The Indie Elitist

NecroVision: Lost Company

2012-12-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

Gaming Genres: FPS
Story Genres: War, Horror, Historical, Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 3D, Realism, High Resolution
Series/World: NecroVision
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): The Farm 51
Publisher(s): 1C Company
Initial Release Date: Feb 19, 2010
Website(s): Homepage, Publishers Page, Steam, GamersGate
Description:
NecroVisioN: Lost Company is the prequel to original horror FPS shooter, taking place before the NecroVisioN story begins. It contains a bunch of unique levels, characters, weapons and gameplay elements as well as new main hero that presents the original game story from opposite perspective. Player is now one of WWI German troops that discovers the evil forces unleashed by the war, starts to fight against them and leads soldiers of all nations gathered on the front through the massive battles against the zombies and demons and finally he becomes a first Necromancer that will fight against Simon Bukner in NecroVisioN.

Opinion:
More of NecroVision but not nearly as good. It is really short, has a confusing story, mostly boring missions, and a horrible progression.

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Indieness: Barely Indie
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Cargo!: The Quest for Gravity

2012-10-29T20:43:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Action-Adventure, Platformer, Physics, Sandbox
Story Genres: Comedic, Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, High Resolution, Punk
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Ice-Pick Lodge
Publisher(s): Viva Media, bitComposer Games
Initial Release Date: April 21, 2011
Website(s): Homepage, Facebook, Steam, Amazon, GamersGate
Description:
The Gods haven’t looked too kindly on humanity and Earth, as we know it, has been reduced to a group of island archipelagos, populated by Buddies – pint-sized creatures, unbound by gravity’s forces and free to float and frolic at their own whim and leisure.

The Gods have given the Buddies ree reign over these colorful islands for their own willy-nilly, topsy turvy pleasure. But, there is a way to stop them. FUN is the secret ingredient that will ground the Buddies and return gravity to Earth.

As one of Earth’s last human survivors, it’s up to you to dish out a healthy dose of amusement to restore order on Earth.

Do you have what it takes to outwit the Buddies and win back the favor of the Gods?

Packed with unique and innovative physics-driven gameplay that offers multiple solutions to each mission; not to mention an unlimited sandbox mode! Explore a wide variety landscapes and locations including flying islands, large underwater environments, and numerous interiors. Changing seasons offer a dynamic effect on gameplay. Loads of different parts & components that can be assembled to create crazy yet functional vehicles.

Opinion:

Cargo is probably the best build your own vehicle game yet created, and yet you just have to shake your head at some of the design choices.

Take the story as a simple example of this, Ice-lodge weaves a beautiful vibrant world. And all the dialogue and characters are amazing, and the individual story arcs make sense But the overarching storyline just does not really make much sense, why am I doing this, what have I even accomplished?

This is very much how the gameplay turned out. They created this great vehicle creation feature (including land, water surface, underwater, and flying), with surprisingly good physics, and yet the world is tiny, and the challenges never require any specific designs. So you have to ask yourself, why was so much emphasis put on creating your own vehicles, when you never need anything beyond the generic, the game world only takes like 30 seconds to fly straight across, and there are absolutely no real environmental obstacles that make even the most ungainly vehicles problematic.

There are also so many features that are simply never used. You have an entire underwater world that you explore for the entirety of a single quest, after that it is still there but there is no reason to go there, and this a place as big as the entire surface world. And right off the bat you are introduced to some scrap collecting mechanic, used to respawn the all important buddies; They mention this is a huge amount of the opening plot and a big deal is made of it. But it turns out you only use it like three times. I was expecting the game to be built around it, I was expecting specific parts for the vehicles to help you gather this scrap from floating islands and the bottom of the ocean. No, you can use it but it is not necessary or a good idea, and there is a very limited supply of scrap because it all has to be carried by hand, which is not only slow but impossible past the one tiny island that the whirlpool is on. You are also introduced to many money (FUN) making techniques at the beginning of the game: kicking buddies, making them dance, and driving them around. But you simply cannot make any significant amount of many dancing or kicking buddies; Other than the first 10 minutes of the game that you are without a vehicle, you should never use these techniques.

The game also relies far to much on money. To buy vehicle parts, you need money, to progress the plot, you need money. Most of the game is won by simply spending money, and it is just way to easy and repetitive to get. Other that a few specific challenges you buy plot progression.

But not all is bad, it is enjoyable to create and travel, and the world and character in it are fantastic. Everything is well done, just none of the pieces are fit together in any semblance of a logical pattern.

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Indieness: Almost Indie
Play: Should Play

The Five Cores

2012-10-11T14:42:00.002-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphic Adventure
Story Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 3D, Realism, High Resolution
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Neebla Games
Publisher(s): Neebla Games
Initial Release Date: September 12, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Soundtrack
Description:
This game is a puzzle game like Myst in realtime 3D. You'll discover five mysterious islands and you’ll try to resolve their strange mechanisms.

Opinion:
A 3D adventure game that is primarily a Myst-like; That, most of all, tries to copy the Myst aesthetic. The game seems to have started life in August of 2012 and was released September of that same year, only a little over a month latter. With the development of this game comes Neebla Games, who seems willing to continue development of adventure game titles. For awhile The Five Cores was one of the early games on Steam Greenlight, and was probably the most interesting looking games on that service; And even though it did not work out, this served as its only real advertising, and the way in which I found the game.

Like I previously mentioned the development of The Five Cores was extremely rapid, and even if much of the game was developed before this one month period I am surprised it was finished in such a short timeframe; The environmental graphics themselves look like they should take many multiplies of that development time. Regardless of exactly how long was taken to develop the game, its less than polished nature does show. It contains a few bugs, for example, it is possible to fall off the edges of the paths in certain locations, when you run around you tend to get stuck, and there is one major puzzle (to shunt power to an important device) that you do not even have to complete. Also, I am rather perplexed about the addition of physics in the form of barrels, they kept getting in my way and rolling around, it would of been a lot better to not include them.

Its main problem is that is does not only copy Myst's style but moreso it copies its specifics, sometimes even ones that do not make sense in the context. There is a letter at the beginning of the game that explains the general situation, exactly like in Myst; But here it makes no sense because it is addressed to you, and you are a complete stranger, who has just randomly arrived on this deserted island. Also, nothing else is ever revealed storywise; That letter is the complete sum total of what we learn about the history of this place. And while many of the places you see look heavily inspired by Myst, its story is so strange and never explained, which is quite the opposite to Myst.

