Up late talking games & writing? You're...

Family: My wonderful in-laws have just spent the last week or so with us. We get along great and it's been really nice to have them here, especially since our little boy is now old enough to be fully aware of their presence and interact in meaningful ways. Also, since we don't have family over very often, having a few minutes of downtime when someone else is chasing the baby is a real blessing.

An even greater blessing, they were kind enough to babysit so that the wife and I could go out on a date -- the first one we've had in quite some time. It was nice to take a few hours at a couple of local restaurants and really enjoy them since we knew that the baby was in good hands. After all, an evening out isn't much of an evening if you're constantly worried about the safety of your offspring.

My only regret is that one of the restaurants we went to advertised deviled eggs stuffed with smoked salmon and pickled leeks, but they were all out by the time we got there. I was devastated, and it'll probably be a while until we get another chance to go. I guess I'll just have to make some myself...


Games: I haven't had a ton of time to play games lately, but what little time I have has been spent with the new Mortal Kombat. After the long, unbroken string of utterly craptastic sequels put forth by the series, it's extremely gratifying to see the franchise finally get its act together and reboot itself into respectability.


Although the fighting engine needs some work and some of the characters feel unbalanced, developers NetherRealm have clearly spent a lot of time working on the movesets for each of the combatants. (Or should I say, Kombatants?)

Most of the changes are quite positive, and it's been interesting to re-explore what the game has to offer. For example, the various ninjas now feel much less like one-offs and palette swaps, and more like individual characters with their own identity, both conceptually and in terms of how they handle.

I'm also quite impressed with the way the writers took the giant mishmash of half-formed "continuity" from the various games and integrated everything into a form that actually manages to make a lot of sense. Of course it isn't Hemingway, but for a genre which typically glosses over backstories, motivations and personal characteristics in favor of exaggerated physical features and a few lines of taunting between matches, getting the full story on the struggle between Earthrealm and Outworld is something of a revelation.

Sektor and Cyrax, pre-cyborg-ization. Neat!

Oh no, the praise doesn't stop there.

In addition, it was quite nice to see a fighting game actually take the time to include a real tutorial mode. Far too many fighters assume prior familiarity on the part of the player, and in doing so, only succeed in leaving newcomers behind. Supporting this warm-to-noobs stance, the structure of MK’s combat has been reduced down and simplified.

Although there's still much to learn and practice, it's a relief to not have to worry about anything too ridiculous like double-super-cancels, argumentative-cross-counters or invisible-mega-parries. While I appreciate that some people like to take fighters to the next level and devote much time and energy into perfecting their play, I think there's certainly something to be said for being more straightforward and approachable. MK strikes a very healthy balance here.

Sadly, still a colossal douchebag.

If you had asked me a year or two ago what I thought of the Mortal Kombat franchise, my response would have been considerably less positive than it is now. In light of that fact, my hat is off to NetherRealm for taking a joke that had long outstayed its welcome and turning it back into something interesting, engaging and solidly built. In fact, given what they had to work with, I'd say it was nothing less than a miracle.

Games: Aside from my time with Mortal Kombat, I'm still playing through The Third Birthday on PSP. I'm not done yet, but at this point all I can say is that it's a real shame that the writers of the plot did such an unbelievably poor job of it. In all honesty, the gameplay (although a little simple) really isn't that bad and I’m a big fan of the body-switching mechanic. However, the story is just pure garbage on every level and I can't even conceive of how someone approved it with a straight face.

Oh god... How did I get written into this mess of a plot?

I mean, I'm not even exaggerating when I say that I have absolutely no clue as to what's going on. I literally could not explain anything about the plot besides basic elements like ‘monsters in New York’ and ‘time travel body-swapping’. Characters show up and I have no idea who they're supposed to be, things happen and there is no explanation as to what it all means or why I'm supposed to care, and despite all of the talking and high-gloss cutscenes, nothing of significance is ever given to the player.

