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Top 10 Independent Games for November
(by The Illustrious Panel - TIP)

This month we renamed the article from the 'Monthly Round-Up' to 'The 10 Independent Games of the Month' as we decided to put the games in an ordered list!  (Pretty brilliant eh?  Not everyone can arrange a list of games by their score!)  Twelve indie titles were considered including the 'cool vehicles' strategy game Naked War, the RPG in 30 minutes FastCrawl and the rag-doll physics 'fighting' simulator Toribash.

# 9 (tie)

Dirk Dashing: Secret Agent



($19.99)
by My Game Company


6.5
 COMBINED SCORE




Mike Hommel: 7

This is a big platformer! It's got your basic platform hopping, but in non-linear levels that are packed to the gills with hidden treasure to collect. It's awkwardly produced, feeling a lot like a cheap Flash game, only with tons more to do. It's a high 7, deserving of you checking out the demo, but not quite reaching the elusive 8.

Seth Robinson: 6

Who doesn't dig an old school platformer? Your cheesy cartoon hero uses a (sarin?) gas attack to knock out bad guys as he dodges knives and hops over spinning saw blades. Fun for the whole family! Positives: Expansive, well-designed levels to explore, available for Linux. Negatives: Programmer artish, frustrating GUI (saving shouldn't require ten key presses!), wouldn't recognize my gamepad.

Brian Clair: 6

Dirk Dashing makes you a secret agent of the same name in this side-scrolling adventure. This title does live up to a campy sort of “James Bond” atmosphere, but I just wasn't able to enjoy myself. Some of this was due to various minor technical issues, like the sound primarily coming out of my left speaker and the inability to run the program full screen without losing part of the interface. Once in the game, I found I didn't like the controls and the hit detection tended to be spotty. For instance, shoot uses the space bar while jump used control – which is reversed from what's typical – so I often ended up shooting when I wanted to jump and vice versa. Another drain on the fun factor is that if you die, you have to trudge through the entire level again. The enemies will stay down and you won't need to reclaim the same loot from before (apples and coins for some reason), but it just seems somewhat pointless. If you can overcome these issues, however, there is quite a lot of Dirk Dashing to be had.

Russ Carroll: 7

Dirk Dashing has hand painted backgrounds and foregrounds and they certainly show it. The multiple levels of vibrant artistry is, in my mind, the main reason to play this side-scrolling platformer. It looks unique and has a beautiful sense of style. The music is also extremely fun, conveying a lot of the games James Bond-ish feel. Most of the levels required you to maze your way around buildings as you try to find the right switch to move forward. Unfortunately, while searching for the right path to the right switch was fun the first few times, it became tedious doing it repeatedly. Dirk dies a bit too easily for my tastes, which then encourages you to use the 'creep and save' approach of an old school RPG, but the process of doing so is inexplicably more tedious than it should be in this game.

# 9 (tie)

Putt Mania



($16.95)
by Evertt


6.5
 COMBINED SCORE

 


Mike Hommel: 6

This is the worst control scheme I've ever encountered in a golf game. Easily. It's also extremely odd and ugly that you play over an endless field of what appear to be golf scorecards. But when you can get past the controls a little, it's fairly fun, as you might expect of a minigolf game with solid physics.

Seth Robinson: 6

Weeping guitar and surreal scenery combine into a weird mini-putt experience. It's love/hate for me, the graphics, editor, and elegant courses are fantastic but I can't stand the "aim with timer, can't cancel the shot to fix your aim" and inability to fly around the course when lining up your shot. Without clearly seeing what is ahead, it's hard to make smart decisions. The shot prediction line seems to be wrong most of the time. With some fixes this could be great.

Brian Clair: 8

Putt Mania has a lot going for it: excellent 3D graphics, nice physics simulation, inventive levels, and solid gameplay. The price is also a plus at just $16.95, which – if you have friends to play with in hotseat mode – makes this title quite a steal. I truly enjoyed this miniature golf simulation, right down to its soundtrack, which puts you at ease. About the only things I can mention are that the directional arrow is often impossible to spot, making it really hard to tell where you're shooting the ball; and that it's too hard to tell what a shot will do (trying to get up inclines is truly painful). Granted, you have a shot meter, but it doesn't help as much as you'd expect. If Putt Mania had some AI opponents, it would be even better.

