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August
2006 Indie Game Monthly Round-Up
(by
The Illustrious Panel - TIP) |
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This month's article looks at ten indie titles
including the perhaps Katamari inspired freeware game
The Blob, Kudos, from the same mind as last
year's amazing
Democracy, as well as DevastationZone
Troopers, a 3rd person shooter that lets you redefine your
landscape with your weapons. |
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DevastationZone Troopers
(July 12)
($19.99)
by CGS Software
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Mike Hommel: 9
Devastation, indeed. How can you say no to a game where you get a BFG9000
with unlimited ammo, yet it still provides some (a little.) challenge? It's
great - there are 'lock and key' puzzles in this game, but you can skip them
entirely by vaporizing the walls instead. Pure mindless annihilation. This
game is very very simple and just does one thing, but does it perfectly. I
was going to complain about the dropship section (which is another thing it
does, incidentally), which is tedious. until I found you can buy an
Autopilot to skip it! Brilliant!
Seth Robinson: 8
 This game has you running around shooting robots in generic looking levels.
It plays like a gorgeous 3D Crimsonland. You collect cash to upgrade your
weaponry and by the end you're a virtual tank clearing a swath of glowing
death through not only the enemies, but walls and dirt as well. Anything
that might slow down the action has been removed - you aren't damaged by
explosions, you never get lost, and a good offense is always the best
defense. It's simple. It's primal. It's fun.
Brian Clair: 9
 I was extremely impressed by DZT and have been playing it practically non-stop.
The gameplay harkens back to the heyday of the PC, when you loaded up a title not knowing what to expect and
ended up really surprised by what you found. The level of polish, the presentation, gameplay, sound, the two
different play aspects - it all works wonderfully. About the only negatives I can think of are that the
terrains aren't really varied enough visually and that that the AI can be a little spotty with pathfinding and
detection. You can be in a desert area on one mission and high grass the next, but except for the terrain's
color, they look the same. Don't let this throw you, however, DZT is definitely worth a download.
Russ Carroll: 7
 This 3rd person shooter also has a 3rd person space portion of the game that for my tastes was a little better than the land game, which felt too difficult to control with
my analog joystick. The really cool thing in the game is the ability to blast your way right through walls, creating corridors all around the world that reminded me of the bunkers in Empire Strikes Back. With better play control this game would have scored higher as the visuals, sound and innovation are certainly all up to the task.
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Kudos
(July 14)
($19.95)
by Positech Games
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Mike Hommel: 6
Life is hard. That is the lesson I have learned. Your friends get
sick of your crap, you have a bad day at work nearly every day, you make
virtually no money, you're a total slob, and nobody wants to hire you
as an actor. I feel like this should be a fun game, but it's been balanced
to suck all the fun out - you're constantly slogging along, broke and
unhappy, with just the tiniest incremental gains. It's one big ball of
negative feedback feeding on itself. That may be Cliffski's life, but it's
not mine! I'm a world-renowned internet game critic! It's just not fun
when 95% of the options in the game are out of your reach for most of the
game.
Seth Robinson: 6
This is a life-simulator that puts numerical values on skills, happiness,
and friendship. I like it. However, the experience was marred for me (as
of v1.09a at least) due to save game errors, a crash, and the worst, weird
slow downs that require a fix to restart. Even with the sorry-ass technical
state this was released in I have to give this game props; it causes you to
look at your own life in a new way.
Brian Clair: 8
Kudos is a nice indie-take on the success of the Sims-dominant life-simulation genre that's become
so popular. While not graphics heavy like the Maxis franchise, Kudos proves to be just as addictive without so
much meaningless fluff thrown in. I would like to see a few more activities and shopping items added at some
point in the future to flesh things out here. Also, it would be nice if the Kudos system was used for more
than just a social popularity meter.
Russ Carroll: 8
The first few years of your life in this sim are really tough! I felt like a total loser, manic
depressive who no-one wanted to hang out with and who sucked at their job. But, I was into the game enough that I wasn't about to give up. Little by little things started getting better,
though it wasn't until I realized I could click on my books and they would help get me a better start to the following day that things really took off for me (who knew the secret to getting your life going was reading books!?). Once you get a feel for the variety of what you can really do in the game it leads to wanting to give it another go and see what you can make of yourself (maybe the drunk guitar playing hero is your thing?). I did run into some interface quirks, but I really enjoyed the style and found myself returning to the game multiple times during the month and getting sucked in
deep each time.
