With apologies to Gnome from Gnome's Lair
I first wrote about Garden Gnome Carnage almost three years ago - yes, the game is that old. But it also happens to be a ton of wicked fun in the spirit of Monty Python, so its recent release as a flash game gave me an excellent excuse to bring it up again.
Garden Gnome Carnage by Daniel Remar is a great example of what indie games can offer: very addicting and fun game based on very strange set of abstract rules, so abstract in fact, that no commercial project would ever try to build something upon them. Player controls a building on wheels (!) that has a garden gnome attached on a string (!!) and must use it to shake off hundreds of malicious Santa's elves tat try to enter the building via chimney (!!!). Sounds strange? Just you wait, there's more.
There are also airborne elves that fly in on their sleighs and some particularly malicious one that when shot down, leave behind parachutist elves hidden in presents (I won't add any more exclamation marks, since it is becoming to look ridiculous, but feel free to add them yourself). These parachutists are particularly hard to shake off the building, but they can be swept while in air by controlling gust of winds. The gnome can also rip the bricks out of the building facade when he is flying by and throw them at elves. Think it's weird? We still haven't gotten to the really weird part.
Because there is also a cat that can refill the bricks on the bulding's facade, there's a trick to get him to sparkle, which results in obtaining explosive golden bricks, there are airstrikes and princess that can replenish them, there's reinforcements that can arrive... Yes, the premise of the game is delightfully absurd, but the funny part is that it actually works. I've been playing Garden Gnome Carnage every now and then for about a year until I reached some wicked sick highscores - and seeing the comments on Newsgrounds, I get the feeling that I am not the only one to be hooked by its addictive nature.
Garden Gnome Carnage has been revamped for its flash release: it now features slightly refreshed graphics (or maybe they just look better when not upscaled, I am not sure), new options screen, new chiptune music, even the minigames have been altered. The occasional slowdown happens from time to time when there are hundreds of elves climbing the building, flying in the air, being blown up and falling down, but it is never too annoying. All in all, the port is a slightly enhanced version with some tweaks to gameplay that actually make it more accessible for your average player out there.
What more can I say? Follow this link and play Garden Gnome Carnage on Newgrounds (or alternatively on Kongregate) and if you want to have a go at it on your netbook on the go, download the original standalone version from Daniel's site or from TIGSource.
[ via IndieGames ]
I first wrote about Garden Gnome Carnage almost three years ago - yes, the game is that old. But it also happens to be a ton of wicked fun in the spirit of Monty Python, so its recent release as a flash game gave me an excellent excuse to bring it up again.
Garden Gnome Carnage by Daniel Remar is a great example of what indie games can offer: very addicting and fun game based on very strange set of abstract rules, so abstract in fact, that no commercial project would ever try to build something upon them. Player controls a building on wheels (!) that has a garden gnome attached on a string (!!) and must use it to shake off hundreds of malicious Santa's elves tat try to enter the building via chimney (!!!). Sounds strange? Just you wait, there's more.
There are also airborne elves that fly in on their sleighs and some particularly malicious one that when shot down, leave behind parachutist elves hidden in presents (I won't add any more exclamation marks, since it is becoming to look ridiculous, but feel free to add them yourself). These parachutists are particularly hard to shake off the building, but they can be swept while in air by controlling gust of winds. The gnome can also rip the bricks out of the building facade when he is flying by and throw them at elves. Think it's weird? We still haven't gotten to the really weird part.
Because there is also a cat that can refill the bricks on the bulding's facade, there's a trick to get him to sparkle, which results in obtaining explosive golden bricks, there are airstrikes and princess that can replenish them, there's reinforcements that can arrive... Yes, the premise of the game is delightfully absurd, but the funny part is that it actually works. I've been playing Garden Gnome Carnage every now and then for about a year until I reached some wicked sick highscores - and seeing the comments on Newsgrounds, I get the feeling that I am not the only one to be hooked by its addictive nature.
Garden Gnome Carnage has been revamped for its flash release: it now features slightly refreshed graphics (or maybe they just look better when not upscaled, I am not sure), new options screen, new chiptune music, even the minigames have been altered. The occasional slowdown happens from time to time when there are hundreds of elves climbing the building, flying in the air, being blown up and falling down, but it is never too annoying. All in all, the port is a slightly enhanced version with some tweaks to gameplay that actually make it more accessible for your average player out there.
What more can I say? Follow this link and play Garden Gnome Carnage on Newgrounds (or alternatively on Kongregate) and if you want to have a go at it on your netbook on the go, download the original standalone version from Daniel's site or from TIGSource.
[ via IndieGames ]
