Blog: Three Great Flash Platform Games
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Three Great Flash Platform Games - Saturday, December 12, 2009
There's a lot that goes into making a good platform game, and most of the Flash-based ones I've played I haven't found to be great, owing to a lack of time, ability and/or imagination on the part of the creators. Of course, no disrespect is meant to those people, since most creators of Flash games provide them free of charge and get compensated very little, if at all.
(Un)fortunately, when I do find one that I really like, I'm hooked. Currently, the three Flash-based platformers that top my list are, in no particular order: Portal: The Flash Version, The Company of Myself, and Level Up!.
Portal: The Flash Version
This fan-made game is based on the successful first-person action/puzzle game by Valve Corporation called, you might've guessed, Portal. The premise is simple: as a test subject in an advanced research facility, your only option is to find a way to the other side of the room in a series of tests (levels). But you'll need to go through walls, scale ledges too tall for you to leap, and avoid laser-shooting robots, death spikes and electrified floors. Your only friend is the portal-creating and anti-gravity gun you've been equipped with.
The Company of Myself
In this puzzle game, you play the role of a hermit who is accustomed to, but slightly discontent with, being in the sole company of himself. The goal is to reach a mysterious green square at the end of each level, which requires ascending ledges that are too high and crossing over pits that are too wide by employing the help of, effectively, yourself. The puzzle dynamics are relatively original, and the graphics are minimalistic and serve their intended purpose. But what really makes you want to play through all the levels is the unfolding storyline- throughout each level, you discover more about what's going on in the protagonist's head, and his mysterious past and lost love.
Level Up!
This game fuses RPG and platformer elements and removes the repetition aspect from the concept of leveling up. In this game you play an amnesiac who has a house in the woods, in search of magical gems and clues to her lost memory. What sets this game apart from other platformers is that abilities that are leveled up directly affect interaction with the game world- for instance, leveling up the jumping ability (which passively gets leveled up as you jump around) allows the character to jump to higher ledges (and thus access different parts of the game world) that were previously unreachable. There are no useless quests or side jobs to complete, but instead all emphasis is on exploration, with the storyline unfolding as the character explores the beautifully-animated 8-bit style world around her. My only gripe about this game is that it's too short!
(Un)fortunately, when I do find one that I really like, I'm hooked. Currently, the three Flash-based platformers that top my list are, in no particular order: Portal: The Flash Version, The Company of Myself, and Level Up!.
Portal: The Flash Version
This fan-made game is based on the successful first-person action/puzzle game by Valve Corporation called, you might've guessed, Portal. The premise is simple: as a test subject in an advanced research facility, your only option is to find a way to the other side of the room in a series of tests (levels). But you'll need to go through walls, scale ledges too tall for you to leap, and avoid laser-shooting robots, death spikes and electrified floors. Your only friend is the portal-creating and anti-gravity gun you've been equipped with.
The Company of Myself
In this puzzle game, you play the role of a hermit who is accustomed to, but slightly discontent with, being in the sole company of himself. The goal is to reach a mysterious green square at the end of each level, which requires ascending ledges that are too high and crossing over pits that are too wide by employing the help of, effectively, yourself. The puzzle dynamics are relatively original, and the graphics are minimalistic and serve their intended purpose. But what really makes you want to play through all the levels is the unfolding storyline- throughout each level, you discover more about what's going on in the protagonist's head, and his mysterious past and lost love.
Level Up!
This game fuses RPG and platformer elements and removes the repetition aspect from the concept of leveling up. In this game you play an amnesiac who has a house in the woods, in search of magical gems and clues to her lost memory. What sets this game apart from other platformers is that abilities that are leveled up directly affect interaction with the game world- for instance, leveling up the jumping ability (which passively gets leveled up as you jump around) allows the character to jump to higher ledges (and thus access different parts of the game world) that were previously unreachable. There are no useless quests or side jobs to complete, but instead all emphasis is on exploration, with the storyline unfolding as the character explores the beautifully-animated 8-bit style world around her. My only gripe about this game is that it's too short!