known turn based series. It's been quite a while since I played either a pay version of FreeCiv, but I think it's closest to CivII or III.
  • The Battle for Wesnoth is also a turn based game, but it's set in a medival/fantasy setting, and you move around your units taking over castles, monastaries and such. Quite nice.
  • S.W.I.N.E. is a real-time strategy game. But instead of normal units, it has pigs and rabbits with silly accents, otherwise it's very much a mordern-setting RTS.
  • NERO is perhaps not really a strategy game, but it has soldiers and a top-down view, and that's pretty close! NERO is a bit special, because instead of having units and telling them what to do, you get totally useless units, which you get to (have to) train so that they can learn to find their way in a maze, find enemies, and kill enemies (without getting killed themselves). It's quite neat, but not really a game you quickly play a bit with.
  
 
Baz Auckland
22:53 / 12.04.06
Thanks! That's exactly what I was looking for!
 
 
P. Horus Rhacoid
18:37 / 24.05.06
This is hardly new, but Bungie has released all three Marathon games for free download. You can find them yonder. I'm not sure how it works on PC, but I'm running a Mac with OSX and no Classic support, and I also had to download Aleph1... make a copy and stick it in the same folder with the game files of whichever game you want to play and open it (Aleph1), not the game file.

I've been playing 2 a lot. It rules. The Videodrome soundtrack makes it way creepier and way more awesome.
 
 
iamus
20:01 / 24.05.06
2 is the best of the lot. I love that game. going back to 1 is a bit crude after playing it, and 3 is exactly the same engine, with some new textures and a new gun. It does some clever little tricks with narrative, through level structure and whatnot, but really, 2's the daddy.

Aleph One is a great application, as well as providing Windows functionality, it upgrades the game engine, allowing for hundreds of enemies onscreen at once and much more complex maps.

I keep wishing they'd add gamepad support to Aleph 1, but nothing as of yet.
 
 
MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!
11:49 / 28.05.07
I have been totally absorbed by the Battle for Wesnoth for the last couple of days. It's fantastic old-school RPG/tactics, with just enough depth to keep me interested but just dumb enough to be fun (I like strategy games, but anything that gets to eight or nine factors per unit per terrain square just gets too complex for me to handle).
 
 
lekvar
00:47 / 30.05.07
If you're jonesing for a fix of that hot Battlestar Galactica action now that Season Three is over, check out Beond the Red Line. Built on the Freespace 2 engine, you get to strap yourself into a Viper or Raptor and engage Cylons while saving the wretched remnants of the Human race.

Hop to it, Nugget!
 
  

Page: (1)2

 
  
Add Your Reply