Creating a story this bad doesn't just happen, it takes hard work and dedication. I have no idea why the team behind Third Birthday was so driven to craft such a nonsensical piece of swill, but it's a real shame that they did -- if they had pulled their heads out of their emo-asses and actually written something that made half a bit of sense, this game could have been another high point in the PSP’s library. As it is, it's a colossal misfire with a lot of untapped potential.

Games: My good friend @AlexRubens (freelance journo and voice from from the Underdeveloped Characters podcast) is hosting a 24-hour game marathon in order to raise funds for charity. He's a good guy, it's a good cause, they've got several big-time sponsors set up and will have a live feed going during the event. If you can spare a few bucks or support them in another way, please do so.

Click on over to their official site HERE and check it out.


Games: I polished off Portal 2’s singleplayer mode earlier today. The campaign started losing its luster for me somewhere in the neighborhood of Chapter 6 or 7, and after that point I found that I needed to break up my play sessions into no more than three or four puzzles at a time to avoid burnout/boredom. Consequently, it took me a lot longer than I had originally anticipated, but it's done now.

I'm considering doing a Second Opinion for GameCritics after I see what @RichardNaik has to say in his Main Review, but in general I'd say it was a pretty good game, not necessarily a great one.


Downsides? The campaign is a little too long for my taste... I think I would have been a little happier if the game had ended a couple of hours sooner than it did. Some of the puzzles are fairly annoying, as well. I don't mind trying to suss things out, but when I'm not clear about what my goal is or when the developers start hiding portal-able areas in hard-to-see places, enjoyment starts getting stripped away.

Upsides? The monologues are great even if having a silent protagonist is not. There are also a handful of really neat, “wow” type moments -- they usually come when the game is off the rails and breaking away from the room-by-room puzzle formula. Also, portals are just fun.

Overall, I would have liked a shorter campaign that was a little more free-form. Having a portal gun is such a powerful, exciting thing, it's a little disappointing that players don't really get to go hog wild with it very often. In fact, that's a problem I think many games suffer from. It's always a shame when a developer comes up with a really neat, interesting mechanic and then proceeds to leash it down and throw a bunch of limits on it.

Another factor to consider is that much of the first Portal's appeal (for me, anyway) was that it was such an unknown quantity and a real surprise. Portal 2 changes up its formula a little bit, but it really doesn't deliver anything that wasn't expected and hews a little too closely to the structure of the first game. I'm glad I played it and I do think it is a very good game in general, but I'm glad it's over and I really don't see myself ever replaying the campaign. The wife and I will probably take a stab at the co-op, though.


Also, one final note: I'm sure a lot of people will see this as pure heresy, but after a few hours of doing puzzles I was starting to crave a little more action. Although I'm not an FPS nut in general, I couldn't help but imagine what combat would be like if the character was equipped with both a portal gun and a more traditional piece of firearms.

I mean, the possibilities are pretty amazing… imagine zipping through a portal across a map to take potshots at an enemy, jumping back through another portal and instantly switching back and forth between being protected behind cover and sniping from a lofty perch point. I'm definitely not saying that the game needs to evolve into just another shootfest, but I definitely feel like there's a lot of potential going untapped.


A few final quick notes here...

>Both the Fancy Pants Adventures and Section 8: Prejudice launched on the various download services this week, but review codes never appeared despite requests. Both of these titles were pretty high up on my to-check-out list, but I will be putting them on the back burner for now. Shame.



>Started The Third Birthday on PSP today and it really didn't grab me. I enjoyed both of the Parasite Eve titles back in the day so I had been looking forward to this but something just isn't clicking. I am extremely early in the game, though, so I'll probably put another hour or two in before I make up my mind. Thanks (maybe) to @ChrisGreen87 for motivating me to push on.



>Caved in to personal weakness and picked up a copy of Mortal Kombat on PS3. I have to admit that getting Kratos as a playable character was actually a negative for me, but after all the votes were in, it seemed as though most of the people in my Twitter feed were going to be playing on Sony’s machine. In this particular case, that's okay... I prefer the DualShock for fighters, anyway.

