Fortunately, September has been a pretty good month for XBOX Live Indie games. I've got three new titles available that I think are worth five times the small amount of Microsoft Points they're asking for.
First off, since Halloween is soon approaching, I thought I'd get a jump start on a game perfect for sating your uncontrollable hunger for 8-bit horror. Now, I know the market is flooded with zombie-apocalypse-survival-horror games, and XBOX Live Indie is no exception, but this is a zombie game with some real substance and staying power. Load your shotgun and prepare to run from Dead Pixels (clever name).
This official art definitely adds to the game's feel
of watching an old grindhouse zombie movie -- Nice!
Created by Scottish indie developer CANTSTRAFERIGHT, Dead Pixels feels like a cross between Left 4 Dead and River City Ransom, though the plethora of inspirations and in-game references span the gamut of zombie movies, video games, etc. You play as a lone survivor (or a pair of survivors in a two-player game) who must plow through a horde of zombies to "get to tha' choppa'" and escape. Just so you know, these zombies are the radioactive brand, created from spilled nuclear waste, not the viral outbreak or the necromantic kind.
The game has you going further and further to the right (though you can go left to get something that you didn't pick up earlier), shooting zombies, looting buildings, and trading with makeshift stores for guns, ammo, and toilet paper (yes, you can sell toilet paper to them). The further you go, the more varieties of zombies you come up against, each kind harder than the last. Though the zombies don't say things like "Barf!" at the bottom of the screen, they do leave behind money to collect. You can also upgrade certain abilities at stores to make you a better zombie slaying machine.
Gameplay is extremely fun and harder difficulty settings add more streets for you to run through to get to the goal, which allows you to customize your game length. The best part about Dead Pixels is that the developer has promised add-on content (what he likes to call "free DLC") for every sales milestone the game reaches. After three days in the marketplace, the game already reached its first milestone (4,000 units) and he is working on a new game mode called "The Solution." It also seems that there'll be another add-on after that, since the second milestone (10,000 units) was recently surpassed. If you want to keep track of the add-on developments and sales milestones, check out the official Facebook page.
Oh yeah, did I mention it only costs a buck?
Up next is Robotriot, an action platform game from Retromite. In this game, you play a robot who looks like the love-child of The Black Hole's V.I.N.CENT and T-Bob from MASK. Your job is to infiltrate rogue spaceships and disable their power cores so that your boss can have them towed. Yes, the hero of the game is a robo repo man.
Of course, just like in the real repo business, you have to deal with people trying to stop you from taking their transportation. Though, instead of the hung-over guy in a wife beater and soiled boxers pointing a shotgun at you, you're dealing with security systems rife with robots, gun emplacements, and hazardous obstacles. Fortunately, you have some firepower to keep things even. There's a lot of shooting switches, finding keycards, and using moving platforms to satisfy action platform fans. While this is usually not my kind of game, I found myself enjoying this one. One thing I will say is, for a game that only costs $1, the graphics and music are really good. It looks and sounds like a high end 16-bit game.
If you like exploring levels with platforms and switches and shooting up enemies, pick up Robotriot. It's also going to be available on Android phones as well as the iPhone and iPad (not that I'm interested in doing anything on my phone other than making calls, but whatever floats your boat).
Speaking of high quality games, our final game, Wizorb, is a thing of beauty. Imagine a game like Atari's Breakout or Taito's Arkanoid, add magic spell power-ups that are fueled by a magic meter, some RPG elements, and a healthy dose of monsters, and you have Wizorb. While this may be the first work from Tribute, the Montreal based development team that made this game, I could have sworn this game was made by seasoned veterans of the industry. Don't believe me? Just take a look at the website for the game. There's not much to it, right now, but it looks great.
The high production doesn't end there, either. The graphics are beautiful, the sprite animation is silky smooth, and the soundtrack is great. Wizorb looks like a highly polished and rare game for the Sega Master System -- maybe even Super Nintendo. Fortunately, it's an unbelievably gorgeous and extremely fun XBOX Live Indie game for only $3. This is a MUST BUY.
Storywise, you play Cyrus, a wizard with the rare and mysterious power of the Wizorb, who must save the kingdom of Gorudo from legions of monsters. While you're saving the kingdom, you'll come across a town that needs your help in rebuilding (by spending gold, of course). Each building you repair gives you items or new options, such as a store, to help you on your quest.
I've only played the game for about five minutes, but I can already tell this game is a solid winner (I played the demo. Once I get my first paycheck from my new job, I'll drop the funds for this one). With fantastic graphics and sound and awesome gameplay, you have no reason to skip this game. Buy it. Seriously, buy it. Just friggin' buy it.
One more game to mention, though you won't find it on XBOX. While digging up some info on these games, I came across another game called Ninja Senki. Some of you may have heard of it, since it came out last December. If you haven't, it's an old school action platformer in a similar vein to the Mega Man series. It's only available for PC, but it is free to download. Check out the website and enjoy.
Hope that buffet of cheap games holds you over until the next crop. I'll see you guys next week.
