In this round up of Indie Game reviews we take a look at Avatar Karate and the vertical shooter Zap Zap: Pew Pew.
Avatar Karate
[nggtags gallery=AvatarKarate]
Avatar Karate is an arena style beat em up which you can play in single player versus CPU or with three other friends either locally or online. In the single player mode, twenty opponents are unlocked as you beat them and each come with their own Avatar style often imitating famous characters such Dr. Spock. There are four locations to unlock as you progress through the ranks including an Urban City, Playground and an Ancient Dojo.
Combat is not great, it leads to more of a button bashing exercise rather than a strategic game such as Street Fighter or Tekken. There are eight button combinations for moves including roundhouse kicks and jump kick manoeuvres. You will often spend most of your time punching and kicking and taking advantage of the opponent who often faces the wrong way.
Graphically the game is not bad, the usage of Avatars rather than own characters brings up the graphics quality. The locations are in 3D and are fairly well drawn. Worth noting is the support of anaglyph stereoscopic glasses (red/green, red/cyan etc) which has mixed results. I could not see much of a difference to be honest, this may have been due to location designs and nothing to give the game more depth.
Avatar Karate costs 80 :MSPoints: so the pricing is fair. As a single player game there are quite a few opponents to beat which will take some time. There is more strength in the local online multiplayer modes (if you can find anyone to play against), with four characters on screen it leads to a more entertaining experience. Give the trial a go if you are interested in the single player mode, if you are leaning towards playing the multiplayer mode I would say it is worth considering a purchase.
More information on Avatar Karate as well as the trial and full versions of the game can be found on the Marketplace.
Zap Zap: Pew Pew
[nggtags gallery=ZapZapPewPew]
Zap Zap: Pew Pew is a vertical scrolling shooter with some twists. The 24 levels are not your traditional shooter where levels can last a few minutes before reaching a boss. Instead they last from anything between 20 to 60 seconds, with entire levels consisting of a boss. It leads to some interesting gameplay styles which is something different to the norm. The game can be tricky at times as you learn the patterns of the enemy waves and the bosses. If you run out of lives you can choose to start from any previously completed level.
At times the game feels almost like a puzzle shooter as new enemies are introduced which have to be destroyed in different ways. Mines can be dropped and tractor beams can be used to grab enemies and throw them at others or destroy otherwise impossible to pass walls. Bosses usually have certain weak spots which require some thought to kill, for example one can only be got at by placing mines behind it, you must dodge his bullets, make it behind the boss, drop the mines and quickly return to the front before you smash into a wall. The changes in the gameplay style keep the game feeling interesting as you never quite know what is coming next.
The graphics will not win any awards and are quite basic. They can be forgiven as it gives the game a retro feel, the presentation could have been made better as it is very basic with a plain text design. The music is quite basic and may grate on you after a while. Sound effects are minimal as you would expect with a shooter, they are your standard shooter style effects. I would have liked to have seen a proper scoreboard with the number of levels completed and their scores as it would have improved the replayability. There is support for two players co-op which does add some replayability and is actually quite fun as you can use team tactics to dispatch some enemies more efficiently
Zap Zap: Pew Pew costs 80 :MSPoints: which is fair value for money. The 24 levels will take around a hour to complete which will likely be split over many retries. A few tweaks in places would have greatly helped improve the game but there is still enough to warrant a purchase. It is a fun shooter with enough twists to make it stand out from the many others.
More information on Zap Zap: Pew Pew as well as the trial and full versions of the game can be found on the Marketplace.
0
