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March
2006 Indie Game Monthly Round-Up
(by
The Illustrious Panel - TIP) |
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Aveyond
(January 18)
($18.00)
by Amaranth Games
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Mike Hommel: 7
 Classic old-school console RPG. with all the same pluses and minuses.
An added minus is that the difficulty is completely off the wall. Every
enemy you come across is either able to kill you in two attacks, or
literally incapable of doing damage to you. So you spend all your time
sneaking around the unbeatables to get to the harmless free XP. It is nice
that you can sneak around battles, though. The random difficulty is a major
black mark against this otherwise decent game.
Seth Robinson: 8
 After putting six hours into this console-style RPG I've barely scratched
the surface, it's that big! Beautiful pixel art, amazing musical score, and
interesting story make this a winner. The close-up portraits are a bit
disconcerting in contrast to the overall cute style. The portrait of the
heroine you control has an uncanny resemblance to Cindy Lauper. A definite
download.
Mike Kasprzak: 8
 This might be nostalgia talking, but I had a lot of fun with this one.
In fact, after I'm done my write up's here, I think I'm going back to
try to beat the game. The controls are a tad clunky and slow. They
really should be more responsive than they are. However, after getting
6 hours in to the game, I guess they're passable. It's your average
story of a girl with hidden magic powers who becomes a hero, in a very
Final Fantasy 3/6'ish style game. In some additional research I did
(aka. cheating), I saw some RPG maker mentioned. I don't know a lot
about these maker programs, but there is some good consistency to the
art direction, music quality, and all that, so it looks to me to be a
genuinely well produced one. If you've got that soft spot for a
nostalgic RPG experience, check it out.
Russ Carroll: 9
 This intense RPG would certainly be at home with the better RPG games on the Game Boy Advance. An amazingly deep game with an engaging story that will quickly draw you into the game, it made my hours of play pass in a moment as I traveled about the backroads of Aveyond's
huge areas. The pixel art is first rate and the overall game
experience is quite unlike any other indie RPG I've played. Absolutely
Epic! |
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Atomic Battle Dragons
(February 14)
($19.95)
by Isotope 244
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Mike Hommel: 5
The gameplay in this Joust clone is just off enough to be annoying. Your
dragon can gain altitude very quickly by flapping its wings, but moves
horizontally very slowly, and accelerates and decelerates slower still, so
even when you do have a vaguely decent top speed (via level ups and
power-ups), it just makes it harder to control. Nothing else particularly
stands out - there's a storyline, but since it's just a series of Joust
levels with no map or choices, the story is merely filler between the
levels. RPG elements are the same - you can level up and assign points, but
they don't seem to matter much, and if you set them up badly, you're stuck
because you can't go back and level up more.
Seth Robinson: 6
Like me, you've probably always wondered what would happen if you took the
simple concept of Joust and created a full fledged single player game out it
including level raises, skill distribution, and of course, bosses. Love the
beautiful smooth animations and neat remounting mechanic. Don't like the
way clichéd story, game hints that disappear too fast to read and repetitive
music. What's the point of an arcade mode if there is no score keeping or
multiplayer? Not bad at all.
Mike Kasprzak: 6
I promise, I won't say Joust. Oh... drat. But yeah, it's certainly
inspired by it. Actually, probably too inspired. You have this big
long lance whilst riding your dragon, and you can visually stab your
enemies with it. But, it does *nothing*, and you get hurt. Come on!
If you haven't played or can't remember Joust, the point of the game is
actually to bop the enemies on the head. So in fact, Joust has very
little to do with jousting. The game plays alright and has some
interesting things to it. When you're hit, you fall off your dragon and
run around on foot. Some levels have you starting this way. There's
also some mounted weapons you can use on foot, but they don't seem to be
too useful since enemies just re-spawn. It's an alright game.
