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Following Freeware: September 2014 releases

Following Freeware: September 2014
Following Freeware: September 2014

This month you can travel across time with a Lego man searching for his father, or travel into outer space on a malfunctioning space ship. You might try to save the world by dealing with the hazards of Pandora's Box, or simply save your sanity by cutting off the supply of sweets to your hyperactive kids. Alternatively, you could travel to the Wild West in an ongoing search for lost treasure, or try to convince Snow White to sample a poisoned apple. All these await in this month's round-up of releases from the freeware scene.
 



Minifeg: The Search


In Minifeg: The Search, by Sandra Almeida, the titular hero has built a time machine so he can meet his dad, whom he never knew. His father made him a wooden duck when Minifeg was still a baby, and now Minifeg wants to use this keepsake to go back to the time of his childhood. Unfortunately, Minifeg had to pawn the duck to finance his time machine, so all he has is a chit on which is written: "Value: One Duck." With this he sets out on an adventure through time. To complete his quest, Minifeg has to deliver a 21st century cake to a medieval wizard, go to the time of the dinosaurs and find a way to get his duck back. And after all that, he still has to make his way to his own time again.

Image #1Minifeg is a minifig: a small Lego man who lives in a well-made and colorful Lego world. A lot of time must have been spent to make all the beautiful environments Minifeg can visit, including his modern day home town, a village in the Middle Ages, and a large Mesozoic plain. All of them have welcome small details you would expect in their appropriate eras, like annoying kids, sleeping knights, vibrant green foliage and large dinosaurs – there’s even graffiti. The world is presented in third-person mode, with the camera always at Minifeg's eye level so you get a good idea of what he sees. Most if not all of the animation was done in stop-motion video and it’s very good: there is a jester juggling balls with a crowd of people around him who all move, and Minifeg walks quite smoothly for a man with no knees. There are no voices or sound effects in the game, but each time period has its own music, which fits well but can get annoying because it repeats over and over again as long as you are there. You can turn it off, however.

Minifeg has to walk quite a lot throughout the game, which can get a bit tedious, but there is plenty to see and do. Clicking the right mouse button makes him look at an object while the left button makes him do something with it. The cursor turns a lighter color over hotspots. Clicking the right or left edge of the screen will make the scene scroll or change once Minifeg gets there. When the cursor is moved to the top of the screen, a hidden bar appears that contains the inventory. Most of the puzzles are inventory-based and are quite hard, so you have to examine every detail thoroughly to make sure you don't miss anything. You will even encounter a few delightful red herrings, which you don't see often in small games like this. You also need to talk to people and do things in a particular order to succeed. Sometimes it is not at all obvious what you have to do next, but all in all, Minifeg: The Search is a great achievement that is consistently fun to play. Let's hope we see more of this little Lego protagonist in the future.

Minifeg: The Search can be downloaded from the Adventure Game Studio website.

 

Dakota Winchester’s Adventures 2


Dakota’s search for the cursed rubies of Hilda has brought him to the remote Western town of Cactus City. Located in a sun-scorched desert, the local mine looks like a good bet for finding the missing artefact. Unfortunately, some hostile local wildlife is guarding the entrance, and Dakota is ill-equipped for the descent itself. Perhaps the townsfolk will help him find the equipment he needs.

Image #2Having previously explored a tropical island, Carmel Games’ titular archaeologist continues his quest. The graphics use the same bright cartoon style of their other productions, with reasonably proportioned characters. Dakota himself sports the same tropical adventurer outfit of the previous tale, with the locals adopting a more Wild West style. Arriving at the tiny provincial train station, you’ll also visit the saloon and ultimately descend into the dark depths of the mine. All characters are well-animated, and the game features decent voice work throughout. A simple Western guitar piece backs up proceedings.

Having not planned ahead for his journey, Dakota needs to source the equipment he needs locally. Whilst a couple of items can be found lying around, most require you to assist the townsfolk in some fashion. Using a simple one-click control scheme, you will save a fruit vendor from a dangerous scorpion and locate some unusual food for a woman tired of the same fare day after day. Puzzles are mainly solved through inventory use, though there is also a standalone puzzle to fit some awkwardly shaped logs in a storage box. Completion of the quest nets Dakota the second of three jewels he seeks, so we can expect to meet him again soon.