Russ Carroll: 6

An alright game that does some innovative things with the way that the putting is done. However, the innovative putting controls were also the cause of the problems I had as I often sent my ball either way past the hole (and sometimes off of the course) or way short of the target. It's certainly hard to follow up a game as good as the last game from Evertt (Global Defense Network) and perhaps that lead to some of my disappointment here. Putt Mania is not your average putter and it does have a distinct feel to it, but overall the learning curve blew out my interest and it wasn't reignited.

# 7 (tie)

Fren-ze



($5.00)
by Hermit Games


6.7
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 8

This is a hard game. I got to level 2, do I get a cookie? It's quite good. Very basic, nothing much to it, but hey, at least the enemies don't take 400 hits each! Very Kenta Cho. Handy tip: there are no instructions on the title screen, you'll have to find out by accident (or from me, right now) that X is the key you use to select menu items.

Seth Robinson: 7

This is a hardcore (read: difficult) retro-modern vector shmup that has you dodging hails of bullets and strategically using your 'blues' to activate the reflect shield. The gameplay is pretty dead-on but why is it missing things like gamepad support? Challenging but fair, this is the kind of shooter I like. Only four levels, but priced very reasonably.

Brian Clair: NS

I wasn't able to get this game running.
 

Russ Carroll: 5

You know what I've never been a fan of? Games where I spend all my time dodging bullets and never glancing at the enemies above me because doing so would be certain death. Though Fren-ze has some resemblance visually to Geometry Wars this game is nothing like that one. For one, the game is an overhead vertical shooter. For another you are forced to play with the keyboard (aka worst game controller ever). Between the endless dodging of bullets and the unfriendly controls (I had my analog joystick ready!) Fren-ze left an impression of coming up a bit short of all of my expectations.

# 7 (tie)

Dracula Twins



($19.95)
by Legendo


6.7
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 7

Very cute style, and nice to see a classic platformer, but flawed implementation. You'll often miss attacks because the road curves, which you have no control over. It's also too simplified. It feels like there should be more to it, like this is almost the best game ever, but it's just missing the gameplay. It wants to be Castlevania (whip and all!), and doesn't quite make it over the hump. I guess it wants to be Casual Castlevania, and that's like trying to straddle the grand canyon - your legs just aren't gonna reach. It's too complicated to be a casual game, but too simple to hold interest as a 'serious' platformer.

Seth Robinson: NS

This looks marvelous, but it's crashing every few levels, doesn't seem to be a way to save so I can only replay the first level or two over and over. Can't really score it.

Brian Clair: 6

I never thought I'd see a game where the vampires were the good guys, but here we are. As the children of Count Dracula, you're tasked with saving your father from a famous vampire hunter. Which protagonist you choose (son or daughter) doesn't really matter except visually, and you won't find any blood sucking here. Dracula Twins is a 3D side-scroller that features kid-friendly gameplay, easy controls, and some very nice visuals. Generally speaking, the levels are pretty linear, though you will need to often trek up or down on ledges in order to obtain keys or other special items. Unfortunately, Dracula Twins succumbs to the same fate as so many side-scrollers – unforgiving auto-saves and no continues. That's right, it's a PC game, but you can't save whenever you want; and the undead help you if the game saves when you're low on life. At that point, you're pretty much forced to start all over from scratch.

Russ Carroll: 7

So you are the son of Dracula and you run around with a whip...it's almost like I've heard that storyline before (except in this case you are saving your daddy [Dracula]). The graphics in this game are REALLY wonderful mixing 3D graphics in a 2D side-scroller in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of the great Viewtiful Joe. Unfortunately there isn't a feeling of real character progression and the ever repetitive music seems to only to point out that fact. What's more fun than realizing you went the wrong way and have to backtrack to get the key? Doing it just 10 more times! The imprecise controls will leave you running into your enemies a good bit and missing jumps to your doom (the game is quite unforgiving for a seemingly kid orientated affair). Makes a better first impression than a lasting one.

