8 Bit Horse: Android

Showing posts with label Android. Show all posts

Contra 4

A game by WayForward for DS, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2007.

Contra 4 is a run and gun shooter that serves as a nostalgia-driven revisit of the NES Contra, while also acting as a direct sequel to Contra III: The Alien Wars on SNES. The game takes place in 2638, two years after the eponymous Alien Wars where Red Falcon was finally defeated by the descendants of the original game’s heroes. (Red Falcon was the primary antagonist in all three canonical Contra games to this point.) But after a short period of peace, the world is once again thrown into chaos when an alien being known as Black Viper descends upon Earth. All seems lost until strange readings are detected near New Zealand on a fictional cluster of islands known as the Galuga Archipelago.

You play as one of four heroes – or two heroes in local 2P co-op – although the differences between them are only cosmetic. You may select one of the heroes from the first two games, Bill Rizer or Lance Bean, or one of the heroes from Contra 3, Mad Dog or Scorpion. By competing objectives in the game’s optional Challenge Mode (which is unlocked when you complete the main game on any difficulty), you can also unlock Probotector from the PAL iterations of the early Contra games, as well as several other heroes from the Contra series, including Lucia, Sheena Etranzi, Jimbo, and Sully.

2007, Android, DS, iOS, Konami, WayForward

GRIS

A game by Nomada Studio for PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2018.

GRIS is an adventure game featuring light platforming and puzzle elements. The game stars the eponymous Gris, a young woman who must overcome pain and grief as her peaceful world suddenly crumbles around her. The game’s wordless story is told mostly through symbolism and begins with Gris waking up in the cracked palm of a giant statue of a woman… one of many such damaged statues she encounters on her journey, many appearing in poses of lament. She begins to sing but quickly becomes unable to find her voice. She slumps to the ground and the statue cracks into pieces, sending her tumbling into the world below.

Once on solid ground, Gris can only move slowly to the left or right, and performing any action causes her to drop to her knees, after which she pulls herself slowly to her feet. The ground beneath her is represented by a thin pencil line, and everything has been drained of color. Gris wears a long grey dress that flows around her as she moves (and makes her visible even when the camera pulls back), and her blue hair stands out as the only bit of color in the world around her.

2018, Android, Devolver Digital, iOS, Mac, Nomada Studio, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Arcane Golf

A game by FromLefcourt for PC, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2018.

Arcane Golf is a physics-based miniature golf game set in a medieval fantasy world. The game features 200 single-screen courses divided across four themed areas – Dank Dungeon, Water Temple, Forest Ruins, and Arcane Lair – each with unique level elements and obstacles. Lessons learned in earlier casual levels are slowly built upon to create more complex spatial puzzle challenges later in the game where expert play and quick reflexes are required.

The player is greeted by a mysterious dry-witted wizard who offers advice on completing levels. This character appears frequently in the early going to tutorialize basic gameplay mechanics, and he pops up as new elements are introduced, making less frequent appearances as the game goes on.

2018, Android, Clickteam, FromLefcourt, iOS, PC, thatgregperkins

Summer Catchers

A game by FaceIT for PC, Mac, Switch, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2019.

Summer Catchers is a lighthearted endless runner-esque road trip game featuring a girl named Chu on a journey to find summer. She grew up in the north where it snows all the time and realizes that she has never seen a beach nor experienced summertime, and so she sets out to find it. As she travels the world, she encounters a colorful cast of characters who help to guide her in the right direction – after she helps them with tasks of their own – and she makes many friends along the way.

Chu’s journey takes her across eight themed areas, from the snowy tundra to windswept plains to lava-filled tunnels to the sandy dunes of a desert. She discovers that there is much more to the world than she ever expected as she meets mysterious creatures and sees strange things off in the distance, and she even faces off against giant bosses, all while puttering along in her handmade vehicle.

2019, Android, FaceIT, iOS, Mac, Noodlecake Studios, PC, Switch

Witcheye

A game by Moon Kid for PC, Switch, iOS, and Android, originally released on mobile in 2019, and released on computers and consoles in 2020.

Witcheye is a retro-style actioner set in a colorful world that is filled with cute but deadly creatures. The wizard Senexis has hired a brave knight to help him gather up the ingredients he needs to create a potion. But rather than embarking on some grand quest to retrieve these items, the knight is instead tasked with stealing them from a witch named Mabel. The wizard promises to reward the knight with great power should he complete his mission.

Meanwhile, Mabel is in her witchey lair, minding her own business, when she decides to whip up a potion of her own. But when she turns her back to the cauldron to gather up the ingredients, the knight sneaks in and opens a huge sack. As Mabel tosses the ingredients (and gems) nonchalantly over her shoulder, the knight catches them in his bag and then runs away. Angry, the witch transforms herself into a giant floating eyeball and gives chase. The player takes on the role of this floating eyeball on a journey through more than 50 levels spread across six themed environments.

