OK, this game was a blast. Literally. As in, blast the targets and watch 'em bleed. If you like shoot 'em ups, mixed liberally with gratuitous violence, this is a game for you. It's called 12 Days, and you can find it in the 'sniper games' collection at Freewebarcade.com. It's definitely worth a look.
The main difference between this game and other sniper games is in the graphics. 12 Days doesn't just do the basic stick figures; the graphics in this game are full color, moving, fairly realistic. The game interface gives you a basic wide view of an area, and you can zoom in, with a smaller rifle-scope view, to take your shot.
Like many other sniper flash games, this one is embedded within a story line. Honestly, I could have done without the story line; it wasn't very good, in my opinion, and it's main purpose was to set up the scene, and present you (the player/sniper) with a scenario and a mission. Hints to solve the mission are given in the story sections, but the game's authors could easily have just presented the hints in a simple mission briefing format, without taking anything away from the game.
All of that said, you should set your morals aside before playing this one. The story line makes you a Russian mobster's favorite sniper, so you can imagine the sort of missions you'll be getting. You rarely get more than one or two shots to complete a mission, but if you fail, you can choose to redo and keep the game going.
I give this one a thumbs up; it was a fun waste of time, and some of the mission hints were pretty tough to figure out. And every now and then, you just have to shoot stuff to feel better. It's a little more socially acceptable to do that on a computer screen than, say, on a bell tower, isn't it?
Reading this blog, you may get the impression that I like shoot 'em up games. Well, that's because I do. Especially zombie shoot 'em ups, but sometimes, I yearn for something different. And when that happens, I'll play sniper games. It's a good way to get some aggression out of my system.
Sniper Assassin is a pretty good introduction to the genre. There are no bells and whistles in this game. It's divided into missions, with a short introduction before each mission to describe your objective. The game interface is pretty simple, too. There's a dark screen, with a rifle scope view finder. You use the mouse to move the scope around, to see what's out there (what's out there will be briefly described in the mission introduction); when you find your target, you just left click to shoot.
The missions get more difficult as you go through the game, but pretty much, that's all there is to it. It's simple. The bad guy is described as a drug dealer, and let's face it, who wouldn't want to be a sniper with a big cocaine distributor in his sights? I give this game two thumbs up, one for simplicity and one for plain old fun.
The sniper game genre is something to see, really. Most are pretty similar to Sniper Assassin; as I said, it's a good intro to the genre. Some of the games you can find start bringing in added features. In some games, as you score, you can improve your scope, your weapons, or your skill. Other sniper games feature moving targets, or elaborate storylines. Some, like this one, use simple stick graphics, while others have more realistic flash videos. All in all, it's definitely a fun set of games. I'll talk about more of them later.
Some time ago, I wrote about a cool little flash game I came across called The Last Stand; the premise is familiar to anyone who's ever seen a Resident Evil movie: mutated, flesh eating zombies are everywhere, killing folks left and right, and turning them into more flesh eating zombies that attack folks, etc... Not exactly rocket science, but definitely the stuff that great video games are made of.
As with any good thing, once was not enough. The makers of The Last Stand made a sequel, called orginally enough, The Last Stand 2. You can find it here.
Like the original, this game is great. If you just want a shoot 'em up, you'll be most satisfied. If you want a challenging video game, with multiple levels and non-sequential game play, you'll be even more satisfied.
In the original, there were 20 waves of zombies, and you could spend the time between waves repairing your defences, searching for better weapons, or looking for other survivors. The sequel keeps all of that, but has improved on it.
Your searches are conducted according to a map of the whichever town you're in. You can search houses, stores, and public buildings for weapons, survivors, and travel supplies. As you accumulate supplies, you can head out to other towns, search them, and slowly make your way to the coast, to catch the last ship. You have 40 days of 'game time' to do this. Don't let the timer run out, or you'll be stuck fighting zombies forever!
There are three specific points where Last Stand 2 improves on the original: you can arm your fellow survivors with the weapons you find; you can find some additional weapons (the bow is fun, but for ultimate zombie destruction, you'll want the RPG!), and you can set traps to keep zombies away from your barricade (bear traps and various explosives).
I will, without hesitation, recommend this game to all of my fellow geeks out there. Stay in one night, order pizza, rent Resident Evil, and play The Last Stand 2. Definitely a recipe for a good time.
I like to talk about competition. I like to watch competitions, too. And sometimes, just to make sure that I don't miss anything good, I set my Tivo to record random games (basketball, football, baseball: the American staples), and watch them later. Recently, I saw a total blowout.
It was the Nuggets versus the Sonics, on March 16. Final score, Denver 168, Seattle 116. Wow.
To start with, there's the obvious: the Nuggets scored 168 points in one regulation game. I figured that had to be a record, and it is: a season high for the NBA, and a second-best high for the Denver franchise. Eight Nuggets players had triple doubles that night. No wonder Seattle lost.
But here's something not-so-obvious: the Sonics scored 116 points. If a teams scores 116 in an NBA game, they usually don't lose. Somehow, I think that both teams left their defense at home.
I a new article about the game, here, I read this:
Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "It matters a lot because we're professionals and we're trying to compete, and we didn't compete tonight."
Looking at the score, I'd have to disagree. The Sonics had a high-scoring game, and on almost any other night, they would have won with 116. That game was exceptional. And very bad luck for the Sonics.
But sometimes, competition involves luck.
