You thought I’d forgotten about the weekly freebie didn’t you? Well you were right, I forgot, but here we are, back with another installment. If you can find it in your hearts to cut me a break this time I promise you won’t be disappointed. I may be a day late, but I’ve found something really awesome for you freebie faithfuls this week.

Warning Forever is an overhead “twitch” shooter which, at first glance, resembles games like Galaga or Raiden. For the most part, the similarities are purely aesthetic and the differences start to become apparent fairly quickly. Rather than send wave after wave of minor enemies at you, Warning Forever throws you right into a boss battle against the “Pure Heart” as soon as the game boots up. The Pure Heart is a simple looking ship around 3 times as big as your own. Defeat the ship in less than the allotted time and you’re given a moment to collect yourself before the the next challenge comes your way. And so it goes until you’re unable to bring down one of the bosses in the allotted time. Of course you can be killed, but dying only incurs a time penalty.

Here’s the really cool part. The Pure heart adapts itself to take advantage of your strengths and weaknesses. If you keep dying at the hands of the same weapon, you’ll find subsequent incarnations equipped with more and more of that weapon. If there’s a certain exploit you’ve been using to defeat it, the next one may just find a way to defend against your attack. Thanks to this unique mechanic, the game never plays the same twice.

The graphics are simple, but very smooth and they do get more impressive as the game progresses. Once some of the more advanced boss weapons start appearing you’ll notice a much more vibrant colour palette. The game’s not exactly pleasing to the eye, but it has a unique style and the graphics certainly get the job done.

The way sound is handled in Warning Forever is somewhat unique. The game comes with it’s own set of cool sound effects, but if you want to add music, you’ll have to do it yourself. How? Just drop an .OGG or .WAV file of your favorite tune in the same folder as the executable and you’re good to go. Cool.

I thought Warning Forever was going to be boring when I first tried it out. The unassuming graphics aren’t immediately impressive and your little ship only has access to one weapon, but the game really manages to impress if you’re willing to invest 10 minutes or so in it. The fact that it’s never quite the same from one play to the next really adds to the replay value. Add in great joystick support and plenty of game modes, including one where you basically customize all the rules and you’ve got a great little package. Oh, and as usual, it’s totally free.

Get It Here