Brand: A sword perhaps best left in the stone (for now)


The waiting game is often a tricky one. Sometimes an extended wait can lead to having some of your Read more

Cell:emergence Emerging on PC and Xbox on February 9


New Life Interactive's cancer-curing, voxel-based game, Cell: emergence finally has a release date. The "action surgery game" will be Read more

Little Racers STREET Review: Size Does Not Matter


EDIT: Developer Milkstone Studios informs us that an update is coming next week, which will include multiplayer mode The XBLIG Read more

Co-Optimus Founder Developing an Indie Game


Whenever someone disagrees with a critic, their first reaction always seems to be "I'd like to see you do Read more

» online multiplayer

Xbox Indie Review: Alpha Squad

Posted on by Mike Wall in Reviews, XBLIG | Leave a comment

manly men.

Are you a manly man? Do you wear belts made out of beef jerky and sweat whiskey from your pores? Would you like to slaughter armies of freedom-oppressing soldiers, machine-gun-wielding gorillas and puddles of incarnate slime with a huge arsenal of weapons? What if you could do that while simultaneously oogling ridiculously large-breasted women in skimpy, revealing outfits and rocking out to some wailing guitar solos?

In case you can’t tell, Alpha Squad doesn’t have much time for subtlety. Its title screen features the musclebound cast of rag-tag mercenaries brandishing their enormous firearms in front of a burning city accompanied by its metal theme song. It gloriously revels in every aspect of over-the-top 80s action movies; it’s dumb, it’s obnoxious, it’s sexist and it’s can be quite a bit of fun, when it isn’t being hampered by some infuriating flaws.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: ZP2KX – Zombies and Pterodactyls 20XX

Posted on by Dave Voyles in Reviews, XBLIG | 2 Comments

explosions!

So I turn on my Xbox and prepare to play Z2xk…..uh…Zk2……Zombies and Pterodactyls and can’t help but wonder if Ska Studios intentionally made it impossible to remember the acronym for this title. Based on the rest of the fact that the rest of the game doesn’t take itself too seriously, I’m led to believe that it’s part of the gag. The game probably should take itself a bit more serious though, because it’s freakin’ awesome. At only 80 MS points ($1) ZP2KX is packed with more content than perhaps any other title on the platform, let alone the $1 games.

I have no idea if there is any story going on, but needless to say, you won’t even care, as one isn’t necessary. The characters come from a variety of walks of life and others can be unlocked, including an assassin, bomber and tank. The level of character customization is unlike anything else on the indie platform. Players can adjust their characters face, helmet, shirt/armor, pants, and jet pack. That’s another unique element of this game which I haven’t found on any other indie title – a leveling system similar to that found in the Call of Duty series. As players kill one another, they are awarded experience points for various tasks including kill streaks and capturing flags. Each level rewards players with something unique including a new class slot, perk or article of clothing.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Snailien Invasion

Posted on by Mike Wall in Reviews, XBLIG | Leave a comment

snails!

If this is supposed to be an invasion, then I think my snail wandered onto the wrong battlefield; it’s more like a one-snail assault. Snailien Invasion shows a lot of promise, but ultimately gets squished by it’s unfortunate fixation on multiplayer combat in the vacuum that is the Xbox indie landscape.

Snailien Invasion (go ahead and say it again – Snailien Invasion) is basically an amped-up version of Worms. It strips out the turn-based elements that make some rounds of Worms a snooze-fest and morphs the concept into an arena-based 2D action game. Despite its glaring similarities, the pacing and the feel of the game are so different that it doesn’t feel like a ripoff at all. Perhaps in a different reality (one where snails form armies) and with a handful of tweaks, this game would get the attention it deserves. If you’re a college student or have a bunch of friends around, you’ll probably really get a kick out of the local multiplayer. But for the rest of us folk in the real world, it faces the catch-22 conundrum of requiring an online community to be fun, and thus it’s impossible to recommend purchasing because said community doesn’t already exist.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Avatar Karate

Posted on by Stephanie Yeager in Reviews, XBLIG | 4 Comments

avatars do battle!

Have you ever wanted to high-kick Kayne, bitch-slap Paris, or karate-chop the Governator? Well, now you can fight your favorite celebrity Avatars in Avatar Karate. You’ll unlock new opponents and locations as you work your way through each stage. There are 20 celebrity opponents in all; some appear as characters they’ve played and others appear as themselves. While the developer never outright names each celebrity by name, they’re fairly easy to identify by the lines they quote or through other pop-culture references.

