KOLLAPS:

More Russian animated goodness: I came across Moscow based artist Kol-Belov's animated series several years ago, and was impressed for the lack of a better word. My previous entry about Russian flash animation rekindled that impression and I plunged into the nets once more to see if I will be able to find it. Unfortunately I remembered neither the titles of his work nor his name.

"dark, industrial, creepy movies..."
I was lucky, after finding koms.ru ("namely Ideologically Distinctive Animation System, Koms is "a non-commercial community of artists, which presents the new wave of Russian flash-animation.") it was no trouble finding Kol-Belov since his work has very distinctive characteristics. In addition to these, the generic Orwellian feel, and almost abstract and somewhat Gigeresque design of his stories also add enough spice to complement the bitter sweet taste of mechanized desperation and modern futility.

Enjoy the links.

link to kollaps
link to Kol-Belov youtube channel.

Space Something Miners and Turrets and Enemy Ships Approaching...you get the idea

The game itself is mildly addictive. I call it a net-defense type, a sub genre of desktop tower defense, and its basic premise is that you build a network of resource conducting pipeline to power your miners and turrets. Wave after wave, a variety of enemies attack from four corners of the space, and most quests are about you being able to survive those attacks. It is however a good game if not great. It falls in the category of casual games though. Not that today's hardcore games are much more sophisticated than this one, but the play mechanics dictate so. Follow the link to the game.

Russian Animation

Russian Animation always hits the nail on the head when it comes to pinpointing human discomfort and despair even in the most lighthearted variations of its genre. Or so do the ones I have seen so far.

It is indeed rare in a sense. Except for the occasional anime which goes deep into human psyche but does not cut down on the giant robot battles and teen drama, and pseudo-artistic independent french animation that only gets the third place in international award ceremonies because it is french and artsy, we are only offered unadulterated ingenuity by the Russians much like in the previous centuries when the books were still cool.

So there you go, the link leads to an article with the latest examples of flash animations of Russian origin. Lucky for us it is not a variation of [#] [adjective] [noun] genre internet lists and gives a nice background story and critique of each animation it presents.

Robokill

A fantastic flash arcade shooter by Rock Solid Arcade where you control a robot and guess what... shoot things. It reminded me of the Alien Breed series from back in the good old days. To play the full game you have to pay, but you can play the first 5 levels for free and it is a good amount of play. Follow the link for the game.

Robot and the Cities that Built Him

A very promising flash game prototype. Concept is simple, well conveyed, and prospectively addictive. Needs more blood and mayhem in my opinion but it is a matter of taste I suppose. The developer claims to have created it in one week and uses this fact to lower your expectations masterfully. Enjoy.