Physics Games and Physics-Based Game Downloads

(Rate this game! 79 votes, average: 3.95 out of 5)

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The original RedLynx Trials game was one of the games that spurred me to create Fun-Motion. Here was a game completely based on physics, with its own learning curve and style of play. It was relatively obscure, though, as were many other physics games back then, so I decided to start a site dedicated to these unknown gems.

RedLynx is still at it, and launched Trials 2 Second Edition on Steam in late May. They’ve come a long way since that first Java-based trials game. The core play remains the same–the physics-based fun and frustration both–but the presentation has been given a humongous face lift, and new features abound. This is one beautiful game!

For New Players

Trials 2 SE does a good job of bringing new Trials players up to speed. The previous games relied on the player to learn how to manipulate the bike’s spring rig to jump forward, jump upwards, and generally clear obstacles. This time around, RedLynx has included tutorial levels that explicitly state how to accomplish these maneuvers.

Controls remain the same, simple scheme: Up and down control throttle, and left and right change rider stance and apply rotation to the rig. The sophistication comes from the physics simulation itself. This is a game where tapping acceleration 50ms later may mean the difference between clearing the hill climb or completely failing it.

New Physics Possibilities

The collision engine in the previous RedLynx games relied on one unbroken ground object for collision. This mean you couldn’t both go over and under something, just over it. Trials 2 SE removes any of those restrictions. They use this new flexibility in a sensible, fun way. There are pipes you have to go through in a crouched stance, which limit your options beforehand, and some great loop-like structures.

Physics interaction is 2D, despite the 3D appearance. There are actually a handful of levels where physics objects in the level are dynamic. I would love to see more levels like this, because it makes the game easier and more forgiving. The static levels have very definite solutions, where an optimal runs will look very similar. On the levels with free-moving obstacles, though, things are more fuzzy, which I like. These levels do have a strange disconnect in that physical objects, like a crate or barrel, can actually move in 3D, while your rider is still fixed in a 2D plane.

(Trials 2: Second Edition Game Screenshots)

Frustration Generator

As in the previous games, Trials 2 Second Edition provides a lot of frustration. It takes a certain player to bash their head against a seemingly impossible incline again, and again, and again. RedLynx is very good at level design at this late point in the series. They understand perfectly how to craft a particular combination of slopes, obstacles, and jumps into a death trap. I often find myself cursing that if some tire were just a tiny bit farther from a jump, this would be an easy line. It’s designed that way, of course, which is actually what motivates me. If I felt like the levels were hard because of random placement, I would give up. It’s a dangerous game to pit yourself against designers like this, though, and particularly against designers as savvy as the ones who built these levels.

On the plus side, the high scores for each level also have a recording available. If you’re stuck on a level, or simply baffled as to how someone beat it in literally half your time, you can watch their replay or download it as a ghost to race head-to-head. The replays even show keyboard input highlighted, to give you clues on a player’s technique.

Definitely Worth the $10

Trials 2 SE is a great upgrade for the series. The difficulty progression is smooth, there are new levels with goals like timed wheelies, flip counts, and the enhanced graphics will help lower the barrier to entry for average gamers. Trials tracks robust online integration, too, with individual and team rankings, Steam achievements, and the ability to download new levels in-game (here is my profile, for the curious).

Download Trials 2 SE Demo (123 MB) [or Steam demo link]

The full version costs $9.99 USD, and is available directly from RedLynx or through Steam.

Matthew Wegner is the founder and editor of Fun-Motion, this very site. He is unusually busy, but plans to spend more time on Fun-Motion soon!

(Rate this game! 78 votes, average: 2.83 out of 5)

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I have always been astonished by magnetism. To me, there’s nothing like that awed amusement you get when two blocks of metal eerily push each other apart, and sprinkling iron filings near magnets just to see the field lines never loses its charm. So you can imagine how intrigued I was by an arcade-style action puzzle game centered around the theme of magnets.

Attractive Concept

Enter +|- (pronounced plus or minus), in which the player controls a standard bar magnet that can rotate or reverse polarity. The premise is fairly simple: eliminate oppositely-charged particles by causing them to touch. The particles appear randomly and swarm around the magnetic field, gradually drawing closer until they stick to the circle which encloses your magnet avatar. The particles build up into heaps, and if they grow too tall, it’s game over.

