Some Quality Flash Games
Well, gang , I figure I’d try something a little different today, if you’d let me.
Flash Games are a lot like ant farms. There’s a lot of them, they’re super cheap, and they get boring after five minutes for most people. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few diamonds in the rough you don’t deserve to know about. I always believed that Flash Games deserved more attention in the gaming world, (I even wrote an article about it!) as they’re like the indie’s indie where some real crazy stuff happens with both gameplay, story, and innovation. It’s grass-roots gaming, a little too hardcore to be called casual but a little too broad to be called hardcore. And sometimes, some truly great games get made in those grass roots, and I’d like to call your attention to some of them now.
So, if you’re bored one afternoon, try…
Sonny: A Epic Zombie-focused RPG… where you play the zombie! It’s got a fun story, a well-voiced cast of characters, and some surprisingly deep RPG elements that grow in complexity as you get invested in the game. There’s a bit of a steep learning curve and it can get really punishing late into the game (Playing through the first game can take an hour or two) but it’s worth playing through. The game has a sequel, Sonny 2, which deepens the story, tightens up the graphics, and expands on the gameplay. So if you find yourself engaged with the first, you don’t have much reason to skip out on the sequel.
Super Mario 63: Easily the best sprite flash game ever made, Super Mario 63 fuses Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario 64 into a flash game easily worthy of the Mario title. Extremely tight controls, crisp sprites, creative level designs, a story that feels indisputably like it belongs in a Mario game, and even a level creator for you to make and share your own levels. Super Mario 63 is as close to Nintendo-quality in a game you can get without Nintendo behind it, and if you’ve any love for fat plumbers, you’ll give this a look.
Achievement Unlocked Series: Meta-gaming taken to it’s most logical extreme, the entire purpose of this satire-heavy game is to collect pointless achievements for doing both the incredibly mundane (Play the game for 5 seconds, move to the left for the first time, Jump) and the extremely difficult (Kick one of your corpses into a pit of spikes before it vanishes, jump on 10 hamsters in a row, etc). And while a witty concept, the games themselves tend to be well designed by their own right, with colorful graphics, fun sounds, and quirky humor. Each game in the series separates itself from it’s predecessor with slightly different gameplay, enough to keep it both fresh and fun. It’s the time sink Achievements have always been, just a little more bite-sized.
The Last Stand 2: Another zombie game, except this time you take the role of a survivor. While the first game was entertaining, it wasn’t good enough to be considered truly outstanding amongst it’s peers… which is all fixed in the second installment. The gameplay is split between resource management, fighting off zombies, and traveling to the evacuation zone as fast as your resources allow. It’s tense, it’s atmospheric, and you really begin to care about your survivors as you fight off waves after waves of unique zombie foes. I haven’t played a better zombie apocalypse simulator yet.
RPG Shooter Starwish: Don’t let the cheep-looking loading screen fool you–this is easily one of the best games on the internet, and one of my favorite games ever made, ranking alongside Okami and Dark Souls. It’s a mix of bullet hell shooter, RPG, and dating sim, and before you let that last part turn you off, the writing is so good and the dating sim elements so seamlessly fused with the gameplay you’ll find yourself really engaged, rather than distracted, with developing relationships with your fellow shipmates. The story is memorable and lengthy, easily spanning six or seven hours, the gameplay is challenging and fun (It can get a bit repetitive, though) and by the end of it you feel like you’ve gone on a whole adventure, rather than just having beaten a flash game. If you like RPG’s at all, you owe it to yourself to give this a look.
And that’s all for now! There’s no lack of interesting flash games on the internet, and if ya’ll like this, maybe I’ll do a part two on another slow news day. If I missed a game you really like, please share in the comments!
Happy gaming!