What the game does get right is exploration and experimentation. The game, just like Myst, is all about exploring this world you have stumbled upon; And while it does not do as good a job as Myst in this regard, the landscape is still very exotic and beautiful. In particular, I am talking about its lack of story, the islands and locations do not have any reason to be there and seem to only exist to hold the puzzle of that particular place. One thing it does do well, perhaps even better than Myst in some situations, is the experimental type puzzle solutions. Like Myst, The Five Cores uses challenge through obfuscation; The puzzles and the devices are alien and unexplained, making much trial, error, and experimentation a necessity. These puzzles are completely logic based, with not a single inventory item to be found in the entire game.

The most important aspect of The Five Cores, and the reason to play it, is the alien and beautiful scenery. I would say that it does not quite live up to the still screenshots, but is still very nice in person. One thing done very well is the light bloom, and it really varies the views at all locations. It is nice, but lacks not quite as astounding as I was hoping for.

The Five Cores is a good 3D adventure, and a rather interesting first effort by Neebla Games. It has nice graphics, interesting puzzles, but a rather shallow story. But for its budget price (for an adventure game), it is definitely something worth looking into for anyone interested in.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?:

NecroVisioN

2012-10-06T21:03:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: FPS, Action-Adventure
Story Genres: Action, War, Fantasy, Historical, Horror
Graphical Styles: 3D, Realism, High Resolution
Series/World: NecroVision
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): The Farm 51
Publisher(s): 1C Company, 505 Games, Aspyr Media
Initial Release Date: February 27, 2009
Website(s): Homepage, Wikipedia, Publishers Page, Steam, GamersGate, Amazon
Description:
1916 - World War One. A young American soldier called Simon Bukner joins the Allied Army and soon experiences the horrors of war first hand. But he quickly realises that the Germans aren't the only threat. A greater evil is lurking beneath the battlefields and trenches of the Great War: an ancient but secret war between vampires and demons, which has begun to spill into our world. Thrust into the middle of this supernatural conflict, Bunker must fight to save humanity from the forces of darkness and choose an unlikely alliance to bring the war to an end.

NecroVisioN is first-person shooter that takes place in a varied range of locations, from the horrific and bloody trenches of World War One, to secret labs and underground caverns plagued by gruesome undead creatures. You must battle through legions of German soldiers and hideous monsters, as you venture future into this terrible underworld. Inspired by infamous horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, the story blends historically accurate locations and weapons, with nightmarish creations. As a result, players fight enemies using authentic World World One-era weapons, supernatural but powerful demon artefacts, vampire technology and when the action gets too close for comfort a range of visceral melee moves.

Opinion:
What makes NecroVision special is now much is crammed into one game. You have a plethora of ranged weaponry, with sniper rifles, grenade launchers, sub-machines guns, flamethrowers, and pistols. Alongside many melee weapons, Vampire weapons, explosives, and supernatural powers. Many of these being dual wieldable and all mix and matchable. We also have turrets and vehicles.

To go along with these weapons are many varied enemies, but even more scenarios. The level design is surprisingly open, with huge sidequests, secrets, notes, puzzles, and lots of destructible objects. And alongside the campaign is a series of grueling one level challenges.

NecroVision is not a highly polished game, it is close but you can spot some rough edges. It is like three games in one, and I do not think that there is another FPS that is quite as expansive. And that makes it truly remarkable and thoroughly enjoyable.

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Indieness: Barely Indie
Play?: Should Play

Tiny & Big in Grandpa's Leftovers

2012-09-19T20:15:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Physics, Action-Adventure, Platformer, Sandbox
Story Genres: Comedic, Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, High Resolution
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Black Pants Game Studio
Publisher(s): Black Pants Game Studio
Initial Release Date: June 19, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Steam, GOG, Boxed Version, Gamersgate
Description:
Set in land where common physics apply, but everything else looks different. You are Tiny, a technophile guy with a ray cutter, a gripping-device and a fine attitude towards the world. But now your nemesis Big again stole the only heritage your grandpa left you: A nice pair of white, fine rib underpants! And he‘s surely up to no good, why else would he take them to that forsaken desert, where no one goes! So load up that self-made raygun and rope device (snitched from the local hardware store) and take your annoying and jabbering backpack to accompany you. It‘s always been good use to your gramps. Besides, the robot taxi to the desert is waiting! Run, jump, drag, shove and laser your way through the ultimately ancient scenery, gain back those underpants!

Features:

Unique Hand-drawn Look – all hand-crafted textures, primo Hatch Shading, and dynamic Sound Words puts you right into a graphic novel!
Creative Jump ‘n’ Slice Gameplay – use grappling rope, rocket science and laser surgery to slice the whole world, overcoming all obstacles in your very own way. Enjoy unlimited slicing freedom and unique sandbox gameplay!
Better than Life Physics – experience believable physics in a completely destructible, immersive environment that has been built to be cleaved into beautiful, multi-core-simulated pieces of art!
Character-driven Story Line – follow Tiny into a weird and humorous story drenched in peculiarity: get back grandpa’s underpants, by all means necessary. Defeat Big, your old arch enemy in the process!
Buckets full of Indie Music – collect more than 15 songs from hardly known but genuine indie bands. Discover new songs from the underground, and show off to your friends!

Opinion:
A great game, made very unique by the use of the cutting tool, allowing you to cut almost anything in the world. It is a rather short game, but still does drag a little near the end, as it somewhat of a one trick pony.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

Blueberry Garden

2012-08-19T15:17:00.002-07:00

Gaming Genres: Platformer, Exploration, Action-Adventure
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon, Realism, Pixel Art
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Erik Svedäng
Publisher(s): Erik Svedäng
Initial Release Date: June 10, 2009
Website(s): Homepage, Steam, Unofficial Facebook, Twitter (dev.), Wikipedia
Description:
Blueberry Garden is a short experimental game about curiosity and exploration. You take on the role of a creature investigating a mysterious world to find out what is going on there. It’s probably not very much like anything you've played before but I hope you will find it enjoyable!

Opinion:
A interesting concept that is not really explained. You pretty much just jump into a world and learn both by failure and chance. It is an interesting experience, but in my case was not particularly enjoyable.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?:

Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP

2012-08-14T17:00:00.003-07:00

Gaming Genres: Action-Adventure, Action, Puzzle
Story Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Pixel Art
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Capybara Games
Publisher(s): Capybara Games
Initial Release Date: March 24, 2011
Website(s): Homepage, Facebook, Steam, App Store, Soundtrack, Wikipedia
Description:
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP is an exploratory action adventure with an emphasis on audiovisual style. Traverse a mythic little realm, use a sword to do battle & evoke sworcery to solve mystical musical mysteries. Co-operate with friends via Twitter, experience a videogame world that is affected by moon phases & help a wandering warrior monk complete her woeful errand.

