Christmas has come and gone, and while that may mean we have to wait another full year before we get to play more Santa sims, there is still plenty of time to enjoy other winter-themed masterpieces, such as Zombie Snowmen. At least it shouldn’t be too challenging to decapitate them.
Armless Octopus Bloody Stump Award for Indie of the Week
Rainbow Rapture – Mike
If you’re one of the 11 people on the planet who doesn’t have an iOS device and missed out on the Tiny Wings phenomenon like me, Rainbow Rapture should give you a pretty good approximation of the fowl-flinging experience. Swap out the bird for a rainbow and this looks to be basically a carbon copy of the iOS hit. That’s not totally a bad thing, since the original was (apparently) quite a lot of fun and this one seems to capture the essence. But, it does lack the online leaderboards that made Tiny Wings so captivating.
We Recommend
Ramen Ninja – Mike
Your appreciation of Ramen Ninja will probably be directly tied to your love of games like Metal Gear. This is basically a series of stealth challenges where you have to collect ramen noodles while avoiding detection from guards who have that familiar cone of vision. Its visually appealing enough, and the sneaking is functional, so if you’re a fan of watching guard patterns and avoiding detection, give it a shot.
Burger Jack – Dan
Burger Jack is a variation of the classic Root Beer Tapper formula that doesn’t really impress from a visual or design standpoint. That being said, the up-beat soundtrack and the 90’s cliche (in a cute way) storyline make this one worth downloading the demo.
End of Days: Infected vs. Mercs – Erron
It’s a first person shooter, but the demo is locked to a simple timed obstacle course mode. It feels pretty decent, but it begs the question of why anyone would want to get their FPS fix from the indie channel. Try it if that describes you.
Gravity Dash 2 - Erron
It’s less “Dash” and more “Steady Jog,” but it gets the job done. It makes up for the lack of gravity flipping on the fly by requiring you to flip using specific buttons on the controller to match color-coded blocks. It’s neat.
BlindGirl2 – Taylor
Don’t let the aesthetics fool you. The art style might be a bit underdeveloped, but BlindGirl2 delivers well executed and more importantly, novel puzzle play that’s worth a try
Other Releases
Invasion One – Dan – While the game’s tongue-in-cheek sense of humor is to be admired, the game simply isn’t fun. You control a flying saucer that abducts humans and shoots buildings…that’s about it. Despite being such a simple premise, it sadly falls short where it matters most.
AppPack 2.0 – Dylan – I can’t help but feel like this was made for a programming class. Create dice rolling program: check. Create password generating program: check. Congratulations, you are an adequate programmer. Now make something fun.
Avatar Climbing – Dan – The general idea of the game is unique and has the real potential for copious amounts of fun. Guide your avatar to the top of a level before your competitors. You accomplish this by jumping, running and hitting. Sadly the execution, design, and controls earn this title the dreaded “Pass” status.
Takedown! – Dylan – While the production value intrigued me, this doesn’t seem like much more than a generic tower-defense game. It’s not bad per se, but there must be better options on XBLIG and XBLA.
Ascension – Mike – Ascension fails to rise above the mounds of other twin-stick shooters that are available for XBLIG.
Hack This Game 3 – Erron – Hey man, did you play the other Hack This Game games? Then you’re in for more of the same. Solve easy puzzles to figure out button combinations to progress to the next level..
Billy the Kidney Bean VTFF – Mike – This actually reminded me a lot of the original Duke Nukem games where you spend a lot of time hunting down keys and opening doors mixed in with some 2D platforming, but the experience was muddied by some poor level design, limited ammo and limited lives. There doesn’t appear to be a save feature, and replaying those levels wouldn’t be fun.
Orb Tower Defense – Taylor - As much as I love tower defense games, Orb TD was just a bit bland for me. If you’re new to the game type, you might feel a warm welcome, but anyone looking for a deep entry into the genre should look elsewhere.
AvatarBall – Mike – I have no idea what this game is since it’s online only and you can’t play multiplayer in the demo. I do know that it’s five dollars, which is about six dollars too many.
Zombie Snowmen – Taylor - Snowmen run at you, you press the buttons, then they go back and run at you again, but without animations. That is Zombie Snowmen.
RoomRental – Mike – The object is to score points by taking turns and laying down the walls to a room. Whoever completes the room gets the point and then goes again. It’s fun, but you could just as easily play with a pen and paper.
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