Each week Browser’s Best profiles a trio of web-based/flash indie games, selecting one of the three to spotlight as the week’s must play.

Just another day? No! Your boredom will melt under the singeing awesomeness of the latest rendition of Browser’s Best. We’ll look at some unique and creative takes including a shoot ‘em up where you’re the boss, a hard as hell platformer and instant MMOing. Play away.

5 Minute MMORPG (Bite-Sized Approved!) – Seemingly an oxymoron, 5 Minute MMORPG was originally created 2009 Nordic Game Jam which came with the restraints of making a game no longer than five minutes with only 48 hours allowed for development. Well at the time of competition the game crashed horribly due to networking issues that most likely required more than a few hours of a team on little to no sleep to take care of. Regardless, as a way to redeem themselves, the team has polished the experiment and give it a public release.

The game, as you’d expect, is simple and quick. You can either create a game or just join a random one already set-up. You’ll come to a page that explains every component of how to play and then thrown into the battlefield. You and five other characters, either players or AI depending on how many actual people are playing at the time, will face off in a last-man-standing deathmatch.

You level-up by grabbing gems and weapon pick-ups that litter the battlefield. As you gain levels you also gain in size and therefor radius of attack. With an actually enjoyable (and done on purpose) lag component to play with and slain players exploding seconds after death, it all makes for a fun and frantic guess and slash. My only complaint is that there doesn’t appear to be anyone ever online so it turns into more of a PvE type of situation. I can only imagine the fun factor if played with a bunch of friends.

Quietus - Warning: Expert Platform Players Only. A seriously difficult platformer that has you playing a man who commits suicide and subsequently strikes a deal with Death. To get your life and the happiness that was lacking from it back you must first run a gauntlet in Hell.

If everything was what it appeared to be the game would still be very hard, but with the addition of low-lying enemies, vanishing floors and more tricks this may be one of the more difficult browser platformers I’ve ever played. Think Mario castle dungeons, with the spiked chains and fireballs jumping out of pits of lava. The game has forty levels in all, which is quite intimidating when you’re struggling to just get through the first. Those looking for a challenge will not be disappointed.

One note that you’ll appreciate greatly: use the space bar to skip the death animation, trust me you’ll be tired of seeing it pretty quickly.

[Must Play] Boss Rush! – For any shoot ‘em up fan who’s wished for the shoe to be on the other foot, here you go boss man. You play as the commander of effectively a boss ship of the genre, your job is destroy the rebel units, and blah blah, check out all those sweet weapons!

Starting out you’ll get a standard five bullet spread shot, along with four major league boss guns including a laser and spread shots in a variety of patterns. Downside? Like any top down shooter boss you’re huge and slow, and that’ll make for an easy target for the surprisingly adept pilots of the rebel fleet if you don’t get to them early.

Paper Dino Software’s game has quite a bit of depth, with several different end-boss ships each with their own abilities and weaknesses. The game also offers two other game types the unlockable Survival mode and Versus. In the Versus mode, another player can join you on the keyboard to pilot the rebel craft for a two-player shoot-out. Though no big deal if you’re not into sharing as the game stands on its single player campaign.

Did you know we are running a kickass forum contest where you could win one of two copies of the hilarious, robot-ninja infused multiplayer game: Plain Sight? Well now you do… check it out at our forums!

Each week Browser’s Best profiles a trio of web-based/flash indie games, selecting one of the three to spotlight as the week’s must play.

Yes, thank you for joining us once again Browser’s Best, you really couldn’t have picked a better time to show up as we have an incredibly solid triplet of games to showcase.

This week we’ve spanned the browser globe (internet) and have dug up three completely different, completely awesome games including a turn-based flight combat title, an immersing exploration platformer and a frantic arcade line ‘em up. Read up, and go play.

Redivider (Bite-Sized Approved!) – A Java-based arcade experience with simple controls and a simple premise, good start to a good browser game. More importantly, Redivider is a palindrome, a motif the game certainly relates to. In each level, you have 10 seconds to, as instructed, divide or eliminate the circles depending on the color. Green’s destory, Blue’s divide, but watch out for the Grey’s as they force you to retry the level if touched.

Really fun gameplay aided entirely by the fact that you have a ten second fuse on the situation you’re staring at and have to act fast. It packs 30 levels in all and lasts 5-10 minutes a play-through give or take either way depending on how many times you have to reassess a situation. The game is by Nathan McCoy, who we might need to do a profile on as he apparently releases a new game every single Wednesday! (Currently on his ninth release)

SteamBirds – A very fun and quite involving turn-based flight combat game by Andy Moore. Steambirds goes by the old adage easy to play, hard to master; well at least until you get the hang of not flying in front of planes or off the map. As I played through it I came to the conclusion that it’s fairly basic for a strategy game. I’d love to see an evolved version with more units both enemy and friendly, more and more randomized battles, etc. Not slighting the experience at all, just the opposite: I enjoyed the game so much I wanted more.

The controls are completely mouse driven to plot out the correct course to both pursue your enemies and make sure they can not put shots on you, which both deal damage and effect what you can do for subsequent turns. The music is fantastic, can’t tell you how much I love good music to go with my web game, it instantly draws me in.