Opinion:
A very beautifully but very boring game. I simply could not finish it. The puzzles are very easy, and the battle sequences are not much better.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?:

Rose & Time

2012-08-11T14:09:00.002-07:00

Gaming Genres: Puzzle, Platformer
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 3D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Sophie Houlden
Publisher(s): Sophie Houlden, Indie Buskers
Initial Release Date: April 16, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Google+ (dev.), Twitter (dev.)
Description:
A time-travel stealth game where you are avoiding copies of yourself from the past/future.

Opinion:
One of the Indie Busker games and my favourite thus far. The general concept is that you have multiple crystals to capture, one after the other, on each level. With every life you must touch one, but not be seen by any of your past selves. So you must time everything perfectly and accommodate the movement of past and future you's. While this makes for some interesting puzzles, my favourite features of the game are its style and story.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

Officer Alfred

2012-08-02T19:03:00.002-07:00

Gaming Genres: Puzzle, Platformer
Story Genres: Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Low Resolution, Minimalist
Platforms: Windows, Browser (early version)
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Arvi Teikari
Publisher(s): Arvi Teikari
Initial Release Date: May 2, 2011
Website(s): Games Page, Official Forum Thread, Ludum Dare
Description:
Three officers meet each other while running from the aftermath of the unknown disaster... They are unable to contact the other workers of the facility, but it's clear that most of them are already gone. They set on to find safety, but in these circumstances even describing what counts as 'safety' can be difficult.

Officer Alfred tells the story of an office worker, whose working pace experiences a catastrophic and mysterious disaster. This last version was made for the IGF 2011l And is a remake of a Ludum Dare #20 game form Spring 1011. It features a pretty interesting gimmick related to freezing time. In a way it could be said to be a 'sequel' to Timerocketxby, a game made by the same developer 3-4 years earlier.

Opinion:
A great, hugely challenging, time freezing puzzle game. IT is almost ridiculous how mind bending some of these puzzles are; Even without going after the optional briefcases you will likely find this a a challenge all the way through.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

Bell's Heart: The Trader of Stories

2012-08-02T08:42:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon
Series/World: The Big Old Tree that Dreams
Platforms: Browser (Flash)
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Rudowscy
Publisher(s): Pastel Games
Initial Release Date: October 3, 2010
Website(s): Homepage (dev.), Development Blog, Publisher's Page (play)
Description:
The Big Old Tree that Dreams is the name of the fictional world, created in 2005, that Bell's Heart is set in. In 2010, Rudowski and Pastel Games and to create an adventure game based on the world of the Big Old Tree that Dreams.

Opinion:
The first game in Rudowscy's The Big Old Tree that Dreams series/world; Bell's Heart is a graphical adventure game, made in Flash, and set in his fantasy punk world. Bell's Heart was co-created/published by Pastel Games and released in 2010, and currently is available to play on many Flash portals. It is a moderately short, story heavy, game with a few unique elements and a lot of style, with a unique, almost sandbox, openness. Bell's Heart was given a sequel in 2012, A Grain of Truth, and has a additional upcoming entry made in the WinterMute Engine entitled The Trader of Stories, which has been in development since 2009, but continues to be far from finished, although a playable demo is available.

The world of The Big Old Tree that Dreams was first dreamt up by Marek Rudowski in 2005, but it took him five more years to produce this first finished project. The Big Old Tree that Dreams is a world in which the continent of ForestBed resides. ForestBed is a continent with a gigantic oak in the middle of it called The Great Oak; whose roots span from sea to sea, whose branches surpass the clouds, and whose giant trunk is big enough to to seen from the far corners of this magical land. The Great Oak is, understandably, prominent in this lands myths, legends, acting as a sort of god figure, and even features prominently in every day life. This world is filled with fantastic lands and creatures, including Sauropoda-like Cloud Eaters; The City of Bark, surrounding The Great Oak; And Husks, large and ever growing lizards-like creatures with shells that many people use as beasts of burden.

“

When the last Breath goes, in the silence we will hear the great bells sound. When the first light comes we will become one.

”

Bell's Heart takes place entirely in a small village close to The Mountains of the Ice Butterflies. This village has a history of being in contact with these fairly like creatures. You play Myosotis, a Trader of Stories who is looking for the story of her own mysterious past. She was on her way to the Cradle, the highest peak all of ForestBed and part of the Ice Butterfly mountain range, when her wagon breaks down in front of this village. To pay her way in this village, and get her wagon repaired, Myosotis is charged with discovering the story of one of the village's past citizens, Derrida, who mysteriously died a generation ago.

The game is fairly short, and made up mostly of plot, dialogue, and cutscenes; It is laid out in a rather open world, sandbox, fashion, with shops and currency. The puzzles are all inventory based, but all dialogue is required to progress the story and finish the game, as well as visiting certain locations, not that most of these are not required simply to acquire and use the inventory items in the first place. As you play the game, and uncover the story of Derrida, your Book of Stories fills up with the details you have found thus far, as well as an accompanying illustration, which fills out alongside this text.

The presentation, both audio and video, is fantastic, if obviously less polished than its sequel. It is very obviously hand drawn, but also just as obviously well drawn and detailed; Every single scene is a pleasure to behold, and the visuals are, in my opinion, one of the better done elements. The interface is rather normal, with a inventory bar on the bottom. And while the music is limited to only one or two tracks they are very nice and well suited to the rest of the game.

Bell's Heart is a terrific little gem, and while it is missing some of the polish of its sequel it is, if anything, a more personal game with graphics every bit as beautiful. It is a short story based adventure, with (proportionally) loads of dialogue, cutscenes, and story. Additionally, the shop system and very open world lends it an almost sandbox feel. One of its most interesting features, is its Book of Stories, which chronicles your collection of the story of Derrida.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

Souvenir

2012-07-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Platformer, Exploration
Story Genres: Drama
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, Realism
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Robert Yang, Mohini Dutta, Ben Norskov
Publisher(s): Robert Yang, Mohini Dutta, Ben Norskov
Initial Release Date: May 8, 2012 (beta)
Website(s): Homepage, Thesis, Official Blog Post
Description:
Souvenir is a first-person video game about growing up and leaving home. The disorientation of becoming an adult is reflected in the surreal M.C. Escher-inspired world with multiple gravities. As the player delves into the fragmented world of her childhood memories, she chooses certain "souvenirs" to take with her to adulthood, to form the narrative of her coming of age.

