Friday the 13th
C64, Dormark (1985)

I can still remember the night I got Friday the 13th for my Commodore 64. My friends and I were big fans of all the big 80s horror icons such as Jason (Friday the 13th), Freddy (Nightmare on Elm Street), and Michael Myers (Halloween). The thought of playing a videogame based off of one of those movies at that time was both exciting and a little scary for us youngin’s. Fortunately for our young minds, the scariest thing about Friday the 13th for the Commodore 64 was the actual gameplay.

Players begin the game as one of ten kids stuck at Camp Crystal Lake, Jason’s stomping grounds. Unfortunately for you, one of the kids isn’t a kid at all; it’s Jason in disguise (gasp). Your mission is always the same — find Jason and kill him before he kills all your friends and comes after you. To do this you’ll need a weapon. Fortunately for you someone has littered a dozen or so weapons including chainsaws, daggers, pitchforks and axes around the Crystal Lake campgrounds for the children to use.

The game’s screen is divided into halves. The top half shows the area you’re in. The bottom shows you useful information. Of course your score and current weapon are listed, but there are a few other items of use to you here. On the left is your “Scare-O-Meter”. The more scared you are, the higher your hair stands up on your head (seriously). Next to that is your health meter, measured graphically with a barbell. To the right of that is the creepy Jason Face-O-Meter. (I don’t know if these things really have names or not; these are simply what I call them.) Jason’s Face-O-Meter slowly fills in each time he kills. I’m pretty sure this represents how close he is to winning. On the right is your roster of friends. Those who have taken an axe to the face or a chainsaw to the gut are replaced with cute little tombstones.

What a great place to drop your kids off for the summer!

The game field consists of about a five by five matrix of screens. You’ll pass the church, a field, the cottage, another field or two, and then the church, field, and cottage again. There are three buildings you can enter: the church, the barn, and the cabin. Logically, the game plays a lot like Superman for the Atari 2600, except the playing field is much smaller. There’s no way to actually get lost in this game — not that you’re going anywhere specific, mind you. Your goal is to wander around, looking for Jason who is disguised as one of the other kids.

So, how do you find Jason? The easiest way is to start attacking the other kids. When Jason is hit, the graphic will change from the kid’s disguise to Jason (who looks like a regular person wearing a black jumpsuit). Many of the other children are so are wimpy that once you’ve hit them in the head two or three times with your weapon of choice, YOU kill them instead of Jason! Oh well. The game ends when either Jason kills all the other kids, or you. The round ends when you kill Jason. Each round is basically identical, except you alternate between two different playable kids which look different but play the same.

To throw some shock value into the game, occasionally when you stumble across a corpse the game will randomly flash a gruesome picture on the screen for about 2-3 seconds, along with a (badly) digitized scream. It seems to happen about once every ten to twenty corpses. The first time you see them they can catch you off guard, but after that they just kind of make you laugh. I spend more time trying to get these come up than anything else in the game.

Friday the 13th includes some fun musical tunes. Depending on where you are in the game, the songs will change from Teddy Bear’s Picnic to Old Macdonald to other classics. They all relate to where you are, and are funny if you get the jokes. For example, the lyrics to Teddy Bear Picnic go, “If you go out in the woods today/You’re sure of a big surprise/If you go out in the woods today/You’d better go in disguise.” Of course the songs don’t have lyrics in the game, so you kind of have to know them to get the jokes. In general the songs are so upbeat and happy you would never know you are playing a horror game. There’s something weird about stabbing a dude while Old Macdonald plays in the background.

Every time I pull out my old Commodore, this is one of the games I play. It’s got fun music, fun graphics, and allows you to throw hatchets at small children. Friday the 13th isn’t hard to learn how to play or master, but it’s mindless fun and always reminds me of the good ol’ days. For such a silly game, you’ll yourself playing Friday the 13th longer and more often than you probably should.