I haven't had much time to actually play it, but I did go through the opening segments of the story mode and I was really liking what I was seeing. Essentially, the developers are having the player rotate through each character for a few rounds and tell quite a bit of MK backstory while they're at it. It's a great idea, and one that I would like to see more of.

Games: So I've been playing Portal 2 for the past couple of days.

I won't spoil anything since I know that most people are only getting their copy just now, but I will say that so far (I would estimate I'm about 3/4ths of the way through) it's pretty much what I expected.

Enough with the gel already.

On the plus side, the portal gun is as fun as it ever was, and dialogue is consistently humorous, in addition to there being a lot more of it this time around.

On the minus side, I have to say that the game is starting to feel a little too long for me and the repetitive pace of puzzle after puzzle is a bit much. It's pretty exciting when the game takes brief detours away from the puzzle rooms -- I'm hoping that I will get to see more of that kind of stuff before credits roll.

I probably won't say anything else about it until after I finish the game (and I won't be doing the main review for GameCritics either, that honor goes to the cool and collected Richard Naik) but I'll be curious to see how the game is ultimately received once the initial heatwave has a chance to mellow out.

I took a quick glance at a few reviews, and to be frank, I think the first round of inevitable 100s on MetaCritic are being just a bit generous.


In other games news, I think I'm finally hitting the burnout point in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.

I genuinely wanted to go the distance in the game's hardest difficulty (G-Rank) but it's pretty clear that the developers have heavily slanted things towards group play. While it's possible to go solo, I'm rapidly losing motivation.

Clearly not my bitch anymore.

As an example, I consistently run out of time trying to defeat one particular G-Rank monster that I've killed dozens and dozens of times beforehand. There's nothing different or special about it, it just has tons of defense and tons of life, and even after 45 minutes of hitting the damn thing in the face with a giant hammer, it still won't go down.

I'm sure that if I had three partners with me we could make short work of the thing, but it's more than a little annoying to be utterly defeated by this creature’s stats when I've proven perfectly capable of taking it down in the other difficulty levels.

I've heard from some sources that the next Monster Hunter game has drastically changed the level of difficulty at the end in order to make it more playable for solo gamers, so I think I'm probably just going to pack it up for now and call it good. Leave the memories unsullied, as it were.

I'm still available for MHFU co-op play though… if you need a squaddie to team with, send me a message.


Film: While I was up at night feeling ill recently, I started watching Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom on NetFlix. I had heard tons about it, but I have to say that it isn't quite what I expected.

Have you seen this ghost? She's got a little bell...

Basically, a hospital is built on top of some kind of spooky ground and ghosts are beginning to cross over and cause problems. It's a fine premise, but the series (so far) feels more like a medical ensemble show than a traditional horror story. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I will admit that I was looking forward to a few more creep-outs and chills than I've gotten.

To be fair, the series is broken up into two seasons and I think the program lasts for eight or nine hours, in total. I've only seen the first two episodes, so there’s still plenty of time for things to build up and get crazy.


TV: Just a quick reminder that the new season of Doctor Who will be starting shortly. For the first time ever, it will air simultaneously in the UK and the US starting on April 23rd courtesy of the BBC/BBC America.

Am I excited? You have no idea.



Also, fezzes are cool.

Games: So, after a lengthy, unexpected medical quasi-crisis and much unavoidable delay, I'm finally getting around to wrapping up my seven-day Xbox Live Indiefest. I'll dispense with the formalities since I'm sure most of the people reading this blog have already seen the preface several times.



I had planned on covering another handful of games for tonight's post, and this was supposed to be the final entry. Instead, I'm going to hold off on covering new titles and save them for next time.

Yes, there will be a next time.

This has been a really fun and enjoyable thing to do, so my new plan is to cover at least four or five Indies once a week on a regular basis. Covering these games again has reminded me of how much enjoyment I derive from checking out the Indies, so I'm going to keep that love train a-rolling.