Russ Carroll: 8
Imagine joust with an RPG feel and stunningly better graphics and you get Atomic Battle Dragons. Strangely the combination really seems to work in a magical way with far superior play control compared to classic Joust making the game more enjoyable to play
than the classic. Being able to dismount your dragon is alright, but once you become aware of how vulnerable you are off mount you won't spend much time there. On the
other hand, breathing fire is a blast! Would have liked a few more Dragon weapons, though honestly that may have detracted from what is already an entertaining and visually amazing adventure that kept me playing on just so I could see the art on the next level. |
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Fun Freight
(February 12)
($19.99)
by Cryptcode Games
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Mike Hommel: 5
The title of this game appears to be a misnomer. Anyway, it's not really a
clone of Zuma, but obviously inspired by it. and then taken about 5
steps too far. Too much going on to actually have fun with this game,
simultaneously trying to capture new balls and fire the ones you've got. It's
all very overwhelming. It's like on I Love Lucy, when Lucy and Ethel were
trying to keep up with the conveyor belt in the chocolate factory. Only you
don't just get to watch them suffer, you are Ethel.
Seth Robinson: 5
This color shooter easily avoids being a Puzz Loop/Zuma clone by adding lots
of new stuff. The only problem is the new stuff just flat out isn't fun.
For example, the combo system: It requires mostly luck (getting the ball you
want) instead of skill. Needing to rotate (and only in one direction) to
collect balls as a secondary mechanic just feels like work. All the
ingredients are here but this needs to go back in the oven for a while.
Mike Kasprzak: 4
Bad Zuma? Well, it's not exactly like a Zuma, but it's the same general
idea. Carts follow a path, and you have to shoot them as they rotate
around you. But to make things more of a pain, you can't shoot until
you've caught a colored ball. Colored balls fly in from the sides, and
you need to catch them by spinning your colored base to expose the
matching color to the side the colored ball is coming in from. It is as
complicated as it sounds, and as fun. I really don't know what
compelled me to stick around until level 11. To see the new shape of
the track? Uhh, I think I need to be checked out... or checked in.
Russ Carroll: 7
This probably was both the most difficult game to categorize and to score this month. My initial thought was that it was a boring puzzle game with an action component, but the reality is that this is an exciting action shooter that requires quick reactions and lots of concentration. Players must fire colored balls very accurately at their matching moving targets while also rotating their turret base to catch new balls as they come in. It may sound simple, but the speeds at which the game plays at makes it a very difficult task that will test any gamer's skill. Unfortunately you can only rotate your base one direction which in my estimation is the only thing that keeps it
from being a truly stellar experience, but even as is, when everything is working on-screen it will definitely put you into a gamer zone that you won't want to leave. |
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Finlay's Fathom
(February 1)
($14.99)
by Coral Tree Productions
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Mike Hommel: 6
Crazy... it's a Diablo clone, except you're a dolphin, "saving" your friends
through bubble-based interventions. There are a few things that really
knock this game back from greatness: really confusing skill/magic system
that is totally unexplained in the missing manual, almost illegible item
descriptions which are hard to choose between thanks to that missing manual,
really bad click detection making smashing crates and collecting items
painful, and an obnoxious lobster you can't avoid clicking on half the time
as he zips around you (who will happily hand out free sea grass by the
boatload in one mission as you frantically click him on accident). If this
game were polished up, I daresay it would be truly great. But right now,
mediocre is about where I'd peg it.
Seth Robinson: 5
This game appears to be a casual level-based arcade game with the standard
progress map and simple goals like "find all five crates" but you soon
realize there is also a Diablo-ish skill and item system in there too. This
could be neat but it comes out a confused mishmash for several reasons: Poor
GUI, poor docs/tutorial, polish problems all around: Unreadable text in
many situations, after destroying enemies they still hang around confusing
the playfield, the goals are not marked on your mini-map, and frustratingly,
sometimes hidden under things. Few more iterations of design needed.
Mike Kasprzak: 5
A day in the life of a dolphin park ranger. Except, it's not a park
he's ranging, it's the ocean. Okay. Some jerk-store dropped crates
full of toxic waste in the ocean. My lobster friend decides I'm the
fish for the job. I'm gonna clean up this town. Oh no! The toxic
waste is also an evil mind control agent. It's turned our penguin
friends against us. Even the harmless rocks are out to get us, shooting
dangerous poisonous needles. It's good thing I can just eat small fish
to recover from poison. All in a days work. Yeah, the concept seems
more fun than the game.
