December 17, 2010 by
Nate
It's never been tougher to pin down just how much a game is
worth. Vanquish will last you all of five hours for its $60 entry fee,
but is it so much fun that you'll want to play it again and again?
Conversely, Fallout New Vegas offers days' worth of content to explore,
but is a buggy expansion pack really worth sixty Junior Bacon
Cheeseburgers? And why shell out full price for this year's sports title
when last year's model is nearly identical and can be bought for a
song?
Thankfully, the whole discussion goes out the window when
you can play the game for free. There are all kinds of browser games,
smartphone apps, and free-to-play platforms out there that offer gaming
goodness in exchange for nothing at all. There was a time when free
Flash games were horrid experiences, not even worthy of killing time at
work. But in the era of aggregate sites, app stores and user ratings, the fun freebies
tend to rise to the top of the pile, where cubicle drones between TPS
reports are more likely to find them.
I recently played
through a few excellent little flash games at Adult Swim's games portal. Give
Up, Robot and Give Up, Robot 2 gave me a few hours of die-and-retry
platforming fun, and took nothing in return.
Give Up, Robot and
its sequel are most easily compared to Bionic Commando. The playable
character, Robot, has a grappling hook that shoots outward and upward
from its body in addition to a standard jump and walking controls. The
player can also adjust the length of the grapple line and affect
momentum while airborne, a standard practice in platformers. Most of the
challenges in the Give Up, Robot games involve swinging from
precariously-placed ceilings and objects from the left side of the
screen to the exit on the right.
It wouldn't be very
interesting if there weren't any hazards and obstacles along the way.
Many walls, ceilings, and floors are electrified, and will destroy Robot
when touched. Some platforms will drop or raise when Robot lands on
them or grapples onto them. Spinning grapple points will swing Robot
around in a circle until it lets go and flings away. The second game
adds coins to bolster your high score as well as a few very basic "enemy" types, including missiles that can be
grappled onto and dragged by Robot's weight.
Though
the elements are rather simple, Give Up Robot perfectly walks the line
between fun and frustration to keep the player engaged but not enraged.
Each game features over 50 stages, many of which can be finished in
under ten seconds...but many of them will keep even platforming veterans
busy for at least a few minutes. By the end of each game, you could be
spending over ten minutes on one stage, trying to make the perfect
fifteen-second run. Both games also feature a short Hard mode, with a
batch of absolutely devilish new stages for those seeking a true pixel
perfection challenge. The Hard mode alone in Give Up Robot 2 took me
over an hour to get through, and I had to connect my Wii remote to my
computer via bluetooth in order to handle the precision required.
This
old-school difficulty is reflected with a visual style reminiscent of
the unassuming but downright frustrating arcade-style games of the '80s.
The original looks similar to late Atari-era games with plenty of
bright colors against a black background, while the sequel mimics
kid-focused NES era games that were cute and colorful but downright
sinister behind all the smiles. A catchy 8-bit soundtrack accompanies
each, and a distorted, electronic voice delivers approval upon every
death ("Let's be friends, Robot!") and scolds your rare success ("Stop trying, Robot!"). Slick presentation goes far in staving off the urge
to give up in a die-and-retry, and Give Up, Robot successfully turns
joyless frustration into irresistable masochism in this way.
Even a sliver of enjoyment can make the difference between a cheap waste of time and a fun
freebie, but the Give Up, Robot titles go above and beyond what I
expected from a free browser game. These two addictive swing-and-jumps
had me entertained from start to finish. They're a perfect snack to save you from game-starvation while at work, in class, or wherever you probably should be doing something productive instead.
Click here to play Give Up, Robot at adultswim.com
Then try the sequel, also at adultswim.comUp for more free fun? Check out other games from the Give Up Robot creator at
Matt Makes Games.
It's never been tougher to pin down just how much a game is
worth. Vanquish will last you all of five hours for its $60 entry fee,
but is it so much fun that you'll want to play it again and again?
Conversely, Fallout New Vegas offers days' worth of content to explore,
but is a buggy expansion pack really worth sixty Junior Bacon
Cheeseburgers? And why shell out full price for this year's sports title
when last year's model is nearly identical and can be bought for a
song?