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Dylo's Adventure
(June 9)
($19.95)
by South Winds Games
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Mike Hommel: 7
What first appears to be yet another of the tiresome zero-action kiddy
platformers we see all the time here quickly ramps up into an intense orgy
of pain. It's tough! Okay, it's not super tough. But don't be fooled by
the looks, this is a serious gaming challenge. Some of the controls are a
little off, like the delay when you jump, but it's got some gameplay going
for it.
Seth Robinson: 5
This colorful scrolling platformer (more sloping ground than platform I
suppose) that lets you attack animals, insects, and aliens. What's with the
controls? If you jump while running, you do a glorious jump. If you jump
stationary or not quite up to speed, you do this pathetic little bunny hop
that lands you in the drink every time. Dylo indeed. Sure, the game looks
sweet and blandly innocent but that's really a pretty evil thing to do.
Brian Clair: 6
Dylo's Adventure is a straightforward platformer, with a focus towards younger players. Unfortunately, younger gamers who may be initially enthralled by Dylo's Adventure will likely soon succumb to the pitfall of most platform games - frustration. As is typical for this genre, there is a lot of jumping on each level, which if not done correctly often means instant death. Toss in the lack of mid-mission continue points and pretty soon you're not having much fun by replaying the same level over and over.
Russ Carroll: 5
Those of us who struggle with motion on the screen really can do without the auto-focusing that puts more of the screen in front of you as you move fast by simply placing your character near the back of the screen, only to
move you back towards the middle of the screen as you slow down.
Nausea caused by the constant re-positioning of the screen
aside, Dylo is a simple and nice platformer with multiple levels of parallax backgrounds and aliens to throw rocks at. Probably a nice games for the kids
(though notably it may be too difficult them) but it wasn't my cup of tea.
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Shlongg
(July 2)
($19.95)
by NotSoft
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Mike Hommel: 5
This is not on the top of my breakout list. Problems: The graphics are
horrendous, there are many technical problems, most game elements are
inexplicable (on the first level, there's a sparkly star that floats around
and chases your ball sometimes. with no effect!), the tunnel levels are
totally pointless and filled with random objects of varying evilness based
on whether they are ugly or not (a challenge to discern, since they're all
ugly), and I can't even come up with a joke about the title. This is really
the product of a deranged mind that just kept tossing things in until he
decided to call it done. Kind of like my games!
Seth Robinson: 5
The phallic innuendo in this 3D brick breaker is fine by me but what didn't
work is a paddle that uses acceleration and momentum making the controls
feel clunky and unresponsive, even with the turbo power-up. Muddy and
confused visuals (I dub thee the "random vertex color" look), mediocre
audio, and excruciatingly boring periods after you get the accursed "slow
ball" power-up keep me from getting into this, despite the neat tunnel
effect.
Brian Clair: 3
Marketing must have been on vacation when this game was named. Shlongg is a 3D breakout clone with a space-invasion based theme. While I appreciate that the developer fleshed out some insectoid storyline here and added some nifty black hole portal effects, the presentation leaves much to be desired. Perhaps with better graphics/audio, a better name, and a lot more polish, this title may have made more of an impact.
Russ Carroll: 6
An ok Breakout/Arkanoid game that's brightest point might be the transport system between levels that plays something like Stun Runner. However, I never could see why there was a playable transport system other than to break up the
monotony of breaking bricks (which gets REALLY monotonous in this
game). I managed to lose and thereby break the tutorial by losing my ball, which if nothing else was
really funny ("I can't even win in the flippin' tutorial!"). Graphics and sound didn't really work for me, though I love watching people try to create stories around why your ship must bounce balls off of it in order to save the galaxy.
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Virtual Villagers
(July 15)
($19.95)
by Last Day of Work
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Mike Hommel: 7
I mostly like this game, but it has one major downfall which is its big
gimmick as well - the "real-time" gameplay. If this was just a game you sat
down and played, it would be very fun, trying to take care of the villagers
and find all the secret stuff. But the way it is, it's just frustrating
every time you start something up and then have to go do something else for
five hours while it finishes. The concept was a good one for a fish tank
(Fish Tycoon), very appropriate. Very wrong for this theme, I think.
