DLC Quest – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

A game like DLC Quest is one of those games with such a simple, yet ingenious idea the developer builds on. We’ve all had our complaints towards DLC recently, with accusations of  overcharging customers, making people pay for an incomplete game, etc, etc. The guys over at Going Loud Studios took that anger we’ve all dealt with, and made a fantastic piece of satire out of it, all while milking all of the virtual coins out of you for game-changing DLC until the end, oh and save the princess from the bad guy. 

A large disclaimer will tell you the second you finish downloading the title, and finally start it up that DLC Quest doesn’t actually contain any real DLC, assuring the player all ‘DLC’ is bought with virtual coins collected through the usual process of exploration (plus Microsoft won’t allow XBLIG’s to have DLC in the first place). With that bit of information clear to anyone who might have otherwise thought this game contained real DLC (and to please Going Loud Studios’ lawyers) we can get down to the core of the game, how it plays. For the usual retro-styled platformer seen on the XBLIG marketplace is just as solid as any others seen out there, and the rest of the controls are just as straightforward, with the ‘A’ button dedicated to jumping, and so on. The entire aspect that makes this game not only hilarious, yet fun, is the acquisition of DLC from the moment you begin a new game without any animations, pause menus, or anything besides the ability to walk left from the start bought with all of the coins you can find. While buying the DLC isn’t exactly hard, with a bounty of coins to be found by simply looking around (or in walls), I did find myself laughing pretty hard at a few select pieces such as the ‘Armor for your Horse’ pack which is not taking a stab at any noticeable Bethesda game at all, or the DLC used to cut down grinding time for a sword by 1000x, which I can proudly say I never used. For what it’s worth, gameplay is simple but heavy on hilarious satire which alone easily makes the price of one buck worth the admission. 

Besides gameplay this title shares in the glory of titles before it, using a blocky retro-style look and feel that mixes perfectly with the simple, yet effective control style and play of the title itself. Maybe the blocky look isn’t for everyone, but I’m easily swooned by the bright, vivid colors, minimalistic backgrounds, and a throwback to the golden times of gaming. Along with the retro art style, comes a very fitting retro soundtrack comprised from a variety of great tracks by Ozzed completing the ensemble with fantastic chiptunes. 

DLC Quest isn’t a long title, or a challenging title, but for one dollars worth of hilarious satire this game is not a title to look over at all. Great, yet simple visuals and gameplay (all done by one Ben Kane) as well as a more than fitting soundtrack makes for a great thirty minutes to an hour. As well as having done DLC Quest, Going Loud Studios also did another title we’ve reviewed in the past (with similar praise) for Lair of The Evildoer, which you should also definitely look into. So have fun, yeah? 

Platform Hack – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Matthieu

Platform Hack is a Platformer/RPG hybrid that seems to be a growing genre in both the casual and hardcore gaming world. However,  Daydalus Studios did well to produce a title that can hold its own in the Indie world that is. Illustrated through unique hand-drawn visuals tied with an engaging gameplay mechanics its hard to see some of the minor design flaws this games has. Platform Hack is riddled with plenty of unlockables and upgrades to produce the illusion  that the game is longer than the four labyrinth worlds that fill this universe. Who am I to complain though? The bulk of my experience was more than enjoyable.

The story in Platform Hack  is bare and unintriguing. The hero  has a night to remember with the love of his life Sophie with fireworks and courtshipping. As the night progresses the town is attacked and set ablaze by  bandits and the hero finds out from a hooded figure named Sam that his family and friends were murdered. Oh yeah , and that Sophie had been kidnapped. Now it is the hero’s job to traverse the four worlds slaying any baddies that happen to step in his path to rescue his girlfriend (sound familiar) and avenge his family and friends.

The gameplay is somewhat interesting and reminiscent of the popular indie title Cave Story.  You have the standard red health bar and blue for special abilities like enhanced jumping  and shields. Both bars regenerate when the hero is not using his abilities or  getting attacked. The leveling system which is signified by a red bar under the power bar,  is an integral component in Platform Hack as it allows you to handle enemies in later levels as well as complete the levels with ease. For example, upgrading your jump to double jump or wall jump may allow you reach a certain chest  you couldn’t reach before or even aid you in boss battles that fire projectiles annoyingly. Upgrades like pistols or beams make the latter levels less frustrating than they otherwise would be.  

The level design is quite frankly unappealing with a dash of frustration sprinkled in. Platform Hack feels a lot like  a maze game where I had to find the cheese at the end like lab rat. Each level tasks you with getting from one to the other and maybe explore if you feel like it. What makes the experience frustrating are the enemy spawns. Many times I found myself wondering how I was going to get past the twenty enemies bouncing at me that seemed fused together or the ten enemies scrolling back and forth in one spot. While pretty frustrating for me, it may be a welcoming challenge for many hardcore platforming or even shmup fans.

For a Developer taking a step into a hybrid genre , Daydalus Studios have done a pretty decent job. Despite its boring story which it could have gone without and had maybe a quest system.  For its current price I would have picked it up if I didn’t have a copy already. I can certainly say that I look forward to their next release.

Perkunas’ Dragon: Episode One – 240 – Marketplace – Review by Matthieu

Out of the workshop to the indie game marketplace comes Purkunas’ Dragon: Episode One a Shmup/RPG/puzzler title from Middle Land Studio that I believe could of stayed in the workshop for a little bit longer. Usually when the words dragon and RPG are mixed together it foreshadows that an interesting RPG concept could be on the way. But instead we have a title that feels like every idea that was discussed from the developer standpoint ended up half done.

The story in Purkunas’ Dragon while not something truly engaging or enticing in the slightest it does well to allow a solitary incentive for why you are playing the first place. It even has a voiced narrator which isn’t something commonly seen in indie games.  But, it doesn’t make up for the gameplay the game throws you into situations with no explanation to follow. Through the people of  the land worshiped the gods  because they could not grasp the laws of nature. however a strange disease began to ravage the lands during the rule of  Duke Radbod. When Radbod prayed to the gods for help , the gods sent a dragon instead.

Hand drawn visuals if done right are some of the most appealing aspects of indie games. It shows to not only to consumers/gamers but also developers that creativity is more important than the recycling of  concepts from a previous game(s). Purkunas’ Dragon’s art style fits perfectly to the type of setting the game presents. Which is a vast magical land with magical creatures , horses, shamans, etc. But, I feel like the developers didn’t want anything to do with drawing the UI, models, and effects. Instead they let little children do it for them. I feel they were lazily drawn to push out the game as quickly as possible. Music is less than stellar as most of the composed music noticeably on loop. It was obviously the musician had no enthusiasm or feel for the game.