With that said, as a way of wrapping up my "official" Indiefest coverage and giving the whole thing a little closure, I'm going to go ahead and run a list of some older favorites. they're all fun or interesting titles (and hey, some are even both!) so I'd like to humbly suggest that if some of these names are new to you, that you should do yourself a favor and check them out.

Breath of Death VIII

CarneyVale Showtime

Defy Gravity

Epic Dungeon

Miner Dig Deep

Shoot 1UP



Platformance

Zombie Estate


Thanks again for sticking with me over the week (plus) of XBL Indie coverage. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I definitely hope you’ve checked out at least a few of the titles I’ve mentioned. They may not have AAA-level budgets, but a lot of these projects are really something special.

So, I try to keep things fairly light and interesting around these parts, but sometimes that's not always possible. Take, for example, my recent medical situation.


I'm a relatively young guy, just barely 35, and although I don't hit the gym like I should, I’d say I'm in pretty good health. No major medical issues, no chronic conditions, my blood pressure is always good, and so on. Then something like pneumonia happens -- randomly -- and your whole world is turned upside down.

Although I haven't lived through a war or been a refugee from anywhere, I’ve probably been more places and seen more things than the average person has. Because of these experiences, I'd say that I have a pretty good grasp on the priorities in life -- what's truly important and what's not. I didn't really think I needed a reminder, but life decided to send one my way regardless.

The pneumonia I caught didn't start out too bad and I ended up getting some meds sooner rather than later, but for some reason, things stubbornly decided to get worse. I went back to the doctor for a checkup and I've got to say it's pretty sobering when a doc takes a look at you and says that you need to get to a hospital NOW.

As I was lying on a stretcher in the hospital, I was starting to worry if this was going to be more serious than taking a few pills and taking a few days off of work. I tried not to dwell on it much, but it was impossible not to wonder if this might be IT. What if I needed some kind of procedure I couldn't afford? What if I needed some kind of emergency life-or-death surgery?

More than that, though, what I really thought about was my wife and kids. Who would take care of them? Who would provide for them? My wife is my best friend, but would she do if I wasn't around? What kind of life would my boys have if they could barely remember their father?

It's pretty grim stuff.

After a battery of tests, a cocktail of drugs and too much time spent doing nothing but lying around and waiting, it turned out that the complication was a minor one that was mostly rectified with one more injection of a particular kind. Just one correct dose of Chemical X and I was back on my feet, more or less.

I'm extremely thankful that it wasn't more serious, and I’m extremely thankful for the many miracles of modern science. More than anything, I'm thankful that (unlike so many others) I was able to rejoin my normal life. I think a lot of us go through our daily status quo occupied with so many different things, but we don't realize how little it takes to strip all that away. One stray cluster of airborne germs; one inattentive driver speeding through an intersection -- I don't think we realize how fragile we are, and how tender life is.

I'm not trying to preach here, but maybe just take a few minutes and think about what a tenuous grip we have on what we like to think of as our normal lives. Maybe take just one minute more and be grateful for what you’ve got, even if it’s not much.

Me? I may not be rich or have everything I’ve ever dreamed of, but I know how good I’ve got it, and I’m damned glad to have it.

Bigtime thanks to everybody who's been checking in on my Indifest this week. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, so I think I'm going to keep on doing this as a regular feature, maye once a week or so. Thanks for reading!

Anyway, I know tonight was supposed to be the finale of my coverage, but everybody at my house has come down with a terrible case of flu... We're totally laid up and going to bed early, so I'm going to (regrettably) have to postpone the 7th entry until tomorrow.

Sincere apologies for the delay and thanks again for reading!

Games: So, tonight is the sixth night of my week-long XBL Indiefest. Before we get started, here's...




I've got over three hundred XBLI demos saved up.

(cue dramatic music.)

To clear out my hard drive, I've decided to go through at least three games per night. I'll play the free trial period of each Indie that catches my eye, and at the end of that period, I'm going to give a quick one or two paragraph description of what I saw and then decide on one of three verdicts:

I Bought It, I Deleted It, or Needs Further Investigation.

