My Little Pony X Jaws

  ...Of all the ridiculous fangame ideas that I've ever seen, My Little Pony X Jaws is probably the one that none of us expected to ever be made. From what has been revealed so far about it the game appears to be a tech demo for The Lost Kingdom and will be very strange. For example, it takes place in an alternate ocean-themed universe with the Mane 6 being an elite fishing crew that has set out to kill Jaws after he ate the mayor. If you eventually plan on playing The Lost Kingdom when it comes I would highly recommend that you play this game first, as you can import your savegames from My Little Pony X Jaws to The Lost Kingdom, which will allow you to start at a higher level than you could otherwise.

Unfortunately there's no word yet as to when this...interesting fangame will be released, but hopefully it will be soon because I love humorous fangames. Beanseh said that he'll be releasing screenshots of the game soon, so stay tuned for that!

Project:Harmony Teaser

Alas, our wondrous fandom still lacketh a MOTHER-style RPG, but fear not! Project:Harmony is here, riding on its shining horse and repelling the forces of darkness with its stunning graphics, terrifying foes (just look at the size of that giganto robot!) and a cast of incredibly handsome Bronies who can love and tolerate the crap out of all haters, even not-so-invincible clumsy robots! For the first time ever I am going to rate a game based off of the trailer alone, and give it a ten out of-

Sorry, I can't keep this up. In case it somehow managed to escape you the above paragraph was a joke, and despite what you might expect Project:Harmony is an actual fangame. They're releasing an actual announcement and trailer for their game on November 21st (which also happens to be my birthday), but they made this silly teaser just for laughs and...I couldn't resist posting it. Sorry folks, but you'll have to wait a mite longer to find out what Project Harmony is actually about...

Blue Cookie Touch Caves RPG

Blue Cookie Touch Caves RPG

 One happy summer day Blue Cookie Touch the pony creator OC and his best-ish friend Flamerunner were mucking about on the small Island of Desertedness when they stumbled across Spike the samurai and Eric the soldier. Applejack the thief was there too but nobody could find him for some reason.

"Happy birthday, Eric!"

"Cookie, it is nowhere near my-"

"Want to go on a magical birthday adventure for Big Apple Ponycon?"

Eric, sighed, and shrugged. Blue Cookie, being the positive thinker that he is, took this as a yes.

"Yay!"

"Wait, nobody asked me about my opinion. Do I matter?" asked Spike, anxiously fiddling with his little claws. Flamerunner glared at the pudgy dragon and tightly gripped his Holy Lance™.


"Blue Cookie is the leader here, so keep your little lizard mouth shut and let us do the deciding."


 Spike grumbled several obscenities under his breath at the insolence of this bigmouth as the party formed a line, Blue Cookie Touch being at the front, of course. Spike was right behind him, with Eric Ludwig in the rear and Flamerunner at the very, very back. He did not like this arrangement one bit.

 And they were off! The small party wandered around the tiny island, admiring the stubby stone walls that surrounded the southern portion for no good reason and doing nothing in particular. This lasted for several moments until Eric noticed something unusual.


"Do my eyes deceive me, or-"

"Hush, Eric." Flame interrupted, I'm the lookout guy here, so you let me do the noticing things."


 Eric rolled his eyes, and Flamerunner smiled.


"Good boy. Now, Cookie!"

"Yes, Flameypoo?"

"I think that's a chest over there. Maybe we can open it up and get some loot?"

"Jolly good idea!"


 The party rushed over to the chest, only to discover too late that it was actually a door in the middle of nowhere. In an entirely irrational and unsurprising turn of events, it led to some weird place called. "Ruins of Brony Universe". For a so-called ruin it was actually quite nice: a green meadow with a bunch of tiny houses, surrounded by tiny little towers and occupied by ponies that were way too big for them.

"Hey, Welcome Back, Blue
While you were gone, The mane6
And I were building the town."

"Wat." Spike was confused, as was everybody else. His love had obviously overdosed on her medication or something, so he decided to leave her alone before she threw up on him like she did last time.


They just started to walk away from her when suddenly-

RANDOM ENCOUNTER OUT OF NOWHERE

"Oh gawd it's Chrysalis!" screamed Blue Cookie as he stood face to face with the changeling queen.

