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Note: Some games may omit to mention all the game controls, so these are some common game controls, although not all games will use them.
F1 for help, F4 switch between a window and fullscreen, F5 saves game, F6 load a saved game, Esc exit the game.


Icarus Flight.

Icarus Flight is based on the story of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun, melted his wings and died. In this 3D game, you zoom around the sky collecting feathers and points, while avoiding birds, typhoons and water spouts. Also, true to the story of Icarus, you mustn't get too close to the sun, or your wings will melt.

You stay aloft by flapping your wings, using the mouse button, but your finger doesn't get tired, as you only have a very limited amount of flaps. You can replenish your flapping reserve, by collecting feathers.
You can also fly through speed rings, to give yourself a boost, but be careful, as it's easy to boost yourself either into the sea, or too near the sun.

The 3D graphics are pretty good by Game Maker standards and there are some nice sound effects.
The menu system is excellent, with a good help file. Note, F4 switches between running the game full screen, or in a window.

At first I wasn't very impressed by Icarus Flight, as it takes a while to get used to the controls and the 3D perspective is a little tricky. But after a while, I found that I was soaring around the sky collecting feathers and points and was quite pleased with myself when I managed to score 830 points.
So I went online and submitted it to the online score, I then saw that Gullesnuffs had the top score of 4696!!!!!!!!!! Oh well, I thought I was doing well.

Freeware -- Download size 4.33MB -- Win 2000, XP, Vista

Note: Does not require installing, just unzip and play.

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/32727

Return to sector 9.

Return to Sector 9 is an arcade game with nine different game modes. The different modes vary considerably and the controls are given at the start of each mode.
The game is quite difficult and some of the control methods are unusual, but playable once you get used to them. Each new mode needs to be unlocked, by completing the previous mode. Fifteen new ships and weapons can also be unlocked.

At the moment I have only completed three modes ( I'm too slow and uncoordinated ), but so far the graphics have been impressive. The game music is okay, but it does rather drown out the sound effects, so I prefer to turn it off in the options.

Game presentation is excellent, with colourful title screens and help files for each section. Your progress through the game is saved, along with statistics of your performance, aliens killed, ships lost etc.
A well made game, which should keep those players with a itchy trigger finger entertained.

Freeware -- Download size 10.9MB -- Win 98SE,ME,2000,XP

http://www.pugfuglygames.com/Game.php?game=10

Lunar Lander by Andreas Forsén

Lunar Lander is a variation on the classic lunar lander game. You must land your craft, before the fuel runs out, without landing too hard, or hitting an obstacle. You also have to contend with collecting and destroying boxes, reversing gravity fields, zero gravity fields and solar winds.

There are 36 standard levels and 6 bonus levels, spread across 6 different worlds. You must complete at least 4 levels on each world, before moving to the next. Your progress is automatically saved, along with your best time, for each level.

The graphics are somewhat "home made", but don't let that put you off, the gameplay is good and the levels are varied and challenging. I found the music a bit irritating after a while, but it can be turned off in the options, the sound effects I liked.
The help file is pretty good, if you overlook all the spelling mistakes, particularly the unintentionally amusing instructions for the bonus taxi level.
I found Lunar Lander enjoyable, if somewhat frustrating on the gravity reversal levels. A nicely made game.

Note: No install required, just unzip and play.

Freeware -- Download size 7.5Mb -- No spec given, tested on XP.

http://www.csar-games.com/newsite/main.asp?page=14&id=65

Alien Breed Obliteration.

Alien Breed is a top down shooter, loosely based on the Alien films. You play a marine sent to investigate (what on my own, gulp!!), why deep space outpost CL1-M4X, has stopped transmitting scheduled communications.
You find the station overrun with aliens and must fight your way through each of the fifteen levels. You are given a goal to achieve at the start of each level.

For such a small download, the graphics are very good, varied and colourful, with an interesting station layout. Similarly, the sound effects are excellent and varied, with some speech effects. It is impressive how much graphics and sound the game author has managed to cram into 1.6Mb.