The moves are simple: a variety of kicks, punches, jumps, and blocks. While the opponents get more difficult in single player mode, your Avatar doesn’t seem to level up or acquire any additional skills making the last few fights challenging. There 4 locations in the game, but all are fairly limiting and you are only allowed to fight in a portion of the screen. Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Pwnage of Empires

Posted on by Dave Voyles in Reviews, XBLIG | 1 Comment

Developer LocoPuyo has melded something which can be seen as a combination of StarCraft and Geometry Wars. The similarities shared between Pwnage of Empires and StarCraft are instantly made clear: players have engineers which mine resources such as gas and rocks, construct buildings such as barracks, and develop “boss” ships similar to the battlecruiser with the overpowered Yamato cannon seen in StarCraft. Even the buildings and vehicles look similar. Furthermore, each vehicle has an avatar portrait perhaps belonging to a developer or friend, and the engineers have voiceovers which I found amusing.

I find the cover art to be a bit misleading too, as it appears to be a woman wielding an assault rifle, regardless of the fact that no combat on foot ever takes place in the game. You might go in expecting one experience, only to find out that it is something else entirely.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Kong360: Gorilla Warfare

Posted on by Dylan Martin in Reviews, XBLIG | 6 Comments

gorillas with guns

Enough of those barrel-throwing games; it’s time to grow up, and you’ll need lots of guns to do that. We all know that mature gamers appreciate gun violence, so it’s appropriate the gorillas went into deathmatch mode for Kong360: Gorilla Warfare. This is a top-down multiplayer shooter that will take you back to the days of Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 Arena. There’s a whole lot of shooting, some flap capping and nothing much else. But it’s that simplicity that makes a game so appealing in an age of increasingly complex shooters, where you have those damned vehicles, experience points and customizable weapons. Here, it’s all shoot and fun, and nothing more.

But first you’ll need to get used to the controls. They’re a little tricky, especially if you don’t change the default “chasecam” mode. With chasecam, the camera looks down in an isometric view with your avatar on the bottom-center of the screen, and it strictly follows your movement as you look around. Your gorilla aims with a straight line pointing out from his hairy body, and there’s a tiny circle that slides along the line to determine where you’re going to shoot. Because the levels all have multiple stories, this allows you to shoot at different altitudes. It’s a good way to solve the dilemma of having a shooter with a top-down perspective, but it comes with a few minor issues. Sometimes when you’re trying to shoot a gorilla on an elevated area, your bullets will fly right above his head, and the same can happen vice versa.

Read more

Charlie Murder sells out to XBLA

Posted on by Mike Wall in News, XBLA | Leave a comment

Charlie Murder murders some zombies

Charlie Murder has decided to ditch its indie roots and sell out for the real dough.  Ska Studios’ punk-rock themed beat ‘em up was initially envisioned as an Xbox Live Indie Games title, but it will make the jump to the XBLA main stage.  The band is on hiatus after entering Happy Times Recovery Center, further wussifying themselves and murdering their  hardcore reputation.  It looks like their new album game isn’t going to hit XBLA until sometime in 2012.

PAX East video after the break.

[Read more

The end is near! Zombie Apocalypse is half price

Posted on by Mike Wall in XBLA | Leave a comment

Four survivors escape in Zombie Apocalypse

Let’s just face it — the zombies are coming.  Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon you’re going to open your front door to find Ted, your neighbor from down the street who still hasn’t returned your sabre saw, shambling up the driveway salivating over your delicious brain matter.  You can start training for this inevitability and save some dough too, because  Zombie Apocalypse is the XBLA Deal of the Week.  For a mere 400 MS points ($5), you can snag our favorite zombie-survival simulator not named Left 4 Dead.  If movies have taught us anything, it’s that zombies would love to get their filthy zombie paws on your grey matter, so you better start training!

Check out the Deal of the Week on the Xbox Live Marketplace

Our review of Zombie Apocalypse

XBLA Review: Zombie Apocalypse

Posted on by Dave Voyles in PSN, PSN Reviews, Reviews, XBLA, XBLA Reviews | 3 Comments

Four survivors escape in Zombie Apocalypse

Zombies?  Check.  Apocalypse?  Uh-huh.  Violence?  Yip.  At the moment this seems to be the winning formula for a successful title.  While not every title which holds these qualities is a winner (I’m talking about you, Yet Another Zombie Defense), thus far Left 4 Dead 1 & 2, Plants Vs. Zombies, and Dead Rising have all proven to be hits.

Read more

XBLA Review: Toy Soldiers

Posted on by Erron Kelly in Reviews, XBLA, XBLA Reviews | 1 Comment

Take control of world war 1 toys in Toy Solider for xbox 360

Toy Soldiers brings a lot of unique elements to the XBLA table.  It’s a tower-defense game, but instead of passively watching as wave after wave of enemies rush through a predetermined path, you get to take control of any tower you build and actively fight against the bad guys, and each tower controls in unique and interesting ways.  As you progress through the levels you get to take control of certain vehicles including planes and tanks, and with upwards of fifty different towers and vehicles to control, there is a surprising amount of time required to really master everything in this downloadable title.

Read more