 Things looked bad. It was early in the adventure, everybody was on level one, this was a boss level character, and everybody sucked but him. Eric carefully began to examine his fellow adventurers when he noticed something very strange.


"We don't have any skills? That sucks."

"At the same time, I'm not all that surprised." snickered Spike, who was once again treated to one of Flame's nasty glares.

"Well then, we might as well-"

Blue Cookie Touch, being the genius that he was, knew exactly what to do.

"ATTACK!!!!!!!!!!!11"

 "But!-"

 It was too late; they had no choice but to battle their mighty foe. To flee was absolutely out of the question, because that would mean that they were wimps or something. Eric Ludwig picked up his mighty axe and charged, swinging it ferociously at the foe and not giving a hoot about that old rule, "Don't hit girls".

300-SOMETHING DAMAGE

CHRYSALIS IS DEFEATED

"WTF"

"Hey, at least we have loot!" exclaimed Flamerunner, who picked up two battleaxes that Chrysalis dropped after dying. Blue Cookie excitedly rushed over to them, only to be met with disappointment.


"I can't use this awesome weapon," he cried.

"That's because you don't have hands like us. Dragons/humans masterrace 2013"

"But then why can my friend Flamerunner use his Holy Lance™ if he has hooves like me?" asked Cookie.

"It's my birthday, so shut up."

"Okay."


 Then they decided to explore some more. They met a creepy girl who wanted to play cookie poker with Blue Cookie (an idea which made his face glow strangely), the Cutie Mark Crusaders who kidnapped Shining Armor to work in some mining place, and visited Rainbow Dash's really boring grass house. Flamerunner also kept flashing his Dragon Shield at Spike, which scared him quite a bit.

Since there was nothing else to do they decided to go back to town, and got killed in a random encounter with a walking box. Good riddance.

Never Trust British Columbia

 I figured that it was high time to buy an iPod so I could play the thousands of iOS pony games, but guess what? It doesn't work, of course, and it doesn't even have a friggen' Apple logo on the back of the case. The thing came from British Columbia, which kinda figures since I also once bought a Pink Floyd album from a BC Walmart that didn't come with a disc.

Well, that's several thousand dollars down the drain. What next?

TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVEHNGSHE Trailer

  TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVENGSHE

The "Twilight Sparkle defence shooter" genre may not be as oversaturated as the Pinkie Pie platformers and cloud dodgers, but Penta Studios (those loveable folks who created Waiting is Magic) seems to think otherwise with the announcement of TWALAGHT SPARKUHLZ REVENGSHE. Slated for release on the 10th of August TSR seems to be the joke game at its finest, with absurdly powerful weapons and perhaps the ugliest parasprites we have ever seen. There's almost no doubt that it will be a blast to play when it comes out given its origins, so be sure to check back on the 10th for this awesome game.

And will it cure cancer like Waiting is Magic did? We have no idea, but beta testing has proven that every 1 minute of playtime adds 1 year to your life. Play this game enough and you'll be practically immortal!

Fnagame Review

Fnagame
No, this is not a serious review.

 Hot on the heels of the last fnagame comes another game in this brave new genre (introduced by Stable Softworks in their BronyCon panel announcement), and again it stars Twibright Spankle and her magical pony friends. Lovingly crafted by a dedicated artist, Fnagame is a homage to RPG classics such as Lennyage of Harmoney and Gates of Tartarus, and promises to stun the world in a similar manner as the recently uncancelled Fighting is Magic did (more on that in a future post).

Our review on this revolutionary new fnagame can be found after the break.


 Though it may not have the deep and intricate plot of the genre's prototype, Lennyage of Harmoney, Fnagame still manages to interest the player with its incredibly meta postmodern tale of stolen undergarments. As is tradition with all good fnagames, it tackles the pressing issue of women's rights, as Twibright represents the typical working-class woman, her right to privacy being stolen by a figure who obviously represents the NSA with their dastardly PRISM program. Obviously the mere act of protesting will do little good against such a powerful foe, she chooses several of her closest friends to penetrate deep into the enemy's stronghold and strike the chauvinistic pig right where it hurts the most.