Gameplay is Purkunas’ Dragon’s highest point and that really isn’t saying much. As the player you control a red dragon sent by the gods. With magical abilities and fireballs destroying flying creatures/ birds with really no reason why these particular enemies are attacking.Hints and tips are scarce in this intense hybrid shmup and it is a really terrible move by the developers as each level throws you in and says kill all the enemies with a fireball attack that feels more like flaming tennis balls shooting out of the dragon’s mouth. Instructions for abilities already in the player’s possession are offered later rather than in the early levels which I founds odd. I would of preferred unlocking abilities progressively rather than havimg them from the start and not knowing how to use them.  

All in all, once I grasped the idea and the instructions I needed to play the game correctly I had an enjoyable experience with Purkunas’ Dragon: Episode One. While I think 240   is pretty steep for the price, I do hope that the money made can be used to work on improving their next game episode two or next title in general.

News

Platformines Trailer

A new development video has been released by Magiko Gaming showing some of the features in their game Platformines. The video shows some of the inventory, energy usage and some of the enemies you may encounter in the game. Check out the video below and visit their homepage at magikogaming.wordpress.com/.

Gateways Trailer

Smudged Cat Games announced their new game Gateways which launches soon.  Gateways might seem like an everyday platformer,… until you discover the gateway guns. The gateway guns allow you to place two gateways on the walls, floors and ceilings of the lab so that when you pass through one you emerge out of the other. Visit the homepage at smudgedcat.com/gateways.html for more details.

Positron – VFX Preview Trailer

We was hoping to have a voice over for this episodes video but a last moment technical hitch prevented us from doing it, blame Bradley and his dodgy fuse box So for the next episode we hope to have it. As a side note I usually include all the releases up until the Saturday before this article goes live but due to the extra work doing the voice over it only includes up to Thursday. I will include the missed releases in the next article.

NOTE: Developers descriptions are used for the following games.

Avatar Grand Prix 2	80 – Marketplace
The fastest, most exciting avatar racing game in the world is back for more with 12 themed tracks, 10 powerups, online multiplayer (up to 8 players) and splitscreen (up to 4 players). Test your skills in a quick race, grand prix, time trial or test drive, and look out for “insane” powerups, mirror and reverse mode, track records, ghost cars, online best times, trophies and much much more!

Dark Reign Redux	400 – Marketplace
Dark Reign Redux is a modern remake of the classic 1997 real-time strategy game Dark Reign: The Future of War. Humans have fled a toxic, dying Earth to live in newly established colonies spread out across the known galaxy. Caught in the middle of an intense battle for power between the Imperium and the Freedom Guard, the Togran race is on the verge of extinction. Only you can change their fate.

Little Racers STREET	80 – Marketplace
Milkstone Studios presents the next installment in the indie racing series! Drive the 30+ high speed cars on a 3D, weather-changing city! The career mode provides hours of fun, challenging races. You need to tune your car and earn money to get the most wanted cars. Pursuit the top ranked drivers and become the best in the world! Underground urban racing has never been so much fun!

Ninja Sneaking2	80 – Marketplace
Sneak into Karakuri residence to get back her big sister! A lot of Karakuris hinder her! Clear all the difficult stages without being found! 3 stages + 1 extra “Chaos” stage included. You can retry from the stage that you’d been found (with panelties).

Ocean Drive Challenge	80 – Marketplace
Classic arcade racing game in a flashy 80′s look. The race course combines the most stunning landscapes of the world and gives you some marvellous views. Choose all characters and see how their personal stories unwined and intertwine. Listen to great music and enjoy the ride!

A fairly quiet couple of weeks for XBLIG, though there have been many previously released games that have dropped in price due to the new file size/price structure by Microsoft. Below is our compilation video of the best new releases and links to them all afterwards.

Plugemons: Part 1	80 – Marketplace – Trailer
Jump, run, DIE, kill, save Plugemons, DIE AGAIN, plug yourself, solve puzzles, evade magma and enormous bosses in an epic adventure with an epic race enslaved by evil machines where dying is a matter of time. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED!

Block Zombies!	80 – Marketplace – Trailer
Voxel-based zombie shooter. Fight the zombies! Stop the infection! Save the day!

Cro-Mag Rally	240 – Marketplace
Cro-Mag Rally is the wildest kart racing game since man invented the wheel! You are a speed-hungry caveman named Brog who races through the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages in primitive vehicles with plenty of weapons to fend off your opponents!

Hypership Still Out of Control	80 – Marketplace – Trailer
Space is still a dangerous placed for even the most seasoned starship pilot, full of asteroids, multicolored floating blocks, and space mines. It’s still even more dangerous when your accelerator is stuck to the floor and your brakes are out. Can you survive long enough to get that elusive high score or are you still destined to add a new crater to the face of an unsuspecting asteroid?

Octopede	80 – Marketplace – Trailer
Octopede is a fast-paced 2D survival shooter. The player takes control of a computer worm inside a hostile mainframe. Gather as much data as possible before the host’s defences get the better of you! Manic gameplay, shiny neon graphics and 8-bit style music and SFX make Octopede a truly intense experience.

Lootfest: Live Design	240 – Marketplace – Trailer
Enjoy a block building fest with your friends. Make stunning structures in no time with the game’s easy to use creation tools. Fight off zombie hoards with your trusty sword. Race your friends using the RC cars. You can do anything you want, as long as it’s blocky! *Can be played on a Arcade memory stick. *XBOX Live Gold membership is required for a full experience.

Grand Class Melee – 80 – Marketplace

Short review: Thinking is for the weak, just buy this for a dollar already. You’re a fool if you don’t. 

Your first thought with Grand Class Melee might be how it shares a striking resemblance to the original NES/SNES Final Fantasy titles, I know it was sure mine, and to have your title associated with what’s believed to be one of the best titles of all time is not a bad first impression by any means. I was really surprised with Grand Class Melee, with what first seemed to be a simple top-down 2D figher turning out to be an incredibly in-depth, immersive, and competitive experience. 

I’d like to note before getting too in-depth with the gameplay that for best results I’d have four actual, real life people playing with you. That noted, to start off the game you’re introduced to a simple tutorial outlining your choices in the game from the five starting classes of Squire, Neophyte, Apprentice, Page, and Savant each bearing their own specific strengths and weaknesses. As you progress from the first round onward you’ll be granted access to a new ability with a new class (the title gave it away) forcing you to abandon your primary one currently, to swap it out for a different (and possibly more effective) one, but with that you’re granted the ability to choose one of your previous abilities to use as a backup. As you go through the various rounds you’ll go through a good variety of classes with a grand total of sixty different options in all to choose from, which kept me going back for more and more to test out the different abilities and how well they work with each other.

Besides the abilities you’re granted with, you’ll be given a simple melee weapon (tying in the melee part of the game) depending on what class you chose that all basically act that same with different skins, and are modified depending on what abilities you posses. Despite the simple swing and lunge attacks and the two ability options at your disposal at any given time I’ve found the combat to be beautifully simple, adding in enough depth to have me playing for hours on end but simple enough that I could have anyone pick up and start playing the game with me (and potentially kick my ass, I know the bots have more than once).  All in all, the gameplay is a delight, as I can easily see myself going back time and time again to see what kind of damage I can do with all of the setups, swinging and stabbing my way to the top. 