Dakota Winchester’s Adventures 2 can be played online at Mouse City.

 

A Tough Sell


In A Tough Sell, by The LabLabLab, you play the Evil Stepmother from the fairytale about Snow White. At this point, you have already attempted to kill Snow White a few times, and naturally the girl is now very reluctant to open the door to strangers, let alone take anything from one. Still, you desperately want her to die so you will have to persuade her to take a bite of the delicious poisoned apple by saying the right things. Snow White is wary of you at first, and she won’t keep the door open for long. In fact, she will clearly tell you how much she trusts you or when her patience with you runs out. But the more she comes to believe you, the more she will open the door. Making her eat the apple is no easy task, however, and if you fail, Snow White will disappear behind the door and not come back whatever you say.

Image #3A Tough Sell starts with a screen on which you can choose to watch the intro, a tutorial, or get right into playing. The game itself is presented in a single scene styled like a beautiful 17th century painting. Snow White can be seen partly hidden behind her door, leery of the Evil Stepmother, who is of course disguised as an old apple seller. There are no animations except for Snow White gradually moving in and out from behind her door. Nor are there any voices or sound effects to be heard, but during the game soft string music is played. Both the Evil Stepmother’s text and Snow White's replies appear in text bubbles next to their heads.

In order to proceed you have to type in what you want to say to Snow White in a rectangular box at the bottom of the screen. You can type anything you like: for instance, you can try to flatter her or ask her about her life, the dwarfs, etc. If Snow White doesn't understand you, she will tell you so. The text parser is pretty good, but if you type sentences that are too long it might misinterpret them and Snow White will give you unexpected answers. On the top right of the screen are bars that show the amount of patience and trust Snow White has, while on the bottom left are options to view a log of your conversation and for restarting the game. It will likely take between 10-20 minutes to finish the game, whether you succeed or not.


A Tough Sell can be played online at the developer's website.


Sweet Revenge


Aptly named Crazy Dad is being driven nuts by his two children. They have been constantly pestering him to buy them sweets, and are now on a wild sugar high. Clearly the local sweet shop is responsible, and Crazy Dad is determined to see it closed down. When he tries to get a local tabloid interested, the editor hatches a cunning plan. If Crazy Dad goes into the shop dressed as an alien monster, the editor can take a picture and accuse the shop of being run by beings from outer space. All Crazy Dad needs to do is put together a suitably other-worldly outfit.

Image #4With a plan as insane as he is, Carmel Games’ new title character truly lives up to his name. The same bright cartoon style of their previous offerings is in evidence here. The protagonist parent has a deranged expression and a grey comb-over that flaps up and down in an alarming fashion. His kids are no more sane-looking, with rolling eyes and manic expressions from their over-indulgence. The quest for an alien costume will take you to a spooky alley and the home of a tailor. Crazy Dad sounds suitably deranged and the other characters are also voiced to a decent standard. A jaunty tune plays throughout.

Using a simple one-button point-and-click interface, you must search around town for the components of a suitably horrifying style. This is not made any easier by several locals being wary of our manic hero. Dealing with such characters often involves you approaching things from a different angle. You will need to sabotage a security camera, and deal with some others as deranged as yourself. You will even get to confront the owner of the sweet shop, though the amount your kids have spent makes him kindly disposed towards you. Inventory application and combination is the key to solving the fatherly dilemma.

Crazy Dad can be played online at GameSnappy.

 

On the Edge of Earth: 5000


A spaceship appears to be drifting aimlessly through space. When it gets very close, a lone occupant is revealed: a man who looks like he came straight from the 1970s, featuring a beard and moustache, orange T-shirt and jeans. Taking control of this unusual astronaut, you must help him fire a Genesis missile, used to generate new life, at the dead planet nearby. Before you can do that, however, you’ll have to determine which machine does what, and how it all works.

Image #5On the Edge of Earth: 5000, by Roope Tamminen, is played in third-person mode and presented as one large scene that scrolls to keep the protagonist within the viewing window. The spaceship and its interior are drawn in a simple, minimalist pixel art style in subdued hues. On board you can see the engine moving, some lights blinking, and you can make everything that isn’t nailed down slide away by making the ship rotate a bit. When you start the game there is no music; all you hear is the hum of the various equipment on the spaceship. However, there are buttons scattered around the craft that let you switch a very short and repetitive piano and flute tune on and off. There is no dialogue in the game at all, nor is there an inventory because our hero doesn't have to carry things around.