Seth Robinson: 7
You know, it was kind of cute when in Fish Tycoon you could spend all day
forcing guppies to breed so you could sell them; now that humans are the
subject it's a bit incestuous and creepy. Procreation on the whole isn't
the focal point however, (it doesn't seem to keep track of genetics or a
family tree) so what's left is checking in daily to see if your villagers
have enough research points to buy something new. Despite the tiny people
not actually doing much I still recommend checking this, like a fish tank,
it's strangely relaxing.
Brian Clair: 6
Here we have a game that nearly plays itself - literally. In Virtual Villagers the player really only needs to take a minor management role after the society gets going on its own. In fact, while the player may only pop in once or twice a day to see how things are progressing, the village continues in real-time (virtually speaking). I came home after work to find that my villagers had built a new hut and gotten frisky, exploding the population while I was away. However, it's this "hands-off" approach that makes Virtual Villagers more of a
curiosity than a game. There really very little for you to do, and while you can just sit watching your people going about their business, it's quite tedious since things happen slowly. I would really only recommend Virtual Villagers to those who can pop in every few hours or who only want a now-and-then gaming experience.
Russ Carroll: 9
Wow! Really one of the most fun games I've played in some time, Virtual villagers is the spiritual successor to last year's impressive Fish Tycoon. This game takes that one much further
with a larger array of controls over your dominion (in this case a village of ship-wrecked castaways who are trying to survive). Villagers are literally dragged to different spots on the board to encourage them to interact with the environment (and each other). It feels something like a
simpler, more enjoyable Black & White (though notably different from
that game...I only list B&W for those afraid to try anything unlike what they are used to playing). Solid music,
game-driving random events, and multiple levels of character interaction were put together in a nice package that I think just about anyone
should really get into.
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Avast!
(June 15)
($19.95)
by Primate Games
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Mike Hommel: 5
Truly, I didn't enjoy this game at all, but not because it was horribly
done. Rather, it's a major chore. It's extremely luck based, and the
interface is really awkward, making it harder and slower to play than it
should be. The chore comes in as you keep getting rolls of the dice that
send you back and forth, hoping and hoping to get to the one spot you need
to reach. It's very much a board game, but one where you have to scroll the
board around to see it all. It's well made (except for the jerky
scrolling), it's just that they made the wrong thing well.
Seth Robinson: 7
Avast! has a very board game feel, possibly because I spent most of the time
waiting for my turn. I wish I could move that speed slider, oh, I don't
know, ten times farther? Despite that, I really enjoyed this. There are a
nice variety of 'effect' cards to be drawn and played that really add some
spice to things. I could see the multiplayer mode (up to four players, by
taking turns on the same machine) being a blast. Got a bit tedious on maps
with tiny passages.
Brian Clair: 5
I was not able to really get into Avast!, which plays too much like a board game than a release for the PC. Gameplay consists of rolling three six-sided dice and then moving your fleet of ships around a grid-based map to complete some objective. These can range from surrounding a goal with your ships, to wiping out an enemy fleet (by ending one of your vessel's moves on an enemy). Unfortunately, I found myself often shifting my ships pointlessly around the map waiting for the proper dice combination to pop up. Even with the power-ups that helped to speed things up somewhat, it just wasn't a fun experience for me.
Russ Carroll: 5
This is a dice based strategy game. Honestly that explains a lot for me. I'm not a big fan of the randomness that I feel playing Risk, and though this game is NOTHING like that one, I like to feel more in control of the outcome of the games that I play. Avast has a nice variety of power-ups that help it tremendously, but a slightly wonky control, too small map, and a sense of tediousness make the game fall short of what it could be in my book, though notably I think dice lovers will probably enjoy it. I didn't get into rolling and re-rolling until I finally got the right
set of rolls to finish the level and move onto the next one.
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The Blob
(June 24)
(freeware)
by Banana Games
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Mike Hommel: 8
I wish I could rate this higher, because it's frankly awesome. The reason
it doesn't rate a 9 is that there is no save feature, and the first
(presumably only) level is so massive that you're not likely to ever finish
it. This in effect keeps it from even really being a game - there's
effectively no goal, since the goal isn't reasonably attainable. But as
something fun to try out, it's highly highly recommended (if you're on
broadband.). It is chock full of paint-splashing fun.