As I tend to do a lot these days, I’ve mentioned a good point up two paragraphs above about how the graphical style of this title reminded me of the original Final Fantasy titles, giving the game a nice retro charm to those that can appreciate it. That same charm paired with some masterfully done sprite work on the varied landscapes, characters, and abilities themselves leaves a very good impression of how a game emulating the classic style should be done, with everything oozing with beautiful 16-bit glory.  Another thing I liked was the menu layout, while it may be simple it stayed consistent with the theme and used more than some plain text to spice things up. Paired with the awesome medieval-styled soundtrack you get flawless execution of a consistent theme, and for that I am thankful, and happy to see and listen to this game. That said, the music in this title really is fantastic, with a pounding, epic menu title to get you pumped up to go slaughter some innocent bots, to the frantic battle themes. All around fantastic music, it’s hard to give it justice without you hearing it for yourselves, so go listen to that right this second. Right now, the rest of the review will be waiting when you get back. 

Alright, glad to see you back, but if you didn’t leave for shame. But as you may have been able to tell, I really like this title, from the simple-yet-compelling gameplay, to the nostalgic visuals, even down to the pumping soundtrack always there by your side from start to end of the game. If you’re a person who enjoys competitive gameplay, hopefully has a few friends around with that same love, and a burning desire to decimate said friends (or bots) this game will keep you entertained time and time again, all for the ridiculous price of 80 where I would easily pay 400 for the same amount of fun and content packed into this little indie title. I don’t say this too often with indie games, which is a shame, but you should go purchase this title right now, right this second. And I’ll give you my promise if the bots can’t hand your ass to you at least once on one of the difficulties I will refund you the dollar you paid, from me to you. 

Millie & Telly – 80 – Marketplace

No, no, this game sadly has nothing to do with Millie Vanilli regardless of the similar names of the star and main character. I was as disappointed as you might be, but the actual game itself makes up for the lack of horrible pop stars. The game revolves around Millie and her sentient robotic jet-bike, Telly that she simply rides around and uses the weapons outfitted on to shoot down a near endless supply of both red and manila colored robots.

I’ll start off on the gameplay saying the opening of this title is hard, very, very hard. I had a tough time with any of the selection of four levels from the start constantly getting shot down time and time again. Besides the immense difficulty, gameplay is solid and smooth with simple controls using the left stick to move, the right stick to shoot, and the left and right triggers to absorb either bullets or energy using the two different shields and utilizing two different color bullets for the two different color enemies, simple as that. With the shields in mind, at the start your shield will last maybe 2-3 seconds making it near-impossible to utilize, jacking up the difficulty level making it hard to use one of the simple features of the game, but this does improve with upgrades as you further progress. Besides the shields at the start, the game is a brutal, masochistic scrolling shooter with excellent, well-working controls with a decently long campaign (seeing as it’s one dollar) and various other extra modes to complete once you finish the campaign. One real complaint I have with the game is the lack of checkpoints which wouldn’t be much of a problem but the levels are incredibly long, and dying near the end is incredibly frustrating. 

Visuals in Millie & Telly really pop out, being vibrant, colorful, varied and eye-drawing in an interesting cartoony pop art style bringing some much needed variety to the usually bland graphical style shown in a good bit of other XBLIG’s. That all taken into account, the characters, enemies and environments look sharp and unique with a good bit of variety, although you’ll notice some striking similarities in the backgrounds for the levels, and you may even get tired of seeing pretty much the same thing through the long levels besides a few elements or two. I wouldn’t call the graphics bad, but scenery could use something to draw my eye, even if I’m focusing more on killing everything that pops onto the screen. Good gameplay and graphics will lead you to believe the music in the title would be decent, maybe even good, right? Well you’d be right there, following the trend Millie & Telly mixes in some interesting tracks to go along with the fast-paced levels, with upbeat energetic music tacking on to the gameplay. While the music is good, you might notice the songs being reused, much like some of the graphics showing little variety, yet the track being re-used is a fairly decent track, after the long levels you’re bound to be tired of it after a while. 

All that accounted for, Millie & Telly is a decent one dollar title, but could be better  if more time and effort was used to show some more variety both musically and graphically. Despite the shortfalls, gameplay will keep you engaged for a few hours earning its worth, if you can withstand the brutal series of levels presented to you without quitting the game. 

Castle of Pixel Skulls – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Ellis Spice

Welcome to a world where castles are made from skulls which are in turn made by pixels, and where you have to get everywhere within a minute…. OR ELSE! According to the developer, this game is both a ‘fun retro-styled platformer’ and the ‘craziest and most addictive platformer game ever’. Well, is it?

To put it bluntly… no. For a start, the game’s soundtrack is as basic as you’ll get, with the music playing over and over in the background. Sure, it makes a noise when you beat a level, or pause, but that’s just the same track restarting. Great. At least the graphics fit the style they were aiming for, with the 8-bit like stylings and zoomed out perspective definitely giving this game the retro feel they were aiming for, with the various obstacles in your path very clear to see against the dark background.

The gameplay was always where this game was going to win or lose, and having played the game for a while now, I’m still not really sure what side it falls on. The controls are at a bare minimum, but that’s not what I’d describe as a bad thing as this means the game itself is fairly easy to pick up and understand. The game only requires 3 things from you; to move using the left stick or directional buttons, to jump with A and to attack every so often with X. See, simple!

Of course, the game also has a simple premise to go with it’s simple controls. All you have to do is reach the goal before the time runs out, and the timer always starts with 60 seconds. Sounds easy enough… Except, very quickly, it isn’t. If… Sorry, WHEN you die (because, believe me, you WILL die!) you get taken back to the last checkpoint, and seeing as the game never tells you when these are, you better bloody well hope you passed one. The clock keeps running, so reaching that goal in time is vital, because if you don’t, it’s game over for you.

And when I say game over, I mean it. This game doesn’t have any save functions at all, so it’s back to the beginning with you. I know they were going for a retro feel, but that’s just plain evil! As a result (and this may just show how crappy of a gamer I am) I never got past level 4. The amount of times I reached that level, got past all the previous obstacles, only to then just kept dying until time ran out on the final one in level 4 would have been funny if it wasn’t so annoying. However, it might not have all been my rubbish skills. I’d believe it was also the result of poor level design and that they simply made it too damn difficult, as there never seemed to be enough time to complete the level with time allowed for human error.