Playing in hard mode introduces a new element that drastically affects the game. When you fail to score points in a certain amount of time, a neutral particle is spawned as a sort of punishment. Neutral particles cannot be interacted with, so once they’re stopped, they’re there permanently, unless you make use of the screen-clearing special attack.

Repulsive Implementation

The problem with +|- is that there is little sense of control and little room for strategy. It’s not frustrating per se, just overwhelming. At first, I thought the pace of the game was too slow — almost boring. Very suddenly, I found myself at the mercy of an onslaught of particles: building up piles on opposite sides, switching the polarity, and hoping for the best. The action in +|- is all-or-nothing, and simply seems too luck-based.

The vector field your magnet generates is visible, but it really doesn’t help: we just don’t have the instinct built up to easily understand magnetism. Vector fields are not something most people deal with in the everyday world, and as a consequence, the physical nature of +|- does not lend itself to intuition as readily as other games. This alone isn’t a bad thing; in fact, I usually think it’s fascinating when a game requires me to adapt to a strange new world. In this world, though, the element of control feels weak: it sometimes seems like I might as well be spinning the magnet around randomly for all the good it’s doing. (Of course, I concede the possibility that I’m just really bad at the game.)

(+|- Game Screenshots)

Neutral Rating

+|- isn’t unplayable, but it could certainly use a little polish — a wishy-washy term, I know, but it’s difficult to pin down what +|- lacks. Perhaps something as simple as slowing the motion of the particles could allow for more thinking and less reflexive gameplay, or perhaps a series of levels could be added featuring multiple magnets in different configurations. It feels like +|- could be so much more than it is. For the time it took rale and co. to develop, +|- is something to be proud of, but you probably won’t see it becoming a smash hit anytime soon.

Download +|- (4.05 MB)

[via the Experimental Gameplay Project]

Jesse Dubay is an aspiring web developer studying at Pacific University..

(Rate this game! 676 votes, average: 4.18 out of 5)

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Sumotori Dreams is a small demoscene game created by Peter Sotesz for the Breakpoint 2007 96k game competition (it took first). The premise is simple: two self-balancing physics rigs face off in a sumo ring. The first rig to fall over loses. The implementation is simple but satisfying, and is well supported by solid physics, decent lighting, and good camera work. You can play against a computer opponent, but the real fun is playing Sumotori against a friend on the same keyboard.

Technically Astounding

It’s worth mentioning that Sumotori is a technical masterpiece. Even ignoring its miniscule size, the physics engine stands alone as innovative. The destructible walls provide a great sense of impact. I spent a few minutes just destroying them in the game’s hidden mode (shoot between the right-most slat to destroy the near corner wall on the title screen). If you let the ragdoll men stagger around a bit after a match they’ll usually end up in the walls, too. It’s great fun to watch them smash things in their desperate attempt to right themselves.

How Does it Play?

The control system in Sumotori is once removed. The physics ragdoll rigs are self-balancing, so they’re in constant autonomous motion whenever they’re off balance (which is 100% of the time as soon as you engage your opponent). Even moving around is a little spastic–it looks like your input doesn’t control the rig directly, but rather nudges it off-balance. The actual locomotion is a product of the rig self-righting itself to compensate for the new imbalance.

As a result, it can be frustrating to play Sumotori. It’s especially punishing if your play style is aggressive. It seems more productive to do small, controller movements, or sometimes not move at all. The victors in many of our battles were simply the rig that fell second, even before the rigs were touching. Matches are over quickly; very few engagements lasted more than a push or two before one of the characters would completely lose its footing.

(Sumotori Dreams Game Screenshots)

Impressive Implementation

Sumotori is awfully impressive–self-balancing bipeds are a very difficult domain, even in the scope of “serious” research. Granted, a video game can tweak the rules of physics where a physical robot cannot, but it’s still a great achievement. I’d love to see Peter keep tweaking the physics to massage the gameplay to a more advanced state, but even now Sumotori is a fun party game. Plus, it’s only 87k and it’s completely free. Give it a try!

Download Sumotori Dreams Game (87 KB)]

Virus Info: Many scanners may report this as a generic trojan. It is not a virus; it simply makes use of esoteric API calls to be remain so small.

More information on Sumotori can be found at Peter’s official page.