Complete Computer Fireworks Celebration Kit
Activision (1985)

While both videogame consoles and home computers allowed owners to play videogames, home computers also gave creative kids and adults the ability to create their own. Through BASIC and other languages, home computer owners were able to create their own games. Unfortunately, many young programmers found out the hard way that creating a game from scratch was rather difficult.

Out of this need, a new genre was born — the “construction kit.” The first one I remember seeing was Electronic Arts’ “Pinball Construction Set,” a program that allowed budding programmers to place bumpers at will and create their own virtual pinball tables. Pinball Construction Set would soon be followed by Arcade Game Construction Kit, Adventure Contruction Set, Shoot-Em-Up Contruction Kit and Wargame Construction Set. All of these programs greatly simplified the process of creating your own programs by managing the majority of the code, allowing young game makers to focus on things like graphics, sound and gameplay.

One of the weirder additions to the “construction kit” genre was Activision’s “Complete Computer Fireworks Celebration Kit.” Dubbed “the fireworks construction kit” by gamers, Activision’s 1985 release allowed users to create their own virtual firework displays. Seriously. The Complete Computer Fireworks Celebration Kit (CCFCK) was written by Jon van Ryzin, the same man that wrote H.E.R.O.

Like any other “construction kit” program, CCFCK offers a multitude of options that allows virtual fireworks maestros the ability to customize every part of their display. Users can choose one of six backdrops (a bridge, a city, a castle, etc) and from a list of twenty songs, from The Star Spangled Banner to Happy Birthday. The program is compatible with Music Studio, so custom songs can also be imported. The fireworks displays also include text messages displayed at the bottom of the screen which can be customized as well.

And then there are the fireworks. There are several different types of fireworks than can be used, and each one can be modified using sliders, giving users the ability to alter each fireworks size, color, speed, and so on. The sliders, like every other part of the program, are controlled using a standard joystick. CCFCK requires very little keyboard interaction (other than the custom display messages users can enter).

Each event is ultimately stored on a vertically-scrolling event list. Each entry can be changed, inserted or removed. With enough time and effort, a person could theoretically synch their fireworks display up with the background music.

Once your masterpiece has been completed it can be saved to disk, where it can be reloaded or traded amongst friends (assuming they also own the program — from what I can tell, the saved firework displays are not stand alone executables).

While many people apparently have fond memories of this program, I have to admit I found the whole thing pretty boring. I mean … seriously, virtual fireworks? For a fraction of this program’s retail cost, I could put a fireworks display on in my own backyard. After ten or so minutes of messing around with Activision’s Complete Computer Fireworks Celebration Kit, I actually wanted to to turn off the computer and go outside — and that’s really saying something.

Druid
Firebird, 1986 (C64)

Cloned games were overly abundant on the Commodore 64. Quick programmers often beat software companies who were dragging their feet porting arcade games to the punch by releasing knock-off versions of official games. Such was the case with Gauntlet, the classic arcade game from Atari. In the year it took for Gauntlet to make its way from the arcade to the Commodore, several other companies had already begun working on their own versions. These included games such as Into the Eagle’s Nest (Pandora), Demon Stalkers (Electronic Arts), and Commando ’86 (Elite). One of the best Gauntlet clones, which in many ways exceeded the original, was Druid (1986), which was followed a year later with its own sequel, Druid II (1987).

Those who have played Gauntlet will find Druid looks very familiar. In fact, the simplest way to describe Druid is, “an outdoors version of Gauntlet.” Stone floors have been replaced with grass and castle walls have been replaced with hedges and trees. A few of the other graphics have been tweaked as well. While Hasrinaxx, the player-controlled wizard in Druid looks amazingly like Merlin the Wizard from Gauntlet (except dressed in blue versus yellow), the ghosts in Druid look more like guys wearing bed sheets than actual ghosts.