Opinion:
Buggy, unfinished, and hard to control the jumping/flying mechanic but still powerful. Worth checking out if you are a fan of Yang's unique storytelling.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?:

DeadEnd: Cerebral Vortex

2012-07-29T08:59:00.004-07:00

Gaming Genres: Puzzle, Exploration
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2.5D, Realism, High Resolution
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Membranos
Publisher(s): Membranos
Initial Release Date: February 18, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Facebook, Indievania, GamersGate
Description:
DeadEnd: Cerebral Vortex is a first-person surreal labyrinth game.

The game threatens to break gaming conventions by throwing a player into a surreal world of subconscious, where reality mingles with illusion, and symbolism replaces traditional storytelling.

As a player, you must recover you shattered soul, piece by piece, by wondering around game's 20 levels, while the environment changes from claustrophobic to moody to sublime. Whilst roaming around, you see illusions that disappear when approached, while at the same time real obstacles appear to block your path. Things get even more interesting when you turn the world upside-down so that illusions become reality, and reality turns into illusion.

Key Features:

20 Levels set in 5 surreal worlds of subconsciousness.
Unique and artistic concept of alternating realities.
Elegant, streamlined interface.
Multi-language (English, French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian, Lithuanian).

Opinion:
DeadEnd is a labyrinthine game, you traverse a series of beautiful labyrinths with a unique difference; These labyrinths contain many illusions and power-ups. Walls appear solid until closer inspection show that they are in-fact doorways and open areas get solid as you approach. There are warp gates, and inversion switches that switch the illusions; Power-ups that allow you to see clearly over longer distances, as well as a few others and many collectables.

At its best, DeadEnd had an absolutely beautiful open environment and complex labyrinthine puzzles that are a joy to solve; There might still be a big element of trial and error, but there is certainly strategy, memory, and loads of exploration involved. At its worst, Deadend removes this beauty for closed in boring corridors and repetitive visuals and this strategy and exploration for a complexity that is so far overwhelming that it reduces the game to randomly walking through identical corridors until an exit is found.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

Distorter

2012-07-28T19:31:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Puzzle, Platformer
Story Genres: Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, Low Resolution, Minimalist
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Satou Souichi
Publisher(s): Satou Souichi
Initial Release Date:
Website(s): Download
Description:
A short Portal-like, that gives you the ability to distort matter.

Opinion:
A decent Portal-like, very short, and without any real interesting puzzles but still interesting.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?:

Ant Surf Hero: The Suffering

2012-07-28T08:02:00.004-07:00

Gaming Genres: Shooter, Platformer
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Pixel Art
Platforms: Windows, Browser
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): JigxorAndy
Publisher(s): JigxorAndy
Initial Release Date: April 23, 2012
Website(s): Games Page, Ludum Dare, Twitter (Dev.)
Description:
A platforming shooter game where you surf on ants and must kill the evil Dr. Electrostorm.

Opinion:
A great (very short) shooter, with a unique twist on the normal style. You have the decent, minimalist, side-scrolling shooting action in addition to riding a giant ant, while shooting from its back.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

Box Life

2012-07-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Platformer, Exploration
Story Genres:
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, Low Resolution, Minimalist
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Tequibo
Publisher(s): Tequibo
Initial Release Date: April 23, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Ludum Dare, Twitter (Dev.)
Description:
First person mini-metroidvania with fireballs, jetpack and such. About life in a box. There are secrets to find.

Made for Ludum Dare #23; Theme: "Tiny World".

Opinion:
With extremely minimalistic gameplay, and pretty much everything else, Box Life relies on the simply feeling of exploration and discovery. The world of Box Life is very small and fit entirely in one giant box, filled with platforms, destructible blocks, upgrades, hidden chambers, and secrets. The point of the game is to find a series of secrets, one group that is necessary to win the game and another, harder to find, group that is purely for completionists and people who want to extend the game's length. It is a fantastic, abstract, minimalist exploration game, and well worth playing.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

Chaos

2012-07-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Platformer
Story Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Adventure
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Pixel Art
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): David Norgren
Publisher(s): David Norgren
Initial Release Date: May 1, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Official Forum Thread
Description:
Timmy is a little boy who's got all he could ever wish for, but he is still troubled by something deep within his mind. Travel into his worst nightmares and rid the chaos that dwell within, and restore tranquillity to his world!

In this GMC Jam #6 entry, you play as Timmy, a boy with remarkable running and wall-jumping abilities (after all, you are inside his dream). Travel through 8 different stages and gather Tranquillity Orbs, lost memories and unlock achievements on the way!

Opinion:
Chaos might not look like anything particularly special, but first impressions are not everything. The game is actually very good, with tight controls, an interesting unique concept, and just all round enjoyable challenging platforming. You are bringing tranquillity to your mind, one level at a time; and the game separates each level into two worlds/dimensions. First you must search-out a tranquillity orb in a post apocalyptical world, cleansing the level and turning it into a normal bright and sunny land; You then must transverse this changed land, back to your starting location. The game also includes a few extras, an achievements system and a series of hidden collectables.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?: Should Play

A Grain of Truth

2012-07-16T17:31:00.002-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphic Adventure
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon
Series/World: The Big Old Tree that Dreams
Platforms: Browser (HTML 5)
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Rudowscy
Publisher(s): Rudowscy
Initial Release Date: May 31, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Homepage (dev), Development Blog, Facebook, Twitter
Description:
The Big Old Tree that Dreams is the name of the fictional world, created in 2005, that A Grain of Truth is set in. In 2011 the Rudowscy set out to create an independent HTML5 adventure game based on the world of The Big Old Tree that Dreams.

Opinion:
A Grain of Truth is the second game set in the fantasy world, The Big Old Tree that Dreams. In it you play a young woman Trader of Stories who is searching for her own past in the Plains of the Endless Grass. It is a point and click adventure game made completely in HTML, with JavaScript used to dynamically load images, text fields, and other normal HTML content, and was released in May of 2012. Because it is a HTML game, it is playable, at least theoretically, on any device capable of displaying a webpage; But if the developers have not accounted for different, small, screen sizes it is entirely possible that many mobile devices would make it impossible/nearly impossible to play.