 Part of the fun a fnagame provides is interesting gameplay, and Fnagame delivers quite well in this area. Unlike most RPGs with gameplay divided into separate maps, Fnagame's gameplay takes place inside one large map, with no loading times to get in the player's way. In a way this is sort of like the other Fnagame, except it actually has a real ending. Endings are good because otherwise the player would keep playing the game until they starve to death, which is kind of sad.

 As most of you know, any good game has violence in it. This is because there are many problems which cannot be solved by talking or protesting, so we have to take up matters in our own hands and beat the crap out of our enemies until they give in to our demands. Running is always a bad idea, as winning your battles gives you lots of experience and a bunch of epic new skills to use against the forces of Republican evil.

The graphics are absolutely stunning.

 Dangerous creatures lurk in Twibright's expansive basement, and before meeting your main opponent head-on you'll have to slice your way through Hentais, Buts, and Fangarms (among other creatively-named enemies). These presumably represent the various trials and challenges a modern woman must face. Additionally, a good portion of their attacks are phallic in nature, hinting at the well-known fact that man is the female's greatest enemy. In a way it's a shame that the creator didn't have the courage to stand up and state such a fact publicly, but at least she found some way to insert it into her works.

 Doing battle against horrible monsters isn't the only thing this fnagame has to offer, however. There is also plenty of exploration for the player to participate in, although it does strike me as more than a bit odd that Twibright would have such a large basement when compared to her small house (as briefly seen in the introduction). Then again, she does have a lot of books down there...

 Like any good game, Fnagame has graphics. Since the game doesn't have any credits, I therefore presume that the author made them all herself. Good for her. They look really professional for the most part, except for interface. I'm pretty sure that she stole it directly from some other game, although I'm not sure which one. Still, it's not like anybody minds when you use art without permission, right? It's just a stupid drawing after all.

Every good game also has music. So does Fnagame. Its music is kind of boring, but since it was taken from Gates of Tartarus I really shouldn't complain. Besides, most of us play games on our laptops with the audio down because speakers probably drain battery or something.

Twibright, Colorful Speed, Pearity, and Pokey Pie exploring the basement. Their so cute <3

Sadly, fnagame is not perfect. It has a really sharp difficulty curve as the game goes on, staring off real easy and then getting hard soon into the game. I couldn't figure out why though, as I was leveling up really fast whenever I won a battle. The boss was also kind of hard, and I couldn't beat him. His attacks were also self-depreciating in a stupid kind of way. Also, the main characters are really boring OCs that are just recolored versions of the real pones.

 As if that wasn't bad enough, if you look in the equipment slots Pearity is revealed to be wearing...a corset. That's right! The worst of all ways for a man to hold a woman in bonage is being worn by an upstanding modern girl, which is outrageous. Also, upon unlocking the Magic Ice skill it makes a really offensive joke about the 99% and our not being rich. At first I thought the creator was a model feminist, but now we see her for what she truly is: a lame internet fathead who pretends to be a girl just to get a rise out of us. But I'm not falling for it!

Xcept for a few good things, this game totally sucked. Also, I pity you if you actually thought this was a serious review.

Fnagame

Fnagame

 The Brony fnadom is pretty large, sure, but one thing it has always lacked was decent fnagames. But fear not, my friends! The world's first-ever fnagame (ingeniously titled "Fnagame") has been released to the public, starring Twibright Spankle and her friends Pokey Pi, Paddlejack, Pearity, Flutters and Colorful Speed as they do battle against a bunch of goons from the My Little Game Dev forums. Alicorn Cheerilee is there too. It even has a highscores list!

 Expect more fnagames soon.

???

Review: A World You Should Not Know

A World You Should Not Know

 A while back some guy over at the My Little Game Dev forums thought it would be funny to make an Equestria Girls game with dubstep, lousy textures, and annoying audio. The resulting project took a mere two days to make, and along the way somehow turned into A World You Should Not Know: a horror game starring Twilight Sparkle as she tries to retrieve the magical crown from...whatever. Sunset Shimmer isn't involved at all: the story is basically just an excuse for the game.

The review continues after the break, as usual.


 According to AWYSNK, the alternate universe explored in Equestria Girls is actually just another one of your typical, not-so-abandoned facilities you find lying about everywhere in video games, and the aforementioned crown is locked behind some sort of cruddy door that requires six keys to open. For no reason in particular these keys are guarded by warped version of the mane six, who evidently have been just sitting in there, waiting around for some idiot to wander in without a shotgun so they could chase them down and make pony hamburger.