In the end, this game is seems to fit slap-bang in the middle of good and bad, with all of the positives outweighing the negatives evenly. It somehow manages to be neither amazing or rubbish. Really, for the small price of 80MSP, it wouldn’t be a complete waste of your money, but if you actually want a ‘fun retro-styled platformer’ for the same price, go buy Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes. Trust me on this one.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year? The round up’s will now be every two weeks instead of monthly as a lot of games being released which are too much to cover once a month, but not quite enough good ones to do a weekly article. Also, the layout for the games (after the video) has changed in design and the next article will have a short comment for each game to bring the Round Up back to its trial impressions roots. I hope you like the new changes, please leave any feedback in the comments as we are always interested to read them, good or bad.

NOTE: Developers descriptions are used for the following games. Trial impression comments will return in the next article.

Absolult Firepower	240 – Marketplace
Give freedom to Kaalamarii Islands. Defeat the oppressive army.

Alien Jelly	240 – Marketplace
A 3D puzzle game in which you have to push crates, rotate the world, evade robots, dodge huge spiky things and figure out how to get home. Once you are done playing the 40 brain-twisting levels, you can try your hand at making them with the Build-O-Matic fully featured level editor. Share your levels with your friends or work together to solve any level with up to four player local co-op.

BlindGiRl2	80 – Marketplace
BlindGiRl is back. This time she is not alone. Play split-screen or with a friend to solve echo-location puzzles, and find your way through confusion to understanding.

Burger Jack	80 – Marketplace
Are you ready for a rush hour frenzy at the local diner? Burger Jack is a fast-paced, casual arcade game suitable for all ages. Serve customers as fast as you can, and help the teenage boy, Jack, earn money to buy the gadget he’s been dreaming about.

EchoSpace	80 – Marketplace
Pilot your ship and it’s energy weapon independently as you blast through hyperspace! EchoSpace is a top down “shooter” which requires skill and determination. Controlling two objects at one time is difficult, but very rewarding. You’ve never played anything quite like it!

End Of Days Infected vs Mercs	240 – Marketplace
A plague has devestated the world! Be a Mercenary and hunt down and kill the Infected to stop the plague, or make a last stand as the Infected in online team deathmatch. Free for all matches include a ‘Head Fest’ option, only head shots count and your head is twice its size!

EvilQuest	80 – Marketplace
In EvilQuest, take on the role of Galvis — a dark knight obsessed with ultimate power. Set out on a quest of revenge, destruction and conquest in this exciting retro Action RPG title. Along the way you’ll unlock ancient mysteries, discover legendary weapons, relics and magic…and of course kill thousands of those foolish enough to stand in your way!

Eyestorm	240 – Marketplace
Eyestorm is a helicopter simulator game which takes place on a vast and heterogeneous archipelago of islands through forty exhilarating missions. The player must undertake rescue operations for survivors of accidents and shipwrecks, find missing expeditionists or transport important cargos, all within a limited time frame.

Lexiv	240 – Marketplace
Build a city using just your words in this innovative puzzle-strategy game where each part of speech has a different effect! Citizens will flock to your city, but can you keep them happy and safe from harm? Test your skill through 4 varied worlds in a challenging 10+ hour campaign.

Lots of Guns	80 – Marketplace
Are you hardcore enough? Climb your way as high as you can in this platforming shooter complete with an insane collection of guns and explosives. Lots of Guns will have you fighting zombies under an evil moon, out of control robots in a factory, medieval knights, and monster slime creatures on your journey. Voxel styled pixel art gives this game a distinct but retro feel.

P3	80 – Marketplace
P3 is an intense twin-stick shooter where you pilot your nano-ship inside a petri dish to protect the nucleus at the center from hordes of invading bacteria. Collect energy from dead bacteria to keep the nucleus powered up, and use power ups, mines, and extra lives to blast your way through 14 tough waves.

Rainbow Rapture	80 – Marketplace
Rainbow is unhappy with the way things turned out down below. He wants a clean slate. Help him wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. – Slide down hills to build momentum – Master gravity to get awesome air – Smash into three kinds of power-ups – Play new hills every time you start up – Eat lots of people – Conquer 45 challenges – Hear Rainbow’s story

Ramen Ninja	80 – Marketplace
Ramen Ninja is the story of a ramen farmer whose crops have been stolen by the sinister Dr. Udon, and his henchmen. Use your stealthy ninja skills to steal back your ramen and restore prosperity to your farm. Ramen Ninja combines sneaking and split-second decision making across 20 unique and challenging levels. Do you have what it takes to be a ramen ninja?

Takedown!	80 – Marketplace
Prepare to experience the next level of tower defense combat, in stunning 3D. Build progressively more unique and powerful towers, and upgrade them, in order to face a murderous, rampaging robotic army with impossible odds!

Before we get on to the reviews, GameMarx are running a competition to where the grand prize is not one, but fifty Xbox Indie Games! Get yourself over to giveaway.gamemarx.com for all the details. You can also watch a trailer here.

SteamSunk – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Matthieu

SteamSunk developed by Snape (no not that one) is a SteamPunk  themed shoot-em-up where players take control of a steam powered boat equipped with a cannon as well as some other weapons/power ups with the purpose of surviving the onslaught of baddies in a circular lake arena. SteamSunk’s design which is pretty lackluster doesn’t do any justice to the genre, and all it brings  to the table is a generic shoot-em-up that has you wondering when it will end.

To start off, the controls in SteamSunk are awkward and they  obstruct the flow of what should  be a smooth as well as intense gaming experience. You move with the left stick and aim with the right stick. However, shooting is mapped to the right trigger which encourages cramps especially when, holding down the trigger will be the main action for your pointer finger.The left trigger is for a temporary speed boost  and Y is for the super mortar which most of the time is useless to due to the fact that it has a huge delay between when players target where they want to strike and the actual strike.

There is only one map which is a medium sized lake arena. The only think that changes are the randomly generated positions of some of the obstacles or environment props like oil rigs. So, looking at the same blue and brown environment not only grows old but constantly reminds  me of lazy level design. I would of been happier even if it had one or two more maps and alternated between them.

Now game play is where the most problems occur. Each time I have played through SteamSunk I ran into issues where my bullets have to hit enemies at a certain angle or they will just clip right through vice-versa. Also, frame-rate was a huge problem when multiple enemies are on-screen, which happened frequently during any wave after wave three, and especially  during bosses waves because,  bosses usually spawned  with multiple minions beside them. SteamSunk stuttered and spouted like an old station-wagon that needed a choke which was very frustrating. SteamSunk like every other shoot-em-up has the usual power ups like the missile launcher,Gatling gun, and flamethrower. But, in my personal opinion the gatling gun was the only useful power up in the game as the others usually clipped through or missed due to the A.I.’s unpredictable behavior.

The best things about SteamSunk’s presentation were its main menu design and music. The main menu  was a 3D model of the inside of the ship model players control. While it doesn’t make up for the many problems the game has, I did feel it was one of the most unique things I have seen that many games in this current generation don’t have. Even for $1 (80 ) I don’t think I would have spent it to buy this Indie title as I feel as though it was still or should still be in production. Snape has great potential but more time is needed as well as patience.