Like Gauntlet, the main object in Druid is to shoot everything that moves. Unlike Gauntlet, Druid actually does have an end (I believe there are six levels to work your way through). Instead of fireballs, our wizard shoots lightning bolts from his fingers. Also at your disposal are several spells, including invisibility, chaos, and more. One of the coolest spells is Golem Summoning. Golem can be conjured up and controlled by a player in joystick port 2, turning Druid into a multi-player experience! If you’re flying solo, you can also let the computer control Golem’s movements.

While on the surface Druid appears to be simply a clone of Gauntlet, the different terrains, spell-casting system and addition of a plot open up all new styles of game play. Druid II (which is Druid I on steroids) is better.

ExciteTruck
Nintendo Wii (2007)

Let it be known that I absolutely hated ExciteBike 64, Nintendo’s attempt at dragging the previously side-scrolling Excitebike motorcycle racing game into the world of 3D. Its combination of blurry textures and bad frame rates stunk like exhaust fumes. I don’t care what any other reviewer thought of the game neither then nor now. As a long time fan of the original two-dimensional version, I thought the N64 version was a disaster, and to be honest I didn’t have terribly high hopes for ExciteTruck, the third game in the series and the first to appear on the Nintendo Wii. Turns out, I was way off – ExciteTruck is one of the most enjoyable arcade-style racing games I’ve played in a long time.

Unlike ExciteBike 64, which tried too hard to modernize the original ExciteBike, ExciteTruck actually has very little in common with its ancestors. While both ExciteTruck and ExciteBike include racing, jumping, and turbo boosters that overhead way too easily, there are enough differences between the two that ExciteTruck is probably best classified as an entirely original game.

ExciteTruck is controlled by holding the Wiimote sideways, in what has become the conventional “driving” style. Steering is performed by turning the Wiimote as if it were an actual steering wheel. The “2” button acts as a gas pedal, while pressing the d-pad in any direction fires off your turbo boosters. (For you wimps out there, “1” acts as a brake. Or so I’ve read.) Like the original, the key to maintaining your speed after jumping is landing with all four wheels on the ground. To do this you’ll need to tilt the Wiimote forward/backward, to ensure your truck hits the ground level.

Right out of the box, ExciteTruck offers gamers choices between three trucks and four tracks. Beating each track involves not only outracing all other AI vehicles but also amassing a predetermined number of stars. Stars are earned by performing various tricks, such as drifting, spinning, or simply bashing into your opponents. The length or skill at which these tricks are performed determines the amount of stars players will be rewarded with; finishing a race in first, second or third place will also award winners with stars. After each race your performance will be graded (A, B, C). Outstanding players who can achieve an “S” ranking on all four tracks will begin to unlock additional tracks and trucks.

Before long it becomes apparent that there is a ton of unlockable content in ExciteBike. Achieving “S” ratings on every track in Excite Race mode will unlock Super Excite Race Mode; beating all those tracks will unlock Mirror Race Mode, and so on. I suspect it will take gamers many a mud-slinging night of racing to unlock every car, track and mode in ExciteTruck.

Included in each track are multiple bonus items. Running over exclamation marks changes the immediate terrain in front of you, usually adding a needed ramp or occasionally adding previously hidden rings (which can be leapt through for more stars). POW power ups give your truck an extended boost of turbo and some much needed temporary invincibility.

I have two gripes about ExciteTruck, both of them minor. The first is that the game’s aerial trick system is limited to one trick (a simple 360/720 spin). With such an arcade-feel to the rest of the game, it just feels like you should be able to perform back flips or something. My other gripe (even smaller than the first) is that the original version of ExciteBike does not appear to be included as an unlockable extra, as the game can be purchased through Nintendo’s online virtual console. I’m all for the big N making a buck or two, but the game was included in ExciteBike 64 and it feels a little cheap not to include it here as well.

ExciteTruck is an exciting, action-packed racing game that’s enjoyable in either one or two player split-screen mode. Beating each level requires a balance between performing tricks to obtain stars and keeping the pedal to the metal (or your thumb to the plastic). ExciteTruck is so good that it almost made me forget that I once paid money for ExciteBike 64. Hallelujah.

