Weekly Xbox Indies - 9/6/09 Sunday Edition
Sorry about the late update folks, but NaviFairy was on a little vacation last week and out of reach of his Xbox 360, so this weekend has been dedicated to catching up on the indie games for the review round-up. And it's a good thing I did get all caught up, because there are some excellent games out there to download for this long Labor day weekend. And don't forget to check which games have been updated or dropped in price in the updates section after the jump.
Yay
- Halfbrick Rocket Racing - 240 MS points. Halfbrick has made some of the best Xbox indie games out there with Blastoff and Echoes, and continues that streak with Rocket Racing. This is an intense racing game with some very challenging controls. Your rocket racer has thrusters on the right and left, which are controlled by the right and left triggers on the 360 controller. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do it is extremely rewarding. To speed up the learning curve there are 2 alternate control schemes that can make the game a bit easier to play, although the default scheme does give you the best turning ability which is very helpful in some of the winding tracks. There are 40 tracks, which range from very simple straight courses to twisting labyrinths with multiple laps for you and up to 3 friends to race offline. But one of the best features has to be Halfbrick's dedication to supporting their products, with the ability to give feedback on their games that will be considered for future updates (which can even get your name in the credits).
- Avatar Golf - 400 MS points. This golf game could have easily been released as an Xbox Live Arcade title, as it is easily the best downloadable golf game out there, on any system. With 6 full 18-hole courses, 8-player online, weather effects that impact gameplay, not to mention statistics and leaderboard tracking, and it's a very robust game. This is the Xbox's answer to game's like Mario Golf and Hot Shots, and the fact that it comes from the indie games section instead of Xbox Live Arcade is astounding.
- Hot Potato Online - 400 MS points. This is a surprisingly stellar multiplayer game. In its most basic form, 4 players throw a bomb around an arena trying to blow each other to bits. But there is a lot of depth to the game. You can either catch a thrown bomb or deflect it toward your opponents, and if you charge the power of your own throws too much the bomb will blow up in your face, keeping the game fast and frantic. The game is a little pricy, but even that is justified since all proceeds of the game are being donated to the Child's Play charity. You get a great game and donate $5 to an excellent charity all in one.
- Ninja Guardian - 240 MS points. Ninja Guardian is an excellent take on vertical platforming. There are a series of floating platforms and you must move the ninja from side to side as he automatically jumps upon reaching each new platform. Ninja Guardian adds new elements with obstacles to avoid and enemies to defeat, as well as a story mode where you must stop the bad guy "Evil Samurai Warlord" from spraying aerosol on the planet's ozone layer. It's lighthearted fun with an excellent visual style and addicting gameplay that will have you trying "just one more time" over and over again.
- シャイニング ブラッド shining blood - 400 MS points. I sure hope you like the color red, because you're going to see a lot of it in this game. But if you can get past the red/black virtual boy color scheme, there's a really good mech combat game here. There are 3 mechs to choose from, all of which play very differently for a unique experience. There's also a lot of voice acting, I'm assuming to provide tutorials and story details, but it was all in Japanese so I can't tell for sure. But even with the game almost entirely in Japanese, it was easy enough to pick up for a non-speaker thanks to the controls screen being in English.
Ay?
- Crystal Spear Remake - 80 MS points. You zoom through a tunnel avoiding pillars of light to try and get as far as you can within the time limit. It's fun, but chances are you've already played it before in at least one Star Wars game trying to escape from the inside of an exploding Death Star. And those Star Wars versions had more complex obstacles, so this version seems a bit slim by comparison. Of course, for $1 it might still be worth a look.
- Avatar Drop - 80 MS points. You control your Xbox 360 avatar as it falls down a pit, bouncing off walls and flying through rings to rack up points. Your mileage with the game will depend on how much attention you paid to the avatar feature to begin with. But there is definitely some fun to be had watching your virtual self crash and contort through rings.
- 15 Puzzle - 240 MS points. A game of the classic puzzle game where you need to slide numbered tiles into the correct order on a grid. In addition to the title 15 puzzle, the game also includes 3, 8, 24, and an expert 48 piece puzzle. To keep things more interesting the solved puzzle will make a picture in addition to just putting the tiles in order. Personally, I've never been very fond of these puzzles, but they're a classic for a reason, so if you like them this is the game to get.
- Colotristar - 240 MS points. I can't say that this is one of the better Bejeweled clones that I've played. The goal is to completely clear the board of colored stars using the now-standard Bejeweled match-3 gameplay. The fact that you can't move stars into empty spaces on the board is a big downer, since one false move can mean an abandoned star with nowhere to move and no matches, essentially making the game impossible to complete. You need careful planning and lots of patience if you're going to play this game.
- Mini Golf 360 - 80 MS points. It's a bit unfair that Mini Golf 360 was released at the same time as Avatar Golf, as it just can't compete in terms of depth and presentation. And with only 9 holes the game is a bit limited for replayability, but it is fun while it lasts.
Nay
- The Answer To Life - 80 MS points. The actual game portion of The Answer To Life is game called "Get the Ball" which was reviewed several weeks ago as a game to avoid. Things don't get much better in this repackaging with the added "press A as many times as possible" gameplay mode, and the "Answer to Life" of the title is pretty uninspiring.
- Sky_Arena - 80 MS points. An ultimately lack-luster flight combat game. Hit detection is fairly inconsistent, and the Gears of War "active reload" mechanic has been thrown in for seemingly no reason since there is no benefit for using it. There are much better ways to spend $1 on Xbox indie games.
- Fireworks Spectacular - 80 MS points. I wasn't actually able to try this game, but I'm going to say "nay" on principle. When you press play in the trial version it prompts you either to buy it or quit to the menu. Basically, the trial version is just a portal to buy the full version with no trial involved. Considering that the full version appears to be yet another glorified screen saver the game probably wouldn't have been recommended anyway, but the shady dealings of a false trial version solidify it's place as a game to avoid at all costs.
- 魔法の国のメロディ ファニーダンシング - 240 MS points. This game is made to appeal to the fans of lolita anime pop-idols. You press buttons to create a dance routine for an on-screen idol with very stiff animations. There's no scoring for doing particular moves, or even for doing any moves at all, so the only real replayability is if you want to see the anime girl twirl a few more times.
- Wizard's Tower Screen Saver - 80 MS points. I'll give Wizard's Tower credit for being more interactive than most screen saver apps for the 360, and for having avatar support, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a screen saver.
- Dark Skies: Constellations - 240 MS points. A star map showing constellations in the night sky. It's interesting stuff, but the problem with these educational apps is that all the information is already freely available online. If you love stars though, it might be worth a look.
Updates:
Cold War Commander - price drop to 80 MS points.
Mania - price drop to 80 MS points.
BitStream
Megalopolis
尊い犠牲 Ultimate sacrifice
The Exterminator - price drop to 80 MS points.
Little Racers
Golden Tangram
MothBallz - price drop to 80 MS points.
Shellblast HD
Jungle Blocks - price drop to 80 MS points.
フェナックむら ものがたり
Fitba - price drop to 240 MS points.
Abstacked - price drop to 80 MS points.
それでも、私は愛している
myFishtank
Drift - price drop to 240 MS points.
NaviFairy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 6 September 2009
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