Avatar Street Basketball 2 – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

I’d like to open up this review with the developers description of the game, as follows: “Shoot hoops with your avatar to be the best scorer in the world! Six courts and six different game modes are waiting for you in the firts “basketball” game with zombies on it!” Yes, that’s a straight excerpt from the games page on xbox.com, which should give you enough warning to steer clear of this title from the get-go. If you’re feeling adventurous then be my guest and read on, as it can only get better from here right? 

To start out, I’ll say that the title performs the functions as promised in the title of the game, allowing you to take your avatar on six different street courses to shoot hoops and rack up points, except it’s not actually competitive basketball, instead you’re presented with six different game modes where you play alone and shoot basketballs into one hoop (sounds fun already, right?). Despite the game playing out more like a basketball practice game, without anyone but yourself and the leader-boards to go against the game plays “well”. I say well in quotes because the way you control the distance the ball will travel from your avatars hands is by holding down either the A or X button for a specific amount of time, the longer you do it the farther the ball will travel with the measurement being visible from a ring that extends outward from your avatar dependent on how long the button is held. Seems like a simple control scheme that might be simple to master? You’d be wrong, as I found out the only way to really get “good” at sinking baskets is through trial and error, a whole lot of it too since there’s no precise way to tell how far you’ve launched a ball besides a little halo around your character. With the actual throwing controls being incredibly imprecise it makes  experience pretty frustrating as I went through the various modes (on the easiest difficulty mind you) trying them all out hardly being able to get one basket in. Along with the shoddy button controls, the camera control isn’t too great either with an incredibly constrained angle of view that would sometimes get stuck forcing me to reset by moving my character back from the court. 

So far on the list we’ve got both description, and gameplay that are less than mediocre. Good news, is that the graphics and soundtrack slightly make up for that. Graphics in the game aren’t incredibly bad, with some catchy eye candy here and there, as well as some creative basketballs shown here and there (Baby dolls for the hospital level, Heads for the cemetery level) yet, there’s not much to be seen with the basic vector design besides a few random avatars or props in the scenery. Besides some basic vector designs, and what I found to be a hard to read font on menus it’s a straightforward basketball arena with little frills on the six stages. 

The soundtrack for the game is well, out of place. With upbeat electronic tracks on the levels, besides the one mellow track for the cemetery they make the game feel as if it’s going to be fast-paced and energetic like the electronic songs representing them. Instead you get a slow, easy going game where you’re trying to shoot some basketballs with a blaring chiptune track that sounds like it was taken straight out of a keygen. While the music is great if you’re a fan of electronic, or chiptune music you’re probably going to fall into the same boat with me here, seeing the music as simply out of place where I believe a more easy-going soundtrack would have been more appropriate. 

All in all, Avatar Street Basketball 2 is a game I wouldn’t recommend to anyone even for the price of 80 because of the faulty controls, poor camera, cookie-cutter visuals, and an inappropriate soundtrack. Unless you have your heart set on this basketball game, I’d research others in the genre, or just a different game altogether as it’s unlikely you’re going to get much fun out of the game. To tack onto everything above, the intro cinematic for the game was the developer holding a camera to his TV in order to get some gameplay footage. Really, download the demo and see for yourself. 

Asphalt Jungle 2 – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

Now I know what you may be thinking, with a title like Asphalt Jungle this game has to be some quick-paced action-adventure racing title, right? Maybe it’s a take on the movie of the same title? Well, I’m sad to say it’s neither in this case. What you have instead is an interesting take on the modern puzzle game, as you play god with tracks of street and rotate them to keep your car on the right path while it’s in motion. The concept for a puzzle game is pretty interesting, but Asphalt Jungle is far from groundbreaking. 

As is the case with most games in the puzzle genre, the control scheme for the game is rather simple: point your cursor with the left stick / dpad to select a track of road to rotate, and the A button to rotate the selected piece of road, simple as that. While the controls might be simple, the gameplay can be pretty challenging trying to select the right tracks, and change them appropriately to secure the vehicle’s pathway to stay within the point limit, and even on easy I got my ass handed to me. With all that accounted for, despite simple gameplay (and one game mode) I can easily see myself wasting a good bit of time on this if I’m looking to just kill time as I would with any puzzle game, however the lack of variety in level design might steer me away from doing so. 

What Asphalt Jungle 2 lacks in gameplay, it doesn’t make up for in graphic design. I’d be hard-pressed to say the visuals in the game are bad, but they’re very basic in every way, from the very small variation in tracks as you progress through levels, to the bare-bones text menu layout I get the feeling the developer was getting a little lazy with the sequel to his original game. That’s that as far as the graphical end goes, as there’s really very little variation or anything that pops out on your screen, despite the game being simple in design I would have liked to see something that shows the developer put a lot of time into this, not basic text menus and simple textures for everything. The only element that stood out to me was the choice of soundtrack for the title, where an appropriate soft guitar plays through all the levels, yet I didn’t hear much variation as I progressed through the levels so you may get tired of hearing the same loop over and over again. However. a calm soundtrack for a calm game goes together perfectly, which was a nice touch to an overall lacking game.

In the end Asphalt Jungle 2 is another pass in the book, with boring uninspired visuals, a non-varied soundtrack and basic gameplay that’ll only keep you entranced for so long before you start reaching for something else. While at the price of 80 I still wouldn’t reach for the title, even if you’re looking for a decent puzzle game I’m sure you could find one with much more polish out there for the same price on the wild, untamed XBLIG marketplace. Feel free to try the demo though, as always, you might enjoy steering around your little car with your almighty hands of god for a few hours. 

Blocky – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

Block, blocky, blocky. Where to start on this odd title? Well, you play as a standard gray block, with a big happy smile on its face as you go around a free-floating 2D landscape eating enemies, collecting points, powerups and killing bosses as you progress through the waves upon waves presented to you. Sounds interesting, playing as an overly happy block with one soul purpose, to survive and collect as many hats as you possibly can as you level up, no? I sure thought it did mainly because how random it feels to just get thrown into the world of a nameless gray block on a quest to level up, collect currency called moneky, and occasionally turn into a indestructible hammer. Yes, all of the above listed happens, and more.

As mentioned, in Blocky you’re thrown into the middle of a square 2D arena to float around and complete whatever objective is presented to you in the ‘wave’ mode which can range from destroying enemies, collecting points, or simply staying alive for a minute or two. Each time you complete one of these objectives you’re awarded a set amount of experience points that goes towards leveling up to increase blocky’s overall speed, the range of blocky’s “hammer time”  which will be explained in just a moment, increase the range of blocky’s internal point grabbing magnet, or increase the spawning rate of power-ups and value of moneky all through the amount of blocks assigned to each category. To explain, blocky’s hammer time is an ability you can buy from the in-game shop for twenty five moneky that will turn blocky into a giant hammer you can use to smash enemies using the left and right triggers. In addition to hammer time, you can also buy a protective shield for blocky, the ability to place two sets of portals on a level, or an ability that’ll reduce the speed of all enemies on the level you activate it on. With all of those buy-able items listed, I personally found them to be pretty useless as you can easily get through all of the levels off of the power-ups hat drop based on the challenge you’re on.

