Exotic Trousers - Games

Fantastic Contraption

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:46:59 +0100

This game might seem a little bewildering at first, but stick with it, because Fantastic Contraption is an excellent game.

The game consists of a series of puzzles, all based around trying to get a pink wheel into a pink area of the board by building fantasic contraptions to move it there. Clear as mud? It's very hard to describe, just give it a try. The contraptions, which can be built from materials provided at the top of the screen, follow basic rules of physics, so there is a logic to the whole process.

At the last count there were 21 levels to play, but I believe one of the priorities of the author is for there to be 40 levels. One really great inclusion is that having built a successful contraption, you can then see other people's contraptions for that level, and some of them are truly fantastic!

Vector Tower Defence

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:15:14 +0100

Yet another variant of the Tower Defence game, Vector Tower Defence has some catchy background music, nice graphics (vaguely reminiscent of 80's vector-based arcade games like Asteroids and Battlezone, but more colourful), a variety of maps, and it's not too easy once you get onto the more advanced maps.

Mansion Impossible

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:47:37 +0100

A simple game of the "buy it low, sell it high" type. Mansion Impossible sees you start off with a small amount of cash, the object of the game being to engage in house purchases and sales thus building up enough money to be able to afford the coveted $10 million mansion situated in the rich end of town. Time passes quickly, and you may find it is a number of years before you can attain the object of your desires, you materialistic saddo. I found it enjoyable, anyway.

Ring Pass Not

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:43:20 +0100

Despite the strange name which makes it sound like some kind of anti-laxative, Ring Pass Not is another of these strangely addictive games. Once it's loaded you can, if you wish, click on "Options" and untick the "Music" checkbox to stop the annoying pseudo-medieval background tune.

The game is a puzzle which involves creating a ring by matching paired segments by their colour or shape. As you progress, constraints are applied which make this more difficult, although these can be offset by bonus tools which you accumulate for special arrangements or combinations of colours or shapes.

Shuffle game

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 17:23:43 +0100

Yet another game. I don't go searching for these games, they come to me, honest! Anyway, this one is called Shuffle, and the object is to knock your (computer) opponents' (yellow) balls off the board before he removes your (red) balls. Sounds boring, but it is strangely addictive, and very easy to pick up.

5 Tower Defense games

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:48:15 +0100

These games are a horrendous waste of time, but intriguing and quite satisfying to play. I didn't realise that there were so many variants of this game. I personally have only played Desktop Tower Defence and Flash Element TD. It was Flash Element TD that got me started on these types of games.

Threesome (A puzzle game)

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:01:05 +0000

This game is a classic (apparently). I must admit I've never heard of it before, but it fits vaguely into the category of the fellow who wants to cross the river with a goose, a fox, and some grain, but only has room for one passenger in his boat.

The premise of Threesome is that there are three friends trapped in a building. The doors are operated by pressure plates. The friends must cooperate in order to get out. Written in Flash. Addictive.

Action video games make your eyesight better

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 13:11:56 +0000

Apparently it's true, "action video games" (by which the author means First Person Shoot-em-ups) make your eyesight better.

"Action video game play changes the way our brains process visual information," Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, said. "After just 30 hours, players showed a substantial increase in the spatial resolution of their vision, meaning they could see figures like those on an eye chart more clearly, even when other symbols crowded in."

Now I have a good excuse to finish Doom3 and finally get around to buying Quake 4.

Commander Keen online!

nospam@example.com (Rob) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 14:00:43 +0000

Those of you who remember the old DOS classic Commander Keen (made by ID Software, yes, the ID Software) will rejoice to hear that you can now the play the game online, as a flash game.

I was also amazed to discover that there is a dedicated Command Keen fan site, with just about everything you can imagine regarding the game available, from instructions on how to install and play the orginal game on Windows XP, to clips of music from the game.