# 5 (tie)

Boom Voyage



($19.95)
by Kraisoft


6.8
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 6

Everything you've come to expect from 3D breakout, and nothing more. I have this theory that Breakout developers don't even try to make fun or good games, they just slavishly follow every bit of the Breakout formula, and judge themselves on how thoroughly they hit all the points, rather than on whether they've made something fun. Remember Breakquest? Why aren't they cloning Breakquest!?

Seth Robinson: 7

The goal in this game is to travel to beautiful places like Egypt and Greece and then destroy every last pillar, flower, and stone by throwing balls or using nukes. Yep, it's a 3D brick-breaker. It's learned much from its mediocre cousins; glancing shots are always saved, neat physics, structures cast eye-pleasing soft shadows, no last brick problems, good pacing, and most levels have an original theme with interesting moving parts. I approve!

Brian Clair: 7

Following recent other arkanoid-genre releases, Boom Voyage uses 3D graphics and a bit of physics to create a more robust gameplay experience. However, unlike other such titles of late, I felt that Boom Voyage did a better job with these new elements. Physics are used to add a slight sense of realism to the 3D models, while the overall game is fun and involving. There are plenty of power-ups and power-downs on each level, with non-stop action to keep you active – you rarely end up just watching your ball do its thing behind the scenes, bored. The ancient Egyptian theme also helps out a lot here, with each level taking on the appearance of various structures. If you enjoy this genre, then definitely check Boom Voyage out.

Russ Carroll: 7

Following in the footsteps of last month's Shattera, Boom Voyage also focuses on 3D structures that twist and fall as you knock out their foundations. The structures aren't as cool as Shattera, but the game play is a good bit faster and the power-ups are well thought out. Many of the levels have unique pieces such as one-way doors and enemies that launch 'bad' power-ups at you to keep things interesting along the way. Getting 3 fireballs bouncing around is a lot of fun and had me saying 'boom, boom, boom' out loud...which probably just makes me borderline insane, but the game is good mindless fun nonetheless!

# 5

Toribash


 
($19.95)
by SXP


6.8
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 8

At first, I was ready to just rant about how this is a bad game. Now, I will tell you, it is a bad game, but it's really fun. I think it really doesn't work as a game at all (the hardcore fans will most likely argue this!). But as a fun simulation to play with and try to create your best replays against a dummy opponent, it is great! Addictive and amusing. I mean, I kicked a guy's arm off. It is however incredibly hard to learn and not at all user-friendly. It's very much like Stair or Truck Dismount, but with a lot more stuff to play with.

Seth Robinson: 6

This is a turn based 3D fighting game where you position joints, move a bit, and then position more joints. Yeah, it's as complicated as it sounds. A bit unintuitive to learn but once you get going you'll laugh at the funny things that happen in the online multiplayer tournaments. I'm not sure if I can take the competition aspect seriously - with complete random floundering I won my first four online matches. The victor was usually the guy who didn't accidentally break off his own body parts. Very unique!

Brian Clair: 6

Toribash is a physics fighter where the player designs all the moves using a rag-doll character. Of course, since you're controlling rag-dolls, you need to control every single joint and synthetic muscle – there's work to be done to enjoy violence here! Needless to say, it takes a lot of patience to get through this. The game's not really about the fighting, it's about the moves. Now, if you do get some moves created, there's a multiplayer mode available where you can put them to the test. Also, it's possible to tear your opponent apart (literally) with enough force applied to your move, which results in some blood. Personally, Toribash was not my cup of tea. The barrier to entry will just be too high for most players, but for those who're willing to get into it, there's quite a bit on tap.

Russ Carroll: 7

So I really have no idea how to rate this game, if it is indeed a game. The general idea is that you control every joint or point of rotation on a body. You can apply various amounts of force to the joint to make the body move. You then try to make the body destroy your opponent. The concept is interesting though I much preferred the somewhat similar Truck and Stair Dismount games personally. It's hard to not give a lot of points for innovation as this game has it in spades. Truly original and distinctive, Toribash is a game you absolutely must try in order to call yourself a true gamer. If you choose not to download the game because of the score instead of looking to find something deeper and different you'll simply be missing out. Of course if you are just looking at the scores you probably didn't read that last line.