Also, there are a number of really good games that I've already played, so I'm going to save up mention of those until the end of this Indiefest. The ones I will be covering daily will be titles I've never played before.

So, here's what was on tap for Day Six…


Kissy Poo by The ZMan – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

I'll say up front that this was not a title I originally had my eye on. However, the next GameCritics podcast to be recorded will be focusing entirely on indie games, and this was one that was selected by another critic. I don't know why it was, but it was.


In all honesty, this isn't really a game so much as it is a virtual toy for small children to play with. Kids move a cartoonish face around the screen and "kiss" animals that float around. Kiss enough animals and then they all do a little dance routine with some music. That's pretty much all it is, and although I will say that my two-year-old did seem somewhat fascinated with all the moving images, I'd rather acclimate him to something that has more play value.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


Protect Me Knight by Ancient – 240 MS Points ($3.00)

I've heard tons and tons about this title, but had never gotten around to it until today. The gist is that the player (or four, since multi is featured) has to protect a princess in the middle of a level. Swarms of monsters approach from the periphery, and taking them out is as simple as performing a straightforward attack. However, their numbers soon grow to be unmanageable, so players must erect barriers and man catapults to turn the tide.



I definitely appreciate the old-school vibe of this title, but I'm not a big fan of the Tower Defense genre, and although this isn't exactly it, it feels a little too similar. Defending has never really been my thing, so the gameplay didn't click with me. It's cute, it's definitely cool, and it's got music composed by game legend Yuzo Koshiro. For some people that last bit will be more than enough to justify the price of purchase, but as for me, I'm going to give it a pass until my wife's available to co-op.

(Note: Although it's called Protect Me Knight, this title is not listed alphabetically under P. Instead, you can find it in the area of XBLI where titles written in Japanese characters are collected.)

Verdict: Needs Further Investigation.


Vampire Rage by Tricktale – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

In general, I'm not the biggest fan of bullet-hell shooters, but I do play them when there’s enough of a hook. Vampire Rage qualifies, I'd say. While the general design is a standard vertically-scrolling shmup, the main character is a flying vampire rather than a spaceship. That in itself isn't unique enough, but what was interesting to me was that the vampire’s sword can repel ALL incoming shots and send them back as offensive fire. That's a powerful tool to give to a player, and in this genre, having that much ability to affect the play field is worth examination.


The production level is fairly low-end, but the general feeling of play came off as very tuned-in and sensible. I got as far as the first enormous boss (and promptly got my ass handed to me) but rather than feeling like I got cheaped or that it was bad design, I was ready to jump back in and try again. That's a very positive thing to say about a bullet-hell game, if you ask me.

Verdict: I Bought It.


Bureau: Agent Kendall by GGaler – 400 MS Points ($5.00)

Bureau is a very unusual XBLI title for a few reasons. First, the asking price is one of the highest on the service. Second, it's got a surprising amount of rendered cutscenes. Third, it's a text-heavy investigation simulator. With all of these qualities, I think this was one of the only times when I genuinely didn't feel as though the brief free trial period was enough to get a solid sense of go/no-go.

To be fair, there was quite a bit of dialogue and most of the trial time was eaten up between those and the cutscenes. On the other hand, what I did see wasn't very well-written and starting a player off by having them do little more than click one button and read through a lot of text isn't the best way to begin, if you ask me.


While I'd still be open to checking Bureau out a little more, my gut feeling is that it's a showcase for the main character’s gigantic breasts. Her 3D model is by far the most detailed thing in the game, and the frequent scenes featuring these assets skeeved me out a little bit. I've got no problem with attractive characters, but the tone bordered a little too closely to breast-fetish territory for my taste.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


Aurelia by Dualhaze – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

Speaking of breast-fetish territory, here's another one that could easily fit into that category. Ostensibly a side-scrolling platformer, Aurelia stars a top-heavy angel dressed in lingerie and heels. When the adventure began with God saying he’d like to “tap dat azz” I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended, but as soon as the gameplay started, I went with boredom instead.


