This week, Fruitbat looks at an arcade-style oddity
Like the very best arcade and puzzle games, ROM CHECK FAIL concerns itself with one simple idea that spawns endless possibilities, both for victory and defeat. That it features a healthy dose of nostalgia is very much in its favour, too.
Each of the game's twenty levels feature a single screen festooned with level blocks and a set of enemies, which need to be cleared in order to advance. What makes the game so unique is that every element of the level - from player to enemy and music to background - is randomised based on a tidy collection of old-school video games. In any given level you might find yourself pitting Pac Man against the Space Invaders, or the ship from Defender against an army of Goombas. Every player and enemy behaves exactly as they do in their respective games - getting caught as the Space Invaders ship spells trouble, as you can only move left and right, but Link and Pac Man are free to roam the screen at will.
And then comes the kicker - every five seconds the screen scrambles, and every element randomises again. The brief joy of blasting at Space Invaders soon ends as you find the skies raining Goombas, and Link's sword stab suddenly seems a touch paltry. Reaching the end of the game is a tricky task, and trying to do so without losing a life is frustratingly more-ish. Made in three weeks for a contest at TIGSource, ROM CHECK FAIL is short but definitely warrants more than a single play-through.
Download Rom Check Fail at http://www.farbs.org/games.html
Like the very best arcade and puzzle games, ROM CHECK FAIL concerns itself with one simple idea that spawns endless possibilities, both for victory and defeat. That it features a healthy dose of nostalgia is very much in its favour, too.
Each of the game's twenty levels feature a single screen festooned with level blocks and a set of enemies, which need to be cleared in order to advance. What makes the game so unique is that every element of the level - from player to enemy and music to background - is randomised based on a tidy collection of old-school video games. In any given level you might find yourself pitting Pac Man against the Space Invaders, or the ship from Defender against an army of Goombas. Every player and enemy behaves exactly as they do in their respective games - getting caught as the Space Invaders ship spells trouble, as you can only move left and right, but Link and Pac Man are free to roam the screen at will.And then comes the kicker - every five seconds the screen scrambles, and every element randomises again. The brief joy of blasting at Space Invaders soon ends as you find the skies raining Goombas, and Link's sword stab suddenly seems a touch paltry. Reaching the end of the game is a tricky task, and trying to do so without losing a life is frustratingly more-ish. Made in three weeks for a contest at TIGSource, ROM CHECK FAIL is short but definitely warrants more than a single play-through.
Download Rom Check Fail at http://www.farbs.org/games.html
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