The Big Old Tree that Dreams is a fantasy punk world that revolves around a gigantic oak tree, called the Great Oak, which coves the size of a mountain range and is many times taller; This tree, which is viewable from the far corners of the world, is venerated as a god and understandably is in their many stories, legends, and myths. The world is filled with interesting and unique lands, like the city of Bark encircling the Great Oak, but this story is set completely in the Plains of the Endless Grass; Where, stories claim, there are floating rocks and a Wiseman, who knows every story ever told. This world is fantastic, and I am happy to see that this is neither the first nor last game planed for it. It is very unique and uses an over-stylised punk style, but does not conform to any particular sub-genre that I am aware of.

After a long journey through the Plains, Myosotis, our protagonist, finally finds some floating stones, and this is where A Grain of Truth starts off. Right off the bat, you meet a team of cloud harvesters, who harvest clouds, to make into bed-cloths, right out of the very sky. They do this cloud harvesting on the back of a giant living Cloud Eater, a Sauropoda style creature which they brought from a far away land. This cloud ship is one of the more prominent locations that you visit and you will be coming here over and over again, in your search for the truth of your past, and your quest to find the old wiseman.

While A Grain of Truth is not at all normal behind the scenes, HTML games are not common, it does a great job of presenting it in a very classic style. The game offers beautiful static backgrounds, lots of text dialogue, a soundtrack, an inventory system that involves combining items, a cursor that changes over interactive areas and a way to highlight all of these areas on any given scene, a save game system, and even a map of the game world that allows instant travel to every scene you have visited in the past. The artwork of this game is one of its better features. The world, and the people in it, are beautifully illustrated and while these images are all static they really bring the world alive.

The gameplay consists of some pretty normal inventory based puzzles, and a few abstract logic puzzles, with some very unique challenges thrown in. One series of puzzles has you collect keywords throughout the world by talking to people and inspecting the scenery; These words are then used to form questions, gaining insight into this world and the people you meet. This segment is required to beat the game, but runs parallel to the rest of it as you are not required to ask a single question before the very end of the game. Similarly, you must collect 18 thoughts throughout the game and arrange them to finish the game. But, the most unique element of all is completely optional and available only at the very end. You, get to talk to the Wiseman and ask him anything you wish, the game provides a text input and he has programmed responses for a number of relevant topics.

A Grain of Truth is a fantastic game. Not only does it have a wonderful story, but delightful graphics, decent puzzles, and a great interface. It is a type of game that just grabs you right off with its charm, and at least in my case never let me go.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

MicroRAIL

2012-07-08T17:20:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Puzzle
Story Genres:
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Low Resolution
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Kisrael
Publisher(s): Kisrael
Initial Release Date: April 23, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Ludum Dare
Description:
Microrail is a tiny world of a not-super-innovative but solid and fun puzzles, where you make a rail line connecting the two endpoints and every station in between in a triangular grid.

Opinion:
A minimalist and simply puzzle game that has you complete a series of Travelling Salesmen puzzles, in the guise of setting rail road tracks. Entertaining, challenging with a nice interface and good graphics.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?:

My Little Planetoid

2012-07-06T18:05:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Construction & Management Simulation
Story Genres: Science Fiction
Graphical Styles: 3D, Cartoon, Low Resolution
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): Matthias Zarzecki
Publisher(s): Matthias Zarzecki
Initial Release Date: April 23, 2012
Website(s): Ludum Dare
Description:
Build an outpost on your own little planetoid. Gather resources and get access to new buildings, and launch satellites and ships into space!

Opinion:
A interesting and charming game, without any real challenge or storyline. Its best feature is probably its great 3D graphics.

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Indieness: Quintessentially Indie
Play?:

Castle Vox

2012-07-05T21:14:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Turned-Based Strategy
Story Genres: War, Historical
Graphical Styles: 2D, Cartoon, Low Resolution
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Sillysoft
Publisher(s): Sillysoft
Initial Release Date: October 18, 2010
Website(s): Homepage
Description:
Castle Vox is a next generation computer strategy board game. Play on historical, geometric, geographic, and fantasy settings. New maps get added all the time, and can be one-click installed using the built-in Map Manager. No waiting while other players make their moves. Everyone plans their moves at the same time. When planning is finished, all battles are resolved simultaneously. Finish an epic game in half an hour. Collaborate with teammates to conquer your enemies. Jointly occupy continents to earn their bonuses. Secret team chat in multi-player modes. Single-player computer AIs will give your brain a good workout. Fast real-time multi-player games. Or play slower once-a-day turns games.

Opinion:
Castle Vox is Risk with more strategy and more realistic gameplay. You get two unit types, offensive and defensive; Castles, which allow you to produce units on their province; And simultaneous movement, which both speeds up gameplay and adds a whole new layer to the strategy (predicting where the enemy will be and where he will attack, while planing your next moves). With both coop and competitive multiplayer, good AI for every difficulty level, and many maps, there is a lot of content here.

It is a great simple strategy game. Anyone can pick it up and start playing, but it sure takes a long time to master.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

Scratches: Director's Cut

2012-06-21T13:00:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure
Story Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Graphical Styles: 2.5D, Realism, High Resolution
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Nucleosys
Publisher(s): Got Game Entertainment
Initial Release Date: March 8, 2006
Website(s): Wikipedia, Steam
Description:
Dark Legends surround the old abandoned Blackwood house, secluded far away in the northern wastelands.

For writer Michael Arthate, this cold, solitary atmosphere is fodder for his restless imagination. But Michael soon becomes distracted by the mysteries offered up, as he follows a trail exploring and delving into the secrets of the past. As he is drawn deeper into the story, his sleep is shattered by mysterious noises, and he is plagued by nightmares that cross into reality.

Whose shadows lurk in the dark corners? Is that lonely house inhabited by restless spirits of the past or something more sinister? What is that sound that chills to the very bone...scratching?

Join Michael in a suspenseful adventure, as you explore beautiful and chilling environments. Prowl dark corners and solve puzzles leading to the solution of a tale begun with obsession, and ending with madness and murder.

The director's cut includes: an alternate ending, A new chapter and mini-sequel: “The Last Visit” which sends you back to the house 10 years latter, A diary system with more clues and thoughts from the main character, and upgraded graphics and an eerier soundtrack.

Opinion:
Scratches is a horror title rapped up in a mystery and filled with suspense and tension. It is a point and click adventure game released in 2006 by the small Argentinian company Nucleosys. This team went on to release a director's cut of Scratches the following year. Nucleosys has since shut its doors, but one if its co-founders, Agustin Cordes, has gone on to found Senscape, which is currently working on Asylum, an adventure game with a similar style.

