The Outsider's View by Russell Carroll

Independent Gaming on the Xbox 360 (November 11, 2005)

This year's IGC had a surprise in store for those participating. At the IGC, and no-where else in the entire US at that time, were several prototypes of the upcoming XBox 360. While looking at games from a distance or checking out screen shots is one thing, playing with the next-gen system provided more than bragging rights. It gave me first-hand opportunity to experience what the 360 is all about. Now of course the media at large is totally ignoring the independent presence on the platform, and who is to blame them? Certainly as good as Marble Blast looks on the 360, but it isn't going to compete visually with Perfect Dark. On the other hand, Perfect Dark in my book immediately goes into the 'Yet another FPS' category, and while it might look great, I'm not likely to give it more than a casual glance.

At the IGC I took opportunity to monopolize the one 360 system connected to a HD TV, playing Wik for more than an hour and playing an additional hour with some of the other titles (I also played a bit on the non HD TVs um...just for comparison!). I've also had the singular experience of playing one of the indie games not on display at the IGC, Outpost Kaloki X. So with that amazing amount of background let me take you for a ride of what my few hours of experience on the system has taught me.

Mutant Storm Reloaded
As Game Tunnel's 2003 Indie Game of the Year Mutant Storm has been an apple in my eye for some time. Some of the first screen shots of any indie game on the XBox 360 were of Pom Pom's Mutant Storm, and they were eye-popping to say the least. Seeing the game in motion was even more amazing...or was that nauseating? Mutant Storm on the 360 maintains the map flips and color changes that make each level seem to be a different level even if you've played it a half-dozen times before. What is added is even better graphics with so much motion occurring in the background of the playing field that I really did get a tinge of my all-too-common motion sickness while watching the game. Playing the game, however, left only left me astounded at how sick the graphics were!

Mutant Storm still plays at a mad pace with frantic movement with a heavy trigger finger standing as the only thing between certain death and the next level. The only negatives I found were that the game play is identical to the original down to the power-ups and the new Xbox controller really didn't work for me.  I've never gotten into the dual-analog gameplay, preferring to map 4 buttons so that I limit myself to firing in 8 directions using the gamepad instead of the nearly infinite directions of analog. I dunno, maybe it comes from growing up playing games like SmashTV and Total Carnage. Anyway, when mapping the buttons I quickly realized that Microsoft physically moved the A,B,X,Y buttons up on the controller, and that using them as a four-way firing pad was awkward and quickly lead to a had cramp and me moving onto the next game. That was certainly a disappointment for me, but since most people playing this game use the analog control I doubt many other people will have a problem with the new location of the buttons.

Marble Blast Ultra
I have to admit I've never been able to get into the Marble Blast games and I spent the least amount of time playing this game out of the 360 titles I tried out (6 in all).  With that said,  I'm sure to miss a few of the improvements due to my own ignorance. I did like the original Marble Blast and the gold version got a pretty decent review here, but I couldn't help but wish I was playing Orbz instead. That aside Marble Blast looks great on the XBox 360. It's clearly using the visual goodness of the Torque Shader engine to make it look absolutely brilliant. The multi-player, connecting over the network was certainly a blast, and unfortunately Marble Blast was the only Indie game I've seen taking advantage of that aspect of the Xbox 360 so far (which again made me wish for an Orbz update). Beyond the improved graphics and the great multi-player mode, Marble Blast has added new power-ups to keep things fresh.

Wik
Wik holds a special place as one of my all-time favorite games, even though I've never been very good at it. The graphics in Wik are pretty much identical to what is on the PC with the only visual change being that the boards are wider. However, a post has been inserted at where the end of the PC board is, so that you don't actually have any more time to finish the levels. In playing Wik I finally came to understand that High Definition is really a marketing term and that anyone believing it is amazing has sold themselves out to big business. The truth is that HD resolution is lower than that of what you'll find on many computer screens. So playing Wik on a HD looks beautiful...in fact it looks identical to the computer version. Playing it on a normal TV...well it looks pretty crappy comparatively. That can also be said for the rest of the 360 titles though, though obviously it does look better than what you've seen on your TV with the current collection of consoles, but for those with nice monitors it becomes a clear step down. But I digress...

Wik ads two major things to the game. First off is multiplayer mode that SADLY I didn't get to play so unfortunately I cannot comment on it . The thing I did get to try out for a bit was the new control scheme. On the PC Wik is played using the mouse and it works splendidly. On the 360 there clearly isn't a mouse, which led to some challenges for development. The new scheme uses the analog stick to move a targeter that you use to target where you will fire out your tongue. Your tongue is done with one of two buttons, one is for catching things, the other for attaching to things so that you can swing. Initially I found the control to be a challenging change, but after playing with it for a bit I believe it will be a much better control scheme as it allows the player to work at a much higher speed while playing the game. As those who have played the game many times know, Wik is best when you are in such control that you can move through it at a blazing speed.

Outpost Kaloki X
Outpost Kaloki was probably the most modified game of all the games that I have played thus far on the Xbox 360. In fact there were so many modifications I'm sure to miss most of them. The game is lifted directly from the PC version, but the graphics are completed revamped and improved to go along with an entirely new control scheme that was modified in moving from the mouse to the controller. Like Wik, this initially provided me a few challenges, but in the end, being able to use the analog stick along with different button combinations leads to being able to play the game at a higher speed, making quicker decisions and responding more quickly to the scenario you are confronting. Speaking of scenarios, the largest change with the game, even bigger than the graphical and control enhancements is the addition of many new scenarios including a completely new storyline. The game has added new scenarios that would have been impossible with the older control scheme such as a defend the base scenario. There is also a set of downloadable scenarios that are set to be released soon after the Xbox 360 launch that offer a different storyline approach than any of the scenarios currently available (I won't spill the beans, but it is definitely different). Of all the games I played Outpost Kaloki seems to have done the best job at integrating the finer aspects of live arcade, such as achievements and future downloads, into the game.


So there you have it, 4 titles that await the world come November 22nd. All in all I think people will be pleasantly surprised when they go online and start checking out the available titles. Getting to them to where they can download the games might be hard, and once people get there, some of them might mistake Geometry Wars by a better known developer as a better game than Mutant Storm due to the pretty graphics despite the game play being hurt severely by those same graphics.  However, in the end the Xbox 360 has the potential to be a big win for indie game developers and I hope it will help further increase the awareness of some of the many great indie titles available.