Freeware Game Pick: Tasty Static (Leo Alterman)
Tasty Static is a brilliant remake of Bluemoon Interactive's Skyroads. Players career along what start off as simple pathways, eventually taking on much more difficult obstacles and challenges.
The presentation is spot-on, and while it can be incredibly frustrating, there's a ton of fun to be had. Jumps must be timed perfectly, speed must be altered to land exactly where you need to be and the perfect path must be found. Each level is small in length, so you never get into that annoying situation where you can make it a good way through a long level but keep bailing on a tricky part right at the end.
Available for Windows, OS X and Linux. There's even a level editor for the Windows Edition too! Definitely worth a download, grab it from the official Tasty Static site.
Comments
Okay, that's really weird. I went looking for skyroads after seeing a screenshot on some forum somewhere (I couldn't remember the name). And now this pops up a few days later...
Oh well, looks awesome!
Posted by: Tim | August 2, 2009 10:48 PM
Give it a try! I did and it´s really good
Posted by: Kalle | August 2, 2009 11:37 PM
I pretty much like almost everything about this game, EXCEPT the controls and physics. They make me feel "handicapped" in more than one way.
Posted by: Lyx | August 2, 2009 11:51 PM
If you experience severe SLOWDOWN at the start (like me) just go to the options and change resolution to any other (or back to 640x480) - it will work at full speed. Don't know reason of this bug, however.
I played a lot of Kosmonaut/SkyRoads long time ago and would say that new game is more extreme than the original while maintaining the same feel.
Posted by: PinWizz | August 2, 2009 11:52 PM
Really cool game, except for the crappy controls (I can't press right-arrow + space)
Posted by: FrozenCow | August 3, 2009 12:04 AM
It seems it won't run if there is no soundcard installed. Can't be sure till i find out which AC97 chip i have.
Posted by: Flafi | August 3, 2009 12:23 AM
Hi, I'm working on an interpretation of skyroads too, you can read more here http://www.monkeyodyssey.com/hiroads.html
It's in flash and there is an editor for the roads!
Emanuele Feronato published an article about it here
http://www.emanueleferonato.com/2009/05/27/hiroads-developer-diary/
Posted by: filipp8 | August 3, 2009 12:39 AM
Despite my frustration with the controls, it's actually not bad. It's frustrating/challenging, but in a good way.
Posted by: Chetyre | August 3, 2009 1:27 AM
I remember Skyroads and i liked it very much!, and this game is fun too. I like that it lets you retry the level inmediatly and doesn't ask "retry?". I would've removed that speed sound, so annoying! but besides that it's a fun little speed game.
Posted by: Dusan Vlahovic | August 3, 2009 2:33 AM
For everybody having trouble with the key layout, there is a new Windows version online that allows key redefines. Sorry for the trouble!
Posted by: Leo | August 3, 2009 2:36 AM
I saw the screenshot and immediatlly thinked of skyroads lol, but harder than skyroad? this must be insane
Posted by: jack_in_the_dark | August 3, 2009 2:40 AM
Wow, this game is actually ridiculously fun and addictive.
Posted by: Anthony | August 3, 2009 3:18 AM
I remember playing a lot of the shareware version of Skyroads, so I'm definately going to try this out.
Posted by: Aardvark Soup | August 3, 2009 10:56 AM
Very nice, functional and smooth game. Another addition to the Tron aesthetics-based games list but who (besides me) is counting?
Posted by: dieubussy | August 3, 2009 3:02 PM
hey any skyroad related game is a +1 and standing ovation. Fun though super-extreme-veryfrustrating and so needs more levels where you can enjoy the lovely music and relaxation. Now plenty of great-memories waiting.
Posted by: keelids | August 3, 2009 3:05 PM
fine to see the game featured here as well :) there went obviously a good amount of time into this project during the 2 years of development.
Posted by: PixelProspector | August 3, 2009 5:53 PM
The original Skyroads is of course available on a variety of abandonware websites, but this remake looks fun too.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 3, 2009 6:42 PM
after spending like a billion hours on like one level, I can finally say I have beaten my desire to play this game. Of course that isn't to say it isn't really, really fun, it's just way too hard to do sideways jumps, and the grind level 3 or whatever it is called has a demon of an ending. Hardest part is 40 seconds in! AHHG!
Anyway, the trancy music helped keep me at ease as I wiled my summer away playing a great remake of some old classic I never played.
Funny thing is, I remember playing a flash game much like this (must've also been based of skyroads) like 10 years ago and I remember it being really fun, but really hard.
Posted by: Nero | August 4, 2009 7:20 AM
I find the lack of a shadow blob(which the original does have) projected under the ship makes it hard to judge how high above the track the ship is.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 8, 2009 7:39 PM
lol. Any one here knows Orbit Hopper has been released for more than 4 years!
It's for Win & Linux and source code available under GPL v2.
Furthurmore, it update every year!
http://www.zneaker.com/joomla
Posted by: jie | August 12, 2009 11:09 AM