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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.


Aztec God.

Aztec God is an entry in the Yoyogames ancient civilizations contest (Ray Stone (see below) is another) and if the quality of the graphics was the only criteria, it would be a sure fire winner.
The game itself, requires you to clear zombies from each of the thirty pyramid levels. Crushing them with your stone ball, while activating swiches and avoiding holes, trap doors and a variety of spikes, spears and flames.

The graphics are excellent for a 3D (not exactly GMs forte) Game Maker game. It is rather dark (which is why the screenshot doesn't do the game justice), but then you are in a dungeon, lit by torches.
The intro music is stirring and the faint spooky sounds in the pyramid enhance the atmosphere, along with the grating sound when hit by a spear and the squelch of a run down zombie.

I'm on level eighteen at the moment and the level design is a bit disappointing, I was hoping for more of a puzzle, rather than just rolling about killing zombies. It is reasonably entertaining, but mostly just a matter of controlling the somewhat wayward ball.
A simple tutorial is included at the start of the game. You have unlimited lives and your progress through the levels is auto saved.

Overall, Aztec God is an impressively made and presented game, with stunning graphics (for GM), great sound and a good back story. But will the gameplay be sufficiently absorbing to win the Yoyo Games contest, I'm not so sure...........

Freeware -- Download size 6.19MB -- Win 98SE,ME,2000,XP

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

http://www.yoyogames.com/games/launch/30235

Omega Void by RandomDragoon.

Omega Void is a move the mouse pointer through a maze game, but with lots of different hazards, such as moving barriers, rotating blades, dark levels, levels which only reveal themselves when a certain object is touched, lasers, rising acid, crushing pistons and more.

The graphics are fairly simple, with just white hazards on a black background and the mouse represented by a yellow blob, but don't let that put you off, this game is all about gameplay.
Quite a nice piece of music made by Random Dragoon accompanies the game, but this can be turned off when it starts to get annoying, there is only one sound effect and unusually this turns on and off with the music.

The game has a nice learning curve, with the levels progressing from easy to fiendishly difficult.
As the game is all about timing and mouse control, it is a good idea to clean the fluff off your mouse ball before starting.

Some of the forty levels you can whizz through, others take some thought, some need both thought and speed.
The levels have a lot of variation, which helps to keep the game interesting, also the mouse collision is very good, you have to do a positive collision to die, a glancing touch is not enough, which saves the frustration of suspect collision calls.
The game auto saves your progress, but if you decide to start a new game, you can choose not to overwrite your old game, which is a handy feature.

The game presentation is very simple, there is a custom game icon, but that is about the limit of the frills. There is a simple readme included in the game folder, but it lacks any instructions for the game, which is a serious omission.
In summary, a varied and addicting game, difficult enough to keep you occupied and entertained for hours.

Freeware -- Download size 1.1Mb -- Win 98,ME,XP,NT4,2000

http://randomdragoon.com/gamemaker.html

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