2019, 2020, Android, Devolver Digital, iOS, Moon Kid, PC, Switch

BIOMASS

A game by BRAINOS for PC and Android, originally released in 2020.

BIOMASS is a short metroidvania with a unique take on equipment and remaining lives. The game was made as part of a game jam where the theme was "The more you use an action, the worse it will perform." As a result, the player’s weapon, armor, and even the device that created him will wear out with each use. The game takes place aboard a space station that has been overrun by the eponymous biomass, which has apparently escaped the laboratory where it was being studied.

The game begins with a clone being grown in a lab, after which it emerges from the cloning chamber and slumps onto the floor. A message displays reading “Cloning sequence complete. Bioprinter status: 93%” (the percentages vary somewhat for each reprinting), which hints at the fallibility of the device, adding some immediate tension to the experience. There are two doors in the room, but the upper door is stuck, and so you proceed to the right.

2020, Android, BRAINOS, PC

Snake Core

A game by Orangepixel for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2020.

Snake Core is a modern take on the classic Snake formula where players control a lengthy string of soldiers rather than a slithering reptile. The game is set in the same universe and era as the developer’s Gunslugs series, taking place after the Gunslugs have defeated an evil army and defended Earth from alien attack. During this time – and using a bit of alien technology – scientists develop a device called the Omega Gate, which is capable of transporting people and objects over great distances. The Gunslugs train a new military outfit called the Snake Core, which then uses the Omega Gate to teleport to hostile alien worlds and bring the fight to them.

Like Snake, you’re really only controlling the head, while the rest of the body follows along the same route. Crossing over your own path or running into a wall spells instant death, but it’s a bit silly here, since you’re not controlling a single creature but rather a line of (presumably) independently-thinking soldiers. So when the lead soldier walks into a wall and dies, so too do the rest of the soldiers in the line, laughably exploding into blood and skulls as they are mysteriously shredded by bumping into a solid object.

2020, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Orangepixel, PC

Terra Lander / Terra Lander II - Rockslide Rescue / Terra Lander Remastered / Terra Lander Redux

Games by DM Media. Terra Lander is a game for PC, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2015. Terra Lander Remastered / Redux is a game for PC, PS4, and Switch, originally released in 2019. Terra Lander II is a game for PC, PS4, and Switch, originally released in 2020.

Terra Lander is a short series of gravity-based spaceship games where you must manage fuel resources while navigating planetoids, avoiding projectiles, destroying enemy cannons, and safely landing the ship before your fuel – or the timer – runs out. In the second game, the player must also rescue humanoids trapped below the surface, and use a tractor beam to deal with rockslides. Borrowing mechanics and aesthetics from the classics of the genre – including Lunar Lander, Gravitar, Thrust, and Oids – these games are presented in a vector graphics style.

Unlike most genre entries, the player does not control the rotation of the ship, which removes one of the finer nuances of environmental navigation. Instead, the ship sits upright at all times and the player is free to thrust in any direction. In the first game, exhaust is emitted from each side of the ship as the player navigates, but in the second game, the engine thrust only appears from below.

2015, 2019, 2020, Android, DM Media, Funbox Media, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch

Reventure

A game by Pixelatto for PC, Switch, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2019.

Reventure - originally titled Lonk’s Adventure - is a humorous open-world platformer that plays on a number of video gaming tropes and borrows design elements from The Legend of Zelda, as evidenced by the game’s original title. The entire experience is based around the fact that the game offers 100 individual endings and encourages players to experiment extensively to find them all. On its surface, this sounds like one big gimmick (which, to be fair, it is), but there's actually quite a lot of strategy involved in reaching many of these endings.

Things start out in a straightforward manner reminiscent of many classic video games: Evil forces have abducted the fair princess, and you – a lone adventurer – have been chosen by the king to rescue her and bring peace back to the land… except this is no ordinary adventure. In fact, you might walk out your front door, trip over a rock, and faceplant before you ever set foot in the castle, thus ending your adventure and achieving one of the 100 endings.

2019, Android, iOS, PC, Pixelatto, Switch

Tiny Dangerous Dungeons

A game by Adventure Islands for PC, Mac, iOS, and Android, originally released on browsers in 2013, on mobile in 2015, and computers in 2019.

Tiny Dangerous Dungeons is a bite-sized metroidvania with visuals inspired by the greenscale classics of the Game Boy era. The game marks the return of Timmy, a treasure hunter who originally appeared in the developer’s first game, Dangerous Dungeons, and also Super Dangerous Dungeons and Dangerous Christmas. The game is somewhat expanded over its original browser-based release, offering a time trial mode, a new area, and hidden health upgrades.