The game is quite hard, as you are constantly under attack, from the continuously spawning aliens, while searching for keys (to open the doors), credits and ammo. You must keep moving, as the aliens just keep coming.
You can use the computer terminals scattered around the facility, to purchase better weapons, etc and to view a map of the level.
There are cheats available in game, to boost your ammo, credit and lives, but (imop) using them makes the game less fun (although I did cheat and upgrade my gun).

Alien Breed is well presented, with a good help file and nice intro. Further help and tips can be found on the web site and forum.
There are two versions of the game available, the latest version has a few minor improvements, but has only been tested on XP. The older version seems more stable and ran better on my computer.
Note: The new version download also contains the .exe for the old version, but the old .exe doesn't seem to run properly with the new configuration (had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete). So I would advise downloading the complete old version, if you have problems running the new version.

Freeware -- Download size 1.6Mb -- Win XP,2000 - untested on win 98,95,ME

http://www.alienbreed.co.uk/

The Ultimate Chuchu by Scream681.

This is an arcade quality side scrolling shooter, the story is that a bunch of little green men have attacked and conquered the Earth, but while doing so they made the mistake of stealing Chuchu's motorbike and now the ultimate girl is gunning for them.

Rather flimsy story aside, this is a superb game, in fact it is hard to believe that it was made in GameMaker, it shows just what GM is capable of given time and effort.
The game graphics are sort of 3D, enough to give a good feeling of depth, without the blocky graphics and strange perspectives of even commercial games.
Nice graphical touches abound, such as the magazine ejecting from Chuchu's gun when she reloads and the animation of the little green men, it is even possible to shoot the coins in the air, cowboy style.

The controls are positive and easy to use, use the arrow keys to move and the mouse to control the gun. At the end of each level you can use the coins you have collected on route, to recharge your health and armour, or upgrade your equipment, this works okay, but I would have liked a few more weapon powerups. ( I need the firepower. )

The sound effects are nicely done and the music is well suited to the game. The levels steadily increase in difficulty with each level having something new to offer and the game automatically saves your position so that you can continue playing later, but it would have been nice to have a cheat so that you could get extra lives and try the later levels once you get stuck in the game.

Overall a great GM game, super graphics, sound and gameplay.

Freewae -- Download size 4.67Mb -- Win 98,ME,XP,NT4,2000

http://www.powow.com/scream681/games.htm

Asteroid Rush v1.01

Asteroid Rush is asteroids with a slight difference, your ship can only rotate, it cant move out of danger. So your survival is dependent on your speed and accuracy with your gun (Oh no!).
Destroying asteroids and flying saucers, can produce glowing orbs, which if shot give you a better gun, shields and bombs, the numbers of each powerup held, are displayed around the ship.
Control is simple, with the arrow keys for rotating, shooting and dropping a bomb, F1 gives you the help and Esc exits the game.

The graphics are quite good, with colourful explosions and tumbling asteroids and the sound effects complement the game well.
Presentation is very basic, with just a quick flash of the game title and then it's straight into the action, the help file and high score screens are also minimalist, but the game itself is quite polished and playable.

Asteroid Rush starts fairly sedately, but as the levels pass it soon speeds up to frantic speed, with you constantly on the look out for more powerups. I found it quite fun for a while, but the lack of variety does limit its replay value, but for a quick blast it's very good.

Freeware -- Download size 3.2Mb -- No spec given, tested on XP. ( I suspect it is made with GM, so should run on Win 98SE,ME,XP,2000)

http://www.dioneldelacruz.com

Attack Of The Bouncing Space Blobs! by StarKirby.

You must defend your space station against attacking space blobs. Despite the somewhat weak story line, this is an excellent arcade game, combining speed, accuracy and luck.

The game initially appears to have very simple graphics and sound, but there are some very good effects, with the blobs flexing as they bounce and different bounce sounds, depending on the type of blob.

The game can be played using the keyboard, mouse, or a gamepad, I used the keyboard (Esc to exit).
There is a choice of two game modes, Classic, which has forty levels of different blob types and combinations and Endurance, in which blobs appear steadily and you must survive as long as possible.
The variety of blobs is excellent in Classic mode, with difficulty increasing steadily. So far, after countless Classic mode games, I have managed to reach level twenty nine.
In Endurance mode it is all about time and the best I have achieved is two minutes, destroying two hundred and seventeen blobs, although it is a shame that the seconds survived aren't displayed.
A variety of powerups are dropped when blobs are split, some such as extra lives, are very useful, others such as atom bombs and rockets, can be a two edged sword, with your character getting hit by unexpected splitting blobs.