Druid II
C64, Firebird (1987)

Taking the basic design and style of Gauntlet and adding a few twists, Druid II picks up where the original left off.

Released one year after the original, Druid expands the Land of Belorn into ten different additional levels. Like a Star Wars movie, each zone consists of a completely different climate (ice, desert, forest, etc.) Players get to choose their path across the enchanted land, similar to the path-picking portion of Crossbow.

The spell casting system of Druid II has been greatly expanded. Druid II gives players 30 new spells to choose from, including Wall of Fire, Death Touch, and Teleport. Like the original, in Druid II additional help can be summoned. While the original game only allowed the summoning of golems, Druid II players can now choose between conjuring up Fire, Water, Earth and Air Elementals. Each of these elementals can be used in one of three ways. They can simply follow you around, they can be controlled by simply keyboard commands (‘run forward’), or they can be controlled by another human player using a second joystick.

Despite the expanded features, Druid II plays essentially the same as the first game. Based upon the Gauntlet style of play, players will run through mazes, shooting anything that moves and collecting everything that doesn’t.

Druid II takes the already established rules of the first game and simply expands the amount of levels, worlds, spells and enemies in the game. One reason I think these games did so well is because there was nothing to compare them to. Many Commodore 64 owners were disappointed in the home version of Gauntlet, simply because it didn’t look as good as the arcade version. With Druid and Druid II, there was no arcade game to compare them to, and thus, no disappointment.

Donkey Kong
C64, Ocean (1986)

Three years after the release of AtariSoft’s Commodore 64 Donkey Kong port, European software developer Ocean Software decided it was time for another Donkey Kong remake and accepted the challenge.

It goes without saying that the more familiar programmers become with a particular platform, the more advanced their games will look and play. This is generally why games released later in a platform’s lifespan often seem more advanced than earlier titles. Such is the case with Ocean’s version of Donkey Kong. With an additional three years of familiarity with the Commodore behind them, Ocean was really able to crank one great looking port.

Pretty much all the items gamers nitpicked about AtariSoft’s release were addressed in Ocean’s. The game now appears in its native vertical mode, thanks to large amounts of black space surrounding the sides of the screen. The layout more closely resembles the arcade’s, including the timer and score windows. Multi-color shading has been added to every game element – the girders are now drawn with shades of red and purple, for example. Even Donkey Kong himself appears in much greater detail and more lively this time around – he grunts, he growls, he stomps … he lives.

All the sounds have been modified this time around as well, but not all of them were improved. While many of the sound effects themselves sound better that the AtariSoft port, the music sounds much less authentic. Between the two you could probably make a really good sounding port, but on their own, neither one is perfect.

Ocean’s port of Donkey Kong returns to the original Japanese level order (girders, pies, elevators, rivets). One noticeable difference between the two versions is that Ocean’s port runs much faster, which makes some levels easier (rivets) but makes timing your jumps on the elevator level much more challenging.

Ocean’s port comes complete with a splash screen tacked on to the front of the game, done in red (as a throwback to the original cabinets, perhaps?). The only option lost between the two was the ability to select a starting level.

Three extra years of familiarity with programming Commodore hardware shows on this translation which is more accurate, but not necessarily more fun, than AtariSoft’s version. Both versions are worth acquiring and playing.

Donkey Kong
C64, AtariSoft (1983)

In 1980, Space Invaders became the first arcade game to be officially licensed to a home videogame system. Sales of both the game and the Atari 2600 console itself skyrocketed, thus giving birth to a genre that still exists and sells strongly today: the arcade port. For two years, Atari released ports of arcade games for their competitors’ systems under the brand name Atarisoft. Atarisoft focused predominantly on the expanding home computer market, porting popular arcade games such as Centipede, Dig Dug and Pac-Man to the Apple II, TI-99/4A, IBM PC, and of course the best game-playing machine of the era, the Commodore 64.

