This month at Game Tunnel we have two freeware games! We've recently begun coverage of freeware, if it is excellent quality, and with today's economy who can blame us? So while Dark Wind and Altitude steal the show on quality, Tale of Two Kingdoms and Myth Xaran are great for those of us on a budget! You'll also note if you play Dark Wind long enough you'll run into me, owner and editor here at Gametunnel. Please say hello, I love hearing from our readers!

Dark Wind

When it comes to strategic vehicular combat there has never been a game as engaging and as robust as Dark Wind. Car Wars or Mad Max fans prepare to waste away entire weekends as you build characters, fleets of cars, even small towns in an attempt to survive the harsh waste of the future.

Anyone who is interested in turn based strategy games, car combat, or an MMORPG that has perma death and permanent losses look no further. Now if you'll excuse me, I looted a heavy gattling gun yesterday and I need to go slaughter some hapless victim with it.

(PS: Enter ID #17959 as your referral source and look up The Chain Gang and say hello.)

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Altitude

Aerial Dog fighting World War 2 style has always been a favorite genre of mine. Normally this is done in 3D, but Altitude takes the 2D approach with cell shaded cartoon action and makes it work incredibly well. Sometimes I judge a game based on if I go back and play it after the review is done and Altitude has kept me coming back for weeks. Due to the quick nature of the games (usually) I find myself using a spare 30 minutes to get some frags and blow up some bases, especially when I don't have time for robust turn based combat sims (See above).

So if a little bit of action dog fighting is on your palette Altitude is a sure fire cure for those blues. The demo is extremely open, giving you access to two great planes, one of which is the plane I use anyway even with the full version. This game is absolutely worth downloading.

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Dark Souls

Dark Souls is an RPG that sticks it to the man: no funny business, just classic turn-based battles and an epic storyline. If this sounds familiar, it probably is, since that's the same formula that old-school RPGs have been using for a while now. If it isn't broken, don't fix it, right?

As is the tradition for long and epic RPGs, the story is… well, long and epic. It follows Gauly, a mercenary who spends his time trying to avoid being stabbed by the authorities and having a generally crappy life. His tortured past seems to follow him everywhere, and this makes him a very surly man.

I think the best part of the story (and one of the most appealing aspects of the game) is the strongly developed characters, especially Gauly. He's jaded, grouchy, and absolutely tactless. He's also one of the more interesting anti-heroes I've seen, since he's not your typical hero, nor is he particularly nice. Which makes him fun to play as.

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The Adventures of Rick Rocket

As far as space shooters go, Rick Rocket is pretty standard. The basics are this: fly around and shoot things. Oh, and there's the occasional mission where you'll have to find an object and return it to your base or seek and destroy certain enemies, or something similar to that. The idea is to keep the player in more or less constant action, which it succeeds at doing.

The graphics are clean and crisp, with old-school ship designs (old being those black-and-white sci-fi movies with titles like "It Came From Jupiter"). Some of the bigger enemies even show damage as you blast away at their hulls.

While there's not a lot to Rick Rocket, it does what it does pretty well. My main problem with it is controlling the ship, which feels like it swerves a little too much (and makes it hard to aim). Is Rick Rocket unique? No, not really. Is it still fresh and fun to play? Most definitely.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

In A Tale Of Two Kingdoms, the plot begins with a rather dramatic opening act. In a more or less stereotypical fantasy world, there's a war going on between the humans and the goblins. You play as a mercenary commander who's called in to help in the fight. Things get nasty when the King is murdered, and you're convicted for the terrible deed. From there, the hero embarks on an epic quest, etc.

The game plays out like a point-and-click straight out of the 90's, and that includes the good and bad. Sometimes, you'll be stuck searching every pixel on a screen to find a tiny little object that sparkles too infrequently to be of any help. Besides a few hiccups, the gameplay is pretty solid.

What stands out in ATOTK is how very pretty it is. The backgrounds are lively and animated, the character portraits are great, and the sprites are all pretty good.

For anyone who has a free weekend or two: you can't really go wrong with ATOTK, since it will probably keep you hooked until the end. For those of you who want a lighter romp in adventure land, however, this game might not be your cup of tea. Maybe best of all, it's 100% free!

Myth Xaran

Myth Xaran is another console-style RPG made with an RPG maker. It plays in an almost identical fashion to games like Eternal Eden, which is exactly what many gamers will find to be appealing about it.

The story is an interesting and epic tale, and isn't that different from (yet again) just about every other game in the genre. The battles were standard RPG combat: turn based melees with swords, magic, and sprites galore. They felt a little slow, probably due to the low amount of damage dealt by attacks, but this was something that was easily remedied by wandering an area and beefing up your characters' levels.

Myth Xaran has what makes a good RPG: decent battles and an epic storyline. It also has some of the problems that plague mediocre RPGS: uneven pacing and generic music. So, go ahead and try the game, but don't look for the next role-playing masterpiece. It's free though, which counts for something.

Emotigeddon

It's usually a safe bet to assume that a game starring an emoticon will be…mediocre, to be optimistic. I played Emotigeddon with this prejudice in my head, and was pleasantly surprised, mostly.

The game's not rocket science: move around, pick up ammo/health/etc, shoot at baddies, and get to the end of the stage. The game endorses use of the grappling hook to make navigation faster, but it was way less time consuming to float around with WASD. The wide variety of weapons is one of the game's strongest points, since none of the weapons feel useless (except the basic weapon with infinite ammo, since I never found myself desperate enough to actually use it).

My main beef with the game is the cosmetics. It doesn't look very good. Maybe it's the fact that they're all smiley faces, or that the enemies all look exactly the same, or that the environments are kind of dull. Basically, it doesn't stimulate the player visually, and that's it's major downfall.

Virtual Families

Oftentimes, games borrow ideas from one another. While it's a perfectly fine thing to do, there's a problem: they all tend to feel the same. For example, while I played Virtual Families (from developer Last Day of Work), I couldn't help feeling like I was playing a knock-off of The Sims.

Virtual Families is a family simulation game (just like The Sims). You pick your character and set him/her up with a house and a spouse. Then they get on with their lives, and you help them. You'll have to keep track of their stats to make sure they're happy and healthy. Buying food and upgrades for the house are a must, and giving your little friends some diversions are options, too. They have to work, too, even if all of their jobs are from home. It's kind of like being a mother.

While Virtual Families managed to be somewhat unique among its genre, it has some shortcomings that aren't easy to ignore. While it's not a bad game by any means, it's not a shining little gem, either, thanks to some unfortunate flaws.