Taro Omiya

Taro Omiya

Software Engineer, Game Designer

  • Weekly Game Music: Dissociative Identity (Killer7)

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    New week, new music. I haven’t posted that many sad music, so here’s one from the surreal noir game, Killer7. It’s Dissociative Identity by Masafumi Takada. The music plays during a sudden revelation when Garcian Smith (in the video below) discovers his real identity.

    Killer7 story follows a group of assassins with the same name, hired to take on several targets directed by the US government. A group of terrorists calledHeavenly Smiles are literally destroying the peaceful foundation created by the US, and Killer7 are the only group of people who can see and kill Heavenly Smiles. Killer7, of course, aren’t normal people either. In fact, they’re actually one person with 8 different bodies, personalities, and abilities. Since each mission takes place at different time and places, the story is frequently disjointed and difficult to follow.

    Killer7 is a bloody, controversial game that does everything in its power to make you feel uncomfortable, without being frustrating. It’s controls are a great example: instead of allowing you to run and kill whenever you want to, your character is forced to walk on a specific track forwards and back. Killing enemies, of course, involves first listening for a disturbing laugh (Heavenly Smiles are invisible, remember), then aiming towards the sound in first person (you stationary at this position), and scanning the area to make the enemies visible. The game’s distinct gameplay allows it to use dramatic — and again, uncomfortable — camera angles to highlight either the character or area in interest. Almost all puzzles are in point-and-click affair, adding the disjointedness to the game.

    Killer7 was originally released on the Gamecube in 2005. It has been ported to PS2.

    Extra!

    Title: Rave On
    Game: Killer7
    Composer: Masafumi Takada


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  • Strange Free Games: Feed the Head

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    New week, new game. If it wasn’t obvious, I love surrealism. What if there was a game that was built around many famous surreal art, like those from M.C. Escher, and René Magritte? If you’ve ever asked that question like I did, look no further than Vectorpark’s Feed the Head, a free flash game.

    Feed the Head involves, you guessed it, feeding the head with various different colored balls. To find those balls, however, requires a little experimentation. What happens when you knock on the head’s forehead? What about poking its eye? Perhaps pulling his noes would work? By toying around with the head, you eventually create a surreal narrative of exploration.

    Feed the Head can be played at its own website.
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  • Weekly Game Music: The Angarian Journey (Golden Sun)

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    New week, new music. Let’s get those nostalgic glands running, shall we? Here’s The Angarian Journey by Motoi Sakuraba. It’s an amazing and epic overworld music for the equally sophisticated game, Golden Sun. Despite the hardware limitation on the Gameboy Advance, this music still proves that composition really is the king.

    Golden Sun starts with a traumatic childhood memories of Isaac, Garet and Jenna. During a big storm, the three attempts to help and save a few lives around their town. During these heroic risks, they learn of a plot of two mysterious figures attempting to steal a certain gem from their temple, who’s trap system triggered the storm. Unfortunately for the trio, Jenna’s brother and parents gets caught in a terrible flood, followed by a gigantic boulder. A few years later, shaken but still strong, the trio attempt to retrieve the jewel the two villains tried to steal, and learn of an interesting plot that turns into a long journey.

    Golden Sun plays like an old-school turn-based RPG, complete with random encounters. What the game did different, however, was the introduction ofDjinns, elemental creatures that, combined with the element of its magic user, creates new abilities. Equipping a water Djinn on the rock magic user, Isaac, for example, allowed him to use plant-based magic. Similarly, using a rock Djinn on fire-based Garet allowed him to use lava-based magic. Unequipped Djinns can be used for summoning as well, leading to screen-filling, glorious special effects that obliterates the on-screen enemies. For its time, the game had spectacular 3D sprites and special effects.

    Golden Sun was released on the Gameboy Advance in 2001. One of it’s sequel can be played on the Nintendo DS.

    Extra!

    Title: Forest’s Requiem
    Game: Golden Sun
    Composer: Motoi Sakuraba


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  • Strange Free Games: Achievement Unlocked

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    New week, new game. You have a new Achievement Unlocked! What, hate that notification? Well, surely you’ll like this game, a parody of the achievements system first introduced in the Xbox 360. This fun Flash game requires you to achieve a few, obscure goals in a static level.

    Achievement Unlocked can be played at Armor Games.

    Achievement Unlocked, as you would expect, have absolutely no story. Instead, as an elephant, you have to complete a bunch of vaguely named tasks that appears on the right side of the screen. The game is “completed” when all achievements are, well, unlocked. A funky and surprisingly addicting game, for what’s clearly a parody and an insult to the achievement concept.
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  • Weekly Game Music: Tetrobot (Blocks That Matter)

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    New week, new music. Here’s a soothing chiptune-like music from the puzzle game, Blocks That Matter. Tetrobot is the title character’s name, who’s theme is composed by Yann Van Der Cruyssen — the same composer as Cave Story+. It’s relatively non-serious tone sets stage for a hilarious indie game about two kidnapped game designers, and their robot to save them.

    Blocks That Matter has a self-referencing story: in the magical land of Sweden, renowned game developers Alexey Pajitnov (of Tetris fame) and Markus Persson (of Minecraft fame) were working on a project that, decidedly, was not game related. Lo and behold when a bunch of darkly hooded men with guns kidnap them to an unknown location, and it’s the role of Tetrobot, their secret project, to go save them.

    Blocks That Matter is a 2D puzzle game that borrows ideas from Minecraft, i.e. digging blocks to move them to a different location. Unlike Minecraft, however, our robot can only place the blocks it carries in a Tetris-block formation. You know, the usual stuff. The game levels, of course, progresses in a predictable manner: go through a pre-set level, and reach to the black-hole-like portal.

    Blocks That Matter was released on the PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360 in 2011. It’s available for download on Steam and Xbox Live.
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  • Strange Free Games: Mari0

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    New week, new game. Here’s a Super Mario Bros. knock-off. It’s Mari0, a game about the trusty plumber, Mario and…a Portal gun?

    Mari0 can be downloaded at StabYourself.net.

    The nefarious Bowser and his army has turned the peaceful Toads into blocks, and only the magical Princess Toadstool can save them. Even worse, Bowser kidnapped Toadstool as well, leaving you, Mario, to save her.

    Also, for some reason, Mario has a Portal gun. How handy.

    Mari0 plays almost exactly like the original Super Mario Bros. You jump, run, run-jump, and throw fireballs. Different in this game is the obvious Portal gun, used to create shortcuts, going to unreachable locations, and conveniently defeat enemies. Furthermore, unlike the original game, you can actually backtrack the levels you’re in. The need to keep track of the portals actually makes this game harder than it seems, as physics tends to play tricks on you frequently.
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