Kongregate and the Simple Pleasures of Free Gaming

The staff at Gaming Update was put on the planet to explore games and gaming news and share that with you -- it is our raison d'être , what gets us out of bed in the morning, and the sole source of satisfaction in our lives! Money? We don't need no steenking money! Not when we can make you happy. Because you know, you are our everything... Really...

In the process of doing our duty we play games. Xbox games, PS3 games, PC games, even games on PSP and DS, and every now and then we even play Wii games. You will find if you closely examine the closet at Gaming Update that we even have old consoles available should the need arise -- NES, SNES, Game Cube, PS1 and PS2, a couple of ancient original Xbox consoles, and at last count, an Acorn, two Atari systems (a 1200XP and 2600), an Intellivision, and a variety of Sega kit.

The point to all of this? Well, in our pursuit of gaming goodness save for the ones we find irresistible on Facebook, we have almost completely ignored webgames! Yeah, we feel bad about that, but on our defense there were a lot of them we just did not know about! Considering all of the territory we have to cover you can forgive us, right? Please?

The recent news about GameStop's deal with Kongregate got us playing games on the service -- OK we admit it, we joined for the free PowerUp Reward points (I have my eye on that Zelda TriForce Belt Buckle don't I?) -- but in the process we discovered that there are actually some very spiffy (if cheesy) games there!

The Badge O'the Day

After joining -- and linking our PowerUp Rewards account -- we checked out the deal of the day, and learned that we needed to get the tape in a game called Sonny 2 to score that. Now, bearing in mind that we have never played Sonny 1 we really had no idea what to expect, so when the ominous music started and the dark world of Sonny 2 loaded, we found ourselves utterly fascinated by the tutorial and the realization that yes, Flash has more purposes than just powering Farmville!

In Sonny 2 we play a hero who, with a blind Master Warrior, are on a quest. A quest to recover the tape that was stolen from us by a chick on a motorcycle. To do that we must battle our way through the prison slash labs of a mad scientist creating BEM's and zombies and IRS Agents and other unsavory character like a Supervisor from Inland Revenue... Yeah, spooky stuff that.

It is not clear when, but at some point in our quest for the tape -- and 6 free PowerUp Reward points -- we realized that we were actually having fun!

Sonny 2 feels like a game that two guys made in their basement -- and it would not be much of a surprise to learn that the people who did the enthusiastic voice work on the game were all just some of their mates that they invited over for some beers and to make a video game! If that sounds cheesy well, it is... But cheesy with some classic lines!

"What do you want with the tape?!" you demand, having cornered the chick.

"It's the... It's the key to Utopia!" she declares, and then gets out of her pick-up truck to do battle.

Yeah, it is that kind of game, but still, good times!

The chick is Felicity, and she is one tough cookie but in your battle with her you manage to defeat her and obtain the tape! You put it into the tape player and... But that would just ruin it for you Sunshine! You will have to play the game to learn what happens!

Having scored the tape -- and the Badge O'the Day, we wandered over to the games aisle to see what else there was. Sonny 2 is in the Adventure/RPG Section, but there are also sections for MMO, Strategy/Defense, Shooter, Puzzle, Action, and Multiplayer, not to mention the to-be-expected Top Rated and Favorites picks. The games in all of these sections range from home brew to professionally produced, and considering the price to play -- FREE -- well, the price is right!

A Soft Spot for MMO

With around 50 games in the MMO category, there was a lot to choose from, and as we reviewed the selections we could pick from games like Sacred Seasons 2, Seafight, Dragon's Call, and something called Critter Forge -- Critter Forge! Well, with selections like that and even though we had never actually heard of any of these games, we had to check them out! And naturally we began with Critter Forge...

Each of the games on the service have badges associated with them -- look at them like Achievements or Trophies in mainstream games if you like -- and collecting badges? Well, that is one way to demonstrate your gaming prowess to the other blokes on Kongregate! Yeah, we were so there!

In Critter Forge we found ourselves in Critterpopolis, where we met Amy and Dr. Peters in a very anime-influenced gaming world where your primary goals are to hatch critter eggs and train them up to battle in the Colosseum -- yeah, it is a poor man's Pokemon but still, it has a level of cheesy fun spelled CHEESY FUN!

Most of the games on the service are persistent -- meaning you get to save your progress -- and as you would expect, the MMO titles have you battling or playing with other real people, and how cool is that? Pretty darned cool, that is how cool!

Achievements on the service range from the aforementioned badges to character cards, points, and challenges, and the site and games are funded by microtransactions that differ depending upon the game. It turns out that Kongregate is not just about providing free games for us to play -- it is also in the business of encouraging and helping game developers and indie games artists in making games!

Regardless of which category you fall into when you have some free time, pop on over to www.kongregate.com and check it out. You'll want to tell your mates about this -- but remember, you heard about it here first, right?