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After years of success with its Xbox Live Arcade
service, Microsoft took a bold step and let
ordinary gamers in on the action, offering them the
XNA development kit. Like the Net Yaroze and Bally BASIC
that preceeded it, this software package turned ordinary
joystick jockeys into game
designers. After paying a
yearly fee, the newly minted developers can
sell the fruits of their
labor on the Xbox 360, in a special section of Xbox Live
called Community Games.
Community Games was largely
ignored at first, thanks to a low-quality software library and
a title with all the flair of a damp sponge. However,
Microsoft eventually kicked things in gear with support from
seasoned publishers (Arika of Street Fighter EX and Endless
Ocean fame, to name one) and a brand new name.
Now that it's put some distance between itself
and its lackluster premiere, Xbox Indie Games is on its
way to becoming the best bridge between homebrew developers
and a console manufacturer in video game history!
Here are just a few of the
noteworthy (although not always in the best ways!) games
currently available on the service. Hungry
for even more coverage? You'll find hundreds of
other reviews on Retro Remakes' XNPlay, and Juice's
Xbox Indie
Games web sites.
THE INDIE GAMES
RATING SYSTEM
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| Oh the pain, the pain, the pain of it
all! This is the kind of crapware that gives Indie
Games a bad name. |
"Iffy" is the most charitable way to
describe this one, but it's not entirely without
its charms. Think about it. |
Designed with the best of intentions
but also some flaws. Worth your time, if not
your Microsoft points. |
On the precipice of excellence, with
its toes dangling from the edge. This
game easily justifies your cash. |
The brass ring, the gold standard,
the platinum credit card. This is the best
Indie Games has to
offer. | |
| KAITEN PATISSIER |
| DK Alpha |
| 80
MSP |
There's
nothing like a good Cameltry clone... and this is nothing like
one! Sure, you'll rotate the screen to guide your
heroine through each stage, but each twist comes in 90 degree
angles, and you have full control over Pipi the Fairy (oh
Japan, you make it too easy) as she gathers the ingredients
for her mood-elevating desserts.
Kaiten Patissier
is essentially a puzzle game, although for the first
three-quarters of the adventure, it's more of a
cakewalk. There's no challenge in finishing each stage,
and only a minor inconvenience in collecting the golden hearts
that reveal themselves when each dessert is almost
complete. The game doesn't bare its fangs until near the
end, when carelessly rotating the screen could bury Pipi
under a stack of boxes... or just crash your
Xbox.
Despite some
distressing bugs, Kaiten Patissier is one of the better
Xbox Indie games; a charming throwback to the Super NES days
with its cheery atmosphere, Mode 7 effects, and a color
palette so packed with pastels, it makes Hello Kitty look like
one of the hunchbacks from Gears of War. If you're into
that sort of thing, you can either buy it for a dollar on
Xbox Live, or download it to your computer free of
charge.
| CROSSTOWN |
| Studio Hunty |
| 80
MSP |
Crosstown
combines the fugly, monocolored graphics of early home
computers, the "chess pieces gone mad" gameplay of
early arcade hits like Robotron: 2084, and the sheer
mindfuckery of Portal for an experience that's well worth the
dollar you'll pay, along with any hair you'll tear out while
trying to finish it.
After a brief video clip of an
anonymous nerd feeding a floppy disc into his ancient
"Commissar 6000," the action begins with the player being
carelessly dropped into the center of Crosstown, a mysterious
city teeming with mutants. It's your mission to collect
the four "Qreds" in each stage, often competing with the
denizens of each labyrinthine city block for the glowing
discs. Succeed and you'll be granted passage to the
next level, but not before being taunted by Piggy, the
game's sadistic artificial intelligence.
The tiny characters
that jerk forward in half-steps were meant to
satirize the low performance hardware of the Sinclair
Spectrum ZX, but players who weren't in on
the joke (read: anyone who didn't grow up in Great
Britain during the 1980s) were reluctant to spend five
dollars on a game this unpolished. However, now
that the price of Crosstown has dropped to a
buck, no self-respecting retro game fan should be without
it. The gameplay is every bit as intense as a twitch
shooter should be, but also more nuanced. You'll have
to choose your shots carefully and even bait enemies
into killing each other if you hope to make much progress in
the later stages.
| MOTORHEAT |
| Milkstone Studios |
| 240
MSP |
Forget
about the slick polygonal graphics for a second... they might
give you the impression that this is a Dreamcast-quality
driving sim like Metropolis Street Racer or Tokyo Xtreme
Racer, but the old school gameplay has more in common with
Sega's crusty arcade hit Turbo. The car ignores the laws
of centrifugal force as it effortlessly slides between lanes,
and forget about a stick shift... you're not even getting a
gas pedal for this risky ride!
