Excellent platform game featuring the Giana Sisters

Project Giana is a free demo game for PCs. Originally released on Nintendo DS in 2009, the game is available through Steam Greenlight currently.

Project Giana is considered a derivative of The Great Giana Sisters, which was essentially a Super Mario Bros clone. This original PC release is expected to be followed by releases on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.

Based around the concept of a little girl stuck in a dream world, Project Giana lets you explore various worlds with beautiful graphics. You can bounce around to avoid opponents and obstacles in each level, as well as collect gems. Jumping on the heads of most enemies will defeat them.

Giana can switch between two appearances at will – either cute or more punky. Each form has its own abilities and vulnerabilities that go along with it. Whenever Giana transforms in Project Giana however, so does the appearance of the dream world. You can switch from a landscape made up of candy to something more nightmarish very quickly as a result. The music will change along with the scenery switch as well.

You can use an Xbox controller or just your mouse and keyboard to control Giana, although the latter is a bit clunky and difficult to maneuver. In this demo version of Project Giana, also note that your progress will not get saved should you die.

The graphics are what makes Project Giana stand out most, although gamers of all ages should find gameplay fun and challengeing.