This episode of the Xbox Indie Zone has reviews for Maze Game, Brain Jump, Brain Jump 2 and Knights of Jadora.
Maze Game – 80 :MSPoints: – Marketplace Review by Matthieu
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Maze game is just it, a game where you traverse through countless mazes with goal of rescuing the princess from the clutches of the evil brontosaurus. Developed by Willow Games, Maze Game is an interesting concept on one of the oldest brain games we have known since egyptian labyrinths. Players take the role of a ball (or marble) with a face and journey through mazes collecting coins for power-ups, stars, and suits. While Maze Game isn’t the best Indie title out there, it is a fun game to spend time on.
Maze Game has a progression system that is pretty interesting for a simple maze title. Power ups like double coins and speed boost are really where you start enjoying the game. When you first start Maze Game, you move at a slow pace but after the 300th coin for you first upgrade you gain the satisfaction of working for money and seeing an actual difference in gameplay. While suits are not really beneficial to your stats it is a way to add a unique flair to your ball (I know) from the boring white smiling face you start off with. Other than collecting stars for an added brag bonus, Maze Game really has nothing more in terms of depth.
In a graphical sense Maze Game is not bad but it isn’t impressive either. Being rendered in 720p, it does do well to hold it’s own against the competitors out there. Models and textures are vibrant in color but they have jagged and rough edges which often slow you down in many levels. The variety of environments gives a fresh experience to each play through. The Mario-esqe map selection is free and interactive. Players can return to each level completed to recollect special items like stars and coins for upgrades.
Willow Games presented a fun gaming experience to the Indie Community but, there are still more that could of been added to further expand on an already old genre. Like maybe a multiplayer mode or time-attack mode with global leaderboards. But, be that as it may Maze Game is a perfect time-killer for those causal nights. You can save the princess from that evil brontosaurus right now in the Xbox Live Indie Game section.
Brain Jump and Brain Jump 2 – 80 :MSPoints: each – Marketplace (Brain Jump) – Marketplace (Brain Jump 2)
We decided to review both Brain Jump and Brain Jump 2 together as they are both similar games in design with different exercises.
Brain Jump 1 and 2 are Brain Training style games. Each have a series of exercises that test your skills and are recorded to compare with previous tests. The tests are usually multiple choice style answers which requires pressing the respective button on the controller to match the answer. Ten random questions are asked in each exercise and come in three difficulties; easy to hard. The hard difficulty offers a good challenge if you want to really test yourself.
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Brain Jump 1 has 11 tests which take on a logic approach; Arithmetic, Math Picture, Sequences, Missing Symbol, Shape Recognition, Spelling, Wordsearch, Hangman, Sliding Puzzle, Memory Game and Matching Pairs. The mixture of tests is quite good with Arithmetic, Math Picture, Missing Symbol and Memory Game being the most fun to play. The Sliding Puzzle game was tricky as there was no reference picture after the few second introduction.
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Brain Jump 2 features 10 tests and are more visual in nature than the first game. The tests are Money (US, UK and EU currencies), Sudoku, Anagram, Memory, Odd One Out, National Flags, Capital Cities, Books, Films and Music separated in categories from 1970’s to 2000’s. Again the mix of tests are good but slant more towards general knowledge with questions about geography, books, film and music. Sudoku is the weakest of the bunch with a very basic interface which does not allow you to ‘pencil’ in possible numbers.
Graphically the game is OK, the menus are easy to navigate and the use of in game graphics ranges from poor to average. The coins on the Money exercise for example could have been better quality. Presentation is done well enough, but some additions like remembering scores for all exercises instead of the average and best score would have improved the replayability and gave a better indication if you are doing better or worse over time.
Both games cost 80 :MSPoints: which is fair value for money. Buying either or both games does ultimately depend on what kind of exercises you want to test yourself with. I would recommend you try both trial versions and see which you prefer.
Knights of Jadora – 240 :MSPoints: – Marketplace – Review by Matthieu
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Knights of Jadora is another entry to the Tower Defense genre and mediocre one at best. Developer Njal however, should try again because Knights of Jadora wasn’t too bad but wasn’t too good either. A gameplay experience with nothing impressive,innovative, and user friendly is not an enjoyment but more of a frustration. While I can commend the game for having somewhat of a story, the story nonetheless is boring and predictable. I also, feel that graphically the developer(s) where lazy.
Most games of the genre have some army general ordering you to defend the base and blow the sh**t out of anything that comes near with your deployable turrets. On the other hand Knights of Jadora starts with textual narration explaining that the current king of Wendor has been struck with an illness and the kingdom is in danger of being invaded by the army of Turcia. They(Turcia) have conquered all of land of Jadora except Wendor. However, due to the lack of man power Wendor hires the The Free Company of the Guilds a mercenary force who is the last of hope for the land of Jadora. As the game progresses you meet many people and many kingdoms on your quest to retake Jadora from the Turcians and other evils. The game does well to draw your attention but the further you go the more you learn that you have heard that tune before.
Knights of Jadora is an eyesore more ways than one. Character models are clunky and stiff-looking. They give the appearance of lazy design and creativity. Environments are stale, uninteresting, and cluttered. Many times I found my self frustrated not knowing where to put my soldier or mage due to the fact that I have to use the Davinci code to decipher where the paths and sides are. I do appreciate the animations as I feel that is the only thing done well in the game. Njal tried as a developer and they should definitely try again because great games come out of mistakes.
Knights of Jadora is a tower defense game made for the those huge fans to the genre. The game can be very hard and frustrating at times. But, if you can get past those blunders it may be an enjoyable experience to pass the time. You can pick it up now in the Xbox Live Indie Game section on the marketplace.
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