Russ Carroll: 6
WOW! I have to say I was in no way prepared for this. Finlay's Fathom is a hack'n'slash adventure...without the the hacking and slashing. The RPG feel is certainly kept with special treasure items that you find and equip on your dolphin to increase your abilities
in addition to experience points and levels (the later of which allow you to develop your dolphin's abilities many
different areas). Still probably too difficult for non-RPG fans to be able to appreciate, but if you are an RPG fan looking for
something COMPLETELY different, this is it! |
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Speedy
(February 16)
($19.95)
by Injoy Games
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Mike Hommel: 6
There is very little to this game. it's just a really simple card game that
you'd enjoy a lot more playing against a human being. It's frustrating when
so often you fail to play a card because of the interface (couldn't drag it
fast enough), but the same would happen with real cards a lot more often, so
that's okay. I finished all the content in this game in under half an hour,
but it's more like Solitaire (in many ways!), a simple challenge to play
over and over. I won't, because it's about speed more than thinking, and
the aforementioned frustration, but if you like the game, it's worthwhile.
Seth Robinson: 5
A competent if somewhat sterile rendition of the classic card game Speed.
But I'm left nonplussed in the same way I would be if playing a $20
Tic-Tac-Toe. It's more a question of why; vanilla Speed just isn't that
entertaining against a computer but I suppose it's useful to train on to
beat your live opponents. Just not quite enough personality or sparkle to
keep me interested, especially when I have to win five times in a row to
make any progress. Clutters your registry even after uninstall with fifteen
"SexyAppFramework" values and keys.
Mike Kasprzak: 8
Oh wow. I might be exaggerating a bit with my score, but I actually
really enjoyed this game. And you're going to hate me for it. It's an
incredibly simple card game. All you do, is as quickly as you can, pull
an adjacent card from your hand and place it on one of 2 piles. So if
one pile has a 7, you can put a 6 or 8 on it. That simple. The goal of
the game is to simply empty your hand. Wow, and look at the score I'm
giving it! Refreshing simplicity. That's what I'm call this psychotic
episode. Dolled up with a simple and effective little car gimmick of a
theme, and quality music. Oh yes.
Russ Carroll: 6
Speedy is a well-made game that seems to be brimming with fun. Taking speed
solitaire and giving it a race theme to bring the quick play focus even closer to home, Speedy seemed to be racing for an above average score. Unfortunately the game crashes into a wall with the implementation. In Speedy both you and your computer opponent have to play through the 22 cards that you have
by increasing or decreasing the two available cards on the table with
one of your available cards. This often leads you getting far ahead of the computer opponent only to have to stop and wait with one card left that you cannot play, and watching as the computer catches all the way up and it becomes a matter of turning over the right card for you to win. Random luck games have never thrilled me and this one didn't convert me. |
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Jewel of Atlantis
(January 10)
($19.95)
by Enkord
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Mike Hommel: 7
As match-3's go, this one is just like all the others! The best thing here
is the power-up system, where the shape and size of match you make earns you
bonuses that do a lot of damage (a simpler version of the same is in Wonderlines). This gives you more
strategy and sense of control. But it's
still totally mindless gem-swapping. The variety of different 'goals' is
nice too, even if they all amount to the same thing in the end. It kept my
interest better than many match-3s, but yes, it's more of the same!
Seth Robinson: 7
Atlantis theme + match three swap, you knew it was bound to happen at some
point. This reminds me of Big Kahuna Reef but faster paced and sporting a
cool cannon effect. Instead of fish to collect, you've got your static
relics. I'm removing a point for being too derivative but it still scores
well because the implementation is excellent; the small details like
supporting mouse-drag and allowing full control during combos will insure
this is a hit with the match three addicts out there.
Mike Kasprzak: 5
Yes, it's just like Jewel Quest... but in ATLANTIS!!! OK, it plays more
like Big Kahuna Reef, as you don't have to clear the entire board to
win. It has some really bad user feedback when it comes to the
selection/swapping. You click, move your mouse in the direction you
want swap, and can sit there comfortably with the mouse button down.
And it does nothing... that is, until you finally release the button.
Sure, it's nit-picky complaint, but honestly, what else do these games
have? Alright, over JQ and BKR, it adds bombs. And they explode!
Clearing blocks for you! And there's treasure! Oh boy!