While Redivider offered the bite-sized gaming more typical to browser gaming, this one will have you playing and thinking for much longer, and that’s not a bad thing.

[Must Play] REDDER – An amazing non-linear exploration platformer with depth, Anna Anthropy’s REDDER greets you with an intro of your character’s ship landing on a red planet. Why is he/she landing on the planet? Apparently to explore, and that’s good enough for me.

Thanks to a great jumping ability (must be the shoes?) the game isn’t about having to learn a situation by dying repeatedly. If your a competent platform player you’ll find dying is fairly easy to avoid as you scale the vast world. The goal is to solve the alternating green/red block switch puzzle mechanic, both the single rule and only vessel the world seems to be driven by.

The character really captures that lone explorer feel, the backgrounds look great for gradients, and the music is perfect for the game (credit to Amon26) which; added up, makes for an atmospheric experience.

Each week Browser’s Best profiles a trio of web-based/flash indie games, selecting one of the three to spotlight as the week’s must play.

On this weeks Browser’s Best, we take a look at a physics-based puzzler with sheep, a man versus machine tower defense game and a ridiculous peggle-like that has you fattening up a feline with sushi, and if you think that last part is some kind of sexual reference I’ll have you know I’m both appalled and envious of your creatively crude imagination.

Home Sheep Home -Home Sheep Home is a physics-based puzzler where players attempt to get all three sheep to reach the signpost safely. You’ll have to switch between the three as needed to overcome the obstacles they come across. The game isn’t too difficult at all, there are 15 stages to play through that will can be made into more of challenge by turning off the hint system. Nice for a once through.

Nicemetal - Nicemetal is a tower defense game with a stipulation. There are a number of unmanned defensive structures on each level, your task is to send out little men to operate them for a short amount of time before they must return back to base. The catch? They can only move in a straight line.

Enemy robots are sent in to through your defense, operate your structures and protect your front gate from their onslaught. Careful though, as enemy bots will crush your operators if the two come together. Nicemetal has six levels in all.

The title hasn’t been translated but it’s easy enough to play, you just need to skip through a pair of cutscenes first before access to stage one is given at the main menu.

[Must Play] Sushi Cat - A really fun concept and really well put together all around, Sushi Cat has you fattening up a cat with raw fish with gameplay elements reminiscent of Peggle. You determine the right area to you want the crane you control to drop fat cat.

Once you let him go, you sit back and watch as he grows from his sushi eating and bounces around hopefully ending in a high scoring bucket, multipliers are earned to up points. Naturally the more he eats, the bigger he gets, with the idea to meet the quota for each level to move on to the next.

What makes this a must play is the way it’s presented, The story is absolutely ridiculous, and the music is an assortment of reggae and far east tunes, a surprisingly enjoying combo. Not to mention the visuals; there’s something to watching that obese feline bounce off the walls that makes you wanna play a bit more.

Each Thursday Browser’s Best profiles a trio of web-based/flash indie games, selecting one of the three to spotlight as the week’s must play.

Join me for our inaugural Browser’s Best piece, where I try my hand at playing these little chunks of joy and subsequently recommend any I find with merit to you. Exciting! Well, perhaps not as exciting as the games themselves, but ultimately you can be the judge of that as each title mentioned below is linked to its proper game page.

This week’s picks include a simple platformer, a record scratching interactive maze with a soundtrack and a Zelda-type love story on an island as mysterious as it is dangerous. We’ve mentioned two of them before, but they are well worth another shout out.

One Button Bob – A classic bite-sized 2D platform title, where you take on the character Bob and his trademark one button dynamic to attack, jump and run deep into a treasure filled dungeon.

With 15 levels, some of which are just more difficult iterations of previous ones, there isn’t a ton of replay value but look no further if you’re looking for a fun, simple time killer. (Pictured: Bottom Left)

Record Tripping – This unique DJ maze game requires a mouse wheel which acts as a record scratcher of sorts. You start with a record player tutorial to learn how to use the controls and then you apply it on some very interesting levels. (The birds, the birds!) Each chapter contains an easy, medium and hard version that you’ll have to try and pass, and you’ll quickly realize what can be seen doesn’t necessarily tell the whole picture.

The negative that is a bit of a load time is quickly dismissed when you realize what the title really has to offer in terms of depth of design. The game looks really good and implements some nice, recognizable music over a British woman saying stuff–both of which can be slowed and scratched. Its a blast to play whether you have an hour or just a minute.  (Pictured: Bottom Right)

[Must Play] Where We Remain - The game is simply an enigma wrapped in a riddle. Alright, maybe not that insane but it is a very interesting experience that you don’t necessarily get from your typical free web game. You play as the hero trying to rescue the girl but familiarity with what exactly is going on ends there.

Imprisoned on an island by an unknown source, you must find a way off through exploring the region, reading the love letters and collecting the flowers you pass by. The island contains many dangers; you can’t dilly-dally too long outside, but the caves don’t serve refuge either as they pose their own threats. Truly, the most enjoyable part of the game is the fact that you never feel safe, a great element for any game to have.

In the end, three different conclusions can be reached depending on how you played through and what choices were made. The creator thoughtfully included a guide to prevent too much confusion over what exactly pick-ups do. No matter how bewildering it may be, TwoFold Secret’s creation is a must play. (Pictured: Top Center)