Seth Robinson: 8
GTA meets Katamari? Here we have another ball rolling game but it sets
itself apart with intuitive controls, giant levels, awesome map system, and
stunning visuals. This innovative freebie let's you bounce around a real
Dutch town and paint buildings. The longevity is a little thin (only one
town, one set of goals) but it's such a cool experience that I strongly
recommend giving it a go if you've got a decent graphics card.
Brian Clair: 8
The Blob is a nice breath of fresh air and nicely hits the target of originality. As a big colorless blob, gamers must absorb citizens of various colors to take on their attributes, and you can even mix colors in this way. Each time you hit a vehicle or building, it takes on your current color, with the goal to colorize 50 specific buildings to select hues. Of course, that alone would be boring, so there's the black ink police to ruin your day. The graphics here are really nicely done and I love the concept. The only drawbacks are the sometimes misbehaved camera system and the fact that you can get stuck in parts of the city. I had to start over a promising game because I'd become wedged between some tracks and couldn't get loose.
Russ Carroll: 8
It's free and it's fun. Not much needed to be said beyond that. I could mention Katamari, painting the town or the fun of unlocking new parts of the city after you paint the land marks, or even how inexplicably enjoyable
it is to run over little people who are red, blue and yellow in order to color yourself,
all the while watching the people flail their arms as you move about
smashing into buildings, cars, trains, trees and just about everything else, coloring
everything as you go, but that would be one really long run-on
sentence. I could also point out that if we tried I'm sure we could probably
find some deep metaphorical meaning in the game, but instead let me
just reiterate, this game is fun and it's free. Go get it!
You have NO reason not to and plenty of reasons to pick it up.
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Fashion Fable
(July 20)
($19.99)
by Creatrix Games
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Mike Hommel: 7
Pollen popsicle, this game has an insipid story! Pardon my language. I
know the game's not aimed at my sort, but I think it insults the
intelligence of, well, anyone. It's a very accomplished match-3 with good
metagame elements that push you forward to play more. Is it fun? No, it's
a match-3. But when you have enough metagame, who needs gameplay? There
are tons of different play objects, but it doesn't matter, since it's 99%
luck (although it's almost impossible to lose, so the luck is in your
favor).
Seth Robinson: 6
A color swapper with a dress-up-the-dolly sub game. Huh. The story and
dialog are truly bizarre. The gameplay is good; at times it can really
flow. Red and pink look a tad too similar; also, the variety of shapes
caused my feeble brain to miss a few matches. What's with the weird spacing
in the small font? Why wouldn't my power-ups work until I restarted the
game? In the competitive world of polished match threes I have to say this
fails to impress, unless you happen to really love buying shoes and panda
bears.
Brian Clair: 7
Fashion Fable uses the tried and true match-3 system, but is designed specifically for female gamers (your character is a fashion designer who's cloth has become enchanted and turned into imps). The play experience is about what you'd expect for a match-3 title, so no surprises there. What's interesting is that the player can purchase and design new outfits as they progress, even changing the various pieces' colors. Unfortunately, purchasing and designing outfits has no effect on gameplay, and I found the storyline to be confusing (maybe chalk that up to being a guy). Despite this, Fashion Fable is extremely polished in its presentation and is certainly worth a look by women players.
Russ Carroll: 8
It's a match 3 game, but there is a lot more to say. You work through a
bizarre and quirky story that is entertaining due to its strangeness, building up a
wardrobe as you play through level after level. Dressing up your avatar with your winnings is really half the game, and though my daughter was really into that part, I wasn't quite as enthralled. The match 3 mechanic has a twist as the pieces will stay in place for a moment after you make a match, giving you a chance to create additional matches BEFORE the combos start happening. Doing so gets you speed points, which was a lot of fun, but the small boards and increased number of pieces as you moved further into the game took away that fun as you progressed past the first dozen levels. If you don't play to at least level 15 you don't really know much about the game as that is the first of the piece and
wardrobe theme changes, each change is rather dramatic adding depth to
this quirky game.
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Grass Roots
(Junly 7)
($14.99)
by MDickie.com
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Mike Hommel: 7
MDickie is at it again. On the plus side, this has a fun arcade soccer
feel. It's also nice to see a game featuring characters with Down's
Syndrome. A brave choice. On the minus side, it's not big on tutorials.
It's fun when playing, but setting up the training and stuff for your team
can get really tiresome (with big load times between each character as
well). This game would actually be a lot better without any of that - if it
were just the arcade soccer.