# 4

Sensational Soccer



($19.95)
by New Star Games


7.0
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 7

The mouse control is very fun on this tiny little people soccer game. But as so often besets me, all the intense simulation-ist mumbo-jumbo between matches just gets very much in the way. Give me Speedball 2! I didn't find the simulation stuff any fun at all (though the training exercises could be at times - when playing via mouse didn't make them literally impossible like the pass training), and was absolutely gobberjawed every time another page of incomprehensible options exploded onto my screen. For soccer simulation fans, maybe this is not a bad thing.

Seth Robinson: 7

This is kind of an NSS3 spin-off that exchanges some of the sim options with more standard arcade features like replays and two player action. A big change is the Frankenstein mix of windows GUI with a jarring transition to a separate match engine is gone - it's all now in one program. This actually turns out to be a curse for me because for some unknown reason text filled screens are unbearably slow in the Blitz based engine. 2 FPS? C'mon, I've got a Radeon 800 XL with the latest drivers! Once I got into the game I found a well crafted, fun, 2D game of soccer.

Brian Clair: 7

If you're a soccer fan who likes substance over flash, then Sensational Soccer may be just what you've been looking for. The graphics here are only 2D sprites, but it's made up for with lots of gameplay depth. You can play as or against just about any major soccer team in the world in single games, league or cup play. Fleshing this out is the ability to add/drop players, create custom plays in the Tactics Editor and much more.

Russ Carroll: 7

It may be because I'm such a huge fan of New Star Soccer 3 that I was disappointed by this game. Where NSS3 is based on creating yourself as an individual character and working your way up the soccer ranks, SS is more of a soccer sim along the lines of FIFA. The auto-switching of the player you are playing often leads to you running the wrong direction, which created a lot of frustration for me. I was unable to find anyway to turn the auto-switching off, which is really unfortunate as after a couple dozen games I was quite ready to hang up the cleats having watched many a goal scored simply because of the auto-switching. The game engine is surprisingly better than you will immediately realize, but the more arcade-y approach and frustrating auto-switching left me wanting to play its predecessor.

# 2 (tie)

The Shivah



($4.99)
by Dave Gilbert


7.5
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 8

Very good voice acting stands out right away. Beyond that, it is an adventure game. Not sure what to tell you about that - you click on stuff and follow your clues. There's a lot of computer use in it that adds a unique element, with reading emails and entering passwords. That always strikes me as extremely unrealistic, though - do people really use their wife's name as a password? Bad security.

Seth Robinson: 8

Do you ever get tired of breaking bricks, swapping gems, and slashing skeletons? Well, how about taking on the role of a rabbi questioning his life set over the backdrop of New York? This old school adventure is artfully pixilated, well voiced, and the price is right considering it lasts about as long as a movie. Great DVD style commentary feature.

Brian Clair: 6

In the Shivah, you take the role of a Rabbi who has all but given up on his run-down Synagogue. The adventure starts when a detective shows up to inform you that one of your old parishioners has died and left you $10,000. Apparently the guy was a cheapskate and left on bad terms, which makes the mystery all the greater. The first thing you'll notice in the Shivah are the graphics – let's just say they're not good. However, the voiceovers and story up to make up for this sore spot, as does the $4.95 price. If you're an adventure fan, the Shivah is certainly worth a look.

Russ Carroll: 8

An interesting story that will keep you at the edge of the seat with the quality of the character portrayals. The voice acting is a nice help to the story, making what might otherwise just be pixelated images portray much more depth. The story is what really matters here and it is fantastic. If just the story and depth of characters were being graded the game would immediately get a 10. So why knock it down a couple of spots? Though you'll have some moments of wondering what to do next as is the case with most adventure games, the game does a decent job of getting you from scene to scene. That is, up until the final confrontation. At that point the game turns into a seemingly random path-finding exercise through a LONG dialog tree that provides more frustration than fun. It's a rather unfortunate ending to an otherwise great experience. Irregardless, at $4.99 this game is a steal.

