Browser Game Roundup: Best of June
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It's time once again to look at some of the best browser games available on the Internet today. June was an especially good month for more involved games. While the heart and soul of browser gaming is a quick, pick-up-and-play sensibility, there's also a strong appeal in games with a learning curve and a longer play time. Last month's entries demonstrate just how far games in Flash and other platforms have come since the infancy of the medium. Rooftop Skater, these ain't.
While most of the titles I review for Browser Game Roundup are independently or semi-independently produced, I couldn't pass up the applause for the British TV network Channel 4's most recent foray into game design, 1066. Educational, elegant and engrossing, 1066 is a battlefield simulator augmented with a variety of intuitive mini-games. Chronicling the Viking and Norman invasions that ended up shaping the country of England, the game has both a single-player campaign with three distinct battles and a multiplayer option to extend gameplay to friendly skirmishes with friends. Using a simple but impressive map and a variety of units, 1066 pits two armies against one another to win through sheer attrition or demoralization. A single battle can take between 15 and 20 minutes, and the learning curve is just steep enough to ensure you probably won't win your first battle. With a little practice, you can employ some classic strategies to route your enemy and get a well-written educational narrative at the same time.
Developed by WX3Lab, Starcom is an addictive action game that puts players in the cockpit of a frequently put-upon starship. Traveling through a series of wormholes and fighting off alien invaders, players earn money and upgrades to help them in battle. The graphics, like most of the game, could use a little polish but are more than adequate and the gameplay itself is a blast. Starcom feels like a demo for a much bigger, more involved game. Given the state of independent game development, let's hope WX3Lab gets the support to expand this rough gem into a full series.
By far one of the prettiest browser games I've ever seen, this game by Ice Cream Breakfast combines sleek platforming with a one-of-a-kind atmosphere and excellent puzzles. Sparks and Dust takes place in a surreal world of snow, fog and bizarre, mythology-inspired enemies. Players take control of a mysterious hero who attacks enemies and uncovers secrets below the snow and dirt by dive-bombing the ground. The higher up the hero goes, the bigger the crater he leaves. It's extremely satisfying to climb to treacherous heights, then rocket to the ground leaving behind a meteor-sized hole in the earth. Sparks and Dust is definitely challenging. Many puzzles can be rendered unsolvable by a wrong move and a lot of those jumps are unforgiving. It may not be as inherently strategy-based as the other two games in this list, but it still requires some unconventional thinking to put everything together.