All in all, the wave mode of the game is the more interesting one, with a slew of worlds and challenges to complete with a simple easy to pick-up-and-play style of game play that will last you a decent amount of time, provided you don’t get bored of the stale visuals after a while. On the other hand, you have Blocky’s other game mode, entitled simply ‘retro’ mode. In Retro mode things are a lot simpler, where you start off with no goal except to survive as long as you can against a horde of enemies with only one life. I found retro mode to be entertaining for a while, but as you’d expect it gets pretty stale after the fourth or fifth time going around, starting from the beginning having to regain my ground again. 

While the gameplay in Blocky is pretty solid, with everything working (and dare I say it’s even fun for a while) as you might have seen above this game has one massive downfall: the graphics. Hear me out here, I’m not expecting AAA style graphics from these small developers but a series of plain gray menus, the apparently badly-cropped Blocky himself, bland enemies, and the various little things that show a lack of polish really brought this title down. Again, gameplay is fine here but the odd layout for the title with some really odd choices for sprites and backgrounds make this title really visually unappealing. Hopefully the developer learns he needs a new graphic artist for his next title, because I believe he could make a really spectacular game if all the elements come together unlike the mess that was Blocky. 

On that sad note, I’m glad to say that there’s one really great part to this game: the soundtrack. Yes, I didn’t expect much from the soundtrack of a simple casual game like this either but I must hand it to the developer for choosing the musical stylings of the “Assam Tea Junkies”. Really, the soundtrack goes with the gameplay very well, and is pretty widely varied giving the game a nice atmosphere despite the not so spectacular graphics so there’s a glimmer of hope yet for this title. 

When it all boils down, I wouldn’t say Blocky is terrible but it’s a victim of some really poor graphic design overall that really makes it hard to recommend. But hey, if you can see past the graphics and to the decent gameplay and spectacular soundtrack you may find yourself spending an hour or two beating the wave campaign. As with all indie games I find hard to recommend you’re best bet is to try out the demo first and see if it’s worth your time, if not I’d just give it a pass or consider the fact that the game features a variety of hats and give it a second chance (I’m looking at you TF2 players). 

Some very good games over the past couple of weeks and more importantly a nice mix of genres which should keep everyone happy, check out the video below for some of the best. As it is Christmas and New Year in the following weeks I will be away, so the next episode will likely be on January 8th. *If* I get some spare time over the holidays I will put together an article covering the best XBLIG games of 2011 as last years was very popular.

NOTE: Developers descriptions are used for the following games.

Oozi: Earth Adventure Ep. 2 – 80 – Marketplace – Trailer

Oozi: Earth Adventure is where classic platforming fun meets modern visuals and hand-drawn art. Lots of special abilities, dozens of enemies, extra difficult challenge mode and time limited arcade mode specially for hardcore gamers. All that for only 80 MSP, a must have for all platformer fans!

Colonies: Neociv – 240 – Marketplace – Trailer

Neociv is a perfect world were people only work on their passions. But something is not right and you are scrambling for your life and the future of Neociv in this story-driven adventure game.

FireFly Vegas – 240 – Marketplace

FireFly Vegas – an intergalactic themed casual twin stick arena shooter with action packed retro arcade gameplay, vibrant graphics, a frenzy of visually impressive particles systems and custom atmospheric audio. Developed using the R.A.C.E (RockMint Application Construction Engine) and bespoke music by Phatso Records, providing an intense, immersive and highly playable dynamic gaming experience.

Magic Racing GP 2 – 240 – Marketplace – Trailer

A new Top-Down racing game is here! 4 classes: Open Wheel, Kart (85cc, 150cc, 250cc) Race over 34 circuits with different game modes: – Pratice – Quick Race – Complete Weekend Race – Season Race against to 19 CPU drivers or jump into the XBOX Live! experience. The internal editor for full personalization of drivers and teams! Join the community and get more info at: www.magicstudio.eu.

Nyan Cat Adventure – 240 – Marketplace

In the year 20XX… NYAN CAT GOES ADVENTURE! Single-button arcade action meets the Internet’s greatest Cat Meme, Nyan Cat! Super simple to pick up and play, starring all your favorite Nyan characters. 5 game modes jam packed with all the insanity you’d expect from the developers behind Techno Kitten Adventure! Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya

21 Ball Snooker Champion – 80 – Marketplace – Trailer

Classic UK Snooker, with 4 player party mode, and cooperative play against the computer. Featuring multi rebound Cheat-O-Laser for insane trickshots!

Orbitron: Revolution – 80 – Marketplace

Launch into a relentless battle against a robotic horde bent on the destruction of an Orbital Power Station. Blast your way through three intense game modes with one of two selectable space fighters. Compete against other Xbox Live Gold members for high score bragging rights. Beautiful 3d graphics and a soundtrack by Audio Antics await you in Orbitron: Revolution!

Spartans in Candyland – 240 – Marketplace – Trailer

Pick one of four half-naked Spartans, each with unique abilities and shoot yourself through legions of cuddly aliens in this twinstick shooter. Play alone or with your friends, pick up different weapons and destroy everything that moves while capturing checkpoints to gain score. The more you kill, the higher your testosterone builds up, which allows you to unleash your most destructive abilities.

VolChaos – 80 – Marketplace – Trailer

Volchaos is a challenging old school platformer. Playing as a heroic explorer, you must navigate through dangerous volcanoes in search of precious gems you can use to pay off your mortgage, bad investments, and alimony. To further complicate matters, the lava is continuously rising and an array of enemies stands in your path. Will you become rich? Heck, you will be lucky to survive.

Dark Delve – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Ellis Spice

Ever wondered what Doom would be like if, instead of running and gunning, you were walking and battling? Then make yourself welcome to the world of Dark Delve, one that is home to all kinds of beasts and ghouls. The aim of this first person, 3D dungeon crawler is to find the queen, trapped in a castle for generations, and get rid of her before she again causes harm to her kingdom. This campaign begins with a set of pictures set to a overly-dramatic voiceover, and my first thought was ‘Oh no, here comes the rubbish’. Dramatic voiceovers don’t tend to be a sign of a quality game, after all.

But what do you know, I was wrong! After this point, your produce your team, and I decided to go with the ideal threesome with the most creative names ever; ‘Me’ the male Warrior, ‘Her’ the female Rouge and ‘Him’ the male Mage. Taking my fully rounded team of nameless no-hopes, I upgraded their weak little bodies and gave them some new and improved weapons. Then, onto the dungeons with me! Along with Her and Him, of course…

The look of the castle, the location of said dungeons in this grand adventure, caught me by surprise somewhat. Looking like something straight out of Doom, if Doom was set in the Middle Ages and didn’t have any guns or enemies, the graphical styling of this game was impressive, even on my now-ancient standard-definition television.

