Top-Down

Hotline Miami is a brutally difficult, brutally violent, top-down brawler and shooter. With retro, 90s-style graphics, it has something of a feel of a Sega Genesis game -- not a SNES one; Nintendo would never have let anything this violent on their platform, but Sega was edgier.

You're assigned your missions via mobile phone by strange people who wear animal masks and claim to know all about you, though you're apparently amnesiac. The story, such as it is, is a somewhat surreal one, but it's a transparently thin veneer to provide some strange context for what's simply a game of killing everyone on each stage.

You can pick up a variety of both melee weapons and firearms; it's possible to play it stealthily, sneaking up on enemies and dispatching them hand-to-hand, or simply to blast away. Enemies are alerted by the sound of gunfire, though. Additional weapons are unlocked over time, as are additional animal masks; each mask provides a special power, and you can choose among them to suit your strategy.

SteamBirds is a top-down, turn-based, aeriel dogfighting game with an unusual core mechanic. Each turn, you give orders to your aircraft by moving a pointer that indicates where it will end the turn; the system only lets you drag the pointer to a location the aircraft can reach, so that the turning radius, speed, and ability to accelerate or decelerate is build into the scheme. Elevation, and diving/climbing, are neglected. Guns are fore-mounted, so the trick is to get behind the enemy and stay on their tail.

I knew when I saw the name "Dugan" attached to this thing that I had to play it. Made for a recent TIG Source competition, Laser Bunny is a simple game with charming cel-art and pretty decent gameplay. Arrow keys and the space bar do the usual Zelda/projectile number, the goal is to race through a maze of hedges, blasting enemies and getting to the end before the rising water consumes your hairy hare.