The director's cut, named simply Scratches: Director's Cut, is pretty much what you would expect from a director's cut. With it you get an alternative ending to the story; The original ending I believe, before they remade it to be more ambiguous. This ending no longer quite fits into the story, and is of course non-canonical, but interesting to experience nonetheless. We also get a whole new mini-sequel called "The Last Visit"; Which has you playing as a journalist who has stuck into Blackwood Manor, ten years after your fateful stay there. But, perhaps more importantly than all these little additions, are all of the improvements made to the main game. We get completely overhauled graphics, with higher supported resolutions, and improved detail and lighting; A, similarly, remastered soundtrack and sound effects; And a much improved interface. There has also been work done on the Hint System, and Michael has gotten a Journal in which he shares his innermost thoughts and which acts to remind you of objectives at times.

The 7-8 hour game takes place in Blackwood Manor, an old Victorian house, and on the surrounding grounds. Blackwood Manor is an old abandoned house with a dark and mysterious past. Originally, a pillar of the community and a prominent engineer, Mr. Blackwood, lived there with his wife and maid, and with a son on the way; But a series of horrible and unexplained events have left a dark cloud hanging over the entire region, the house abandoned, and fuelled rumours and myths of every variety. It all started with what should of been a happy occasion, the birth of their son, which quickly turned into a tragedy when they announced that he had died. Latter, Mr. Blackwood is accused of murdering his wife and burying her on the premises; The police wanted to investigate but with the help of his best friend and doctor Christopher Milton, their combined esteem, and the suicide of their only suspect, Mr. Blackwood, put the case permanently on hold. Christopher Milton then inherited the estate and moved in, but soon became a hermit and eventually disappeared entirely.

This is where you, Michael Arthate, come in. You are a horror writer looking for some inspiration to help you finish your latest book. You have acquired the house, and moved in immediately, with only a few hours for a cleaning crew to get the worst of the dirt cleaned up. The electricity and water do not even work yet, and you are all alone, with only a telephone and the post service to connect you to the outside world. In the following three days Michael explores the manor and gets more and more obsessed with the mysterious events in its past. But is he the only one here? His dreams are filled with nightmares and shattered by a mysterious scratching noise. Can you uncover what really happened here all those years ago? Is something or someone from its dark past still lurking in the house? What is causing those Scratching noises at night?

This story is beautifully told and uses the classic element of ambiguity. You are encouraged to think about what you see, hear, and read and come up with your own explanations. You need to explore and pay attention to uncover the truth; It is possible to entirely miss very important clues and sources of information while plaything through the game, so there is a big emphasis on exploration. The game's atmosphere is great for this, it inspires a sense of exploration, and I needed no more incentive than that to explore every inch of the manor. Most of the game is open and fully explorable from the very beginning, but as you progress through the game what you are doing is slowing opening up new sections and uncovering new parts of the mystery.

Scratches: Director's Cut adds to this story with "The Last Visit", a new sequel chapter that takes place ten years after you originally explored Blackwood Manor. This, approximately one hour long, mini-sequel has you play a journalist gone to the house to dig up a story and uncover the mystery before it is demolished. What he encounters is a scene of ruin, of vandalism, graffiti, and of looting. Much of the grounds and house are not even accessible. It is a short addition, with only two disappointing simple multi-step puzzles, and is overall rather disappointing in how little is revealed. You get a few explanations to previously ambiguous questions; But if anything the added precision only hurts the story, ruining the open ended interpretable aspect of it. It also does not do any better at ending the story of Scratches; Nothing is resolved, in fact it has very much a similar ending to the original story. One saving grace is that it answers the only real complaint I had with the original game; The game is now 100% narrated, and while there is far less reading in this chapter, all of it is voiced.

The world of Scratches is node based and allows your choice of slideshow or 360 degree view. In my opinion, the 360 degree view is obviously the better view and the one you should use. It works fabulously, being easy to use and a great way to show off the beautiful game. Also, you really do not have to worry about making it harder to spot items. There is no pixel hunting; All, hotspots are quite big, and useful items very easy to spot. There is one exception to this, in my opinion, but the item is so close to where it is needed that I would not expect it to cause much trouble.

The gameplay of Scratches takes second stage to the story and atmosphere. All of the puzzles are obvious extensions of the storyline and are incorporated because of the story. This makes for very logical and simple puzzles; most of which are inventory based. The game does not really even use any inventory combination puzzles, with the few times that you do combine items in the inventory being so obvious that I would not consider them puzzles. Unfortunately, the game does get off on a rather bad start where the puzzles are concerned; The very first challenge you have is trying to figure out where to put your suitcase, with absolutely no direction. It does not go on the bed, it does not go on the desk, there are no interactable areas on the ground. Eventually, I figured out where to put it, but I could not help thinking that in no sense should this puzzle exist. Another feature of the game worth mentioning is how much the inventory builds up overs time; Most items are not used more than once, but unless using an item logically destroys or leaves it then it is kept in the inventory long past its last use. On the one hand this seemed unnecessary, but on the other it did not ever cause me any problems because the puzzles are always so logical. You never have to try all your items on this one elusive challenge, if you see a problem you pretty much know what you need to solve it, and either have to look for the item or simply take it out of your inventory. Even the keys had pretty obvious doors to which they belonged, and just by looking at their icons and you could tell which door they would unlock. One thing that Scratches does well is mixing a linear storyline with non-linear gameplay. Yes, the game is linear, but at the same time you have multiple avenues to explore, almost all of the time; There is enough give that I was never stuck behind this one tiny roadblock that needed to be cleared before the story could progress.

The two features of Scratches: Director's Cut that I never really explored are the Hint System and Journal/Diary. I played with the Hint System off, but apparently, the hints are seamlessly integrated into the comments and Journal; It does not seem to be the type of Hint System that you can use for a particular puzzle that is causing you trouble, so much as just generally making the game easier while you play. The Journal, in my opinion, works mostly as an objectives list. And in this way, it is good to make the game easier to come back to after enough time has passed to forget what you were doing. The problem I have with it is that, if you want to read it on an ongoing basis, it is not made easy. I read it a few times at the very beginning of the game, but soon got wrapped up in the story and completely forgot about my Journal. The game really should inform you of added entries, and provide a quick and easy way to read these new entries when they are written. Additionally, the game often gets the timing of entries a little off; There were a few occasions where I was given a Journal entry for something that had not yet happened, or in fact never happened.

The sound of Scratches is one of its more advertised features. It has a great unique, eerie, and solemn soundtrack from Cellar of Rats, that fits into the atmosphere perfectly. It also offers a limited amount of voice; For all dialog and cutscenes, you have voice from the few characters in the game. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the game does not contain dialogue, but instead writing, and does requires loads of reading. There are numerous journals and letters spread around the house to find and read, only available as text, and object descriptions and other text narration. All of these would of benefited from voice, but worked well without it.

