While there's an undeniable fetish for the new in the game world, that shouldn't distract us from real quality. Being a few years old now changes nothing about the fact that Gravity Bones remains, among free games, the top of the list of best games for PC. This brief standalone game drops the player suddenly into what seems to be some kind of exotic espionage scenario.
The game has only a couple levels. Experienced gamers will likely be able to play through in about 20 minutes. Personally, after the third bird, I was stuck for a while myself, but that's just me. The whole thing has a mission orientation and the first level is almost a tutorial for the second more elaborate level. The learning process is nicely integrated into the first level. It comes in a zip file and needs no installation. It requires about 20MB of disk space.
None of that though really gives you a sense of what's so great and fun about this game. It is experience-based and beautifully realized. Though technically a first-person game that description is misleading. This one kind of busts open a genre all of its own: bossa nova noir!
Ascribing a story to it is a bit tricky. There are certainly tasks and as you uncover and accomplish them, a unity emerges, but for all that, this game functions more as a work of slightly avant garde art: it's open to a lot of interpretation.
Just a few brief moments after starting, the player is injected right into the action. You discover yourself stepping off an elevator amid some sort of Euro-spy scene. Even as the elevator descends (which is kind of funny, down from where exactly are you coming?), you're aware of coming into dressed guests of some black tie cocktail party. The fete is spread out over a series of terraces overlooking breathtaking vistas of a mountain enveloped lake. A cool bossa nova sound track accompanies your meandering through the crowd of squares (inside joke). You're initial mission has already begun.
This first level, really more a test run, is rapidly completed. Then you're coming off a second elevator and things are a little more elaborate and complicated this time, as you have to find your way through back corridors and across catwalks on an ominous and stormy night.
Incidentally, one of my few complaints about this game is that I could have done without the clue cards. They at least should have been optional. On the first level I ignored the protruding card corner and simply wandered around the party. Eventually I stumbled upon the briefcase necessary to complete the mission. That was way more fun.
The aesthetics of this game are beautiful and the play is engaging. I really appreciated the creator's wise choice to not resort to the standard polygon realism so rampant in the gaming world today. Instead, the choice to conjure up a vivid and original world is far more beautiful and satisfying than would have been the same challenges put into the usual boring "realism." The espionage sensibility evokes a sense of playful self-mocking that doesn't slip over into cloying irony.
This game is delightful in both it brevity and creativity. It's a real treat that is still our number one choice among free games for the list of best games for PC .
The game has only a couple levels. Experienced gamers will likely be able to play through in about 20 minutes. Personally, after the third bird, I was stuck for a while myself, but that's just me. The whole thing has a mission orientation and the first level is almost a tutorial for the second more elaborate level. The learning process is nicely integrated into the first level. It comes in a zip file and needs no installation. It requires about 20MB of disk space.
None of that though really gives you a sense of what's so great and fun about this game. It is experience-based and beautifully realized. Though technically a first-person game that description is misleading. This one kind of busts open a genre all of its own: bossa nova noir!
Ascribing a story to it is a bit tricky. There are certainly tasks and as you uncover and accomplish them, a unity emerges, but for all that, this game functions more as a work of slightly avant garde art: it's open to a lot of interpretation.
Just a few brief moments after starting, the player is injected right into the action. You discover yourself stepping off an elevator amid some sort of Euro-spy scene. Even as the elevator descends (which is kind of funny, down from where exactly are you coming?), you're aware of coming into dressed guests of some black tie cocktail party. The fete is spread out over a series of terraces overlooking breathtaking vistas of a mountain enveloped lake. A cool bossa nova sound track accompanies your meandering through the crowd of squares (inside joke). You're initial mission has already begun.
This first level, really more a test run, is rapidly completed. Then you're coming off a second elevator and things are a little more elaborate and complicated this time, as you have to find your way through back corridors and across catwalks on an ominous and stormy night.
Incidentally, one of my few complaints about this game is that I could have done without the clue cards. They at least should have been optional. On the first level I ignored the protruding card corner and simply wandered around the party. Eventually I stumbled upon the briefcase necessary to complete the mission. That was way more fun.
The aesthetics of this game are beautiful and the play is engaging. I really appreciated the creator's wise choice to not resort to the standard polygon realism so rampant in the gaming world today. Instead, the choice to conjure up a vivid and original world is far more beautiful and satisfying than would have been the same challenges put into the usual boring "realism." The espionage sensibility evokes a sense of playful self-mocking that doesn't slip over into cloying irony.
This game is delightful in both it brevity and creativity. It's a real treat that is still our number one choice among free games for the list of best games for PC .
About the Author:
To get the scoop on the best pay games for PC, you have to check out Mickey Jhonny's picks of the best games for PC. Those keen on the joys of emersive, parallel worlds will love his piece over at Pretty Much Dead Already on the phenomenon of the Walking Dead Fanfiction .
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