Work, work, work

I'd like to explain why I'm not posting very regularly right now. I've became an editor of the whole Hrej.cz. Before, I was responsible just for the "plné hry" section dedicated to freeware games. That was indeed a lot of work, but now I'm responsible for each day's issue - the two of three articles on Hrej.cz homepage. Last two weeks I was just trying to cope with it, make contacts with authors, get used to a different kind of work - and I had no time to care about Tomus Files. Well, I don't have much more time now, I'm still learning, but it keeps getting better. So I might be able to write a few words later this month. Just don't expect miracles. Thanks for your patience.

6 Days A Sacrifice - it's over...

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for Yahtzees games. I've even made a Czech translation of Trials of Odysseus Kent, I was amazed by intelligent platformer 1213, I loved playing 5 Days A Stranger, after a few tough hours I managed to finish 7 Days A Skeptic, after a few tough hours finding a walkthrough I finished Trilby's Notes ;-) and now, 6 Days A Sacrifice is history. What to say about it?

It's hard. I would not recommend 6DAS to players who don't have previous experience with Yahtzee's horror series. The story can't be fully understood unless you know at least roughly what happened in 5DAS, 7DAS and TN. That's where I see a major flaw of the game. On the other hand, the atmosphere is nearly as dark and ravishing as in Trilby's Notes. Yahtzee has once again written some perfect pieces of dialogue and he is just SO good in building up thrill. The soundtrack works great here.

And I also like Yahtzee's graphics. There are lots of more attractive freeware adventures, but his sprites are lively, the characters are animated well and the author knows how to use the plain visual effects to his benefit.

If you played the previous horror adventures by Ben Crosshaw, don't hesitate a minute and go for download. If not, go there, there and there before - and then download 6 Days A Sacrifice too...

Download (2.2 MB)
8/10

Lab-Rat #37 - permanent heart attack

Lab-Rat #37 is a little arcade game based on running through various mazes and eating cheese. I hate maze games, but this one got me. Why? There's enough action - the laboratory rat is addicted on drugs and needs to eat painkillers. If player doesn't find enough drugs, its heart starts beating VERY fast and it might lead to heart attack.

Visually, Lab-Rat #37 is nice, appealing, not excellent, but solid enough. Well, solid enough could be a good comparison also for other components of the game. Let there be more games "solid enough" like Lab-Rat #37 on MMF scene... ;-)

Download (0.79 MB)
7/10

Opera Slinger - Singstar on PC for free?

Have you ever wanted to become an opera singer? I admit I would wonder if you had. But maybe you have sometimes wanted to play SingStar, an excellent PS2 game, in which you can compare your singing talent with many music stars from all over of the world. Opera Slinger combines experience from both and offers very good (but unfortunately rather short) amusement for everyone who likes music.

This game was created by group of students from Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy and it belongs among the 2007 IGF Student Showcase winners - rightly, that's without any discussion. You are to perform five well-known songs from such composers as Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi or Vivaldi. But don't worry, even if you can't sing as Luciano Pavarotti or Magdalena Kozena, you won't have any serious troubles with finishing Opera Slinger. The goal of the game is to beat your opponent in the opera hall by gaining the favour of crowds on your side - of course, they will incline more to that singer who can deal better with mentioned songs.

Technically, Opera Slinger is an excellent game. Unfortunately, this fact has taken its tribute on hardware requirements and size of the archive: 141 MB is pretty much for freeware title. And I have to subjoin, very short freeware title. Five songs won't take you more than 15 minutes and then you're done. Anyway, Opera Slinger is still very interesting project and especially if you have fast internet connection, you should really consider trying it.

Download (141.43 MB)
7/10

Must-play games from older BG competitions

I've written about how the 2006's Becherovka Game is worse than previous years. Let's prove it somehow: this is my list of must-play games from the older competitions:

2005
Aquadelic - a great racing game with motor boats. It's now being upgraded to a commercial (budget) title of the same name!

Becher Islands - Crazy Taxi on a boat in Far Cry – like setting.

Becherator - principally simple, but very tough puzzle game. Addictive.

