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By Rob Owens, January 17, 2010 4:01 am

Pilot Test – Other – 80 Points – Download

I can’t help but imagine the Air Force actually creating something like this… way back in the day of course and then asking their would be Fighter Jocks to give this a go. Pilot Test has a very old school Military look an feel and then mixes in a story line about some Top Secret, Pilot Test Program, to see if you have the skills it takes to fly with the best of them; in this Indie game you have all the makings of something potentially very interesting to say the least.

Now the game has nothing to do with any flight simulations for Dog Fights or missions in launching a payload of Missiles at various targets. So what you have left is one of the very basic aspect of gaming, dealing in the area of collision detection. Your task is to attempt and safely move your Red Square around very limited flight area, as you avoid the Green Squares darting all around and at you. The longer you survive in the air, the better and higher your score will be in the end.

Simple… only each time your Red Fighter (Square) collides with any Green Enemy (Square) on the screen, you’ll take on some damage and start to loose portions of your Jet powered Square. Take on to much damage or end up colliding head on with an Enemy, then its game over for that flight session. This game also tests out your memory, as the flight paths of Enemy Squares are the same every time and thus allows you to try and remember what happened the last time you were tested.

The game is easy to play from the control stand point, I mean you simply move the left or right analog sticks around to dart your Square like no other Pilot has ever flown before. When you first start the flying test, you’ll think its going to be easy and will quickly learn its not as easy as it looks. One thing for sure is this game is very challenging and it will push you to try and score higher on the list of Pilots.

For me it brought back memories of those very old school console games from those early days of Atari, only with some bumped up graphics in some areas of course. The game is priced at only at 80ms points and is worth that I feel. Holographic Dreams has really set a mood here and I feel Pilot Test has provided a challenge in such a basic game that uses Collision Detection.

Would it have been nice to see some other Test exercises in this Pilot program or at least some other flight paths perhaps? Sure it would have, but for what this game is, I think they did a pretty good job in setting the mood and creating a game that is a challenge. I’d say you should at least give it a try and see if you can come close to scoring higher on the charts.

Very simple and not much content but a good challenge.

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By Rob Owens, January 11, 2010 2:40 am

Gerbil Physics – Puzzle & Trivia – 80 Points – Download

Its Gerbil Physics and that pretty much says it all in this physics-based Gerbil demolition game from Pencel Games. Available on Xbox Live and for only 80 ms points, you get a great little physics puzzler to solve here, filled with a total of 24 fun packed and challenging levels of game-play physics fun.

The game level settings are very pleasant to the eyes and finished out with very enjoyable soundtracks and sound effects. The controls are very simple and straight forward, making this a very easy game to pick up and enjoy for all. This game is suitable for all ages to play even with the very mild terror that is forced upon the games only captives, the Gerbils trapped in various blocks.

No one is really sure how or why these Gerbils have been placed in the variety of blocks and used to create any number of buildings for you to demolish later. Bringing down the houses takes place through the use of bombs, ropes and disintegrators, all depending on what is available for any of the 24 puzzle levels your currently playing.

The rest is then all up to you and the physics you will unleash upon the various Gerbil filled blocks. The more you play it the more this game will draw you in and drive you to reach that next level of game play. I think the physics here work really well and you can’t help but smile a little as you place a bomb next to one of the blocks or use a rope to bring down a section of wall and see the looks on the surrounding Gerbils.

If your looking for a nice change of pace from your normal gaming action or simply a title to play with the whole family or something to do while your chatting in a Party on Xbox Live, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with all of the fun explosive action Gerbil Physics delivers here. I recommend you buy Gerbil Physics and help support Indie Game development on Xbox Live.

You'll be pleasantly surprised with all of the fun explosive action Gerbil Physics delivers.