The level design here is some of the most rudimentary I've seen on XBLI, offering nothing more than basic platforms scattered with little rhyme or reason. Only two basic enemies were encountered repeatedly, each dispatched with no effort. In fact, there didn't seem to be any hook or purpose to the game other than to have the main character walk sideways and display a laughably busty profile; the sort you'd expect to see on the inside cover of a sweaty teenager’s algebra book. Pay a buck to look at someone's crudely-animated chesty-girl? No, thanks.

Verdict: I Deleted it.


That's it for Day Six of my Indiefest. Check back tomorrow for the next round of games, and I’ll also do a recap of my favorites (both old and new) at the end of the series.

Games: So, tonight is the fifth night of my week-long XBL Indiefest. Before we get started, here's...



(cue dramatic music.)

To clear out my hard drive, I've decided to go through at least three games per night. I'll play the free trial period of each Indie that catches my eye, and at the end of that period, I'm going to give a quick one or two paragraph description of what I saw and then decide on one of three verdicts:

I Bought It, I Deleted It, or Needs Further Investigation.

Also, there are a number of really good games that I've already played, so I'm going to save up mention of those until the end of this Indiefest. The ones I will be covering daily will be titles I've never played before.

So, here's what was on tap for Day Five…


Sleepwalker by Debreuil Digital Works – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

A pleasant little puzzler, this game tasks the player with controlling a (wait for it...) sleepwalking man. Naturally, the object is to guide this snoozy wanderer back to his bed, but it's a little more complicated than figuring out where his house is, or phoning his wife. Levels are made up of all sorts of obstacles; things like moving construction girders, trampolines, warp gates and switches.


Look of the game is clean and simple, but that works in its favor. The control is similarly streamlined with the player only needing to use the left stick for movement and the A button to flip the sleepwalker from left to right or right to left. Timing is important since there is a fair bit of jumping (those trampolines, remember) and a very simple physics engine seems to be in place. I'm a sucker for these kinds of games.

Verdict: I Bought It.


Abaddon: Retribution by Kellogg & team. – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

While it's true that you never really know what you're going to get when loading up one of these indie demos, this is one that took me extra-hard by surprise. The premise of Abaddon: Retribution is that the player controls a small fighter-type spacecraft and must guard a large capital ship from incoming attack swarms. The overall level of polish and detail work stands above what a person can reasonably expect from an indie like this, and it's clear to see that the team really went the extra mile towards creating a quality product.


The art is great (although the character profiles could be better) the action is very fast, the controls are dialed-in, there are plenty of options and things to upgrade, and there's even a proper campaign and story to give the player more than enough reason to dive in and push forward. It's exciting stuff.

Note: This game is the sequel to Abaddon, and while they both share the same core, it's pretty clear to see that Retribution added tons of polish on top of everything. Having a choice between the two, I'll be starting with the sequel.

Verdict: I Bought It.


Zombie Football Carnage by Milkstone Studios – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

Oddly, there is precious little football in this game. Instead of worrying about first downs or passing strategies, the player controls a zombie holding pigskin and runs around open levels dodging incoming hordes of monsters. Attacking is done by throwing the football rapid-fire at enemies. In addition, there are a few pickups to collect and a menu to increase the various statistics of the zombie such as defense, attacking power, and so on.


While I really liked the aesthetics of this game, I was a little put off by the lack of a proper intro explaining what I was supposed to do. Once I figured it out I warmed up to it a little, though I'll say that it seems as though this game is basically one long grind. The stat-ups available to buy all seemed really expensive and the zombie is too fragile at the game’s start. With nothing to do but run around and throw a football at attacking monsters, I have serious doubts about this title’s staying power.

Verdict: Needs Further Investigation.