The game is played entirely with the arrow keys on the keyboard. You make the protagonist walk by using the left and right keys. When he walks past something he can interact with, such as a button or a terminal, a small arrow appears underneath him, and pressing the up key will cause him to use the item. If you use a terminal you will see the contents of its screen projected over the background. On each screen, a simple explanation of how to use its buttons is always given. It's not always easy to figure out what to use the particular terminals for, and some are clearly just a diversion. Although there isn’t much of a story, the game does contain some funny little details, like a bonsai tree that changes color when you shake it, and a computer that shows what you have to do to get yourself in shape for going into space. Before you can accomplish your mission, you must find the right parameters to enter to hit the planet. The game ends with an animation of what happens after you fire the missile, including the promise of a sequel, which will hopefully reveal more about our hero and the fate of his spaceship.

On the Edge of Earth: 5000 can be played online on Jayisgames.

 

Alexia Crow: The Pandora's Box


Alexia Crow: The Pandora's Box, by Zibbo, is the third and final installment of the series. In the first two installments, Cave of Heroes and The Deal of the Gods, Alexia fell into a large cave filled with Greek statues, lots of intricate puzzles and even a centaur who told her what to do. Of course she wanted to be reunited with her friends, and so Alexia sought to find a usable exit. This time around, she inexplicably finds herself thrust into an office facility to save humanity by opening Pandora's Box and destroying what was in it. In order to succeed, however, she’ll once again need to solve many puzzles along the way.

Image #6As with the previous two episodes, the storytelling in The Pandora's Box is by far its weakest element. It is never clear where Alexia actually is, what the facility is for, where it came from, or why she does what she does. Fortunately, the graphics, sound and puzzles are very well done. Most of the game is experienced in first-person view. The scenery is drawn in colorful, detailed and quite realistic-looking slides. With a few exceptions, the backgrounds are largely static, unlike in the first two games. Usually only when Alexia interacts with things is there any animation, such as a machine or door opening, or a computer starting up. The game features beautiful, soothing music and intricate sound effects, but there are no voices, with all spoken text appearing in horizontal banners on the screen.

The scenery pans around as you move the mouse, and by default distorts in a weird "3D effect", but you can switch this off. Arrows appear to indicate directions in which Alexia can go, but other hotspots are not indicated in any way. Pixel hunting is not necessary, however, since most objects you need are plainly visible. The inventory is always visible at the bottom of the screen. The puzzles are well designed but rather than being inventory-based, most of them are played on computers that you find on your quest. For instance, you have to slide blocks of the same color together so that all the blocks disappear, form a picture on a colored square grid, and use chemicals to get a certain machine to open, amongst others. Many are enjoyable to solve and not always easy, though they lack the complexity and fun factor of the second installment. Unfortunately, the gameplay is annoyingly intruded upon by a repeated ad for Zibbo.com, which covers the inventory items. Because the cursor moves underneath the ad, however, you can still reach the item of your choice, but this is still a major nuisance that negatively impacts the enjoyment of the game.

Alexia Crow: The Pandora's Box can be played online at Jayisgames.
 



Other new releases


Not all games are created equal, and freeware games especially come in all shapes and sizes.  Not to be overlooked, the following list might also be of interest, though these games may be significantly shorter or less polished, more experimental titles than those detailed above, some perhaps only borderline adventures to begin with.

Schrödinghost by LooPing and Valmont de Ragondas – When a scientist seals a cat in a box, it gains out-of-body powers to help it escape.

Biblioteca by ShadowXX91 – The dreams of a run-down library were bad enough. The horrors in the real place were so much worse.

Quest for Milkshake by Carmel Games – When they run out of ingredients for their most famous milkshake, a milkshake bar must improvise to keep their customer happy.
 



That’s it for this month. Think we’ve missed a gem or want to tell us about your own game? Then pop in to our Adventure forum and tell us about it!
 



Stephen Brown and Willem Tjerkstra contributed to this article.

 

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