There are a lot of games available online. There are a lot of really bad games online. Those games are not what this series of Factoids will be about. These are the really good games, the ones into which you will sink hours of your time, which will suck your productivity into a deep, dark hole and never let go.
The theme for all the games in this article will be ‘upgrading’. In each game, you will earn money, then use that money to upgrade whatever mechanism it is that earns you money.
- Learn to Fly: My enjoyment of this game goes well beyond the fact that I love penguins. In the kind of deep, meaningful plot you would expect from a simple flash game, Learn to Fly is about a penguin who is upset at learning the fact that penguins are flightless. He seeks to correct this fact by launching himself into the air off a ramp. You earn money based on the distance you can get the little guy to fly. The money is then used to research improvements to the penguin’s flight capabilities. By the end of the game, you will have a rocket-propelled, high-tech hang-glider equipped penguin flying thousands of feet.
- Shopping Cart Hero: Very similar to Learn to Fly, except you are launching a shopping cart off of a ramp. There are still rockets involved. In this game, you can get extra points and extra money by doing tricks. It’s still a lot of fun. Whereas learn to fly is based on finding the correct angle in flight, Shopping Cart Hero is based on timing when you jump into the cart, and when you make the cart jump. Upgrade wheels and rockets, hire groupies to act as extra weight and buy tricks with the points you earn.
-Hedgehog Launch 2: As the title would imply, this is a game about launching a hedgehog. Into orbit. Then to Mars. Why? I don’t think it’s important, the game is fun. With a game that involves launching hedgehogs, it is not necessary to play Hedgehog Launch 1 to understand the plot of Hedgehog Launch 2. You launch him with a slingshot through the centre of the Earth, and then, hopefully into space. You maneuver him with rockets and bounce him off platforms. Hedgehog Launch 1 is good too, but 2 improves the game dramatically.
- Upgrade Complete: The ultimate expression of the upgrading theme. Everything in the game must be upgraded. You want to buy a main menu? You’ll have to buy the upgrade. Want music? Upgrade. Think the graphics are crappy? You can upgrade them too. The game play itself is a simple shoot-em-up, but it’s the whole self-referential, meta-video game nature of it all that makes it fun. The other thing to recommend the game is the fact that you can design (and upgrade) your own ship. If you want a whole lot of rocket launchers or a bunch of machine guns, its up to you.
