Clean Asia

In this futuristic IGF 2008 finalist, twin American pilots with distinctively armed space ships and special sixth senses blast off to battle a pair of evil eyes (yes, eyes, as in "the eyes of mankind") responsible for toppling countries in Asia like Thailand and New Korea. China opts to battle the eyes themselves and shuns help from the rest of the world, which is where you come in with those two pilots, who've designed special space craft capable of dealing with the threat.

Maneuvering dot-like ships around a vertically scrolling landscape, your modus operandi entails pulverizing enemies, then interacting with the debris, which you relate to differently depending on which ship you're piloting. The first can employ a special thrust move to destroy pieces of an enemy, suck those pieces up like a magnet, then fling them at subsequent opponents. The second has unlimited ammunition and upgrades its bullets by collecting enemy debris to cumulatively release seismic blasts. Can you beat the game's three largish levels -- crawling with dozens of enemies and fourteen bosses -- with both ships?

--Matt Peckham