Russ Carroll: 7
A really solid match three. It is reminiscent of Big Kahuna Reef and will likely do well at all the major portals. There is nothing to complain about really and the presentation is certainly above average, making it an above average match three, which is great, but other than some mindless clicking, it didn't really capture my attention. I would also rather have not heard the sound effects from the far superior, but underappreciated
Clash'N'Slash used in this game. For whatever reason that felt like selling out. |
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Frasse and the Peas of Kejick
(February 4)
(Freeware)
by Trumgottist Entertainment
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Mike Hommel: 7
A classic graphic adventure with a really nice interface for interacting
with objects (well, really the same interface as any graphic adventure, but
the idea of using your character as the set of icons is amusing). The dual
character system is good too, with each character bringing his own set of
skills to the table. As you would expect, the puzzles generally make no
sense at all, and I achieved what victory I did (getting stuck just after
the color maze) via clicking every single action with every single item on
every single object in every scene. Classic.
Seth Robinson: 7
Frasse and the Peas of Kejick is a free quirky adventure game that pays
homage to classics like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island. The puzzles are
neat and refreshingly different, the interesting characters and subtle humor
make this a treat for adventure fans like me. Warning, there are some quite
difficult puzzles so don't be surprised if you're forced to ask for tips on
a forum somewhere. Quite good.
Mike Kasprzak: 7
An interesting little adventure game. It has some awkward puzzles, or
maybe I was just in the wrong mood for them. The Tetris blocks one at
the beginning I totally didn't expect. And the color caves, that one's
just silly. Still, I enjoyed it. The art's a little rough, but I think
I like it. Almost a Hagar thing going on with the art style, or at
least there's enough Viking to make me think there is. Not bad.
Russ Carroll: 8
Frasse is pretty cool! I was really impressed by this point and click adventure game that checks in as our only freeware title this month. The interplay between the two main characters leads to a lot of different ways to approach each situation either to your joy or
madness depending on what you think of adventure games. The interface is simple and intuitive, though notably the way it is set-up makes it a little less responsive than I would like in some situations. For the gamer on a budget this is a definite weekend killer that you
should take the time to play and come to appreciate. |
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Commando Xenidis
(February 20)
($12.75)
by Magic Storm
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Mike Hommel: 4
Oh, the menus! If you try to start playing, it will tell you no, you have
to go to another menu first. It won't take you there, but it will
tell you to go there. It's sort of a pre-game scavenger hunt. Once you're
through the menu puzzle, you get to the shop, which is also quite
disorienting. Check out the handy description of the Shoot Speed upgrade:
"Shoot Speed". It says that right under the name of the upgrade, which of
course is "Shoot Speed". Then you play. There are two parts to the actual
gameplay, and of the two, I preferred the land game for its vague hints of
Ikari Warriors. Very vague. Both parts are slow, awkward, and annoying.
Seth Robinson: 6
Each level in this game is made up of two elements, first there is the
vertical space shooter and the second mode has you walking on terrain
shooting enemies. The first mode is the stronger by far because of the
sheer number of fun ship upgrades. The second mode gets tedious very
quickly as it's pretty much the same exercise over and over. There are a
few big problems: Bad collision handling in general and things like letting
you spend $3000 on a helper robot with such poor AI he gets stuck instantly.
However, the rarity of up to four-player gameplay redeems it up to an
average score.
Mike Kasprzak: 3
I'm not sure what to think of this game. It might just not like my PC,
but there's so many odd things in the game that I get the impression
it's supposed to be this bad. OK, so it's half SHMUP, and half Commando
(or "Metal Gear" if you're a NES'ian instead of a cool C64 dude). It
has some interesting Engrish for those that are in to that sort of
thing. I found the most effective and tolerable way to play involves
crashing your ship in to the opponents, as the fire rate seemed far too
slow to actually kill 2 enemies in a wave. Pausing is amazing, as it
makes you wait something like 15 seconds for the "push ESC to exit"
message to scroll to the center of the screen. And the first time I
fought the first boss, he decided to fly out to the right, and never
return. The next time, I decided to crash in to him, and won! I'll
stop here. For the sanity of rest of the panel, I hope it was just my
PC. Might I suggest QA?
Russ Carroll: 5
The real interesting thing about this game is the stark contrast between the high quality sound and voice acting (with adequate cut screens) and the weak in-game graphics. The game reminds me of Frontline on the old Atari 2600 for its use of multiple
game modes. Initially you fly a ship, then you take the ground. Neither mode is very exciting as the game has a slow plodding feel to it (as does your character). There is obviously a LOT of game packed into this package though it is fairly repetitive. It certainly won't challenge Crimsonland on the ground or Demonstar in the air, though a combination of those two games might be interesting, this game has a long ways to go to get to that level. |
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Rainball
(February 18)
($19.95)
by Defacto Games
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Mike Hommel: 7
Extra credit for originality. It's a strange and psychedelic take on
breakout (but it's nothing like breakout, hence the originality). The
particles are a bit overboard and unnecessary, but I guess that's part of
the feel. The game moves too slowly for my taste and is kinda dull. Also,
straightforward level progression is not as exciting as, well, any other
possible arrangement of levels. But it's not bad, and I appreciate the
uniqueness. Just next time, make the unique stuff move faster.