Vertigo by Run Jump Duck Entertainment – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

I am a believer that if a game is only going to do one thing, then it had better do that one thing phenomenally well. In Vertigo, the player controls a parkour-ish sort of character and runs from left to right in urban settings. Movement is simply a matter of holding the left stick in a direction, but there are speed boosts and jump boosts that must be activated with a button as the player passes by.


I've got nothing against games that require fast reflexes, but Vertigo’s camera sometimes leaves too much of the landscape out of view and it's no fun to have things come to a screeching halt just because you couldn’t see an oncoming barrier. Hitting the various boosts takes fairly precise timing, and again, sometimes they’re hard to see until it's too late. This game would have to have been nearly perfect if it expected players to sign aboard for action that's basically running in one direction and hitting a button, so having these sorts of concerns during the short trial told me I should pass this one by.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


That's it for Day Five of my Indiefest. Check back tomorrow for the next round of games, and I’ll also do a recap of my favorites (both old and new) at the end of the series.

Games: So, tonight is the fourth night of my week-long XBL Indiefest. Before we get started, here's...




I've got over three hundred XBLI demos saved up.

(cue dramatic music.)

To clear out my hard drive, I've decided to go through at least three games per night. I'll play the free trial period of each Indie that catches my eye, and at the end of that period, I'm going to give a quick one or two paragraph description of what I saw and then decide on one of three verdicts:

I Bought It, I Deleted It, or Needs Further Investigation.

Also, there are a number of really good games that I've already played, so I'm going to save up mention of those until the end of this Indiefest. The ones I will be covering daily will be titles I've never played before.

So, here's what was on tap for Day Four…


Crossfire 2 by Radiangames – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

Kind of like a cross between Space Invaders and Geometry Wars, this game has the player controlling a small little ship that moves from left to right while shooting down waves of enemies. The graphics are clean, colorful and attractive, and it only takes a half-second to grasp how to play.


There’s a nice little suite of options to power up and the production values are clearly higher than most of the competition, but the real hook is the ability to warp from the floor to the ceiling. Certain enemies are only vulnerable from one direction or the other, so tactical use of jumping between surfaces is key.

It's a great little title and a steal at such a low price, but to be perfectly honest, this isn't the sort of thing that I would play again. Nothing wrong with it, it's just not my kind of jam. However, if this formula looks like fun to you, it's a can't-miss.

Verdict: I Deleted It (although it's definitely a quality title.)


Oozi: Earth Adventure, Episode 1 by AwesomeGames Studio - 80 MS Points ($1.00)

I like platformers and there are a fairly healthy number of them available on XBLI, but very few of them do enough or change up their formulas in order to be interesting past the first few minutes. That is the case here, as well.


The bug-eyed, frozen-smile main character doesn't exactly radiate charisma to me, and jumping through a simple series of platforms while collecting stars made my eyes start to glaze over. The physics of jumping feel little touchy, but the graphics are crisp and nice. I may revisit this one when my son comes back for the summer. It seems like it might be of more interest to kids or younger players, but it's not for me.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


Curse of the Crescent Isle by AdamTheOtaku - 80 MS Points ($1.00)

Speaking of underwhelming platformers, here's another one, although its charm factor is initially high thanks to a visual style and music that hearken back to the early, very rough days of the NES. Anyone old enough to remember Nintendo's debut will likely recall the utterly random sorts of games we got back then, and this one would have very easily fit into that category.


Once my brief wave of faux-nostalgia wore off, I didn't see much to keep my interest. The player takes the main character and basically jumps a lot while picking up enemies and tossing them into other enemies. I didn't see more complexity than that during the free trial period, and none of it was engaging enough to convince me to pony up a dollar.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


Streets of Fury by Cyrille Lagarigue – 240 MS Points ($3.00)

Now this game... this game had my attention. Another mash-up like the first one I wrote about in today's post, Streets of Fury is like the low-budget love child of Final Fight and Mortal Kombat. The graphics are digitized pictures of real people and the animation is every bit as good as what Boon and Tobias gave us in the early days.