The game is presented well, with a good help file (although it doesn't list all the controls) and a nice interactive title screen (try clicking on blobs, or moving the mouse wheel).
Sadly there is no highscore table, which is a shame as Endurance mode would be greatly improved by some sort of record keeping.

Overall an excellent game, there are a few minor bugs where blobs get stuck, but the addictive gameplay makes this a game to keep on your hard drive.

This was my freeware game of the year for 2006, as I found it to be so addictive, especially on Endurance mode. I have lost count of the number of times I have played it.

Freeware -- Download size 2.3Mb -- Win 98SE,ME,XP,2000
No install needed, just click and play.

http://mestephen.com/starkirby/blobs/

Flatland by Theta Games.

Flatland is a space? shooter. You control a square and are attacked, by a variety of geometric shapes, some of which fire missiles at you. You must fight to stay alive for as long as possible. A variety of powerups are provided, to aid you in this task.
You move your square with the W,A,S,D keys, while firing with the left mouse button, the right mouse button fires your secondary weapon (powerups), pressing the spacebar cycles you through the available powerups.

Graphically the game is somewhat unusual, with a tiled pattern for the background.
Your square and the enemies, appear to be drawn, rather than the more usual sprites, although I could be mistaken (apparently I am mistaken, they are sprites). But taken altogether the effect is quite pleasing.
The simple sound effects complement the pleasant background music, which was composed, or arranged by the games creator. Unfortunately the game does suffer from a slight bug, that makes the game pause for a second when music tracks change.

The game starts quite slowly, with simple lines as the enemy, but new types of increasingly aggressive enemies soon appear and it becomes a challenge to fend them off. You can use the radar screen, to spot the location of powerups (the blue dots), which are essential, if you are to survive for long. Several powerups are available, including extra lives, guided missles and a scatter gun.
Presentation is fairly basic, but there is a short help file and the standard GM high score table. The latest version includes a text file of cheat codes, to activate a cheat, just type in the code during the game.

Overall, Flatland is an interesting, if not particularly addictive little game. With the advantage of being somewhat different, from the usual "run of the mill" shooter.

Freeware -- Download size 1.46Mb -- Win 98SE,ME,XP,2000

http://www.freehomepages.com/artgames/

Rainbow Wars by Luke Schneider.

Rainbow Wars is a fast moving arcade shooter, featuring six different enemy types, each with their own weapons and method of attack. There is an infinite number of levels, but in easy mode you can only go as far as level ten.
The game can be played by one or two players.
The controls are somewhat unusual, ideally you would play with a dual-analog controller, but it is possible (but somewhat more challenging) to play using the mouse and keyboard.
The default setting when the game starts is for the controller, so if playing with the keyboard you will need to alter it.

The graphics are fairly simple line drawings, but very colourful and well animated, with some nice effects.
There is no background music, but there are some very good electronic explosion sound effects.

The game is quite difficult, especially if playing with the keyboard and mouse, as I was. But I did manage to reach level fourteen on the normal mode, without having to restart a level.
One novel feature was that your ship could take three hits per level, before being regenerated to full strength at the start of the next level, but instead of a health meter, your ship shrinks in size with each hit.
I also liked the vortex bomb, that sucks in everything, bar your ship.

The game presentation was reasonable, with a good help file, but there is no snazzy title screen and your control and mode preferences are not saved.

One serious bug is that the screen resolution is not set, so if your screen is set at less than 1024*768, you will need to resize it, or the controls will not work correctly.
You can play full screen by pressing F4, but playing fullscreen at a resolution above 1024*768 causes serious slow down.
The lack of setting the screen correctly is surprising, as although the game was created with Game Maker, it was produced by a professional game designer, obviously a lack of testing.

In conclusion, a very playable and challenging game, a few more enemy types and some powerups would add to the games longevity and aside from the screen problems, a very polished game.

