Gride is the latest game from OOPixel, who combines object oriented with pixels apparently. Why you want to know that its object oriented I have no idea but it is, some programmers just love you to know.

The game features a pink car and the idea is to get to the end of the course, the car automatically accelerates and you have a choice of 4 “upgrades” to apply which will temporarily either jump, add grip, add power or remove the upgrade applied. Its an incredibly simple idea and pretty original, I was expecting it to be the usual physics based car game with jumps etc just like Super Bike x, it was a pleasant surprise having this upgrade system works really well. Each level is pretty well thought out but pretty difficult, it’ll take several attempts to reach the end, its one of them games which is frustrating, but frustrating in a good way, it just keeps you coming back for another go.

The game was original done for the Jayisgames competition and the game deservedly came third and was the winner of the viral prize.

Go and Play Gride.

Aniball is a comedy football game from modul-games. It kind of reminds me of playing match day on the zX spectrum, execpt the footballers are now octopus rather than big curly haired 80’s idiots.

You have a team of 4 crazy characters and there are 4 teams to choose from, I don’t think it actually makes any difference though they all seem to play the same, it would have been nice if each character had one special move. The obviously aim of the game is to score more goals than your opponents, by kicking the ball around and eventually scoring past the keeper.If you win a match you unlock the next pitch and slightly harder opponents.

What sets this out from the crowd is the artwork, everything from the loader to the menus are finely sculpted , the characters have bags of charm and are beautifully animated, even down to the butt cheeks wobbling on the hamster character as he walks around.

Overall its a really enjoyable version of football and in some respects is more enjoyable to play than the actual game, requires far less effort, no running around and your knees won’t blow up if some one does a sliding tackle on you.

Have a look at AniBall.

Subluceo is a game by Ben Weitzman sponsored by Smiley Gamer. It’s another top down shooter in the asteroids style, except without asteroids, you know the sort of thing rotate round and blows lots of little crafts to smithereens. Fisrt impressions are that is all looks very retro, mainly geometric shapes and glows but it does look pretty slick. The background has a nice wobbly grid hich kind of reacts to where you are like its a sheet of water.

It reminds me very much of Luminara by jmtb02 in a fight between the 2 games it would be similar to a fight between Rocky and Rocky 2, they both have pretty much the same attributes except the first one was just slightly better. I’m not sure why, they are both pretty much the same game, a lot of the time its just how the game feels. Luminara is just a bit faster and feels a bit more manic, I also think the music in luminara is more to my taste. I also found that Subulceo is a little over the top in places with explosions and it does become difficult to work out what’s going on.

The last thing which Luminara wins on is the controls, mouse controls and firing really add to the sluggish feel of the controls. It works much better having keyboard controls as you can move and fire in different directions.

Having said that it is very slickly put together and is an enjoyable couple of minutes entertainment.

Go and Play subluceo.