Well, the Liberated Pixel Cup has ended. There are 48 games competing, and I’m taking my time reviewing them all.
A fair disclaimer: I’m also competing in the Cup. I’ll try to be unbiased though, judge for yourself and give the games a try!
Big Island [Play me!] [Download me!]
This is an HTML5 Game. It’s described as an “Open-World Sandbox Survival game.”, and I think it’s pretty clever.
The game asks you what game mode you’d like, so I selected the normal one. (Dev mode is virtually identical, but with all sorts of variables floating over your head). After a brief, well executed intro, you are presented with the game control screen. Have I mentioned that I really like these? Well, I do.
You move around with WASD, and can use fists to punch (Though I was unable to actually punch anything)
The game’s goal is to save the citizens from their own stupidity. They wander around at night, where big, mean skeletons haunt the place. Your job is to smack some sense into them and help them get inside a house. You get paid every time you do this, and you can use the money to buy more guards that will keep the town safe.
The game hints at buying equipment and weapons, however I found no way to actually do so. As far as I know, the only thing you can purchase are patrols… Two things that I noticed are that the character’s animation: It’s super sped up to the point of being funny and odd. The other shortcoming is that collisions aren’t really that great, which makes moving through the ladders or through certain objects feel kind of weird.
If there were any weapons we could use to actually hit the skeletons, and not just run away from them while trying to save citizens, the game would be more enjoyable. Given some extra weeks, I’m sure the dev could spit & polish it into something great, but as-is, it serves as a base for something greater.
Update: Mea culpa. Apparently there *is* a place to purchase weapons. A friend of mine told me that there are at least 2 other cities right to the one where you start. The bottom one has an armored man that sells several types of weapons, including a staff, a spear, a bow and a dagger. I purchased them all to try them out.
Combat is kind of weird and it took me a while to understand it properly. You must click (and hold!) in the direction of the enemy. For instance, the bow would aim wherever you clicked and held, while the sword would only actually hit the skeleton if it was positioned near the skeleton (regardless of the animation playing out properly).
Now that I am able to defeat the skeletons, I actually enjoy the game 