 Regardless of the weird premise, the game actually manages to be surprisingly scary due to its heavy use of claustrophobic spaces and creepy breathing made by your foes. Being stalked by anthro ponies may sound and look silly from the screencaps, but trust me; it is anything but ridiculous. Their messed-up textures and truly bizarre animation is quite disturbing to behold as they take massive strides towards you with their freakishly long legs, following you through the rusty corridors.

Neither words or pictures can convey how terrifying these things are in motion.

 Speaking of rust, the textures in this game are of a rather low resolution when compared to most of its modern contemporaries, although you probably won't be paying too much attention to them while peeking around the corners, carefully listening to see if you can hear any nearby footsteps or breathing. The darkness tends to make it difficult to see any stalkers until they're really close, so it's advisable to play the game with headphones. A map is also included in the game folder, which the player may consult if they're feeling too lost.


 I really don't know what else to say about A World You Should Not Know, or if there is anything else. The game wasn't bad or anything, but for various reason I've never really found this genre very interesting, although those of you who are into horror games might enjoy this. I'd still say that Derp Till Dawn was a much better game overall (and that it deserved a higher score than I gave it), so I'll just slap a 5 on this and be done with this review so I can get on to adding Twilight Wing to the Arcade.

 GPL violations are magical

And now for something completely different

Cherry Sorter

Cherry Sorter

When I wake up every morning I look out my window and say, "Alas, the farming simulator is truly dead". Then, I scurry away with catlike tread (in order to avoid waking my brother), trip over a couple dinky cars and crash to the floor with a yell, waking up the entire family every morning. For centuries I have longed that at least one of these steps might be made unnecessary to lighten my daily commute, and it seems that finally my prayers have been answered. For out of the depths of the night comes Cherry Sorter, riding a white horse and playing a trumpet with a $2 price tag, to save me from the first step of my horrendous plight. With it's exclusive Android cherry-picking ways and utterly astonishing depiction of life on a cherry ranch I have been freed from my plight, and now spend the entire morning playing this wonderful masterpiece of wondrousness .

So now, I beg leave of you to play this game some more, as should you. If you own a newfangled Android phone, this game should work right out of the box, but it took me a couple hours to get it working on my trusty (and completely indestructible) Nokia phone. So long, and farewell!

(April Fools) Equestria Gaming Requested to Cease and Desist, Goes Underground

Edit: Before I cause any more undue stress, this post is just a joke. Take it with a grain of salt :)
Hello all! Hope you're having a good day so far. Ours hasn't been so peachy.

A few hours ago, we received a Cease and Desist notification from Habsro, Inc concerning our "violation of Habsro Inc.’s common law trademark rights, common law service mark rights, and trade name rights related to their MY LITTLE PONY property."

Needless to say, this is a crushing blow for the website, and at this point it seems very unlikely we'll be able to continue to provide our current services. Head down past the break for more details.


After receiving the notification, we immediately contacted the sender to verify its validity and began to prepare for the worst. After a brief exchange, we've confirmed that there is no legal way to proceed with the site as it currently exists. As of today, Equestria Gaming is ceasing and desisting in its current format.

However, things are not as bad as they seem. We're currently exploring a variety of extralegal operations to keep the spirit of Equestria Gaming alive, including ham radio broadcasting and a subscription service via a series of vespa couriers. We're in the process of cataloguing all of our previous articles as .jpeg files, and are prepared to distribute them via slow-scan television upon request.

Needless to say, this post amounts to a declaration of our intent to turn to piracy. Our temporary headquarters consists of three crates in the back of a cattle van traveling through central Asia, but our final destination must remain a secret. Any mail sent to our old address will not be forwarded.

We implore you, our readers, to remain vigilant in these troubled times. Know only that the Equestria Gaming staff would lay down their lives for the free exchange of pony gaming news if need be. Oh, and have a happy April Fool's Day.

Review: Click the Twilight Sparkle (April Fools)

Download it Here!

Please note that this article was an April Fools day joke and is not meant to be taken seriously.