After I finished admiring the look of my soon-to-be battle grounds, my team moved onwards, towards the first door we could find, inside of which was my first outing to the turn-based battle system. The art style of the creatures you faced vary greatly from that of their environment, being 2-D and much more colourful than their surroundings. Some people may be put off by this seemingly random change, but to me they seemed to fit fine with the turn-based system they were to be involved with. Then again, maybe years of playing Pokemon games on the Nintendo handhelds will do that to you…

However, I have less fine things to say about the battle system itself. The system is very limited, with only 2 attacks options available to you, only one of which tends to be helpful in all situations. The amount of attacks that miss, for both you and your enemies, is also frankly amazing, with seemingly every other attack missing at some points. The game also gives the option to defend, which lowers the damage you take for that turn, but also means you can’t attack, making this option mostly useless. You also have the option to flee, which would be very helpful if the game didn’t block your exit most of the time!.

However, on the whole this doesn’t ruin the game in the slightest, as battles tend to be a quick affairs, with mashing the A button to just to attack the first enemy doing the trick against many of your foes. The exploration element of this is enjoyable to say the least, and although this also results in a bit of back-tracking when you need to get the hell out of there, at no point did I find myself totally ‘lost’ in the castle, thanks to the handy mini-map on screen at all times. Considering it’s 80 pricetag, if I were you I’d buy that for a dollar. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’ll be off to go slay some more zombies…

Convict Minigames – 240 – Marketplace – Review by Josh “Sm1tty Sm1t” Smith

Convict Minigames is a collection of five events grouped together to provide players with varying challenges, maximum fun, and unique value within the Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace.  That recipe, in theory, would create an indie game that appeals to a rainbow of players.  The execution however, gives players an experience to forget.  The five games included do offer variety, unfortunately that variety ranges from awful to abysmal.

Bop! is a 1 or 2-player “fighter” pitting players in a battle to squash their opponent by jumping on them.  Players can select one of three characters, each possessing different abilities, and fight it out in a landscape that looks as if it was created in MS Paint. 

High Hopes is a fast-paced game of “climb the beanstalk”.  Again, one or two players can compete to race up a beanstalk after a giant.  Jumping from leaf to leaf or cloud to cloud, players must avoid obstacles in order to stay in the lead.  The visuals offered are far better than Bop! and add a cell-shaded feeling to a lackluster game that is essentially mashing you’re A-button.

The aptly titled Jurassic Bar allows players to choose between four different dinosaurs and battle cave men … in a bar.  The objective is to survive wave after wave of cavemen who attack with sticks, stones, and other debris.  As the dinosaur, you can attack the cavemen in order to kill them, or eat them to regain health.  Continuing with the 2nd grade art style, Jurassic Bar does have bright colors, but the lack of changing scenery fails to ignite any excitement.

Cave In is a race against the clock.  As a spelunker you must avoid falling ceilings, tribal spears, spike traps, and collapsing floors in order to race to the end of the level.  Again, a simple bashing of the A-button will find players soaring through levels with limited difficulty.  The retro visuals are akin to the early days of gaming and offer a nice trip down memory lane, but the lack of a backdrop continues the trend of the other minigames which offer no variety. 

The saving grace of the entire collection comes with Triangle Man.  This little, yellow guy must work his way through puzzles of impossible odds.  Visually reminiscent of an early Atari release, the difficulty involved will provide players with hours of fun. To maneuver through levels you must trigger switches, avoid spikes, collect coins, and reach the doorway in one piece.  After a number of deaths players have the option of skipping the level at the cost of five lives, which are tracked at the bottom of the screen.  28 minutes into my own adventure, I was staring at 163 deaths.

Priced at 240 , Convict Minigames doesn’t offer enough gameplay to warrant a purchase.  Granted, five minigames would normally justify this purchase, but unless you have a house full of friends looking for something new, but not necessarily good, stay away.

Sherbet Thieves – 80 – Marketplace

Sherbet Thieves falls in to the category what I am going to call Twin Stick Defense. The game is primarily a twin stick shooter with some defense style gameplay, there are similar style games out there but it is not a crowded market.

Sherbet Thieves takes you on a wacky journey through a dozen levels in which you must ensure that the farmers Sherbet does not get stolen by Aliens. On each level there are a number of sherbet ‘blobs’ on screen, aliens will spawn and try to steal the sherbet and bring it back to their UFO. Your task is to stop them from doing this by shooting and killing them. Enemies come in a variety of guises from hippies that fire smoke rings which block your shots through to enemies that fire back. There is a good variety and use of the various weapons comes in to play for optimal destruction.

You earn money at the end of each level which in turn can be spent on buying new weapons. There are seven in total and you can equip them as primary and secondary firing. Some are more useful than others, the ‘Protoplasmic Blunderbus’ through to the less useful ‘Ion Pitchfork’. Later levels increase the challenge by having two UFO’s, so your initial strategies of hanging around a single UFO will probably not work. You have a Gravity Bomb which can be strategically placed on the screen which draws enemies towards it, useful in a number of ways such as last ditch attempts at killing enemies but also for some sneaky tactics such as grouping the sherbets together when enemies have them for an easier defense.

The presentation is fairly standard, nothing amazing but it works. Graphically the game is mixed, the sprites are average in looks but the explosions and weapons fire look better. Music is what I would call a country/techno mix with banjos and beats, they are pretty good and add to the wacky style of the game.

The game can be completed in around a hour which is quite short. Once completed there is not a great deal of replayability. The game seems to be missing something which would elevate it to a game I would come back to. Saying that, while the game lasts it is good challenging fun and the quirky humour is enjoyable. Well worth further investigation.

UPDATE: The competition is now over and the winners have been picked at random (one from each method of entry). Congratulations to «-•·÷·- ¥ámá -·÷·•-» (Comments), JBHuskers (Twitter) and Mikey Reveliotis (Facebook). For the first two winners check your twitter account for a DM, and for Mikey check your Facebook account private messages.

Gamerscore Tracker is an application that allows you to follow your Gamerscore progress as well as your friends. You can compare against other users on the Global Tracker with stats such as total Gamerscore, number of games played or their score increases over time. If you are a ‘Gamerscore Whore’ this app is for you!

You can download the trial via the Marketplace. Also a separate competition run by the developers to win some great prizes such as Microsoft Points and Xbox 360 games including Battlefield 3 and Saints Row 3 starts on Saturday. You can find out how to enter on their site here.

We have three ways you can enter to stand a chance of winning a copy of Gamerscore Tracker. You can enter each one but only once each.

