mono

Overview

mono is a twin-stick shooter type game for the PC. The developer, Binary Zoo, was originally using it only as a way to test out some graphical effects for other games it had in development. The developer had low expectations for it upon its public release, but the game proved popular among people in the freeware game scene. The developer freely admits that the game is unoriginal.

The website for mono describes the game as follows:

• mono - part Asteroids
• mono - part Robotron
• mono - part Paint Shop Pro

Gameplay

mono is a very simple shooter. You play as a white circle (or black, depending on game mode) with a gun, fighting other circles of varying colors and sizes. Powerups exist to help make your gun better, or provide you with a shield. The game ends when you die by touching one of the colored circles. As you shoot the enemies, they start to paint the screen.

The game features 2 distinct gameplay styles, which are described on their website as:

• Black - fast paced, power-up enhanced shoot-em-up action.
• White - fast paced, power-up enhanced shoot-em-up action.

The only distinction between the two modes is that in Black mode, the background starts as black, and in White the background starts as white. The background starts to become the opposite color as more enemies paint it.

There are 3 different difficulty settings, determining the speed and aggressiveness of enemies and frequency of powerups. The hard difficulty also causes enemies to break into smaller enemies as they are shot at.