Let me just start this review by saying that this game is quite possibly the best pony game we've seen to date. The concept is simple, yet elegant: you must click Twilight Sparkle, and as you do, you earn points. The author behind this game is anonymous, and after months of work, he or she has finally completed this masterpiece of a game. If it were up to me, this game would get a Game of the Year award, hands down. Read more after the break...

You start the game with a score of zero. This is a very humbling move by the creator, as starting with zero means you've accomplished nothing thusfar. This is soon to be remedied, though. With your trusty mouse or trackpad in hand, you mouse over Twilight Sparkle, and left click. The score advances by one. You click once again. You now have two points. Your goal is now clear: to get as many points as possible.

All aspects of this game are very well done. The minimalistic graphics truly capture this game's spirit. The music, according to the author, is completely original. The tune is very catchy, and might I add, the voiced bit at the beginning mimics the voice acting of the Cutie Mark Crusaders perfectly. This is the type of song which could easily be found in the show itself.

High Score!

The mechanics are flawless - Twilight Sparkle's hitbox is completely precise - click on her, and you get a point, but click one pixel away from her, and get no points. This type of professionalism I found very refreshing in this day and age. The game's engine was written specifically for the game, too. The anonymous author calls it "Game Maker." Maybe the author can be convinced to share that engine with everyone else, as it seems quite versatile.

The final point of merit for this game is the use of Twilight Sparkle, the show's best pony. The author expects spinoffs to be made for every character, but wanted the original game to star everyone's favorite purple unicorn. Several months of work have obviously paid off with "Click the Twilight Sparkle," and I expect fanart, perhaps even a fanfic or two, to be rolling off the presses really soon.

This marks the first time that Equestria Gaming has brought out "The Celestia Grade." This game is indistinguishable from a professional one, and for this reason, I dub it the best pony game in history. Have fun playing, and be sure to post your high scores in the comments (pics or it didn't happen).

(April Fools) Super Bieber Racer

Super Bieber Racer

This article was written for April Fools 2013 and is not meant to be taken seriously. At all.

 Justin Bieber (the world's greatest singer) has long deserved a decent fangame, but even his incredible fanbase has been unable to solve this...until now. Well-renowned fangame developer Penta Studios has come bursting forth from the closet on this fabulous spring day to bring us Super Bieber Racer, which is undoubtedly the greatest Justin Bieber fangame to ever come out of the internets, and far better than those lousy kissing simulators.

Oh yeah, and there are several ponies in the game. Fighting is Magic also makes a cameo, as does yours truely.

(April Fools) Review: Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED

Play it Here

This article was written for April Fools 2013 and is not meant to be taken seriously.

After a long year's wait, the sequel to the most popular game of 2012, Click the Twlight Sparkle has finally arrived. Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED is here for you to enjoy. Experience all the thrillz, chillz, and nonstop fast-paced mouse-clicking action that made the original so famous, and much much more. For more info on this fantastic display of game-designing prowess, check after the break...

Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED features amazing gameplay which provides a subtle infusion of retro charm, and has tremendous replay value, to be sure. The clicks feel satisfying as ever, and add to that stunning revamped visuals, and you have a true award-caliber game.

I know what you're all thinking - "Enigma, this game sounds fantastic, but how much will it cost me?" The answer, friends, is not a cent. You see, we're providing this game free of charge so you can see how great it is before purchasing the Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED: Alicorn Expansion Pack. This DLC will come at a fair cost of $59.99 and will add a whole new dimension of gameplay with the addition of wings.

Just look at those gradients!

Everything about the gamefeel is truly refreshing - the music fits the action perfectly, and everything from the menu design to the font choice exemplifies pure class.

The creator of this game, a mysterious genius known only as "Enigma Sage" has stated that he intends for the game to be published on Steam for better distribution, but in a statement released yeterday, Enigma said "Gabe Newell won't return any of my phone calls." Fingers crossed on that front.

Obviously Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED is destined for award-level greatness. Game of the Year is a perfectly viable goal for a game of this magnitude. The best we can do here at EqG is a perfect 10/10. If we had an 11/10, this would be the game for it.

What are you still doing reading this article. You should all be playing Click the Twilight Sparkle RELOADED right now. You won't regret it.