Timmy begins the game with a very high variable jump and no other abilities. He has no weapons and cannot stomp enemies to defeat them, so he must avoid all enemy contact in the early going. The entire game takes place within a set of ruins, with enemies taking the form of bats, spiders, hopping and non-hopping frogs, and the occasional arrow-firing face-in-the-wall (because video games).

2019, Adventure Islands, Android, iOS, Mac, PC

Sun Wukong vs Robot

A game by Bitca Games for PC, Mac, Android, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, originally released in 2019.

Sun Wukong vs Robot (a.k.a. 孙悟空大战机器金刚) is an open world action-platformer starring Sun Wukong and set in a sci-fi world of robots. Sun Wukong is the Monkey King of Chinese legend and is known from the classic novel Journey to the West, and he has featured in numerous tales since that time, as well as adaptations into modern media. The legendary Monkey King is known to carry a heavy rod that he uses to fight his enemies, along with an incredible cloud jump that allows him to reach great heights, and the ability to pluck his hairs to turn them into weapons or copies of himself.

The game begins with a smooth and stylish scanline-laden cinematic introducing Wukong as he does battle with four robots, which acts as a preview for the action ahead. Here, Wukong smashes robots with his staff, blasts them with lasers from his eyes, makes copies of himself that somersault into the air, and spews green smoke from a magic gourd. Ultimately, he is defeated by the robots and imprisoned in a glass capsule where he remains for 500 years… referring to the 500 years that the legendary hero spent imprisoned under a mountain in Journey to the West.

2019, Android, Bitca Games, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Ratalaika Games, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Dead Cells

A game by Motion Twin for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2018.

Dead Cells is a roguelike actioner with metroidvania elements which stars a glob of sludge that is excreted into a room that contains a headless body. The nameless bit of muck rolls over to the body and transforms to become its head, imbuing it with life. Each death destroys the player’s current body, resulting in the vomitus mass respawning and reanimating another headless corpse, as the surrounding dungeon layouts are rearranged, per roguelike conventions.

The player is given little context for his actions. On rare occasions, the player finds a room that allows him to investigate and learn a few small details about what happened there (with an occasional reward for doing so), but this does not form into a larger narrative. Beyond these special rooms, the player encounters a few NPC’s that offer quips but are otherwise in place to serve specific gameplay functions. The protagonist expresses himself solely with exaggerated gestures.

2018, Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Motion Twin, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Minit

A game by Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio, and Dominik Johann for PC, Mac, Linux, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, and Android originally released in 2018.

Minit is an open world action adventure that is played out in 60 second increments. You take on the role of a plucky duck-faced (or perhaps just big-lipped) fellow as he travels through a 1-bit black and white world. Early in his adventure… like a few seconds in, he discovers a sword lying on the beach. As it turns out, the sword is cursed, and picking it up causes a 60-second countdown timer to appear, which begins ticking downward. In the last few seconds, a countdown alarm sounds, and when time runs out, the player character lets out a gasp and drops dead.

Fortunately, this is not the end for our hero, as he awakens back in his home, but he still has the cursed sword in his possession, and he still has only 60 seconds to live. He sets out once more, and with sword in hand, he is now able to do things that he couldn’t do before, such as kill wandering crabs and cut through shrubberies that formerly blocked his path. He is able to attack in four directions.

2018, Android, Devolver Digital, Dominik Johann, iOS, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio, Kitty Calis, Linux, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One

Necrosphere / Necrosphere Deluxe

A game by Cat Nigiri for PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, Vita, Xbox One, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2017, with the Deluxe version released in 2019.

In Necrosphere, you play the role Terry Cooper, some sort of agent who is killed during an ambush, and his spirit (or whatever) passes into the Necrosphere. Fortunately, his partners in the real world manage to survive have somehow found a way to slip little helpful notes into the Necrosphere to aid him on his quest… which is to find an exit and return to the Normalsphere. In order to do this, he’ll need to complete some tough platforming challenges and earn powerups that allow him to explore additional routes, metroidvania style.

According to Terry's still-living friends, the Necrosphere is the size of Earth, and he’ll have an eternity to explore and find the exit, which is rumored to have been permanently sealed. Fortunately, the game world is considerably less than the size of an entire planet, and level designs are somewhat straightforward, so the player won’t spend much time wandering aimlessly.

2017, Android, Cat Nigiri, iOS, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita, Xbox One

RunGunJumpGun / ATOMIK: RunGunJumpGun

A game by ThirtyThree Games for PC, Mac, Switch, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2016.

Few game titles are as accurately descriptive as RunGunJumpGun (a.k.a. ATOMIK: RunGunJumpGun), a game that is comprised solely of running and gunning and jumping (and gunning). You play the role of a scavenger who has come to the Extax solar system to hunt for precious resources known as Atomiks. The Extax System’s sun is expanding and swallowing up the planets, and the remaining citizens have gone into a full-on apoca-panic, with numerous conspiracy theories being floated that the sun’s expansion is not natural… maybe it has something to do with the planet’s warlords, or the scavenger himself, or maybe the scavenger is their only hope for survival.