However, incredibly hilarious graphics aside (and I mean that in the best possible sense) there is an actual fighting engine here, and it's much more sophisticated than the vast majority of what you can find on the Indie channel. There are several planes of depth on the playfield, each character has different combo strings, and when a Rage meter fills up, the super-powered moves are both screen-clearing and LOL-inducing.

It's a little on the janky side, but the people behind this game clearly had the right idea about what they were doing and were going about it the right way. Shockingly, it even supports four-player co-op, and if you ask me, this game is the perfect recipe for an instant good time.

Verdict: I Bought It.


That's it for Day Four of my Indiefest. Check back tomorrow for the next round of games, and I’ll also do a recap of my favorites (both old and new) at the end of the series.

Games: So, tonight is the third night of my week-long XBL Indiefest. Before we get started, here's...




I've got over three hundred XBLI demos saved up.

(cue dramatic music.)

To clear out my hard drive, I've decided to go through at least three games per night. I'll play the free trial period of each Indie that catches my eye, and at the end of that period, I'm going to give a quick one or two paragraph description of what I saw and then decide on one of three verdicts:

I Bought It, I Deleted It, or Needs Further Investigation.

Also, there are a number of really good games that I've already played, so I'm going to save up mention of those until the end of this Indiefest. The ones I will be covering daily will be titles I've never played before.

So, here's what was on tap for Day Three…


Apple Jack by My Owl Software – 80 MS Points ($1.00)

I don't quite understand the obsession with Suffolk on display, but otherwise, this was quite a pleasant little title. The player takes control of a character with a large apple for a head and the point of gameplay is to pick up enemies and toss them into other enemies, at which point they explode into a shower of coins. Explode all the enemies, collect all the coins, move on to the next level.


The formula is pretty straightforward here, but I appreciated the quality of workmanship and the level of thought put into the design. The developer really took the time to explain the game mechanics thanks to brief tutorial bubbles, and moving the character around felt very intuitive and natural. It's got a good vibe.

Verdict: I Bought It.


The Shadows in the Underworld by Polaris Game Studios - 80 MS Points ($1.00)

I'm a big H.P. Lovecraft fan (yes, I’ve read the stories with a dictionary in hand, I don't just name-check ol’ H.P. for the cool factor) so any game that claims to be inspired by Cthulhu’s creator is already heading in the right direction. However, all good will I may have felt for this title went out the door almost immediately.


In this game, the player takes control of a submarine investigating a ruin in the Antarctic. It's a great premise, but the level design feels very basic and repeats almost immediately. That in itself wouldn't be a big deal, but the way the developers have programmed enemy AI is a complete clusterf***. There is no pleasure or challenge in getting insta-gangbanged by monsters the moment they appear, and dying immediately after each encounter did nothing to convince me that there would be any kind of enjoyable gameplay to be found.

Verdict: I Deleted It.


Cell by 2.0 Studios - 80 MS Points ($1.00)

This title is a bit of an anomaly for me. I don't usually spend much time playing PC games, but I just so happened to meet the folks of Hemisphere Games (developers of Osmos) and I fell in love with their work almost immediately. What can I say? I've got a weakness for titles that feature biology as a theme.

ANYWAY, the formula of Osmos is that the player takes control of a cell that moves around by expelling mass, and the object of play is to consume other cells which are smaller in diameter. The title I’m reviewing right now, Cell? It’s a carbon copy of Osmos.


On the one hand, Cell’s developers have outright stolen the formula, mechanics and even the aesthetics from Hemisphere. It's such a brazen swipe, it's a bit shocking. On the other hand, if I had never known about Osmos (and like I said, it was kind of a random circumstance that I did) I'd be raving about what a brilliant and entertaining game this was -- and really, it is great... it's just stolen from another developer.

Verdict: Needs Further Investigation.


That's it for Day Three of my Indiefest. Check back tomorrow for the next round of games, and I’ll also do a recap of my favorites (both old and new) at the end of the series.