This Week's Waste of Time

This week, waste your Friday with the games of Jonas Kyratzes. Why? Because I though I already wrote about him in this blog column. And because his creations are interesting exploration of the relationship between the gamer and the game. A relationship that is ignored by most games in an effort to facilitate suspension of disbelief.

I dislike the word postmodern as much as the next schmo with an English degree (and we are legion), but it's safe to say that Kyratzes' most recent browser game, Alphaland, falls under that vague and elusive category. The game is introduced as a project still in alpha testing – meaning it's being tested for bugs before release to the public. At this point you should assume postmodern antics are afoot. When the first level malfunctions the player (a blue rectangle) falls into a world of game development with its guts spilling out. Bits of code lie about as you explore the uncharted territory of a video game gone wrong. What's more, the game itself realizes that things are awry and fears that something you might do would do irreparable damage to its inner-workings.

The mechanics consist of uninspired running and jumping, but the real struggle is within the player. Of course, it's a game, and you know that you have to find the finish line, but as the now self-aware game tells you, finding the exit might be the death of it. Yes, it's a bit heavy-handed to put that kind of guilt on a player, but really it just tugs gently in the back of your mind as you go along your less-than-merry way. My favorite game of last year, Limbo, had similar leanings as you controlled a small child exploring a desolate and violent world with no explicit goal.

If you like Alphaland's isolation and philosophical quandaries mixed in with your browser gaming try out Kyratzes other free-to-play offerings The Infinite Ocean and You Shall Know the Truth.

But first, click here to play Alphaland.