Cyclomaniacs is a game that you simply must play.

The controls are simple, the levels are endless, there’s a fantastic achievement system that allows you to unlock a ton of characters and extras, and it’s just a blast to play.

Say goodbye to your weekend.

[Cyclomaniacs]

[Via: Zoomdoggle]

Eric Ruth’s Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead is the game that Valve would have made for the Nintendo Entertainment System if they had been around back in 1986.

The game is identical to Left 4 Dead… if L4D were put through a time machine and returned after having gone through the full 8-bit treatment, including appearance and sound. Just because it looks low budget doesn’t mean that Eric skimped on features though, since you can play either by yourself or with a friend in two-player co-op mode, and all four of the original survivors, two tiers of weapons and four of the original game campaigns are included.

Unfortunately it’s Windows only at the moment, but if you’re looking for something to do over the weekend, then take a trip down memory lane with Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead.

[Pixel Force: Left 4 Dead]

I have NO idea how it works, but it does, so you must go check out Browser Pong.

The game plays just like regular Pong, but instead of paddles, you move small browser windows around your screen to bounce another browser window back and forth. Each player’s paddle keeps their score, and you can even play against a friend for some multi-player action.

Just remember though, there is a keyboard shortcut to turn off the sound, because you’ll need it.

[Browser Pong]

Colour My World is a beautiful game that puts you in control of a stick figure and his quest to meet up with the girl at the coffee shop. To get there, you must run through a hand-drawn world and return color to it by clicking your mouse on shiny things and solving puzzles along the way.

It’s definitely not the most challenging game, but it is fun to play, and the visual style is very unique, so give it a try and see if you can colour the world.

[Colour My World]

[Via: Zoomdoggle]

Treasure World from Aspyr for the Nintendo DS is an interesting new way to look at gaming.

To play, you take your DS out into the wild and roam the streets looking for star dust. In this case, star dust can be gathered from the Wi-Fi signals that are all around you, and each one unlocks a special treasure chest that is filled with goodies. Just turn the game on, wander around an area with lots of unique signals, and the game will tick off rewards like a pinball machine on overdrive.

Once you return home, the game will reward your adventure with costumes for your character and decorations for your world. Then, in another interesting twist, you can arrange those decorations in any way that you’d like, and your world becomes a 32-note music tracker, allowing you to create and share songs by just placing things in various locations.

Overall, I’m impressed with what Aspyr has done with the concept. They’ve managed to trick kids into playing outside by rewarding them with trinkets and toys, and then have turned them into composers with a unique music machine that encourages experimentation and sharing. Well done!

[Club Treasure World]

Achievement Unlocked is another meta game, similar to the previously featured Upgrade Complete, that gives you 100 achievements to unlock in order to finish the game.

Don’t worry about beating levels, finding ways to kill enemies, or beating the final boss… there are none. Focus solely on your ultimate destiny… doing random tasks that have nothing to do with anything.

Plus, if all else fails, just remember that opening the ‘Hint?’ box unlocks and achievement…

[Achievement Unlocked]

In video games, upgrades usually mean your character gets better or your plot of land gets a few more decorations, but what if the upgrades made the game itself better?

In Upgrade Complete!, the goal is to upgrade both your ship, and the game itself. Want sound? You’ll need to upgrade. Want to mute that sound? Need to upgrade? Want to congratulate yourself when you beat the game? You guessed it; you’ll need an upgrade.

The game itself isn’t very hard, and you can probably play it from beginning to end in about 30-minutes, but the meta-gaming jokes are pretty funny, and it’s an interesting concept that’s worth a look.

[Upgrade Complete!]

[Via: Kottke]

The best description for Pixel that I can think of is sitting inside of a graphic visualizer and shooting at things with a spaceship.

The game is as much about art as it is about getting to the next level, and there are unique bonuses that you can unlock after playing through once with a high enough score, so make sure to stick with it for a round or two.

[Pixel]

[Via: Kottke]

If you liked Red Bull’s Flugtag Flight Lab, then check out the Soapbox Racer site, where you can design your own soapbox racer and race it on your own track against friends from around the world.

