Now that's my kind of game. Its an Ngage2.0 game but there's also a windows version that's
free to play and crossplatform online play between the two you can do. Its like one man capture the flag but instead of flags you have princesses. So in most matches you basically have to rescue the princess(es) in order to win while keeping yours out of the hands of the enemy because if any enemy captures your princess after stealing her you're eliminated. Up to four players can play at once and each player is a certain colour(yellow, red, green or blue). You just have to be the last player standing. The game has characters and elements inspired by videogames we know and love. There are 10 characters each with their own superpower. You have a Plumber(like Mario), Hedgehog(Sonic like), Level50Elf(MMORPG), BabeGunner(LaraCroft), Cyborg(Doom/Quake), MonsterTrainer(like Pokemon I guess), Sci-Fi Knight(I am your Father), Ninja(those old Ninja games I guess), Dr.Lovebomber(Bomberman I guess) & the Aggressor(those early Space games I guess). The characters are for the most part balanced.
The game is turn based(like a board game) where the view is top-down. Rounds play out in 3 stages. These are the Block Phase(everyone strategically drop four joined blocks of their respective colour, picture Tetris). The movement Phase where each player uses their turn to move. Last stage is the cannon phase where everyone fires 2 cannonballs in an attempt to prevent colour combos(5 blocks of a certain colour in a line), to destroy an item your enemy might take on his turn or to protect an item you want to take when your turn comes.
Basically you try to get the princess by moving until you reach an opponents castle to steal her. After stealing her you need to make it back to your base, you move faster and do more damage to your enemy on the blocks you place so covering as much of the map with your blocks as possible is a must. You move slower on blocks that you don't own and slower on paths where there aren't any blocks. There are shortcuts like tubes, teleports & springs if you can get to them. You can also steal a princess by killing an opponent provided no other player has his princess so you don't even have to enter your opponent's castle. The game can get pretty random where item drops are concerned so even n00bs have a chance to win provided the right item drops and used effectively. There are times where one person is dominating a game only for that person to be eliminated in the end. Either way whether you understand the game or not, you're gonna get owned.
The items are crazy, some of them are springs, teleports, BFGP(biggest frickin gun possible), magicwand(turns players in to frogs), ring of invisibility, monsterboxes(can summon either a damage dealing wolf, block eating pig, a blockmaking blockapede, a seemingly harmless chicken, a bossmonster or the very rarely seen ultimate foe).
The special powers are wicked, for example the Cyborg can Rocket Jump to cover a good distance and destroy blocks and even kill opponents with splash damage. Sci-Fi Knight can mind control opponents moving them around making them do stuff with items they won't want to do like making them pick up a grenade and killing themself with it or moving them away form their own blocks even you can even make them attack other opponents. The Plumber can use his princess to get a nearby item that he can't normally reach in his turn or just to deny a nearby opponent an item.
The sounds and voices are pretty cool. The oneliners by the characters are Imo some of the best I've heard in a videogame. Hearing the Babe Gunner say "that's rubbish" when she is hit or hearing her say "Dance Dance Execution" upon using her Bullet Ballet special always make me chuckle. Hearing Dr. Lovebomber say "Welcome to Castle Dr. Lovebomber" upon rescuing a princess. Ninja saying "My Body Will Heal, My Honour will Not" or "Internal Bleeding warms the spirit" when attacked. Elf saying "Respawning Tickles." Cyborg saying "Life's a Deathmatch and I'm the cure" or "I've got an itchy finger." Monster training saying "I need a bath." Princess saying "I don't wanna be rescued." Hedgehog saying "this is how we roll" when the Hog Ride special is used. There's at least one line in this game that's guaranteed to bring out the lol within you.
The announcer is pretty good too lets you know who's doing what(who's stealing a princess, who rescue's a princess, who's using what item, the wolf you summoned that killed your opponent) or what stage the game is at. He's pretty upbeat but never annoying.
I lol at some of the things he says though like "that wolf ate yellow."
You can play the game in your browser at
www.resetgeneration.com. Java required and yes that thing inside the cellphone is the actual game. There are things like Ngage points(like Rachet & Clank skill points / XBL Achievements) you pick up for accomplishing certain feats in the game for example, some easy ones like playing online for the first time(an so it begins), beating a character's story in the single player game or medium ones like killing an opponent while holding his princess(Insult to Injury), rescuing a princess by using the tube shortcut(Tube Moves), Summoning 2 chickens in one game(I hate chickens!) to some hard ones like the Spring Kill(Death From Above), Winning a 4player game without using your special ability(Truly Super!), KO'ing the same player 5 times in one game(OWNED HIM!), Covering more than 2/3 of the playing field with combos of your colour(Star Farmer), Pulling off the Double Rescue(one is not enough) to some very hard ones like covering the map perimeter with combo blocks(Race Track), winning 100 4player games as a random hero(Reset Generation).
Online matches are recorded and can be viewed at the site as well. So if you want to view that game you almost lost you can. The site functionality isn't perfect for example all replays are saved but you have to save the URL in a text editor if you want to view it later so any matches played after doesn't overwrite the previous one, making it lost until the site decides you show all your replays in clickable form. Where stats are concerned its pretty good. Apart from Ngage points you have stuff like belts for the most wins as a certain character, who rescued the most princesses, who won the most matches, who played the most matches etc.
I can't explain everything about the game here without being tldr which I'm being already
but its free(if you want to play the windows version) Experience the full game in all its glory. You'll have to pay if you want it on your Ngage2.0 compatible handset though. I play as slugsbunny in RG these days.