When the Commodore 64 debuted in 1982, the Commodore 1541 disk drive sold separately for around $400. As a result, many early Commodore owners relied on either the inexpensive Datasette, or cartridges (which did not require any other loading method). Most of AtariSoft’s ports for the Commodore were available on cartridge.

AtariSoft’s port of Nintendo’s insanely popular Donkey Kong was released in 1983, two years after the game’s arcade debut. By the time Donkey Kong hit the Commodore 64 platform, Donkey Kong mania was in full effect; Mario and Donkey Kong were appearing on lunchboxes, in songs, and on television in the Saturday Supercade cartoon program. The game’s popularity combined with booming home computer sales combined to give AtariSoft one of their most popular videogame ports.

AtariSoft’s version of Donkey Kong was the very first game I ever saw on a Commodore 64 and, for all intents and purposes, it looked identical to Nintendo’s arcade version to my ten-year-old eyes. The C64 port was light years ahead of the crappy Atari 2600 version, released only a year prior. In the C64 port, barrels no longer resembled Ritz crackers and flaming barrels looked nothing like oil lamps.

Equally impressive was the fact that AtariSoft’s port of Donkey Kong contained all four levels from the arcade version. Colecovision’s port for the Atari 2600 only contained the first two levels – Nintendo’s own version, released two years later in ’85, only contained three! To my circle of friends, AtariSoft’s version of Donkey Kong was virtually identical to its arcade counterpart.

With two decades of space between us, we can now see that AtariSoft’s port was far from perfect. The arcade version of Donkey Kong uses a vertical monitor; AtariSoft’s solution to porting the game to horizontal television sets was to simply make everything reeeeeally wide. Other hardware limitations led to a few corners being cut. The infamous “How high can you go?” screen is nowhere to be found. The colors and sounds, while probably the best of any home version at the time, still weren’t perfect. Red girders appeared purple, some of the sound effects (like Donkey Kong’s grunts) didn’t sound quite right, and some of the animation (such as Donkey Kong’s) had been greatly reduced.

That’s not to say the game wasn’t incredible; it was, especially considering the entire thing was crammed into a cartridge that maxed out at 16k. AtariSoft’s port of Donkey Kong was one of many early games that dazzled home computer owners. The ability to get arcade graphics into your home (or a reasonable facsimile thereof …) turned millions of people on to home computers and proved that they could be viable gaming platforms.

Ignoring slight changes in graphics in sound due to less powerful hardware than its arcade counterpart, Atarisoft’s version of Donkey Kong delivers an arcade quality experience in a fashion that seemed impossible at the time.

Defender of the Crown
C64, Cinemaware (1987)

In 1986 Cinemaware released Defender of the Crown for the Commodore Amiga, introducing a new style of game to home computer owners. Equal parts movie, strategy and action, Cinemaware called their new style of games “Interactive Movies”. Defender of the Crown begins like a real Hollywood experience, complete with opening credits and a montage explaining the game’s back story. The Amiga version’s graphics were literally mind-blowing. No one had seen graphics like that before on a home computer, and gamers were convinced that the game would not appear on any other platform. Commodore 64 owners got their wish one year later, when Cinemaware ported the game over to the Amiga’s 8-bit little brother. Defender of the Crown was also eventually ported to several other platforms, including the Apple II, Atari ST, NES, and even the PC. Much like the Amiga version, the Commodore 64 version of Defender of the Crown raised the bar on graphics for the system.

Defender of the Crown begins with a bit of back story, relayed to your character by none other than the infamous Robin Hood himself. The King of England has been murdered and the crown has been stolen. The Saxons and Normans have blamed each other for the King’s death, and war has broken out across the land. To recover the crown and declare yourself the new King, you’ll need to gather some troops, amass some weapons, and kick some butt medieval-style.

The basic core of Defender of the Crown plays like Risk. Each round, your character earns gold based on how many territories you own and how much equipment you’ve acquired. In turn, gold can be used to purchase more equipment, such as catapults and soldiers. During each round, players have several default options: Hold a Tournament (which takes gold), Conquest, Go Raiding, or Buy Army. Other game specific choices (cush as Rescue Fair Maiden) appear throughout the game.