Entry 1: Comments

All you need to do is tell us in the comments below the hardest achievement you have unlocked. Tell us a bit about it, did you dance around the room when you heard the ‘beep-boop’ to notify it has been unlocked? (We have all done it!)

Entry 2: Twitter

Follow @Gamergeddon and tweet the below message:

RT @Gamergeddon I want to win a copy of Gamerscore Tracker so I can compare mine on a Global Leaderboard.Enter at http://bit.ly/rsX9Hl #GGGT

Entry 3: Facebook

Head over to our Facebook page at facebook.com/Gamergeddon and if you have not already ‘Like’ the page. Then find the competition post and ‘Like’ it, you can add a comment if you want. NOTE: There may be two competition posts, either post is fine to use.

Rules and Information

- The competition deadline is 23:59:59 GMT Sunday 11th December 2011.

- The winners will be picked at random from all valid entries after the deadline.

- The winners name will be posted after the competition has ended in this competition post. Prize will be sent within 24 hours.

- You may only enter each entry method once.

- Winning a previous competition does not affect your chances of winning again.

General rules can be found here.

Happy - 80 – Marketplace 

Happy is a rather interesting game, revolving all around a large mans quest for cake as he rolls around through farmland, giant cacti and even the sky. It sure is an odd premise alright, but the developer made this game to support a pet rescue center, with every cent of profits going directly toward animals in need around the UK which I find to be a very noble cause, and a great fundraising idea on the XBLIG marketplace. 

As mentioned, Happy is all about rolling on your stomach from point A to reach point B, which is a delicious cake waiting for your consumption. Besides that, there’s not much else gameplay wise except for a couple of slopes, one or two bouncing platform puzzles, and chili peppers that make you go faster via farting on the few levels presented, around 6 or 7 I can recall. Gameplay is fun while it lasts, but it does not last long at all, really, you could beat this game in 10 minutes if you set your mind to it. Even though the “gameplay” presented is lacking, let’s remember that this is all for a good cause in the long run. 

What I found to be quite odd in Happy, was how the character was so simply drawn, while the landscapes surrounding him were exponentially more detailed. That said, the environment around our large friend are well drawn in a sketchy art-book kind of style, which I found to be pretty pleasing, with the variety put into the small amount of levels everything looked good, especially that wonderful cake. Music in the game is one of the more interesting parts, providing an ambient soundscape providing a relaxing feel to the game, which fits well because the gameplay is slow-paced and calm just like the music. I found the music to be one of the more outstanding parts of the game, giving it a nice relaxing feel even with the little variety presented in the tracks. 

All in all, it’s hard to be critical for a little project made to promote an animal hospital, which I admit is a great cause, but does not make for the best game I’ve seen. I mean, Happy is fun for the 20 or so minutes you’ll spend playing it, but I can’t really say it’s worth buying for any other reason than knowing it’s going to a good cause, but hell, it’s better than donating and getting nothing in return I suppose. Feel free to try the game out yourself, while you’re not going to get much out of it, it was a novel idea for a game to donate its profits to a cause such as this one. 

Tunnelvision – 240 – Marketplace

Tunnelvision by Stendec Games is more or less the most gorgeous Indie Title I’ve encountered to date. Textures are shiny as well as smooth. Menus don’t feel cluttered and are actually quite appealing.I’ll admit I had a bit of trouble diving into this game after the first level due to the fact that it seemed like another shmup(shoot-em-up). However, Tunnelvision may be 3D but, it plays like most of the insane 2D shmups out there. Bullets,rockets, and laser beams often occupy the screen like an evening at an epileptic rave. Tunnel Vision’s electronic music does its justice to the atmosphere and tempo this game builds as players progress through each level/section.

Game-play is simple, guide your beautifully modeled  ship through the abysmal tunnels while dodging the rain of colorful bullets and bland obstacles from oncoming ships in order to reach the level lord. Successfully defeating the level enables you to progress to the next level. Tunnelvision doesn’t vary often both in the level design and bosses. Players will frequently encounter the same level lord model but, each time it is equipped with a couple new minions or faster firing rate. This makes the game boring and repetitive  especially when you will be looking at similar events for a bit. Tunnelvision has no story or background to explain why you are flying a ship in a tunnel, why these ships,turrets, and level lords are after your blood. I also found my self question why I should care about my high score since a leader-board is non existent.

As I progressed through the first three levels(including tutorial ) I found my self able to use many new abilities like the shield, which becomes your inanimate spouse through the countless levels of devastation. Next is the slow bomb which when launched puts players in a bullet time state allowing easier dodging and targeting especially when you can easily find yourself as lost as you were at the end of “Lost”. Tunnelvision does not have an abundance or power ups like many shmups do but it is certainly enough to aid in the battle for non-motivational survival. In addition Tunnel vision’s controls are awkward and obtuse which makes for an often frustrating experience when trying to dodge the hell-fire sent upon you by enemy ships that are trying to kill you for no  reason. While I would like to say that the  music while it is entertaining and uplifting makes up for the gameplay it doesn’t. But, it is safe to say the upbeat techno music is one of its highlights.

With a lack of story and incentive for re-playability like  a leader-board and collectibles Tunnelvision will be very hard to be absorbed into. However,  gorgeous graphics and atmospheric music can and will accompany you on this tunnel journey through a hard worked shoot-em-up/rail shooter by Stendec Games for 240 in the XBLIG section.

Meep 2 – Jumping Evolved – 80 – Marketplace

Meep 2 is the sequel of the platform jumping game released in 2010. It brings us some improvements and new features including new graphics and two player versus modes.

The aim of Meep 2 is simple, starting from the bottom of the level you must reach the top by bouncing on platforms to reach the goal. The Meep continuously bounces leaving you to move left or right to reach the next platform. There a several varieties of platforms apart from the standard one, including a mobile platform which moves from side to side andspringboards which give you extra height when bounced on. To make things a little trickier platforms include ice makes you slide and spikes make you loose control. The platforms can be mixed together in later levels which adds to the challenge. In addition there are balloons which when hit can make your Meep float for a few seconds, teleport to another location or explode which can help in some situations.

The single player mode has a reasonable twenty levels to complete that offer a good challenge. You play against the time earning a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal depending on your performance. You can also opt to race against a Ghost to get a better judgement of your skills. The two player mode pits players against each other in a split screen view tournament. The aim is to simply reach the top before the other player. It can be quite competitive in terms of learning the best routes for all the levels and there is a decent amount of replayability in this mode.

The graphics are a good improvement on the first game, they are better drawn, more colourful and look the part. The music is lively and suits the game theme, maybe aimed towards younger gamers though. Presentation is nice and simple, no problems there.  Overall Meep 2 is a good improvement on the original. For 80 you get a worthwhile game aimed more towards playing with two players than by yourself. I recommend at least trying the trial version, it is good fun against another player.

News

Magic Racing GP 2 is due for release on XBLIG in the near future. Here is an extended trailer to check out in the meantime.