Seth Robinson: 6
Soccer gets the MDickie treatment. If you've ever played one of his games,
you know that means 3D lego-ish characters and bombastic pro-wrestling
attitude applied to whatever the subject is. Adjustable game speed is a
great idea, although I still spent way too long waiting for the AI to get
balls. Never felt fully at home with the controls. I think his stuff is
getting better.
Brian Clair: 6
Before I started playing Grass Roots I thought it was your typical soccer simulation; boy was I wrong. The developer's done something very cool here by implementing an actual "campaign" mode complete with storyline, player-to-player one-on-one dialogs and more. It's pretty funny when you start and instead of jumping straight into a soccer match, instead you're treated to some trash talk between your character and the leader of the opposing team. Since I'm not a soccer fan, I can't really speak to the simulation aspects of Grass Roots other than to say that the pathfinding could use some work (in one game, the goalie couldn't find their way past the goal) for instance.
Russ Carroll: 7
It's certainly not
New Star Soccer 3, but at the same time it's much better than most of the drivel that passes for soccer games these days on the consoles. Pluses include the NBA Street feel of becoming the king of the soccer world one country's court
(does a construction site count as a pitch?) at a time (and notably EA could take some good lessons from Grass Roots on how to provide VARIETY in the game instead of just doing the same dang thing over and over again). The play is a bit easier than
Wrestling Encore, but some short-comings in the AI and some slow pacing detached me from what could have been a near-perfect experience.
Working with players on and off your team in such a personal manner definitely is something that everyone should try out irregardless of what you think of the graphics.
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Plasma Spheres 3D
(July 10)
($20.00)
by Abnormal Software
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Mike Hommel: 4
This is one of those games made by the guys who made it, for the guys
who made it, and their college buddies, to play on a LAN while drinking Dr.
Smooth all night long. It's completely unintuitive, overcomplicated,
unpolished, and just nuts. As far as I can tell, the multiplayer completely
fails on my 56k modem - you can play it, but shots go through things
(including things that aren't moving), etc. The single player is a painful
affair of falling off of things and restarting the level. But boy, I bet
they have fun on their LAN with it!
Seth Robinson: 5
Who knew a ball rolling game could be this complicated? This thing has a
ton of weird items like growth pills, smokescreen, and jump jets. It isn't
much to look at (or listen to), but the net play worked great. Why can't I
turn faster with mouse look? Hard to quickly look behind you. Is the lack
of polish redeemed by the included level editor and multiplayer wackiness?
Maybe. But I'd rather have it all.
Brian Clair: 6
Plasma Spheres 3D didn't really impress me, though I was never into the marble madness craze. Guiding a plain looking sphere around a maze without getting done in by other orbs just doesn't appeal to me.
Russ Carroll: 5
You want me to use Caps Lock in the game as one of the keys? Really!? This is a game that suffers from some graphic and game play issues. The game play problems come from having just too many buttons. There are some cool weapons in the game, but having to remember a dozen keyboard keys takes away from the coolness of the ideas. The rudimentary 3D graphics also feel weak compared to the very similar, but MUCH better Marble Blast series. All in all this is a nice little game, but there are similar games that are better.
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The
Illustrious Panel:
Mike Hommel -
Hamumu
Mike Hommel is known for his hilarious and bizarre games.
Though his site claims that all his games are just 'dumb fun' you'll
find that they are some of the more interesting games around, and will
eat hours away from your life without you realizing where they all
went.
Seth Robinson -
Robinson Technologies
Seth has spent the last fourteen years making odd games, including
designing and programming many independent titles such as the BBS hit
Legend Of The Red Dragon, the multiplayer Flash based web game Funeral
Quest, IGF finalists Teenage Lawnmower and Dungeon Scroll and the cult
classic RPG Dink Smallwood.
Brian Clair- Total
Gaming.net
Brian Clair was the publisher/editor of the Adrenaline Vault website
for more than nine years before moving to Stardock Entertainment in
early 2005. He currently runs the games publishing division for
Stardock Entertainment and is always on the look-out for the next big
hit.
Russ Carroll - Game Tunnel
Russell's first taste of action in the Independent Games industry came
doing visuals and some audio work on several independent games for
BCSoft games. While so doing he became aware of the need for a Game
News and Review website dedicated to Indie games and launched Game
Tunnel in 2002 to fill the void. |
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By: The Illustrious Panel Posted: Sunday August 20, 2006
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