The visuals are just superb. They are not ultra detailed, breathtakingly beautiful, fantastically unique, or anything like that; But as part of the greater story I do not think you could ask for better. The visuals show a brooding environment, and they show it well, both indoors, where most of your time will be spent, and outdoors. It is dark, it is eerie, and, at least for specific locations, scary. You even get rather good foliage, a difficult graphical area to get correct; In-fact some of my favorite locations were outdoors. These visuals are just another aspect of the wonderful and menacing atmosphere permeating the entire game.

So lets talk about the horror aspect of Scratches. I am normally not at all a fan of horror, but in this case I made an exception and have not regretted it for a second; And therefore think there is a something here for every type of adventure or story lover. Scratches is primarily a game about suspense, atmosphere, and storing telling; You are NOT going to be jumping out of your seat because something just jumped out at you. The suspense and scare slowly builds over the course of the game, as you undercover new details and get closer to solving the mystery. In fact I was most scared after the game was over, simply from thinking about the creepy and demented story.

Scratches: Director's Cut is primarily a great story. Taken individually any of its elements are only average, mediocre, or pretty good. None of the puzzles are particularly fun, in and of themselves; If there were not visuals and a story to go along with them, they simply would not be worth doing. The visuals are nice, but without a backstory to flesh them out they would still be forgettable. And even the story, while the primary focus of the game, would not be this memorable or enjoyable if not told well; The magic comes from having all these elements compliment each other. Together these elements create a great game, with memorable locations and story, and a great atmosphere. I was riveted from the very start, ready and willing to explore every nook and corner of Blackwood Manor, read every letter and diary found within, and contemplate its story long after the credits rolled. And if you are looking for a story driven classic adventure, then there is not a single one I would recommend higher than Scratches: Director's Cut.

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Indieness: Almost Indie
Play?: Should Play

UNGA needs MUMBA

2012-06-17T12:00:00.003-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure
Story Genres: Comedic, Historical
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Free
Developer(s): L.E.M. studios
Publisher(s): L.E.M. studios
Initial Release Date: March 30, 2012
Website(s): AGS Entry, Forum Thread, Development Thread
Description:
An old school point and click adventure game with 10 playable rooms and set in prehistoric Central Europe, 25,000 years ago.

UNGA is an ambitious Stone Age hunter. He comes home after a hard hunting day with nothing but this small rat-like animal - not enough for his wife NONGA. For a long time she wants to eat something delicious. Therefore UNGA's task is clear: HE HAS TO HUNT A HUGE MAMMOTH!
Can you help UNGA to succeed on his prehistoric adventure?

Opinion:
UNGA needs MUMBA is a point and click adventure game where you play a caveman (Unga), who is out hunting a mammoth (mumba) for his wife. In the story, there are both comedic elements, and many references to popular culture; The gameplay is quite traditional, and dialogue is fully voiced.

The graphics are simple but good. The voices a unexpected bonus. A very good game overall.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?:

Lume: Part 1

2012-06-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical, Puzzle Adventure
Story Genres: Drama
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, OnLive
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): State of Play
Publisher(s): State of Play
Initial Release Date: May 9, 2011
Website(s): Homepage, Homepage (dev), Dev Blog (depreciated), Facebook (dev), Twitter (dev), Steam, Desura, iTunes, iTunes (iPad), iTunes (Mac), OnLive
Description:
An illuminating puzzle adventure!

With a set built entirely out of paper and cardboard, all filmed in glorious high definition, Lume is a game with a style unlike any other.

As Lumi, an inquisitive young girl, you discover that power to your grandad’s house has failed. What’s more, he’s nowhere to be seen. Immerse yourself in Lume’s photoreal world, solve perplexing paper puzzles to help restore the power, and uncover a deeper mystery behind the blackout.

Immerse yourself in Lume’s photoreal world, solve perplexing paper puzzles to help restore the power through ingenious eco-technology, and uncover a deeper mystery behind the blackout. Beautifully animated with handcrafted care, this illuminating puzzle adventure game will put visual, aural and memory skills to the test.

Lume is the first part of a larger adventure which is in production now, so keep an eye out!

Opinion:
The first chapter in this paper and cardboard adventure was released in 2011. It is currently going for $6.99 on Steam, which considering its length of 1 to 1.5 hours is a little on the expensive side.

The graphics are what really define Lume. In Lume, beautiful 3D scaled sets are constructed out of paper, cardboard, and a few other building materials and props. These sets are then filmed, with some panning and the like for entering and exiting a scene; But really there is very little movement, which is my only real complaint; They just do not put the 3D set to much use. The minimalistic characters are then superimposed on-top of these scenes. The result is quite visually striking and very tactile.

The game has you in control of Lumi, a bright young girl visiting her grandfather's house. He has gone to town to investigate a recent power outage and left you a note asking you to finish setting up the alternative power generators for his house. As such, you must construct a wind turbine, finish setting up a solar panel system, and connect them both to the house to restore power (but first you are going to have to figure out the combination to the lock on the door).

The gameplay is enjoyable but not of a very consistent difficulty. Some puzzles are straight forward and very easy, others require the use of some ambiguous clues. In particular, there is this one puzzle that is very ambiguous compared to the others. The game otherwise comes off as casual, but if you are not paying close enough attention and are ready for some lateral thinking then I could see many simply never getting this one. Not that I would warn the casual crowd away; I think in this particular case a casual adventurer has just as much chance with the puzzle as anyone, as it can be easy given the right thinking.

I love Lume's graphics, I liked its gameplay, and its plot was surprisingly enjoyable; It is a charming game from top to bottom. I am eagerly awaiting its sequel, and particularly if you can find Lume on sale, it is worth your time.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

Metal Dead

2012-06-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure,
Story Genres: Comedic, Post-Apocalyptic, Horror
Graphical Styles: 2D, Hand-Drawn, Cartoon, Low Resolution
Platforms: Windows
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Walk Thru Walls
Publisher(s): Walk Thru Walls
Initial Release Date: December 19, 2011
Website(s): Homepage, Facebook, Twitter (dev), Indievania, Adventure Shop, Demo
Description:
Metal Dead is a comedic, heavy metal influenced, apocalyptic point'n'click adventure games packed with everyone's favorite undead creatures, zombies!