Like Turbo and other arcade
racing games from the 1980s, MotorHEAT is all about
reaching the next checkpoint before a timer on
the top of the screen expires. However, the
developers have spiced up the action with a tank of nitrous
oxide, filled by close calls with other drivers. Hit the
turbo button after the tank is full and you'll streak past
traffic on your way to the next checkpoint. Get too
close to another car, however, and your sleek street racer is
lost in a fiery explosion, along with precious seconds
and any nitrous you've collected up to that point.
Aside from bonus features
reserved for paying customers, MotorHEAT doesn't get much more
complicated that that. Frankly, it doesn't need to
be. If you wanted a realistic racing simulation you'd
already own Forza Motorsports. This one's meant for
the twitch gamers who can remember when every driving
game was like this, and who long for a return to those simpler
times.
| STREETS OF FURY |
| Cyrille Lagarigue |
| 240
MSP |
With its
endlessly recycled digitized graphics and acting so hammy it
deserves a honey glaze, Streets of Fury is a tribute to an era
of gaming most players are eager to leave behind.
However, if you're one of the oddballs who fondly remembers
the glory days of Mortal Kombat, you're going to want this
fast-paced fighting game on your hard drive.
While it may borrow its visual
style from Midway's bloody brawler, Streets of Fury is most
inspired by side-scrolling beat 'em ups, especially the
Streets of Rage series and Treasure's Guardian Heroes.
The action takes place on three planes, with a tap of the
right trigger sliding your hero toward or away from the
screen. When France's most dangerous thugs surround you,
you'll drive them back with punches, kicks, and a special
strong attack. Charge a meter at the bottom of the
screen and you'll be given access to the heavy duty crowd
control, devastating rage attacks that sweep the
screen clear of foes.
There are only five distinct
characters, but like the best beat 'em ups from the early
1990s, they're stretched into a cast of
thousands. When you're not playing as an Xzibit
look-alike with acne, you'll beat the ever-loving crap
out of him, along with dozens of hooded thugs and scrawny
NASCAR fans. Fortunately, four player action and
the ability to save your progress after every stage soothes
the sting of the game's repetition. Invite some Gen X
friends over and stop by the liquor store for a keg of beer,
and you'll get more than your money's worth out of this
one.
| BIOLOGY BATTLE |
| Novaleaf |
| 400
MSP |
The twin
stick shooter. You know it, you loved it after Geometry
Wars, but you love it a little less after dozens of
increasingly lackluster clones were released on the Xbox Live
Indie Games service. Biology Battle was the first
of these, making its debut when the service had the
less flashy title Community Games, and from a visual
standpoint it's arguably the most advanced of the
bunch. Rather than the glowing abstract shapes of
Geometry Wars, you're swarmed by organic foes
ranging from timid red blood cells to roving
tapeworms and the world's tiniest jellyfish.
The inner space motif looks
good enough to push the game straight to Xbox Live Arcade, but
numerous flaws leave Biology Battle looking pretty small next
to the king of this genre. Neither the player's wimpy
laser cannon nor the somewhat dim enemies make the impact that
Geometry Wars had, and the player is overburdened with
auxillary weapons... rather than a
simple, screen-clearing bomb, you're given sweeping bolts
of lightning that won't always save you in a tight situation,
along with a handful of largely ignored
and occasionally suicidal
abilities. What's a dash doing in a game where
you're surrounded from all sides and killed with a single
touch, anyway?
If you're nutty for the Robotron
style of gameplay and three Geometry Wars games weren't enough
to satisfy that craving, Biology Battle will scratch the itch
better than most of its competitors. Just
don't expect to be impressed by the few new ideas
Biology Battle brings to the table. Do expect
to be annoyed by the constant stream of nerdy pop culture
references that flash on the screen while you're
playing.
| SHOOTING CHICKEN REVENGE |
| kohei |
| 240
MSP |
There's
every indication from the screenshots that Shooting Chicken
Revenge is a masterpiece, head and shoulders above the rest of
the Indie Games library. Ignore those first
impressions. Despite gorgeous, hand-drawn artwork, this
game stinks on ice. Imagine this incredibly implausible
scenario... you're trapped in the kitchen of a Chick Fil-A,
surrounded by hens and roosters which take your career choice
personally. The frenzied fowl cling to you the way
cholestoral clings to the arteries of your most obese
customer, and their ceaseless shrieking hangs in the air like
a dense fog, threatening your sanity. Despite your best
efforts and a shotgun that never runs out of ammo, the birds
will soon have their bloody revenge... and the developers will
have to send the estate of Alfred Hitchcock another royalty
check.
Kohei's got a lot of nerve
charging three dollars for this. It may not be the worst
Xbox Indie Games release available, but it's sure as hell the
most obnoxious. The gameplay is obscenely shallow, the
default weapon is worthless against the constant onslaught of
chickens, and the game is so miserly with its currency that
you'd have to play for hours, days, even weeks just to afford
the upgrades. Weeks, playing this?! I'd
rather stick my hand in a deep fryer.
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