The onslaught of Indie Games continues with a staggering sixteen games in two days! My pick of the bunch are Avatar Ninja!, Bloom * Block, Protect Me Knight and Radiangames JoyJoy but do check out all the games. Don’t forget to leave your thoughts on the games in the comments.
Avatar Ninja! is an action game where your Avatar must run across water avoiding obstacles while collecting coins. Repeated tapping of the A button is required to keep your avatar running and button presses such as Y to jump logs keep the game interesting as the longer you survive the faster paced and harder it becomes. A simple yet fun game with in game online leaderboards which give it that one more go factor as you get close to beating the best. Well worth checking out as it only costs 80 :MSPoints:, more information can be found here.
Avatar Racedrome is an up to two player local and eight player online racing game. Sixteen tracks are available to race on against human or CPU opponents and it seems to be a pretty decent game. Graphics look good and while the handling is a little slippery you do get used to it after a while. It looks to be great value for 80 :MSPoints: so I hope there is plenty of online races! More information can be found here.
Blaster and Amethyst is an arcade shooter. You must travel around the level collecting jewels while shooting enemies off the platforms to kill them. Enemies can also fire back and if hit you will be pushed back, falling off a platform will also result in your death. I found the controls a little fiddly as it uses a single stick to move and aim so you can only fire in the direction you are facing, a twin stick solution would have been perfect. It is not a bad game but I felt the controls let it down. Blaster and Amethyst costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here.
Bloom * Block is a 3D puzzle game where the aim is to walk over a series of blocks to paint them with the aim to cover all the visible sides, stepping on an already painted block will end the game. Presentation and graphics are done very well and the controls work fine. This is a decent puzzle game and should get the brain cells working overtime. Bloom * Block costs 240 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here.
Lamingtons Zero is a simple shooter game. You control two guns, red and blue, and must kill a number of the spawning enemies which come in various guises including enemies that can only be destroyed by a certain gun colour. Graphics are not so great, game play is fun but there appears to be no way to lose which makes the game a little pointless. Lamingtons Zero costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found on page 2.
LOL LOL Kitty Commando is a platform game where you play as LOL LOL Kitty, a weaponized house cat who must destroy a group of Satanic Estate Agents, it’s true! The graphics and animation are done well but I found the game a little tricky as killing enemies seemed to take a bit too long and they will hit you resulting in a swift death. I would have liked to have seen a health system instead of lives. It is not a bad platform game, worth checking out at least. LOL LOL Kitty Commando costs 240 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here.
Loot, Steal & Destroy is a two to four player game which pirates must fight it out against each other to steal gold and other piratey shenanigans. Unfortunately I was unable to play the game as it required two players but I did spend a few minutes listening to the cool song on the menu screen. Judging from the videos it looks like a fun game if you have a few friends spare, could be worth checking out. Loot, Steal & Destroy costs 240 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found on page 2.
Magic Gem is an arcade game in which you must barge your opponents which reduces their health. The graphics are quite basic and the game is very simple to play. It can become quite hectic at times and you can lose your player in the mayhem which is annoying. It is hard to recommend this one even at 80 :MSPoints:. More information can be found here.
Play x Play ! Guitar is a guitar sequencer application. To be honest I have no idea how to play a guitar and there was not much help in the game so I will reserve judgement on this release. Might be useful if you want to compose something and tweak things afterwards? Play x Play ! Guitar costs 80 :MSPoints and more information can be found here.
Protect Me Knight is a part survival game, part tower defence style game. You must protect the princess from the waves of attacking enemies with close combat. To help you in your task you can player tower like obstacles which can be upgraded and slow down the enemy. Graphics are in a 8bit style with some nice retro sounding music. The action is fast paced and there looks to be plenty to do, well worth checking out! Protect Me Knight costs 240 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found on page 2.
Quarantine is a puzzle game that reminds me a little of the arcade games where you must paint an area to uncover the picture in the background. The game plays fairly similar to the arcade genre except instead of uncovering a picture you simply fill in an certain percentage of the screen. The graphics are a little basic but the game plays well enough. If you are fan of the arcade genre this is worth checking out. Quarantine costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here.
Radiangames JoyJoy is a twin stick shooter. The presentation is done very well and the graphics look great, very fluid looking and goes well with the design. There are plenty of power ups and weapons to pick up and you can change between them at any time to deal with the waves of enemies that relentlessly chase you around the screen. Some really good game play and I enjoyed it a lot! radiangames JoyJoy costs 80 :MSPoints: and is a must try. More information can be found here and a trailer on page 2.
Ranger is the latest from hit and miss developers Silver Dollar Games. This game is more in the hit category and sees you playing as an archer who must shoot the waves of incoming enemies. Magic and special weapons can be shot to collect and used against the enemy and they work quite well against them. The graphics are done well with voice overs to liven things up. A fairly good game although your trigger finger may get a little tired after playing for a while 🙂 Ranger costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here.
Rock4U is a puzzle game that requires you to explore the level collecting gems. I found the game a little tricky to play as you have to push items around to lock onto other items in order to remove them and it seemed a little unclear. I think with a little patience this could be an interesting game, maybe worth checking out if you enjoy puzzle style games. Rock4U costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found on page 2.
Zombie Estate is a retro themed survival game which sees you killing waves of Zombies in a fairly large play area. The graphics are very 8bit inspired with pixelated graphics and it actually works quite well. There are 20 weapons to wreak havoc with and the game is fun to play. Another game that is worth checking out as it only costs 80 :MSPoints:. More information can be found here and a trailer can be found on page 2.
Zombie Sniper 3D is a zombie shooting game which sees your character defending against zombies that are wandering around a city. The graphics are not bad but I had issues with the controls which seemed to me to be a little jerky when moving. I know sniping games are quite popular on XBLIG so whatever I say will be ignored 🙂 Give it a try and see if you enjoy it. Zombie Sniper 3D costs 80 :MSPoints: and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found on page 2.
Titles that have received a software update or price change are The Tower: A Bomb’s Climb, Newton Vs The Horde and Pinky vs Blocks.
Trailers for the new releases can be found on page 2.