There are plenty of options to tweak and customize, so get those creative juices flowing and see what you can do behind the wheel.

[Red Bull Soapbox Racer]

Crush the Castle is a physics based trebuchet game where the goal is to destroy a series of castles and the occupants within using a variety of boulders and bombs.

Once you play through all the levels, there’s also a level editor that you can play around with to make your own castles, so check it out and see what you can crush and destroy.

[Crush The Castle]

[Via: Kottke]

Minigore is an awesome looking survival shooter game for the iPhone that delivers huge bang for the buck with a price tag of less than a dollar.

You play as John Gore, and the goal is to fight your way through fields of furries, blasting them away with a machine gun, double-barreled shotgun, or exploding booby trap. Watch out though, because the larger furries will split into Minifurries when destroyed, pitting you against a Russian nesting doll of death and vengeance.

[Minigore (iTunes)]

[Minigore]

Little Wheel is an incredibly imaginative and beautiful game from OneClickDog.

You can play through the whole thing using just mouse clicks in about 10 minutes, so I don’t want to give away any of the story and ruin it for you, but make sure you don’t miss this one!

[Little Wheel]

Paper Moon is an incredibly imaginative game where your goal is to explore a cardboard cutout popup book world and control your environment by popping things into and out of your environment.

It’s easy to figure out, so I don’t want to spoil it, but this game is a definite don’t miss.

[Paper Moon]

Deceptively simple games are usually the most fun, and Use Boxmen definitely falls into that category.

In the game, you are put in charge of a boxman who can generate other boxmen that will copy what he does. The goal is to save the box in each level, but as this is a puzzle game, even simple tasks are often much harder than they first appear.

Give it a shot and see how you do, but if you get stuck, there’s always the cheater’s way out of using a walkthrough:

[Use Boxmen]

[Via: Zoomdoggle]

Crane Wars is a beautiful looking game that puts you in charge of a crane wielding Union, and the goal is to build up your construction site with bits and pieces of skyscraper while sabotaging the opposing Scabs’ site at the same time.

The game itself runs off Unity, which is a technology that allows 3D imagery and physics to exist within a standard web browser, and as a result, plays just like a standard desktop application:

Now get out there and protect that union!

[Crane Wars]

I Made This. You Play This. We Are Enemies. is definitely one of the strangest games I’ve ever played.

I think there’s a message hidden in the game somewhere, though it’s almost more fun to pretend that there’s not and just play through while trying to imagine what the creator was thinking as he designed each level.

[I Made This. You Play This. We Are Enemies.]

Gang Garrison 2 is a ‘bootleg demake’ of Team Fortress 2, and includes all nine classes, many different TF2-inspired environments, and fast-paced, team-based multiplayer gameplay in a unique and stylish 8-bit style.

Can the best multiplayer around be improved by demaking the graphics and bringing it all back to the core?

There’s only one way to find out…

[Gang Garrison 2]

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to develop your own Flash game, then check out Kongregate Labs, where the team from Kongregate will walk you through a nine step ‘Shootorial’ that will teach you how to make your very own game, called Shoot.

With everything from how to move the ship and create scrolling backgrounds to missiles and collision detection, it’s a step by step guide to making your own game that should have you well on your way to creating games that will have others glued to their monitors for hours.

[Kongregate Labs]

Today I Die is the latest game from Daniel Benmergui (the mind behind I Wish I Were The Moon) and it’s a beautiful, semi-challenging puzzle game that manages to tell a story using less than 25 words and graphics that Atari could have rendered.

Don’t get me wrong though; the game is fun and fantastic, and I definitely recommend you give it a go.

[Today I Die]

(Don’t) Save the Princess! is an indie game that will have long time gamers scratching their heads, since the goal of any game is usually to get the girl.

In DSTP though, the goal is to thwart the knight’s efforts and send him to his doom via the open mouth of your pet monster.

The game itself includes 24 levels, but there’s also a level editor so that you can come up with your own unique and challenging ways to not save the princess.

Just don’t let her lure you in…

[(Don't) Save The Princess]

[Via: Offworld]