I’m trying to take some time to play and mini-review 1GAM games each month. Here are a few so far. I hope to keep adding reviews over time… As of this writing, there are 1,146 January games–no way I’ll get to them all, unfortunately.

I’ll add that I may have missed features, etc, as time did not allow me to play through many of these to completion. Please feel free to offer corrections as you see fit, whether it’s your own game or just one you tried.

Mazify – DennisMenace88
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/610399
Web Game

Not a bad little maze game. Collect coins, find the switch that unlocks the exit. Has music. Simple, but fun. My kids would like this one.

Black Heart – _akseliv
http://akseli.virtuaalipalvelin.net/blackheart/
Web Game

Arena shooter. You’re a zombie shooting…blood, I think? Trees are trying to kill you. And do. I never did manage to kill a tree. Evil trees. Evil. This one was a bit rough, but if it was updated, I’d probably try it again. Damn trees.

Run Chompy Run – the3dwoody
http://www.utopianworldofsandwiches.com/1gam/RunChompyRun.html
Web Game

Endless (vertical) runner. You’re a little red monster avoiding other monsters that look exactly like you..? You have to avoid them, avoid blocks in the way, and while you can jump, you can’t jump the blocks or the enemy monsters. But there are gaps in the level you must jump over. Left/right control needs a more delicate touch to avoid oversteering to your ultimate doom. Graphically pretty nice. Would play again if updated.

Banana Draw – toxicode_fr
http://games.toxicode.fr/
Web Game

Game site is in French. Didn’t see or experience the actual Banana Draw game itself at all, though. It’s a multiplayer game, and there was no one else available to play with me, so I was unable to play it. Oops! The site/dev has a nice game of Snake, however, that I did play, with a pretty nice sketched-pencil graphical style similar to Don’t Starve.

UPDATE: Tried again several times over several days. Never another player to play with. Oh well!

The Rolling Dead – exit4charlie
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.exit4.app.therollingdead
Android Game

Android game. Couldn’t play it, as I currently don’t own a compatible Android device. I know, I know. Looks interesting, though, so you should go try it anyway!

Shotem – dr4gonia
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1y4urbnuy809ady
Windows Executable

Two games from this dev listed; maybe this is their February entry? Anyway, didn’t try it yet; holding off on Windows EXE games to do them more in a batch.

UPDATE: Finally tried it (sorry, been busy!). It’s a neat little vertical shooter not unlike Galaga, etc, but with rechargeable shield and firepower. You run out of firepower quickly, so there’s a lot of tappity-tap waiting to get that back. Didn’t miss shields that much, as I wasn’t really being targeted by the bad guys all that accurately/aggressively. Extra particle bursts initially seemed like a sneaky way of adding some extra challenge, but after a while they felt more in the way. Cleaned up with better fire/charge/etc balances, and better enemy AI, I’d play it again.

Think Outside the Box – StuStuTheBloo
http://rpgmaker.net/games/4739/
Windows Executable

Didn’t try it yet; holding off on Windows EXE games to do them more in a batch.

UPDATE: Finally tried it (sorry, been busy!). This is a slightly sadistic puzzler that, imo, cleverly uses the RPGMaker software to do its thing. Several “escape from the room” puzzles, but there are multiple ways to complete each level, depending on the objects you use. The game’s not terribly long, but definitely entertaining. I hope more levels will be made. I recommend you try this one if you haven’t already.

Galaxy Defender – Drakulo
http://www.kongregate.com/games/Drakulo/galaxy-defender
Web Game

Not sure if this is Drakulo’s January or February entry? Maybe February, since the other entry has the January theme. Oh well. This one’s a vertical space shooter. Pretty simple, but has a nice amount of polish. Upgraded bullet sprays look nice and work well. Your ship constantly fires; you just move it around. Enemy ships dropped powerups, but I never figured out which were which. Some upgraded my bullet spray pattern, others just added points. Nothing fancy, but would play it again if it popped up in front of me randomly.

Gem Drop – Andy Mindler
http://andymindler.com/onegameamonth/January/00/
Web Game

Basically a single-bucket-layer version of Kaboom!, where you’re meant to pick up a certain number of gems to clear each level. There’s also other apparently-worthless items that drop, so you have to pay attention; some of that junk includes bombs that subtract from your gem count. Art looks hand-drawn, nice. Controls pretty well, but the bucket takes time to decelerate before changing direction, so that makes things trickier–not quite sure if in a good way or not. Overall simple but well-done. I’d play a tweaked version of this again.

Snake – Benedict Apuna
http://googledrive.com/host/0BywlH-TdbEJoNVMxcUw4QlJpR3M/snake.html
Web Game

Simple snake game. Control seemed to lag a little, and there’s another bit of lag after collecting a “fruit”, like the game’s thinking too much or updating something internally. Author’s first released game, still taking feedback and tweaking things. Definitely opportunities for improvements in gameplay and polish. Would play again once updated, if only see author’s skills progression.

Super Paper Monster Smasher – Jesse Freeman
http://gamecook.com/games/super-paper-monster-smasher/
Web Game

Move a giant green monster left/right with mouse clicks on either side of screen, to smash smaller red monsters and accumulate enough XP to move on to the next level. A bit clunky to control, even with only left/right; you have to keep clicking on either side of the game window to keep your monster-player progressing in the desired direction. Maybe there was a keyboard option and I didn’t notice? Like the graphical style, but gameplay was too simple. This would need more meat to it for me to play again.

Where The Fuck Is My Brain – Myyyvothrr
http://www.myyyvothrr.de/1gam/brain/
Web Game

Platformer. Reminded me of Prince of Persia a little, I guess. Premise seems to be you’ve lost pieces of your brain and you have to recover them to remember how to perform basic actions that help you progress through the game levels. Some tricky jumps here and there that you’ll either love or hate. Has a nice chunky retro gfx style. Nice control. Wanted to keep playing; would like to see it expanded.

Portcullis
http://portcullis.eugene-tan.info/ – jmingtan
Web Game

This is a text-based game where you’re in charge of a city gate. Hey, someone paid attention to the January theme! You have a set number of turns to do the best possible job of bringing in new citizens and money, allowing or refusing different types of people from different cities suffering in different ways. Interesting idea that could probably be made deeper and more interesting. Text layout and style very easy on the eyes. Would play again.

More reviews to come for February entries, I hope…