SPINGUN
Spingun is a 2D retro pixel “spacewar/moon lander” ripoff with a gimmick. Instead of reasonable controls, the developer decided only left and right arrow will work. Left arrow gives a little thrust to the left, right to the right. Alternating this will propel you like a fish. Tapping both left and right shoots your weapon. Collect weapon upgrades and shoot the baddies.
It’s a massive failure in game design if, lacking the competence to create decent graphics, compelling story or gameplay, interactive content, or any of the elements that successful games bring to the table, you instead decide that you should rip off games from the late 1970’s but make the controls worse, because you think players like bashing their hands on two keys like demented chimpanzees. The retro pixel graphics are lazy and bad enough, but this game gets a thumbs down for the developers sheer misunderstanding of the correct species attributed to PC gamers.
– Real player with 15.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Intentionally Awkward Controls Arcade Games.
First impressions: This is worth more than $1.99
EDIT I am now addicted
Do yourself a favour and buy this
Then do yourself a favour and buy this on your phone
It’ll cost you less than a fiver for both
ANOTHER EDIT Long train rides and boring waiting rooms now get me excited, just an excuse to play more spingun! The game seems to make more sense on a phone as the controls are well placed and ultra responsive (no travel time for buttons). Also the look and feel of having everything so tiny on a phone is also super cool imo. Some way for your acheivements and scores to cross over between the phone and computer versions would be great.
– Real player with 8.3 hrs in game
Guppy
Relaxing fun, especially when you get good at swimming fast.
Controller support didn’t work for me (Steam/Linux) but configured as keyboard instead.
For the price well worth a punt.
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
Read More: Best Intentionally Awkward Controls Nature Games.
Guppy is a poetic game, which lets you control a fish by moving its tail left and right.
No other control is used; and every movement of the tail is propelling the fish in the direction of the movement. Used alternatively, left and right movements allow the fish to progress forward, or any way you so desire; by gauging how much of each movement to produce.
Both the left and right sticks can be used; but the game really shines when shoulder controls are used, epecially the analog ones. I am unsure as if the game is using them in an analog fashion (I think not), but using them feels most natural to me.
– Real player with 2.7 hrs in game
Drunken Fist 🍺👊 Totally Accurate Beat ‘em up
I mainly recommend this game because it’s very cheap and it’s a very unique fun concept with the physics based fighting. More games should use proper physics. There is a sufficient amount of different moves to make it rather interesting. (although I’d add a few more)
However I think it’s far from desirable. It feels unpolished / unfinished with many features, such as key rebinding and level select are missing on release.
I also don’t like the “drunken” part. Sure, it’s advertised in the title, but in practice it means that the game is hard to control and clunky. While some could consider the result funny, I can only think of it as frustrating, as things often don’t work as I expect.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Intentionally Awkward Controls Fighting Games.
Tl;dr: Drunken Fist is a silly game that needs a lot of work. It feels like an Early Access title, but it’s being sold as a finished product.
The Good
- Silly and good for a laugh* Charming art style
The Bad
- Priced a bit higher than it should be for the quality/amount of content ($2 - $3 seems more reasonable)* Controls aren’t always responsive* Lacks something as basic as the ability to exit the game from the main menu* Player character can get stuck inside the scenery
– Real player with 2.9 hrs in game
keyg
keyg is a game experience unlike any before. On paper, it seems easy enough, but in reality, using your entire keyboard as a controller (yes, almost EVERY KEY) is extremely difficult, especially as you get into the
! hardcore mode. A decently short one, it’s frustrating but highly rewarding and well-polished. The game’s puzzles are clever and the challenges are insane to do as you try and figure out where to put all ten of your fingers on your keyboard. Really unique game, highly recommend it!
– Real player with 5.2 hrs in game
I purchased keyg during a sale without putting much thought into it, simply finding the screenshots and trailer appealing as well as its bargain of a price: little did I know I was in for a surprise.
The game revolves around different sets of puzzle-like levels that the player must guide their selected avatars through (a circle, a square or a triangle): in order to spice things up, the layout will be based on a keyboard, which means that you’ll have to press the correct keys in order to progress. The game will introduce some mechanics and different stipulations to clear levels as you advance as well as increase the difficulty, so quick reflexes and smart thinking will be needed.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
BH Trials
This game feels like learning to walk after suffering a stroke. At first your movement will be uncontrolled and you will flail your limbs about the place helplessly. But soon you’ll get the hang of it and instead stumble about like a drunken toddler. Great fun!
There is quite a bit of content and extra challenge, as each level offers a collectible and a highscore list where you can try to beat the times of your quadriplegic fellows. Some levels are insanely hard and the highscore lists at later stages have very few entries. I really wish this game would be more popular, it would be well deserved.
– Real player with 42.2 hrs in game
I absolutely love this game.
I have always wondered how these sorts of machines are controlled in real life so when I saw Northernlion playing this, I bought it pretty much instantly.
BH Trials is an obstacle course game, where you navigate a “backhoe loader”, as I’ve learned these are called, through a path riddled with all manners of different obstacles. The only problem is, that the only way of movement is manipulating the loader and the backhoe arm. The wheels roll but that’s about it, you can’t actually drive or steer the machine in a normal fashion.
– Real player with 37.1 hrs in game
Dialogue Box: The Road Less Traveled
The choices are simple, picking is hard.
In “Dialogue Box: The road less traveled”, you will navigate a whimsical landscape while failing to keep your sanity.
The controls are extremely unintuitive and the humor is cheesy to a fault.
I am a great salesman.
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Original physics-based challenges
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Dynamic story that adapts to your actions and choices
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Secrets with extra challenges for the completionists at heart
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Minimalistic yet charming visual style
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Way too many endings
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Puns
I hope you won’t hate me by the time you get to the other side.
Have fun! TomerSSH.
Trailer song:
Canon in D Major by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
TorqueL
This is a fun, very overlooked game. The graphics are very plain, but if you can look past that there is interesting gameplay beneath. It can be pretty frustrating sometimes; it’s definitely not for everyone, but if you enjoy physics-based games and having to adapt to a unique movement system - it’s worth a shot. You might want to use a controller though - whlie the game is fully beatable with a keyboard, you (probably) aren’t able to press all 4 extend buttons at the same time, which could prove useful in certain situations.
– Real player with 21.8 hrs in game
I’m gonna start off by saying this:
This game is not for everyone and should only be played using a USB controller of some kind to avoid throwing your monitor out your window.
TorqueL plays like the 2D portal you always wanted, but more spamming all four directions at once to throw yourself around in the chamber to get to the next chamber. By chamber 10, you find your long lost daughter, so she can walk around in a big cube with you too. This is exactly how accurate the storyline gets by playing the first ten miuntes of it, then again thats all you need to see to figure out if this game is right for you. If it’s on sale for like $3.00, buy it, open up a six pack or light up a doobie and laugh your ass off as you try to get through some of the more advanced chambers that require more strategic button mashing. Overall, the game keeps you entertained if you’re under the age of 7, enjoy no storyline, and you enjoy the same gravity and lava combination in every chamber. The reason why I’m recommending this game is because it wouldn’t be a bad buy for the price of a candy bar because there’s simply not much else to the game other than what you experience about fifteen minutes into it.
– Real player with 2.0 hrs in game