RunGunJumpGun is an auto-scrolling game with only two buttons for control, but it is a far cry from the glut of uninspired auto-runners that hit the market following the success of Canabalt. RunGunJumpGun manages to do a lot with its basic configuration, continuously opening up new obstacles and new types of challenges across 120 short levels, most of which last around 10 or 20 seconds.

2016, Android, Gambitious Digital Entertainment, iOS, Mac, PC, Switch, ThirtyThree Games

Saving Princess

A game by BRAINOS for PC, Android, and iOS, originally released in 2016.

Saving Princess is a nonlinear action platformer starring Portia Crane, an Asset Recovery Specialist. All the player knows about her mission is in the text that appears in the pre-title sequence, which states: IF THEY GET PRINCESS, THE WAR IS LOST. IT'S UP TO YOU. There are apparently a few nefarious bounty hunters who have received a similar objective – including a space ninja – and Portia must face off against them on her quest, along with a number of mechanical beasties.

2016, Android, BRAINOS, iOS, PC

Downwell

A game by Moppin for PC, PS4, Vita, Swicth, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2015.

In Downwell, you play the role of a man who has purposely flung himself into a well filled with monsters and deadly traps. But the place is also packed with treasure in the form of red gems that burst forth from defeated enemies and are occasionally found stacked in side rooms. Fortunately, our hero has equipped himself with “gunboots”, allowing him to deliver a steady stream of projectiles directly downward, blasting through enemies and smashing destructible blocks as he goes.

Downwell is a procedurally-generated action game, so level layouts and enemy placements are different on each attempt, but the overall structure is the same. The game has four themed areas, with three levels each… although you’ll be spending most of your time in the first few levels, as you are returned to the surface of the well each time you die. If you are skilled enough to survive the 12-level descent, a huge boss awaits you at the bottom.

2015, Android, Devolver Digital, iOS, Moppin, PC, PS4, Switch, Vita

Nubs’ Adventure

A game by IMakeGames for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2015.

Nubs’ Adventure stars a little white antenna-topped fellow named Nubs who is roughed up by a pair of brown-colored ne’er-do-wells named Wiley and Marv. The pair break into Nubs’ house, throw him outside, and then kick him off the side of a cliff where he tumbles to what should be his certain doom. Just before he reaches the bottom, however, a huge worm emerges from the earth and arcs through the air, seemingly set on a course to devour him.

Moments later, Nubs regains consciousness, apparently none the worse for wear, but his house has been burned to the ground. Nubs falls to his knees and cries until a yellow wisp named Ally picks him up by his antenna and flies him away. Not long after, Nubs has a another run in with Wiley, who attacks him with a boomerang before being run off by the same giant worm creature. Nubs grabs the boomerang for himself and sets off across the world.

The game is an open world platformer where the player has all of his abilities at the start of his adventure. This is a rare design choice in an open world action game, as most such games fall into the metroidvania category, requiring that players earn new abilities along their journey in order to backtrack and access new areas. Here, access to new areas is blocked by locked doors and monolithic stones, requiring that the player seek out the necessary keys and runes to open the way.

2015, Android, IMakeGames, iOS, Linux, Mac, PC

Pink Hour & Pink Heaven

Games by Studio Pixel for PC, iOS, and Android, originally released in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

Pink Hour and Pink Heaven were each released for free as standalone games, providing short adventures that acted as supplements and promotional material for Studio Pixel's Kero Blaster. During the course of the entire game, the lower right corner of the screen displays a banner for Kero Blaster, originally showing the game's release date, which was later replaced by "Now on sale!" following its release.

2014, 2015, Active Gaming Media, Android, iOS, PC, Studio Pixel

Finger Derpy

A game by Mommy's Best Games for PC, Android, and iOS, originally released in 2015.

We don't normally cover games that are developed for mobile or tablet devices, but we are this time. Why? Well it's all part of our terrible hidden agenda. Otherwise, we're just normal blokes here to tell you about 2D video games...

If you're fan of Mommy's Best Games' many shooters, then you might not have guessed that their next release would focus on horse racing... much less that the game would feature mentally deranged horses with fingers for legs, but such is life when game developers are given license to render their lunatic imaginings for everyone to experience.

You might also find yourself wondering what sort of equine escapades can be expected from this sort of game. Well, basically, you're controlling a horse, but rather than controlling the majestic beast with a controller or button presses, you are instead tapping your fingers rapidly on the screen. Alternating back and forth like you remember from your old Track & Field days will cause the horse to run in a straight line... but you can't just go straight; you need to navigate properly in order to complete a number of objectives.

2015, Android, iOS, Mommy's Best Games, PC