# 2 (tie)

FastCrawl



($19.95)
by Pawleyscape


7.5
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 8

One huge flaw to smash on first: there is no save feature. So yeah, it's a short 'break' game, but you are darn well going to play the entire game in one sitting. Pretty self-defeating to the main selling point. But the gameplay is fun and simplified. It's very odd that you can't pick your characters, and the limited number of different classes makes the game get old after only a few runs (no skill trees to wade through here). It is well done though, and makes it easy to buzz through the dungeon quickly and get your fix of phat lewt.

Seth Robinson: 7

This is a slick mini dungeon crawler that lets you have tiny thirty minute adventures. The GUI and perk system work very well, it's very playable. My only complaint is it's a little sparse in the feature department, not quite as much variety as I'd like to see. Recommended.

Brian Clair: 7

FastCrawl is pretty much what it sounds like – a quick dungeon crawler. Using a party of fantasy characters, you're placed in various sized dungeons (determined when you start based on how long you want the game to last) to explore on your way to slay some evil opponent. There's even some RPG elements thrown in to flesh out the experience. I'll admit, it may not sound like much, but I thought FastCrawl was a blast. Definitely worth your attention if you don't have time for more involving titles like Neverwinter Nights 2.

Russ Carroll: 8

FastCrawl is a good game...but I couldn't help wish that it was just a bit better than it is. The idea of quickly moving (30 minutes or less) through a randomly generated dungeon with multiple characters should be appealing to every adventurer. Certainly the biggest plus in the game, randomly generated dungeons and parties, is also its downfall. Even on 'easier' levels you may find yourself in hopeless situations as the party you set out with just didn't have the oomph to compete. The up side is that you can always restart if you decide not to take on the sometimes impossible challenge of either a small or poorly designed party. I could only wonder how good it would be if it had the visual prowess of say Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale and a bit more play-balancing to remove the randomly impossible quests. With all that said, the only reason I mention the negative points is because this game feels really close to being 'truly amazing' instead of simply 'a great game you must check out.'

# 1

Naked War



($19.99)
by The Pickford Brothers


7.8
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 7

Good and bad here. It seems really cool at first, and I especially enjoy the ability to yell insults at your opponent. The pace, being a play-by-email game, is beyond glacial. This is all fine, and in fact it's fun and has some pretty deep strategy. Except for a couple things: first off, some technical issues with turns. Second, it's absurdly easy to recover from damage, and characters never truly die, so the game drags on and ON and ON. It's nice to know you can come from behind, but after the 10th time from behind, you kinda wish you would've let the guy finish you off. I have sort of ripped on it here, but it really is rather good, if you're willing to fight these long drawn-out back-and-forths.

Seth Robinson: 8

A turn based strategy battle game that receives/sends turns by email. Well, I think it's brilliant but I have a very serious beef: This kind of game absolutely needs a single player campaign that will interactively teach rules and tactics. As it is, it's got a fairly large learning curve that happens against real players. Lots of fun.

Brian Clair: 8

Naked War is an unusual release for a number of reasons and I could probably write a full review for it if I had space. For starters, it's pretty much a PBEM online multiplayer game. While you can play on a single PC, Naked Wars was clearly designed with online in mind and does a great job at making it painless. The most unusual aspect is the pay system, which has people pony up $20 for 20 challenges (the client software and account are both free). I didn't think that the games lasted very long (I found that my matches lasted only 30 minutes each), but the publisher guarantees a minimum of 20 hours of gameplay or they'll top you off for free. On the more standard fare, the graphics here are wonderfully done, with crisp 3D visuals that don't disappoint. There's even terrain destruction, which is a nice bonus. My main issue with Naked War is that it feels unbalanced. You see, while your soldiers can attack others, the big guns are to be found in helicopters, tanks, boats and especially gun turrets. I felt that the placement of these on the maps I played on were skewed towards a particular player (i.e., closer to one of us), and whoever gets to the big guns first always seems to win. This is especially damning for the gun turrets that are basically the equivalent of nukes! Overall, I'd still recommend Naked War. It may have issues, but they're all ones that can be addressed in future updates.

