Ants Long For Combat, Too

Magnant is a charming little indie real-time strategy game in which you control a colony of intelligent, technologically sophisticated ants waging battle against other ant colonies and the evil bees and beetles. It has all the usual RTS tropes--resource extraction, building construction, and real-time combat--as well as a pretty cool version of online play.

It has one innovative and unique aspect, too; virtual "cards" let you build special units or buildings. They're earned through play, and as with a trading card game (like Magic: The Gathering), you never know what cards your opponents will deploy when you play online--which creates a greater degree of variety. Your carefully-planned strategy may be upended or need to adapt quickly when an opponent deploys a special unit you hadn't anticipated.

Pretty neat.

Bomberman Updated

Mars Miner is essentially Bomberman with somewhat improved graphics, designed for PCs, and with pretty smart level design. Either this sounds interesting already, or else you have no idea what I'm talking about. (Or you didn't like Bomberman, of course.)

In other words, it's a top-view arcade-style game in which you fight enemies by leaving bombs behind and either darting away or ducking around a corner while they explode. Each level is non-scrolling, with some arrangement of obstacles you have to blow up to get past, and enemies of varying capabilities -- low level ones do damage if they run into you, but others can shoot, or spawn low-level enemies, and so on. In addition, there are a slew of power-ups that do things like increase the explosive force of your bombs, allow you to move bombs after placement, nullify bombs you've placed before they explode, etc.

Defense is boring, right? Attacking is action, advance, and victory; defense is static. You sit there and hope for the best. No war was more boring than World War One--unmoving defensive trench lines for four long years. So a priori, you might think a game named "Master of Defense" would be, ah, less than scintillating.

Actually, it's quite cool.

You purchase defensive towers and place them on the map. Initially, you have a choice among three types: ones that attack walking critters, ones that attack flying critters, and ones that attack both but do far less damage. Each tower has arange of attack, which you can see as a circle about it by selecting it.

Drivin' an' Shootin'

The first thing you notice about Mexican Motor Mafia is that the music is seriously kick-ass--as is the introductory sequence, carried in graphic novel-like images and text. It is also definitely not for the tots; your brother is executed, gangland-like, in front of his small children. You have to go after the killers, of course.

The actual game is a top-down driving-and-shooting game, something along the lines of the original GTA. You use the WASD keys to tool around, aiming with the mouse and blasting away at enemies, driving into towns along your route for new ammo, equipment, better cars, and so on.

If you yearn for the days of Ultima (round about VII or VIII) or the King's Quest games--or if you've plowed all the way through Oblivion and aren't willing to wait for years until the next great, big-budget fantasy RPG gets released--you've just stumbled on a game you will like a great deal. In fact, stop reading now and go play the demo. Maybe I need to insert a rotating spiral GIF here and a deep hypnotic voice intoning "You Will Like It," but it hardly seems necessary. No mental coercion needed--the game speaks for itself.

Morning's Wrath is an isometic "2-and-a-half-D" fantasy RPG, a sassy (if tragic) female protagonist, a story that not only makes sense but you will actually care about, excellent music, and a great deal of fast-paced combat, along with an original and well conceived spell system.

For a small indie team, Ethereal Darkness has produced a surprisingly polished little gem of a game in Morning's Wrath--and yes, the graphics are a little retro, but for that we make no apologies. Gameplay over glitz, remember?

And for a mere $10 bucks. Hard to beat that.

Cute, Zany and Engaging Arcade-y Play
Reduced Price for a Limited Time (Regularly $19.99)>

Developed by Steve Ince and based on his own web comic, Mr. Smoozles Goes Nutso is a cheerfully arcade-y 2D game with strong "adventure game" aspects--that is, success is dependent more on solving puzzles than on mastery of the interface. It boasts attractive comic-style graphics, well-written and often amusing dialog, and surprising depth of gameplay -- light-hearted gaming madness.

The Developer Says

A hugely fun arcade adventure, based upon the online comic strip, Mr. Smoozles, it boasts a cast of 50 characters spread through 60 exciting and varied locations and has an original soundtrack by talented young composer, Josh Winiberg. With an addictive mix of gameplay and humour, this game is a delight for gamers of all ages and tastes.