Retro, 8-Bit Team Fortress!

Just recently I gave Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead a whirl, and I really liked it, despite moments of frustration because of my noobish-ness. Well, I liked it so much, I went and tried out Pixel Force: Team Fortress Arcade. Let me just say, it was excellent. It felt like a pretty well made side scrolling, classic shooter, much like Metal Slug and other "run-n'-gun" type affairs of yore. This is something that if you found it in an arcade, it wouldn't in the least look out of place. The visuals are well executed and has that nice, retro graphics look, excellent explosions and animations.. Me gusta!
I mean, just look at it!

Die, robot-scum!

It also feels and controls pretty well, despite the controls being a little goofy. You have access to the regular cast of characters like you'd find in Team Fortress 2, each with their own special guns and abilities and varying stats. In my run-through, I played as the scout, the spy, demo, and heavy. Naturally, scout is fast, maneuverable, and has a nice double jump, but low health. Conversely, heavy is rather slow, can't jump for crap, but a large amount of health. He also wields his mighty chain gun which decimates. The spy was interesting to play as also. Though he only wields a pistol, he can also turn invisible and "one-shot" most enemies with his trusty butterfly knife. Last and certainly not least, I played as the demolitionist. He was especially fun to play as. With his grenade launcher, he can shoot sticky mines which are detonated with the jump button and if you're on top of said mines, they'll launch you into the air for a kind of super jump. It's a really excellent way to both avoid enemy fire, and blow them up with. It felt pretty satisfying. Heh heh heh...
Definitely give this a whirl! If you haven't read the previous post for Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead, that and this were made by Eric Ruth games, a budding game developer. Check out his work. He deserves kudos for sure, so click the pic above. (It's secretly a link.)
Below is my video of myself playing this bad boy if you need some extra convincing to try it out. :]

Retro, 8-Bit Left 4 Dead!

Yeah, that's what I said! Let me just say, I love it. Made by Eric Ruth Games in 2010, the Left 4 Dead concept is repackaged into a glorious 8-bit dream of classic visuals, sound and game play. Not only that, but it's also free! What's not to like? Be sure to click the pic below to check out Eric Ruth's site, because this guy deserves some real kudos. Not only has he done this, but he's also made an 8-bit Team Fortress arcade-style shooter which is very nostalgic and reminiscent of similar classic games of the same vein, and also an 8-bit Halo, DJ Hero, an Angry Video Game Nerd-inspired game, and others. It's all really awesome, but I digress. Back to the topic at hand, Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead.
Look at those gorgeous pixels!

Pills here!

In the game, you get the choice of the classic four characters, just as you did in the original incarnation of Left 4 Dead. You have your various weapons and item pickups, but they're only semi-persistent. For example, if you have the shotgun and you pick up the sub-machine gun, you don't drop the shotgun as you would in the original game, but rather, it simply disappears. You have your regular zombie baddies you have to fight off, but then there are also special zombies as you would find in the original as well. Let me just say, LEAVE THE WITCH ALONE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!! D:
And then there are also hunters and boomers in addition to witches (which is good because how could one reinvent Left 4 Dead, but not include a witch?). The game itself plays pretty well, but it can be pretty difficult. Either that, or I just was sucking it when I went and tried it out..? One annoyance is that if you have a zombie on top of your character, it's really hard to get away from them because there's no player-enemy collision and zombies follow you at or faster than the character's speed. This just sucks the life out of you and you can't shoot at it that close. Maybe there was a melee button that I missed though? You have to figure out the controls when you hop in as there is no tutorial. I still recommend trying this out. Despite it eventually getting frustrating, I enjoyed the game overall.
Below are highlights to a playing of the game I performed if you want a further taste of the awesomeness. But whatever you do today, go to the site and try it out for yourself. You won't regret it. Even if you get frustrated towards the end like I eventually do. :P
Let me know what you think! ;]