Russ Carroll: 8

I debated back and forth on my score for this game. On the one hand it has some interface issues that make it more difficult to play than it should be. Having to undo moves because you didn't realize you wouldn't be moving to a position to attack, or moving into the enemies line of fire by accident are situations that shouldn't happen. The games are really quite long, which somewhat makes up for many of the maps being rather unbalanced. The vehicles are cool, the terrain effects challenging and the variety of maps makes for a lot of adventures to be had. It's the game I played most this month and I'd be surprised if I stop anytime in the near future.

Below the Line
(didn't quite make the cut)

Days of Sail: Wind over Waters



($19.95)
by ImmersionFX Games


6.0
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: NS

Crash on startup, I think it's a shader thing, judging by system requirements.

Seth Robinson: 6

Sailboat racing around Greek islands. The graphics looks very mid-90's except for the excellent water effects. The simulation is basic but does the job, I learned how to sail ma! I don't know a sloop from a poop (deck) but if you can overlook a few glitches such as visible seams in the water and skybox you might enjoy this.

Brian Clair: 6

As you'd expect from the name, Days of Sail is a simulation where the player controls a virtual sailing ship in various areas around Greece. There are two gameplay modes here, race and simulation, with some history about the area presented before simulation levels along with three levels of difficulty. Since I'm not a sailor, I can't speak to how authentic the experience presented in Days of Sail is. I found sailing to be pretty challenging, but those with some background in the sport may feel otherwise. The graphics here aren't terribly good, featuring very grainy textures, lots of pop-in along with some other graphic glitches.

Russ Carroll: 6

This is one of those games where I think less would have been more. I don't think I've done any sailing since I was a boy scout years ago, and that was just small boat sailing on a lake. Still, I just don't remember it being so boring. Days Of Sail is a very calm and slow-moving game that conveys the relaxing side of sailing quite well. Players let out the sails and turn the ship and then just glide for a bit. While gliding you might wonder what you will do next, or maybe why you are playing. You'll look at the landscape you are passing and wondering why all the land looks grainy and is moving like static on a television. I think it is too bad that they went the 3D route on this game as a nice overhead 2D sailing game I think would have been better-looking in the end. With an increased sense of speed the game would probably have helped overcome the pretty basic visuals.  Intriguing, but not all that interesting.

Cultivation



(freeware)
by Jason Rohrer


4.5
 COMBINED SCORE


Mike Hommel: 4

Raw incomprehensibility in its purest form.
 

Seth Robinson: 5

More of an experiment than a game, this program randomly generates geometric flowers and let's you water them. Other blobs do the same; you can choose to live and let live, or poison their flowers causing a downhill spiral that eventually damages the habitat beyond repair. It's a fascinating ten minute diversion that would be a lot more comprehensible with a few tool-tips...

Brian Clair: 4

I find myself hard pressed to call Cultivation a game, since it seems more like a computer science project. The gist is that you're a creature that must cultivate plants by watering them, harvesting their fruit, etc. All seems well and good with the premise, but there's really no set goals to achieve as the gameplay is somewhat open ended (you can lose, but there's no way to truly win). The interface leaves a lot to be desired as well and if you don't read the instruction file, you'll have no idea what's going on. Even then, it takes a bit of practice to remember what all the buttons are supposed to do since there are no tooltips. Cultivation is freeware, so it's hard to be very critical; and it does show off some cool programming skill, but that's about all it did for me.

Russ Carroll: 5

More of a concept than a game, Cultivation is a growing simulator where players plant and water their own gardens and try to continue their existence in the world. The biggest downfall to the game for me was also the upside:  the world is wide open and you can do whatever you want. I found myself after a short while running out of goals to give myself and wondering if I had missed anything in the game. Price is right, and it is definitely experimental and innovative, it just falls short of being exciting.

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.

Scoring Scale:

10 - Perfection 5 - Below Average
9 - Nearly Flawless 4 - Way Below Average
8 - Way Above Average 3 - Quite Poor
7 - Above Average 2 - Terrible
6 - Average 1 - Just Unbelievably Bad
Game of the Month
Naked War
Award Winners This Month:

Average score of 9+

Average score of 8+

Average score of 7+
n/a n/a Naked War
Sensational Soccer
FastCrawl
The Shivah





By: The Illustrious Panel
Posted: Monday November 20, 2006
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