Freeware -- Download size 2.15Mb -- Win 98SE,ME,XP,2000
No install required, just unzip and run.

Direct download -- http://www.volition-inc.com/file/rainbow_wars.zip

Crush'em by Xception.

Your objective in Crush'em, is to reach the parachute at the top of the building, by traversing the scaffolding while avoiding (or crushing) the monsters and dodging objects dropped from above.

The game features some very slick graphic effects, with nice character animation, weather effects and a nifty spotlight affect on your character.
There are some unique sound effects and I suspect that Xception has been busy with a microphone (his neighbours must have wondered what he was doing).

The gameplay is good, with precise character control, although it does take a bit of practice, to get the timing right when crushing the monsters. In later levels some of the monsters follow you, or jump as they move, which makes crushing them very tricky.
Avoiding falling objects soon becomes second nature, as the sound affect alerts you to their imminent arrival. In later levels there is a life powerup amongst the dropped objects, however, I have not yet to managed to collect one.

Presentation is good, with a custom icon and loading bar and an animated title screen, there is no built in help file, but a very brief text file help, is included in the zip file.

Overall a addictive little game, rather like a Flash game, but with better graphics and sound. So far I have only managed to complete three of the five levels, but I'm getting better and should complete the game soon.
The game got a very poor response in the GM forum, which is surprising, as it is a polished little production and well worth a look.

Freeware -- Download size 3.73Mb -- Win 98,ME,XP,2000,NT4
No install required, just unzip and run.

Direct download (The game isn't listed on Xceptions web site):
http://home.tiscalinet.de/xception/Crushem.zip

http://home.tiscalinet.de/xception/

Raging Skies by darthlupi.

Raging Skies is a top down shooter with a story line, you play Cliffton Spoon, a bounty hunter who has been recruited to defend the Earth against the Talon Lords, after they launched a sneaky preemptive strike and destroyed the Earth defense forces.

The quite humorous story starts with some slightly animated cartoon style characters, who describe the situation and lead you through to the first stage.

You start the game proper on a radar screen, you can manoeuvre around and choose to engage the enemy in any order you wish, you can also return to your Base Ship at any time.
While docked with the Base Ship, you can upgrade your fighter with better weapons, maneuverability or speed, providing you have earned enough credit by destroying enemy craft. It does take quite a while to earn your credit, so choose your upgrades carefully, I found better maneuverability to be as important as awesome firepower.
There is a slight fault when upgrading your fighter, if you don't buy anything and press Z to exit the purchasing section, while a lower upgrade than you already have fitted is highlighted, your ship will be fitted with that item, which can be annoying as your credit is not refunded.

When you select an enemy squadron on the radar, you will be thrust into a dog fight with a varying amount of enemies. At the start of the game the enemies general only attack in a maximum of three and more often only one at a time, but as you progress through the game there are shorter intervals between attacks and the enemies weapons become more damaging, hopefully by then you will have upgraded your ship a bit, otherwise you are toast.

To defend yourself you have a primary weapon which is fired with Z, a secondary weapon and bombs launched with C and X respectively. You also have armor which is replenished each time you defeat an enemy squadron and return to the radar screen.

As well as enemy fighter squadrons there are also ground installations to destroy with the bombs, which is not that hard, just keep bobbing and weaving. And there are also large enemy ships, I found these pretty easy to defeat, as even in a group with heavy firepower they are easily outmaneuvered and shot down.

After destroying everything else, you then have to face one of the Talon Lords himself, these are tricky to shoot down as they are very fast and require cunning to defeat, but after you have pasted him, you move on to a new level.
So far I have only got as far as defending the transport ship and it is all getting rather difficult and I keep getting shot down, which is why it is a good idea to save your game regularly.

Overall this is a very good game the graphics are nice and clear and the sound is good, it could have done with a better help file, it took me a while to discover that the Z key was the main key to use for the menu etc.
Some Options would have nice as well, sound on/off would be useful to some people and the ability to turn the story sections off would have been nice.
But that said the game is very playable and I will certainly be playing it some more to try and get a bit further along.

Freeware -- Download size 4.2Mb -- Win 98,ME,XP,2000,NT4
No install required, just unzip and run.

http://darthlupi.com/

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