The format of acquiring new territories is also similar to Risk’s. While some randomization of soldier loss occurs, generally “he with the biggest army” wins. Other actions, like tournaments and castle sieges, lead players to arcade-style action sequences. To destroy an enemy’s castle you’ll need to be a good shot with a catapult. In castle invasions, you’ll participate in swordfights alongside your men. During tournament jousts you’ll need to line your bobbing lance up with a bobbing opponent on horseback headed toward you. For the record, I’ve won about three jousting tournaments since I first started playing this game almost 20 ago. You’ll need more than Robin Hood’s help in that area to be successful.

With each round you’ll earn more gold, which will eventually begin to open up more options. Keep in mind your enemy’s armies are growing each round as well, so it’s best to attack early and swiftly. The ultimate goal is to conquer all of Britain by capturing the other three Lord’s domains, and you’ll need a large army along with catapult skills, a true blade and quick reflexes to pull that off.

Defender of the Crown isn’t perfect. Fans searching for an action-packed title may find themselves bored waiting for things to happen, while those looking for a fun strategic title may find their plans dashed by an unlucky lance to the head. Neither portions of the game are particularly deep in design, but to me that’s what makes it an enjoyable title for a broad range of gamers.

The game’s biggest drawback has since been overcome by technology. Due to the amount of graphics, cut scenes and different mini-games, playing Defender of the Crown on an original Commodore 64 was SLOW. The game was incompatible with most turbo loading cartridges, forcing users to wait (and wait and wait) for the game to load. While the cinematic experience is impressive the first few times, having to wait almost five minutes each time to start the game is frustrating to say the least. Thanks to modern emulation (and WinVice’s warp mode”) load times can be practically eliminated.

Cinemaware went on to release several other fantastic games for the Commodore 64, including Sinbad, Rocket Ranger, and The Three Stooges. Although the company originally filed for bankruptcy in 1991, several of the company’s employees have resurrected Cinemaware and released an updated version of Defender of the Crown for the Xbox and PS2 consoles titled Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown.

With equal parts cinema, action, and strategy, Defender of the Crown was a ground breaking game that should be played by every Commodore 64 owner at least once. Only load times and somewhat shallow action/strategy portions keep the game from being perfect.

Cubic Lode Runner
PS2/Gamecube (2003)

Somewhere deep in the heart of Japan lies a big cute machine. No, the machine itself isn’t cute; it MAKES things cute. On one side there’s a big funnel where you can insert things — moments later they come out the other side, all cute and cuddly. Hudson recently inserted the classic game Lode Runner into that wacky Japanese machine, and Hudson Collection Volume I: Cubic Lode Runner popped out.

Lode Runner first appeared on the Apple II computer way back in 1981, and has since appeared on several different systems in several different variations. Despite the huge graphics update the N64 and PSX versions received, the game has always essentially remained the same. You control the Lode Runner, a man on a mission to collect gold packages. During your quest you’ll face two main enemies: evil Bungling Agents, whose touch is deadly, and the environment itself, which consists of blocks, ladders, rails, and traps. The only tool at your disposal is your drill, which can dig holes in regular bricks. You’ll need to do this to trap your enemies and complete puzzles throughout the levels, but you can just as quickly trap or bury yourself with this tool so you’ll have to plan a head and move quickly to survive.