(April Fools) Review: Lennyage of Harmoney

Lennyage of Harmoney

This article was written for April Fools 2013 and is not meant to be taken seriously.

 Legal issues have sent many fangame developers into hiding after the demise of MLP:Online and Fighting is Magic, but a courageous few have gone onward with their projects, pouring their hearts and souls into their projects. In light of this, Equestria Gaming has decided to take a new approach to reviewing in which we will not criticize developers for the few mistakes that they make, but focus mainly on praising them for what they do wrong. Having good self-esteem is good after all, and we're going to be at the forefront of this bold new esteem-raising movement with our review of Lennyage of Harmoney, which you can find more about after the break.

 Opening Lennyage of Harmoney in Linux was a refreshingly retro experience. No clicking on gaudy icons, no configuring of unnecessary settings: just the basics. A simple java -jar "Lennyage of Harmoney.jar" was all it took, and the game started after only a couple seconds of loading. The game's main programmer must be a highly experienced individual to make a fully-featured RPG load in a couple seconds without being bound by the conventional restraints of loading screens. Unlike most of the other fangames we have the privilege of posting on Equestria Gaming, this one supports Mac OS X and Linux but nobody really cares because we all know Macs are for hipsters and Linux is for fat neckbeards like Richard Stallman and his hippie buddies (such as myself, ;~;).

The cutscenes are one of the game's main highlights and contain much of its emotional depth.

 Some RPGs throw the player right into the action, but not this one. The creators took the time to craft a detailed and touching story about everyman Twilight Sparkle being evicted from the library by the sexist top 1% (who obviously did this because of her gender), and in response she bands together with her friends, overthrows the rich witch and lives happily ever after in a utopian socialist environment. We could all learn something from this simple, endearing tale that makes no attempt to hide its political implications, you know?

 Even though some people would complain about the lengthy cutscenes being unskippable, I myself do not mind. I wouldn't even consider this a flaw, considering their overall quality. Since most Bronies are autistic and have problems reading facial expressions the developers decided to repeatedly zoom into the character's faces, forcing us to take notice of their emotional states and speculate as to what goes on within their vastly superior pony minds. This may feel somewhat uncomfortable at first, but after a short while the typical player gets used to it, and even begins to enjoy the wonderful sensation of being close to another's face. If only the game featured better integration with Google Nose, the experience would be complete.

Lennyage of Harmoney doesn't beat around the bush here; controls are clearly explained from the get-go.

 The game isn't all cutscenes and politics though. It has actual gameplay too, although the controls felt somewhat floaty. Given that Twilight has wings now and can float around wherever she darn well pleases, this makes perfect sense. There aren't any annoying fetch quests to get in the player's way either, and grinding is an issue either. If the game were especially long and dragged out the story would lose its emotional impact (really now, who goes for ice cream before confronting the greedy republican who kicked them out of their house?), but Lennyage of Harmoney has our heroine head to the treehouse right away to kick the antagonist's ass: no distractions!

 Heartless console gamers might cry out against the game's simple artistic style, but we at Equestria Gaming know that graphics do not matter in the slightest. Gameplay is the only thing developers should focus on, and sprites should be an afterthought. Contrary to popular opinion games like Limbo would be exactly the same if their artistic styles were changed, and because of this we are not going to comment on the game's art or let it affect our final score.

 Effort is what truly counts, and it's quite clear that much work was put into the production of Lennyage of Harmoney. We mustn't let the quality of a game affect our opinion on it

Sometimes minimalistic art styles are better.

 Good RPGs not only have gameplay and long cutscenes, but combat (yes, the two are distinct from one another), and this game is no exception. Upon entering one of the game's many combat encounters the game switches to a very retro art style reminiscent of NES games like Earthbound, and it feels nice and trippy. It was also properly balanced too because I kept winning. This shows that the 1% is no match for the combined might of the American people, even though they may pour their armies and tear gas on us. We shall not be stopped!

 All games except for the stupid ones have music. This is a universal rule, and breaking it probably earns the creator a C&D or something so the fabulous progressive folks behind Lennyage of Harmoney made sure to give the game its own, entirely original soundtrack. It did sound somewhat familiar though, but that's probably because this game is a homage to all the great RPGs before it, albiet one that outshines them all.