This twisted tale centers on two metal-heads in the midst of a zombie invasion. After crashing their car in front of a medical research facility, they become trapped and are forced to use their wits to puzzle their way to freedom. Along the way, they must deal with a cast of characters who range from mildly deranged to completely insane.

Metal Dead is a full-length old school adventure game, featuring:

Over 40 interactive rooms
17 unique, quirky characters
13 Achievements
Built-in hint system
Fully orchestrated midi soundtrack
Extensive script packed with comedy goodness

Nominated by Adventure Gamers for "Best Writing - Comedy" and "Best Independent Adventure Game" for 2011!

Opinion:
Metal Dead is the successful attempt to combine heavy metal, the zombie apocalypse, comedy, and retro point and click gaming. I think it is safe to assume that it is also the first and only such game. It was released during the end of 2011, and was good enough to get nominated into two Adventure Gamers categories: "Best Writing - Comedy" and "Best Independent Adventure Game".

In Metal Dead you play Malcolm who, with his ever present friend Ronnie, is a metal-head. They love heavy metal, and in particular Ronnie believes that the zombie apocalypse is the most metal thing to ever happen. During the opening sequence you crash your car, in front of a large medical research building that is attracting the attention of all the zombies in the area, and he is killed. You then embark on a short puzzle solving and exploration sequence which concludes with you carrying around your friends head, which acts as a hint system, and occasionally advances the storyline. The story evolves moderately naturally from there as you attempt to survive and escape the aforementioned medical research center; While meeting, working with, and rescuing a variety of interesting, comedic, and exaggerated characters. There is a rather strange twist at the very end, but it does not get weird until then.

While the story of Metal Dead is superb in my opinion, the gameplay/puzzles are far less so. They are really just the standard inventory fare, though they do have you doing some interesting things at times, namely killing zombies. The one proper logic puzzle in the entire game is one of the worse examples of its kind, and the detective, clue finding and code breaking, puzzle was not much better. But for the most part the puzzles are fine, they are simply not the focus of the game. One feature I was mildly surprised by was the use of a multiple cursor system, with the standard: interact, look, talk, and walk cursors. I cannot say that I agree with their decision concerning this feature; It is not that I dislike this type of interface, though in general I do, but that it is never taken advantage of. Other than requiring you to spend time clicking through your options between interacting with the environment (interact), moving about (walk), and talking to people (talk) you never use the system; You simply never "interact" with a person, "talk" to a object or room, or "walk" (kick) an undead.

The art is simple hand-drawn and crude, but charming and very good accompaniment to the rest of the game. Its one unique aspect is the level of blood and gore, of which there is no shortage. You are shown everything, from the shambling dead, dismemberment, piles of corpses, zombies feeding, guts, and brain matter. None of it is particularly "graphic" because of the art style, and it is not overly mature in any other area, so I do not think that the game should really be considered objectionable to any age that is OK with the concept of a zombie.

I think any classic adventure fan will love Metal Dead. It is a great recreation of the traditional adventure model with a modern and very unique concept. To be honest, I believe that the gameplay dropped the ball a little bit, and was quite drab in it implementation, but this is easily overlooked and hardly noticeable while playing.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play

Botanicula

2012-06-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

Gaming Genres: Graphical Adventure
Story Genres: Fantasy
Graphical Styles: 2D, High Resolution
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux
Pricing Model: Pay $
Developer(s): Amanita Design
Publisher(s): Amanita Design
Initial Release Date: April 19, 2012
Website(s): Homepage, Homepage (dev), Facebook, Wikipedia
Description:
Botanicula is a point'n'click exploration game created by the makers of award-winning Machinarium, studio Amanita Design and Czech band DVA. Five friends, little tree creatures, set out on a journey to save the last seed from their home tree which is infested by evil parasites.

Key Features:

Relaxed game perfect for hardcore gamers, their partners, families and seniors.
More than 150 detailed locations to explore.
Hundreds of funny animations.
Incredible amount of hidden bonuses.
Fantastic music and sound effects by fantastic band DVA.
Not one but five main characters with various skills and personalities.
No text or lengthy dialogs to bore you.
Bonuses for vigilant players at the end of the game.

Opinion:
Botanicula is Amanita Design style incarnate, it is Samorost taken to a whole new level. It was released into a Humble Indie Bundle just a few months ago and is currently available through the Humble Indie Store for only $10.

In Botanicula you control a group of five creatures best described as little tree friends. Most of the time that it is a group does not matter, you do not often use the characters and they do not ever really separate. But there are times where the individuals do come into play; During some scenes the solution to the puzzle is to pick the correct playable character to solve the current predicament. These five tree creatures are on a mission to escape their home tree which is being attacked by evil parasites, and bring a tree seed with them to start anew and grow a new home.

Much of the charm of the game comes from none of it being boiler plate. There is no "that does not work" response or any generic behaviour at all in the game. So players are encouraged to explore the world and much of the gameplay is actually optional bonus material that you uncover as you explore this unique environment. This bonus material that I speak of is mostly interesting objects and NPCs that you uncover though interacting with the environment, usually requiring a specific series of interactions. After you uncover these bonuses you are given a card as an indicator of the achievement.

The graphics are all very unique and beautiful. Botanicula uses a mix of cut-out style graphics and drawn artwork, which include a mix of very abstract with very realistic and detailed. This is all seamlessly combined with really the only similar features being the constant use of nature as a guide and inspiration.

One "problem" with the game is that it is so removed from reality. In Botanicula there is no, or very little, concrete logic. Most puzzles are solved by clicking everything on the screen a few times; It does not matter if you have great insight or have ever played the game before, there is no logic (convoluted or otherwise) to ascertain. Some of the more logical puzzles give you a hint of logic, by giving you a concrete goal and a way to work towards it, but they almost always have some kind of random physics that mean that you have no real way to understand what any move will do until you do it. Puzzles are often (but far from always) put together logically, but since there is little to no logic for the user interaction it is at best an abstract logic that required far more experimentation than thought. The puzzles are still fun and rewarding, at lease up to a point; And you get a great exploration vibe from them specifically because of this abstract logic. It is not for everyone, but at the same time I believe it makes the game very user friendly.

Most of all I would call Botanicula a charming and endearing game. You are probably not going to be excited by the gameplay, intrigued by the puzzles, or spend too long admiring the artwork; the story will likely not engross you, or the characters interest you all that much; But, every single one of these elements is saturated with charm and extremely endearing. I would not want every adventure game to be like this, I would not even want this to become a new sub-genre, but at least for this one game it does work and is very unique.

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Indieness: Indie
Play?: Should Play