Flash - Saviour of the (gaming) universe?

Free flash games could very well be an integral part of gaming future.

I know it sounds mad to say but I really do believe this to be the case, there is so much potential out there. Some of the games I have played on websites such as Kongregate and Not Doppler put a lot of other games I have played to shame.

The flash games always have an easy to grasp concept and control style and that’s not something I can say so quickly about other games that big publishers have taken years to make. Some games you have no idea what is going on half the time and don’t know how to control it so what is happening is actually happening in your favour.

Some of the best flash games I have played have been platformer games or puzzle games… or a combination of both.

Games such as the flash version of Portal, which in itself was such an amazing game, really made me wonder just how much you could do with Flash. Not having the best graphical capabilities doest seem to stop the Flash-Devs from pushing the boat out as far as they can. Flash Portal is truly an amazing example of a game.

Terry Cavanagh’s Don’t Look Back which I found on Kongregate has a unique visual style and a story that is very much based on the legend of Orpheus and The Death of Eurydice, where “while walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice ran into a nest of snakes which bit her fatally on her heel. Distraught, Orpheus played such sad songs and sang so mournfully that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus travelled to the underworld and by his music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone (he was the only person ever to do so), who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. He set off with Eurydice following and in his anxiety as soon as he reached the upper world he turned to look at her, forgetting that both needed to be in the upper world, and she vanished for the second time, but now forever”. It is easily one of the most interesting games I have ever come across, and the story it delivers is reason enough to give it multiple playthroughs.

Also, not only do the games themselves have so many unique selling points but the websites that host them have some interesting features, Kongregate, which is my favourite flash site offers achievements and chatrooms in a window at the side of the game you are playing. If you haven’t checked out www.kongregate.com then I highly recommend it