 Maybe it's not perfect (the distinct lack of parallax scrolling is the only fault I can really think of), but since Lennyage of Harmoney is fanmade we can't really criticize it without being unfair; it's not like the fandom can do better. Besides, nopony minds a 148.5MB download for a short game, right?

 Else, you can always look at the first letter of each paragraph. Have a happy monday, and make sure you take everything you read today seriously. If you don't...you might miss out on some great fun.

Review: BFS

BFS

 As his previous efforts have shown us, Vanni is determined to redefine the way we see RPGs, and to accomplish his vision he has even gone so far as to program it from scratch in C instead of going about the usual route of whipping up crap in RPG Maker like a mere commoner. This may prove he's no scrub, sure, but even the best of developers can slip up sometimes, so is this an example of such?

Pony fans will definitely want to check this one out, so read on below the break for my thoughts on it.

 Reality ensues upon starting BFS' executable: this is a game, and thus it must load stuff. This may seem rather unpleasant, but upon the fourth or fifth playthrough the average player will get used to it and maybe even come to enjoy the loading, as it gives one time to prepare oneself for the incredible experience ahead. It also helps that it has the decency to show you exactly what it happens to be loading at the time, giving one a truly visible indication of its progress.

 I'd consider BFS to be an example of modern art, really. Gameplay is deceptively simplistic, with its smooth The Matrix-esque scrolling effects having a rather soothing effect on one's mind, but there's an odd sort of beauty to it that one is hard-pressed to find in any other game of recent memory. One could compare it to NetHack or Dwarf Fortress in a certain sense due to various aesthetic similarities, or even the majority of Lego Island 2 if one is so inclined. It's definitely a great way to wind down and blow off steam after a long day of hard work.

 Learning the plot isn't exactly essential to this game, although from what I've been informed it involves the marriage of Queen Chrysalis to King Sombra, and their ensuing invasion on the Crystal Empire. It doesn't appear to have much relevance to the actual gameplay, though, as the story is unveiled through subtle environmental cues that casual observers will easily miss upon a first playthrough. Some might complain about this, but I honestly don't mind all that much. It's nice to have a game every once in a while that respects the player's intelligence and expects them to figure things out on their own for once.

 B

 S for us Linux users though, since the game somehow doesn't have a Linux build even though it's written in C and uses multiplatform libraries. Ah well, at least it should run well enough in Wine and can thus provide an interestingly introspective experience for users of all operating systems. Be sure to thank Vanni for his wonderful creation, and maybe check out his groundbreaking Fnagame while you're at it.

Tom the Rock Simulator

Tom the Rock Simulator

 Ever the ambitious fellow, Vanni decided to release a tie-in game to the ever-popular Goat Simulator (also being released today) featuring Rarity's waifu as its main character, doing what he normally does when he isn't being showered with affection from Maud. Some may find the content a bit lacking, although I personally think that it's an excellent representation of Tom's daily life including the bits where he does his own stunts and attends all the award ceremonies his voice actor has been been invited to lately. I'd suggest that future releases add in a realtime day/night cycle and possibly some wildlife to occasionally appear in the background, but as its stands right now this is probably one of the better avant-garde fangames we'll see this year (with the possible exception of BFS, which I'll be posting about in a bit).

Rumour has it that a sequel is coming to the App Store featuring unlockable outfits. Look for it in Summer 2014!

Tom has been contacted in the hopes that he would consent to an interview on the subject of his experiences as a video game protagonist, although we have not yet received a response from him.

MLP: Fighting is Magic Test Game Footage

The testers of Mane 6's MLP: Fighting is Magic have released another preview video, showcasing the stability that you can expect in the final product. It's amazing how far they've come, and I found myself delighted with many of the new abilities revealed in the footage. The extraordinary power of some of those moves put a manly tear in my eye, for they were executed with such skill, such agility...it's clear that while this game will be easy to pick up and play, those who truly master it can unleash the hidden power of the seemingly ordinary characters. So if you're wanting more information on what the final version of Fighting is Magic will look like, this video is what you should watch!

PonyKart Update Video #2

Folks, this is the single greatest PonyKart update in it's short history. A new game-changing feature has been added, one that shall change the way you see PonyKart...forever!