I may have a problem. I’m noticing a trend in my gaming habits where I am being drawn to games that present seemingly impossible objectives and where guaranteed frustration is considered a feature. And I like it. I like it so much that I feel compelled to recommend these games here at DoSu. From Trials 2 and Trackmania to Love and Geometry Wars; I’m just glad that these games don’t come on discs or I may have destroyed them by now. This week’s cheap game is no different.

Created, developed and published by X-Out of Dark Castle Software, Gravitron 2 is a classically styled arcade shoot’em up where gravity and inertia are both your best friend and greatest foe.
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You can’t really have a list of cheap games without mentioning 3rd-party modifications, widely known as “mods” for short. A game not considered cheap might suddenly become a value proposition when combined with a strong mod community. Mods themselves are cheap, but they require the original game on which they’re built. In this case, you’ll need Portal.

Portal: Prelude is a full, lengthy campaign, set before the events in Portal. It was developed mostly by a small team of three living in Europe. It came as quite a surprise when it was announced shortly before its release, something very unusual in the mod community. The intent was to create a much more challenging Portal experience while retaining the atmosphere. This differs from other map packs in that those focus purely on the puzzles.
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A game can turn out to be a failure for any number of reasons. Maybe a game is like Beyond Good & Evil where it gets lost in the shuffle of bigger releases for years before being properly appreciated. Maybe you’re a developer who’s too close to his game to recognize fundamental flaws in certain aspects of its design, as was reportedly the case with Lair. Or maybe you’re like today’s cheap game, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, and you just got a bad rap.

Originally released by Ubisoft in October of 2006 and developed by Arkane Studios, Dark Messiah didn’t have the luxury of blaming its less-than-stellar reception on other, more hyped games coming out along side it. 2006 wasn’t bad for games, but I don’t think Splinter Cell: Double Agent or Marvel Ultimate Alliance were what kept people from playing Dark Messiah at the end of October. No, Dark Messiah’s failing was primarily due to little more than a buggy launch that earned it a bad reputation. Alas, even the demo was plagued by bugs, so the game was leaving a bad taste in people’s mouths before it was even released. Despite what must have been a very frustrating launch for Ubisoft, DMMM has since been patched up quite nicely as well as had some hefty price reductions.
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Third party Wii titles are a dime a dozen. Many don’t succeed, mostly due to quality, but also in no small part due to underexposure and Nintendo’s failure to properly promote them. A couple recent examples are Zack & Wiki and Boom Blox. Fun, well executed games that just didn’t have very stellar sales. One game I am hoping will not fall by the wayside is the Wii version of De Blob. You may remember this as one of the first cheap games featured here as Downloadable Suicide.

In my original article I mentioned that THQ is bringing it to Wii and DS sometime in 2008. The Wii version dropped a week or two ago and seems to have been met with critical success. It’s currently the 17th highest ranked Wii game on Metacritic with an average score of 82. Worthplaying gave it a 90 and said “It is a rare game that can appeal equally well to both the casual and hardcore crowds, yet de Blob does just that.”. EuroGamer had a grim comment that I hope won’t turn out to be true, “Probably the best and worst thing about de Blob is that it’s got ‘Destined For Cult Status’ written all over it.” GamePlayer felt De Blob worthy of a perfect 10 saying that it is “The first third-party Wii game that would have Mr Miyamoto bowing in awed respect.” Nice.

Reviews aside, the purpose of this post is simply to remind you about De Blob and its roots as a student project on the PC. While the breadth of its gameplay has evolved significantly during its transition to the Wii, its whimsical spirit and aesthetics appear to have stayed intact. Check it out on PC and consider giving it a look if you happen to own a Wii. The DS version looks like it’s going to bake a bit longer before it’s ready for consumption; it’s the version that I’ll be giving a try.

I always tell myself that I’m not going to end up creating posts riddled with puns and plays on words (titles excluded, of course). It’s really hard not to, though, especially when the game I am covering is called Love. The word evokes so many different emotions from person to person, and right now developer Fred Wood’s bold choice of game names definitely has my pun machine going.

Though a simplistic platformer it may be, it is clear that Love was crafted carefully and arduously from top to bottom. Boasting twenty levels of pure platforming goodness and an eleven track original music score by James Bennett, not to mention a smartly implemented checkpoint and lives system, Love is honestly a joy to play.
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Okay, so I’ve played Trials 2: Second Edition for well over four hours, cumulatively. In fact, this week alone I have played for just over five. I keep finding myself coming back to Trials 2 because the developer, Redlynx, seems pretty intent on keeping it up-to-date and filled with brand new content in the form of free updates. Since I first posted my original Trials 2 article, it has been patched twice from 1.06 to 1.07, and finally this last week to 1.08. With these updates comes engine improvements and optimizations, stability tweaks and most importantly, new downloadable tracks.

Version 1.08 of Trials 2 was delivered on September 18th with netbooks like the ASUS Eeepc and MSI Wind in mind, featuring a slew of graphics engine updates including a low graphics mode and VRAM usage optimizations. Trials 2 has also been certified for triple-display gameplay at resolutions up to 5040×1050 (somebody do that and send us pictures). Additionally, 14 new tracks were added for free. As a result of the graphics engine additions, changes and optimzations, Trials 2 also has a new set of minimum recommended system requirements. Those revised requirements as well as the rest of the lengthy 1.08 patch notes can be viewed at the official Trials 2: Second Edition forums.

In spite of rumors of its impending demise, Dungeon Runners - a free-to-play MMORPG featured here at DoSu - continues to be supported by the remaining developers of NCSoft Austin. A major update was released today that adds guilds (called “posses”), player blogs (pages that track character progress similar to the service that SOE offers for their games), as well as several engine updates, including a refinement of their shader system and the addition of specular lighting. Full patch notes are available at the game’s official website.

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You should also enjoy the cheap game that we have for you today. Not only is it the first game from Valve that we’ve featured, it’s also the first multiplayer-only FPS. Probably familiar to many people given its heritage, Day of Defeat: Source is definitely a game that you should have in your library. Maybe you already do and you just haven’t played in a while. Revisit it with us, then.
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In an unintented effort to maintain a theme of odd game recommendations that is probably born more from mismanagement of time rather than ambitions to stay consistent, I have another very short and simple arthouse type game to share with you this week. Created by independent developer Abraham Parangi of Cambrian Games, Phyta will both relax and entertain you with its simplistic gameplay and mesmerizing soundtrack.
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This week’s game is an odd one. I really can’t tell you much about the game without ruining it. It’s called Execution and it was created by a Game Maker Community forum member by the name of 2Dcube. He has a good assortment of other games which he has made at his website, but this game is not listed. I’ll link you to the forum thread where he originally posted it, but I urge you not to visit it until you’ve played the game first. It is a free download.

1. Get it here or here and play it.

2. Please share your thoughts in a comment.

3. Finally, visit the original forum thread.