Burning Thirst

Zombies. Zombies everywhere. The world has changed immensely after the zombie Apocalypse. There is nothing left. No healthy people, no sun, no ordinary life. And no whisky.

Our protagonist in this excellent hack'n'slash game bears the name Joe Blades. He's being presented to us in the first seconds of the intro - a stylish monologue that comes to unfold an important question. It seems that Joe has no problem with the zombies at all, but has a passion, a burning thirst for a gulp of whisky. He heads to a city where rumour has it that the last bottle of whisky is being kept. It is our job to guide Joe through hordes of zombies and to acquire the valuable bottle. As you can see, despite the somewhat depressing setting, the game carries a high amount of humour, only coming to prove that one can find a reason to be positive in every situation.

From a technical point of view, the game is FLAWLESS. The abandoned city, inhabited with zombies that leave a trail of destruction ... As you'll notice, there is a distinctive 50s style implemented in the city - look at the signs and especially the old casino. The graphics are top-notch as well. As for the hack'n'slash - I have no words to desribe it. I've never played a free game before that features such a quick and smooth motion capturing, variety of combos and spectacular moves that make you feel as if you're playing God of War. A round of applause for the developers! There are no problems with controlling Joe and fighting the hordes of zombies is really fun. The game features a boss fight, after which Joe gets his bottle.

The game has its ... I can't use the word "flaws" because there aren't any at all. There are two things that in my opinion could be better. Optimization is the first. My machine, being an average one, had difficulties with the Graphic Details being set on High. The second thing - the length. I'd really like to see some more levels in the same style. Though, I'm sure there won't be any. The developers didn't include a save option and I don't think they are planning to expand the game.

Don't be mistaken, though. This is an excellent hack'n'slash game and probably one of the best free games I've ever played. You can download it here.

Rolling Coaster

A catchy arcade game

It's not that hard to come across a freeware 3D game these days. Yet, some of them are just not that what you wanted. To be honest, I had absolutely no expectations about the present game. Yet, it left me with a very positive feeling.

The idea of controlling a ball and going through complex levels has actually been used in the game industry (I can remember of Switchball, Ballance and one or two more) and probably there was a free game using that concept, but I doubt it could be a match for Rolling Coaster. Today's game has a simple concept - use the ball to get through obstacles and finish the level in time. Yet, it's practically flawless.

Let's start with the graphics. Beautiful and exquisite. It's obvious that the developer has put a lot of effort to make both the levels and the ball highly detailed. The included graphical effects, such as anti-aliasing, also contribute immensely.

The excellent graphical result has been very wisely used. The level design is simply perfect. There are different obstacles, such as going underwater and gliding on icy or a glassy surface. Which leads us to the physics. Simply brilliant. The more continuously you press the boost button, the faster the ball moves. As I mentioned before, there are different surfaces, such as asphalt (the usual and most easy to control the ball on), ice and glass (makes the ball very unstable when moving with a high speed), planks, dust, snow (slowing the ball a bit).

Throughout the levels you'll have to collect some objects or arrive on time. Try not to get out of the track, since it will cost you some precious seconds and it will return you to the last checkpoint. And this can make things quite difficult if you're playing one of the be-on-time levels.

Verdict? Download it. Play it. I'm sure you'll like it.

Burn The Trash

A minimallistic arcade shooter

Burn The Trash is a stunning game. Coded in just about 36 hours (according to its creator), it combines some of the best features of the arcade shooter genre.

Let's start that way. There is no story. There are no cutscenes as well. Everything you'll get is a set of instructions and a little rectangle placed on a black surface that can navigate and shoot. Yes, this is your ship. Sorry, if you're into stunning graphics, I'd have to disappoint you. This game is focused on gameplay. Neat, fast, challenging gameplay.

Your little rectangle proves to be quite powerful, though. With the X and Z buttons you can conjure two powerful streams - the orange one annihilates the enemies and the blue one destroys their bullets. Your opponents come in numbers and their quantity is more respectful that their intellect. The huge amount of your enemies has obviously led the developer to an interesting decision that ballances the gameplay to a serious extent.

Instead of letting the player turn this game into a boring, yet powerful technical massacre, focused upon the extinction of everything bigger than our own rectangular ship, the developer has approved the use of those two streams to a certain point. If one does try the previously mentioned situation with two of his fingers pressing Z and X all the time, this will result into imminent death. Rectangular self-destruction is the technical term, I believe :)

As you can see, graphics are not a necessity when it comes to some real entertainment. Especially when the musical background is so good. Yes, it's some hardcore electronic music that helps building some atmosphere. Moreover, the game is very well built - I've experienced no bugs whatsoever. I recommend you giving it a try, it is smaller than many Java games. If you're a fan of arcade shooters or just want to try something different, don't hesitate and download!

Captain Binary

A cartoon platformer

Free platformers are easy to be found on the internet. There are many remakes, some of which even playable and interesting. But when it comes to really entertaining, smooth-running and good-looking freeware platformers the choice is rather meagre.

That's why, today I'd like to focus your attention on an interesting game, product of a Polish-Japanese teamwork.

Captain Binary is a superhero platformer. What does this stand for? No deep story? Positive. Aliens are taking over the Earth; there's nobody who can stop them except Captain Binary. Yes, that's where we jump into the action. It's Captain Binary's task to wipe out any sign of extraterrestrial presence on Earth.

A familiar scenario, yet a decent excuse to start shooting. Personally, I'd forgive the developers for using such a cliche story, since all their efforts were pointed to both gameplay and graphics. And they've come up with an excellent result. The graphics are comics-like - vivid, highly detailed and with bright colours. Captain Binary, as well as the enemies and the surrounding world have been drawn simply perfect. The gameplay is very intense. This is the place to warn you - don't underestimate the game, judging from its cartoonish outlook. It IS hard and getting killed is just a matter of time, especially in the beginning. Yes, it is strange for a superhero to be beaten down with a single strike, but that's the developer's decision.

Nevertheless, Captain Binary is a very entertaining game, with a great sense of humour, challenging gameplay and beautiful graphics. Of course, it comes for free. This is the website you need to visit and uncover your hidden superhero abilities ;)

Highway Pursuit

A fast-car arcade game

Highway Pursuit, as one could think, is a car chasing game on an anonymous highway.

There is not much of a story.
You are the owner of a car, that can go up to 180 km/h in no time. But on the road there are some bad guys who want to dominate over the traffic. It is your mission to prevent this.

The game starts with your car, zero points, three lives and the opportunity (and obligation) to shoot as many enemy cars as you can. Enemy cars are easy to be spotted - they are purple and orange, move at a high speed and try to push you out of the highway which will result in your imminent death.

But, remember, we're on a highway- there are some random drivers who are not to be shot. I'm sorry if you expected a Carmageddon-like massacre. That's just not your game, then :)

If you shoot one of the "good" cars you're supposed to protect, the game won't accumulate points to your account.

A very interesting idea are the trucks that supply you with some weapons - varying from some smoke (to confuse the enemies) to rockets (that you will use against a pretty mean helicopter, dropping bombs upon your person while you're trying to stay alive).

Being an arcade game, the developers have offered you three lives. When you get killed or crash three times, the game ends and the accumulated points come into consideration.

Graphics are decent, especially if you bear in mind that the game is app.4 mbytes.

Here is the link to the developer, it's a simple, but very entertaining game. I highly recommend it.