Avatar Drop is a campy little ragdoll physics game that has bravely ventured out of its natural habitat in Wii-ville all the way to XBLIG. Though this title seems a little thin on content, even by indie game standards, what it does offer- a free-falling, pinballing, plinko-style adventure- is fairly enjoyable if you've got a few friends hanging around. The premise of this title is pretty straightforward; You and three of your best human or...
Bennu is a quirky, lovable little puzzle game peppered with Egyptian mythology. You play as the title character, Bennu, a bird-like creature (similar to a phoenix) who inhabits the afterlife. He wields the Sphere of Ra and the Chains of Osiris, swinging and rolling around the world and solving puzzles along the way. This game is an enjoyable exercise in physics and momentum, definitely refreshing in the wake of many formulaic side-scrolling puzzle games. You're...
Shellblast is kind of like a cross between Sudoku (where columns have to tally) and Minesweeper. Each bomb is a puzzle with randomly placed "pistons" which must be properly identified in order to diffuse the thing. Though the game is played on a grid, each puzzle uses a different "shape" for its bomb. Though there's no real difference between a tile which isn't used in the puzzle and one which is used in the puzzle...
Track Architect is a simple game that brings simple fun, much like a tiny wind-up car you might snag at a dollar store. The graphics are pretty basic and unexciting, the background music is initially catchy but gets a bit redundant after about five minutes, and your adorable clunker only faces left-to-right as it travels across the screen. Yet despite this rather mundane description, there is an innocent charm to this game- the kind of...
If the year was 1993, there is not even the slightest chance in hell that you could purchase this game for a measly $5. You would gladly shell out $40-50 from your hard-earned lawnmowing income for the chance to play this exhilarating, superbly-polished platform shooter into the wee hours of the morning on your Sega Genesis. Veks & Silence is my current nomination for best XBLIG ever created, especially when it comes to overall production...
While most games try to do a bit too much, Fishing Girl is content with being a bite-sized little mini-game. Two young lovers are separated by an ocean, and you have 10 minutes to re-unite them. This can be accomplished by casting your line all the way to the next island and reeling the whole thing back in. To be able to cast that far, you'll need to upgrade your rod all the way (I...
Are you tired of solving complex puzzles? Does computing damage buffs and distributing character growth points melt your overtaxed brain and make you yearn for the simpler games of yesteryear? Well have no fear, Drop Zone is here to rip off that thinking cap and replace it with a badass viking helmet. No more pondering, no more planning, no worrying about friendly fire- just point your turret at anything that moves and blow it out...
I didn't have high hopes for Spaceman. Going simply on the screenshots and the description, it looked like yet another game based on the platform starter kit provided by Microsoft. And not even a good one--the screenshots look ugly as hell! I don't know if they're just badly compressed or weirdly distorted, but the game looks much better than advertised. The premise is fairly simple: you start on a platform, and you must gather a...
If you're looking for a summary of this quirky title, Skwug is best-described as a 'precision-teleporting-puzzle-platformer'. You play as Skwug, a little blue ball with beady eyes, who I have unofficially anointed “King of the Skwigglodites”. When he's not rolling and bounding around (as balls are wont to do), this adorable creature can teleport up to 3 times before he must touch the ground again. Though you can walk and jump, you'll find yourself traveling...
Karnn Age has one of the most bizarre openings of any game I've ever played, which could be disastrous in an environment where game purchases are so tightly linked to impressions of the trial version. Two girls are strolling on the beach, which pisses of the sun. He vaporizes them (okay, there were skeletons left) and then you're thrust straight into a top-down, dual-stick shooter. Most of the levels are split into a central grassy...