Laser - Deflektor in 3D, but still exciting.

Little World - a funny adventure game from the insect world.

Space Merchants: Conquerors - Elite-like space sim game with trading and fights and RPG elements. Overall winner in 2005...

2004
2004: Space Becherovka - absolutely great, absolutely funny adventure game. Parody on Star Wars, Space Odyssey, Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy and many other sci-fi classics...

A.N.T.Z. - very well though out puzzle game.

Becherov - overal winner in 2004. Looks like GTA 2, plays like GTA series. You may not act that evil there, but it's still very funny.

Hracer - very good racing game.

Plane Arcade - it looks like flight sim, but it's "just" adrenaline action-paced air shooter.

Řež, Bechere! - great FPS with Czech punk music, eight levels and time and score based gameplay.

Točna - a funny adventure, country setting.

2003
Alien Agency - very nice 3D platform game.

Gringo - stylish western shoot'em up.

Sub Hunter 4 - overall winner in 2003, underwater shooter.

Sky of Fire - action flight simulator with good 3D graphics.

Ham ňam - a little bit more action-paced Pacman clone. Visually not so appealing, but very funny.

2002
Becher's Dream - great flash adventure – a funny and stylish one.

Penguinator - I'm not quite sure, but I think it's the overall winner, well presented action game.

eXtreme Race - a funny top-down racing game in the Micro Machines style.

2001
Zlatý kalich - one of the best Czech free adventures, funny flash point'n click game with great presentation. Enteron, a couple of developers, now works in Illusion Softworks.

2000
Zázračný lék - the first overall winner, a flash adventure game by Enteron. Not as long as Becher's Dream, but graphics and audio are great.

Becher Tycoon 2006 – the best XXL game

Becher Tycoon 2006 is the winner of XXL cathegory in Becherovka Game 2006. The other cathegories are limited to I think 10 MB, in XXL, there can be up to 100 MB and there's no genre limitation. Becher Tycoon 2006 came out of three games as the best, even though I think it's just an average economic strategy.

I played it for a first time after a night spent by partying. I was somewhere between drunk and sick – and BT didn't help me much. Or maybe it did, because after five minutes of playing it, my stomach decided it's time to vomit. Well, it was caused rather by the Becherovka drunk earlier than by the qualities of the game, but I haven't got rid of this sick feeling afterwards.

BT06 is not very appealing. Its visuals are mediocre – I'd much prefer 2D, but nicely drawn isometric graphics than this 3D rendered world with crappy textures. The gameplay is better, more sophisticated than one would expect, you have to provide your factories with necessary resources and get rich by producing, transporting and selling Becherovka. However, the controls are far from perfect and the game gets stereotypical soon.

So the biggest positive is maybe that though I was afraid, writing about BT06 doesn't make me vomit again. So far. So, let's end this quickly. Cheers!

Download (89 MB)
5/10

Super Arab 2 – what's gone wrong?

I had the doubtfully enjoyable opportunity to play Super Arab 1, so I didn't expected much from Super Arab 2. It's just another Super Mario clone, not original in any kind. You have a simple side-viewed levels here and main hero trying to jump his way to the end somewhere on the right side. There are bonus coins (this time melon pieces), enemies with the parameters of turtles – and some elements of Super Mario gameplay are even missing, like the carnivorous flowers, power-ups making the hero grow or diving into the tubes.

Super Arab 2 can't stand when compared to the best freeware clone, Mario Forever, in any way. The graphics are solid, but there's not even half of different settings than in MF. Gameplay lacks Mario feeling and level design is just average. And I was very disappointed, that the author didn't make the game at least CONTROVERSIAL. Why the only thing making it stand out of the tons of MMF Mario games is the beard and scarf of Super Arab and the arabic title screen? I'd love a game to talk about, an evil, terrorist, anti-American, or a game about islam religion and djihad, or a stylish oriental arcade game with camels, bedouins, water pipes, carpets and so on.

Let's hope we'll see something of this in Super Arab 3.

Download (2.15 MB)
5/10