News You Can Bruise for 2009 February 11

(2) Wed Feb 11 2009 21:12 Game Roundup: Windoze Edition: Yes, it's been so long since I used Windows that I still think that 3.1-vintage nickname is funny. (Remember "WinDOS"? How about "Window$"? Well, I'm pretty sure someone said "Window$" at one point.) Anyway, a bunch of cool-looking Windows games have been accumulating over the past year that I haven't been playing. But I remembered them all while doing the game name entries, and a couple days ago Sumana asked me to set up the Windows computer so she could do some Miro testing. Yeah, we have a Windows computer, obtained for Miro testing, and it's just been gathering dust. So why not? I downloaded a couple games I'd been wanting to play and tried them out.

• Spelunky: (no real homepage) Very fun, replayable. Does what everyone says: combines real-time platforming gameplay with the randomness of a Roguelike.
• Barkley, Shut Up And Jam: Gaiden: Hilarious. A masterpiece of bathos. Reminds me of Dwarf Fortress somewhat in the amount and type of detail.
• Mighty Jill Off: I'm not used to writing in Game Roundups about games on which there's already a critical consensus (or, indeed, have ever been written about by anyone else), so I don't really have much to add here. Except I think it's not appreciated enough how the sadomasochistic dynamic of this game spills over and makes one look differently at games in general. Except it probably is appreciated enough, I just like appreciating it, so I wrote the previous sentence.
• Legend of Princess: I don't really enjoy beat-em-ups, a trait that dates back to childhood, although it was fun to play Castle Crashers with Brendan. I was confused and eventually killed by the flashing lights and sound effects and fast-paced flying around the screen. But I really liked how this game adapted all the tools and cliches of the Zelda series to that format.
• ROM CHECK: FAIL: Clever idea. Fun for as long as you want to play it. Plus, I waited so long to play it that there's a Linux version now.

More later, I gotta work on secret project. Do let me know what Windows games I should look at. Note that any future GR:WE editions will be similar to this one in only reviewing games I hear about from other people.

PS: Even though I'm now mellow about it, Windows is still slow and aggravating. Take that!