After 23 years, Cubic Lode Runner for the PS2 and Gamecube drags the franchise into the 3D world. This adds two new gameplay elements to the classic formula. First, Lode Runner can now dig in four directions instead of two. This is performed by pressing one of the four buttons on the gamepad — the buttons correspond with the direction. The other new element is camera control. The field of play can/must now be rotated using the L/R buttons. While neither of these changes sound major, they completely change the way Lode Runner has always been played. In classic versions of Lode Runner, you could set up big attacks by lining up baddies and digging a line of holes. In Cubic Lode Runner, they’ll most likely just run around your well-laid traps. The map rotation went from being a novelty to being annoying very quickly. Within just a few minutes I found myself in positions where the playing field would have to be rotated to see certain areas of the map, but each time I did so I would get confused and frustrated. To try and solve this problem, the game includes a “slice” mode, which allows you to dissect the map and see how things are put together. It felt like cheating to me, and a way to get around the strange camera controls.

The in-game graphics are cute. Lode Runner’s head is almost half of his total height and perfectly round. Likewise, the agents closing in on him have been Japanified as well. The graphics and music throughout the menus have received the same treatment, tipping their hat to games like Bust-A-Move and Tetris Attack and giving the game a “puzzle game” feel. Also adding to that feel is the ability to unlock “gifts” in the game. By beating levels, there are several extras you can unlock — everything from the original NES sounds to movies, backdrops, and additional levels.

Like the classic versions of Lode Runner, Cubic Lode Runner also comes with a level designer. The interface is simple to use, and all the tools are there to create your own levels should you desire to do so. I was afraid that the language barrier might make creating levels complicated, but it really isn’t a factor.

The conversion of Lode Runner from 2D to 3D adds a new level of complexity to the game, but adds a few quirks and a bit of frustration during the process. Cubic Lode Runner may initially be a bit frustrating for fans of the classic series, but the core of the game remains unchanged and that in itself makes it worth checking out.

Graphics: Cute, but nothing Earth shattering. 5/10.

Sound: So cute you want to pinch its cheeks. 5/10.

Gameplay: A few 3D quirks, but still fun. 6/10.

Crayon Physics
PC (2009)

One of the greatest gaming series of all time was The Incredible Machine, which debuted for DOS in 1992 and was followed by several official sequels and the related “Toons” series. Each game consisted of dozens of levels, and each level has a specific goal that was achieved by creating a machine. Players, using a provided set of parts and tools, would create machines in order to complete a given task and move to the next level.

I really loved the Incredible Machines series. These games were less about speed and graphics and were more about thinking. Many of the levels had one obvious solution, but the game was so open-ended that you could literally solve each level a dozen (or more) different ways. It was what I had hoped the future of videogames would look like. Instead, someone released Doom, it caught on, and instead of making more games like the Incredible Machine gaming companies have been churning out Doom clones for fifteen years now.

Fast forward several years; rumblings of a new game called Crayon Physics have been circulating for a while. Here is a video demo of the game.

Obviously the game looks similar to The Incredible Machine, but with one major difference: players are no longer limited to a specific set of provided tools. Instead, players can create their own! As you can see in the video, any object you draw inherits the physics of that object. Wheels roll, ropes swing, axles pivot and so on. While the demo shows the game being played with a light pen, I can assure you that it is completely enjoyable and playable with an ordinary mouse. The video shows the creator erasing objects by “scribbling” on them. With a mouse, this is done with the right mouse button. Also in the video, the creator typically propels the red ball by dropping objects on it; by using a mouse, the left button pushes the ball to the right, and the right button pushes it back to the left.

The beauty of this game is that the only limits are your imagination. For example, some of those levels in the video I posted above looked pretty simple, right? Check out some of the creative solutions this guy came up with for those same levels:

Not only does Crayon Physics come with 80 levels, but it also comes with a very easy to use level editor. Levels can be loaded, saved, and shared online. This game is begging to be ported to the Nintendo Wii or the Nintendo DS (there is a homebrew port for the DS called , but it’s not the real deal), but for now, I have no complaints about the PC version.

Mason played Crayon Physics for over two hours yesterday, working his way through the early levels and later creating his own levels for me to try and solve. When he went to bed, I got to play a little, too. Crayon Physics is the best game I’ve bought in a long, long time, and may be the best $20 game I’ve ever seen. If you want to try it out, the author is offering a free demo so you can try it out.