Not too long ago, I was asked to check out a game called mono, a free game created by a studio called the Binary Zoo. Since I'm always up for playing new games (especially free ones) I decided to give mono a try. The result was, simply put, amazing. The well polished style and simplicity of mono and all of the other games created by Binary Zoo has inspired me to spread the word about these fun (and free) games.

The Binary Zoo

The home page of binaryzoo.com states: "Our aim is to produce fun games with original twists." I would add just one thing to this statement: "Games with so much color and craziness, you'll think you're on ecstasy." All joking aside, however, I think the guys at Binary Zoo have succeeded in their mission. With each of their games they basically take a classic game mechanic and add levels of depth which make the games more challenging than the classics on which they are based. All of this is done with impressive visual polish, from the smooth, stylish menus to the game play. The graphics in each of the games are not exactly sophisticated, but in this case primitive graphics are very appropriate. In the next few sections I will describe each of the titles in The Binary Zoo's game line-up.

mono

Do you remember the classic Atari game Asteroids? Well this game is like Asteroids...on crack. In this game the player controls a little circle that shoots "bullets" and can move freely in all directions ala the spaceship in Asteroids. Instead of shooting giant asteroids, in this game the player is shooting giant colorful circles which float around the screen and bounce off the walls. When the player shoots a circle it breaks into smaller pieces, when the smallest pieces are destroyed the background is "painted" the color of the circle at the spot it was destroyed. The object is to destroy the circles in such a way that the colors mix, and the background ends up completely white (or black depending on the original background color).

Bored yet? Well that's only half of the story of mono. As you might expect, they've added a plethora of power-ups to aid in the mission against the "evil circles." For the most part these power-ups determine how the circle will fire its bullets (continuous stream, in all directions, etc.). This game really starts to get interesting once the player is close to the goal. Not only do the circles start multiplying faster and shooting bullets, but whenever the player is hit, some of the color is "erased" in the spot the circle is hovering over at the time. Also, to add to the confusion of the colorful screen filled with circles shooting bullets, the screen will eventually begin to warp whenever the player is hit. This effect almost makes dying the most enjoyable part of the game. Try this game out and you'll know exactly what I mean.

DUO and DUOtris

I have to admit that I haven't played these two games nearly as much as I have played mono (I just recently realized that they existed). I don't think I've quite experienced all of the insanity contained in these games, but I'll do my best to present them to the best of my knowledge, starting with DUO.

Do you remember classic "slide and shoot" games like Space Invaders, Galaga, or Centipede? Well this game is the classic "slide and shoot" game...on crack. This game has the same "good" circle versus "evil" circles game play. From what I can tell, this game adds a level of craziness for each difficulty setting. In the lowest difficulty (Training) the game is pretty simple, slide along the bottom or the top of the screen, shoot the approaching colored circles into smaller pieces, and collect the power-ups from your vanquished enemies. However, in the highest difficulty (aptly named Psycho) the game is a lot more difficult. In this mode, the player's circle slides on a line in the middle of the screen and fires in both directions, as the enemy circles approach rapidly. When the player catches a power-up, it only takes effect on one side of the line, but luckily the player has the ability to rotate the circle to change the direction of fire. When the player is damaged, the screen is filled with cartoony stars and exclamation points, adding to the confusion (as in mono).

And from DUO came DUOtris. Of course you remember Tetris. Well this game is like (another) Tetris...on crack. I know what you're thinking: "Not another Tetris clone!!!" Don't worry this is one of the more enjoyable variations on the classic I've seen. The basic idea is that blocks fall from the top and the bottom of the screen at the same time, and when there's a group of 3 blocks of the same color they disappear. The player has the ability to swap the color of the blocks that are falling. Now we add a pinch of power-ups and we have a very fun Tetris clone.

Conclusion

As you can probably tell, these games are very simple but very fun. The bottom line is, you can't argue with fun and you can't argue with free. You can find all of these games at The Binary Zoo Website.

Note: views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's and are not necessarily those of Wolverine Soft.