Seth Robinson: 6
This is probably my first round-up of a game with "Ball" in the title that
wasn't about bustin' bricks. In this game you juggle balls until you can
destroy them by hitting them three times using a color system. I like it,
it's got a neat ethereal atmosphere and has a solid play mechanic. What
bugs me is all the â"deadtime' when I'm waiting for something to happen
before I can play. When a main feature bullet is "Extra lives" it may be a
clue that spicing up the game with a bit more action and gameplay variety is
needed.
Mike Kasprzak: 6
It's not Arkanoid! Yes! It is a little weird though. This suspicious
"Arkanoid like" paddle bounces off the sides, and you chase it down so
that you can shoot through it. After all, it is a wavy looking and
clearly, a "magic" paddle. So from that, you've no doubt deduced that
it changes the color of your shots, which you use to shoot giant flying
marbles. Good work detective. Additional colored paddles come in to
play, and their colors mix, so shooting through the overlap gives you a
new color. Yeah, I don't really have any complaints about the game.
It's a nice idea, and that's ... the whole story.
Russ Carroll: 6
I've never taken drugs and have no intentions of ever doing so, but I've got to believe that this is a game that is better for people who are on drugs. You shoot balls, keeping them in the air until they explode, with flowers and
psychedelic visuals pulsating to the rhythmic beatings of the music. When the game seems to come closest to really catching my attention it feels a little like keeping a beach ball aloft at a sporting event. However, most of the time, this hard to describe but simple to play game kept me guessing at what my motivations were for playing. |
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Core Defender
(January 8)
by CentriZone
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Mike Hommel: 6
It's one of those "Tower Defense" games, with the twist of actually being on
the battlefield yourself. And that's not really a plus. Half the time you
shoot your own buildings, and the other half you run into them and get
stuck. It's kind of nifty in that you buy buildings to provide your money,
which are then vulnerable to attack, but since enemies teleport in at random
everywhere, there's no strategy, just try to shoot them all before you lose
a building. It works to some extent, but lacks polish and just isn't
compelling enough.
Seth Robinson: 4
This game makes you do a lot work. First you have to figure out which
thingie on the screen you are, then you have to figure out the controls are
WASD and mouse, and then, you have to guess at how much laser upgrades cost
and how much a generator outputs. Underneath all the polish, documentation,
and game balance problems there is a neat defensive/building game here.
Somewhere.
Mike Kasprzak: 3
I had a rough time with this one. It appeared to play itself way too
fast,
and thus had some interesting glitches, as the game was lost
within several
seconds. I actually tried to take a video of it, but
FRAPS somehow made the
game work correctly. A shame, I think I liked it
better before. The game
is a "drive around and shoot randomly spawning
enemies" simulator. You
place a bunch of things, buy upgrades, and
repeat until your "Core" dies.Â
You know, the "Core" that you're
"Defending"? I dunno, I tried to, but I
just couldn't enjoy this game.
Russ Carroll: 5
I really struggled with this one. It seems to just be a poorly made game or an incomplete one. It is something similar the original RIP with the player using a
big gun to clear out baddies, but it isn't anywhere near the same quality. While playing I continually kept wondering "what am I supposed to be doing?" even though it would seem pretty obvious that you just need to aim and shoot. In addition, the music doesn't quite fit what is happening on-screen, and the graphics are at the same time both passable and not-so-good depending on what you are looking at. |
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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.
Mike Kasprzak - Sykhronics
Coming from a game console background, Mike's responsible for bringing
to the market such oddities as Secret Agent Barbie for Gameboy
Advance, The Emperor's New Groove for Gameboy Color, and several other
top girl branded games (not that he's bragging). In indie land, he
seeks redemption. Mike's best known for his "cute but not girly"
hamster blasting game, PuffBOMB.
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: Saturday March 18, 2006
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