Halfbrick Blast Off – Racing & Flying – 240 Points – Download

When Albert Einstein said “The laws of gravity cannot be held responsible for people falling in love”, he certainly had a point. Said laws can however be held responsible for the fact that my cute little spaceship has just smacked into the side of a planetoid, killing everyone onboard. Still, at least it’s a quicker way to go than drifting out into deep space until your food and oxygen run out.

Australian developers Halfbrick have a long history as a developer for hire, writing DS games for other people. Their most recent releases include Raskulls on Xbox Live Arcade, and a couple of PSP Minis. Their experience shows, as Blast Off is a simple, addictive and well-executed game. Comparisons to Atari’s Lunar Lander are inevitable, but in reality the games are very different. This game is a puzzler, with more than a hint of the arcade. And it’s a good one.

Blast Off starts with a simple level that introduces the player to the control scheme and the game itself. Holding the “A” button blasts your little rocket from Earth. After launch the left stick rotates your rocket, while “A” again provides thrust. Every second of thrust burns up your limited reserve of fuel and brings you closer to the time when your oxygen runs out. Get too close to a planet and you’ll smash into the surface, or sling-shot away into deep space, too far away to return. Get the distance, your speed and the angle of thrust just right and you’ll sail around the system, collecting stranded astronauts, then making it to the convenient (and not terribly realistic) warpgate that signals the end of the level.

This is a game of repetition. Like me, you’ll probably die dozens or even hundreds of times until, almost by accident, you nail it and get through to the next level. But along the way you’ll enjoy the environments, with spinning planets, hazy galaxies and passing meteors. You’ll love the minimalist synthesizer soundtrack (available to download for free from Halfbrick) and you’ll be mesmerized by the variety and complexity of many of the levels.

Halfbrick Blast Off was the first game to be released under the Halfbrick Fridays series, and is available for 240 Microsoft Points.

You'll be mesmerized by the variety and complexity of many of the levels.

Nasty – Action & Adventure – 80 Points – Download

The temptation to make a tabloid-style comment based on title from from Fun Infused Games is overwhelming. But I’ll fight it. For as long as I can.

Here’s the elevator pitch: Nasty is a cross between Contra and Bubble Bobble. You’ve got a gun, you dodge and shoot, and jump onto platforms to collect fruit. Once you’ve killed all the enemies a door opens, leading you to the next level.

Nasty is nicely polished, with good attention to detail. Each level has a theme, and while some have clearly had more attention than others, there is a nice mix. The animation is smooth, jumping and moving is precise, the controls are simple, and graphics and sound are good. There’s tons of variety in the game, and a challenge that ramps up as you move from level to level. Your enemies include little green men, ghosts, sharks and large, menacing bosses. The levels include destructible walls, lava pits, spikes and much more.

Wrinkles are few, and if this kind of game is your bag, they won’t cause too much heartache. Nasty has a save system that can only be used every ten levels, with a fixed number of continues for each level. Run out of continues and it’s back to the last save point. Nasty has no Xbox live multiplayer, but this is balanced by local play modes. My only other niggle is that some of the levels could have done with some more attention to detail to make them distinctive.

Nasty has had two major updates already from the developer, improving gameplay and fixing many issues. More updates are planned. It’s good to see an indie studio standing by their game, and it bodes well for future releases from this studio.

Give Nasty a chance, with 100 levels, 4-player local “Battle Mode” and cooperative play, at a mere 80 Microsoft points this is a steal.

Nasty but nice.

With 100 levels, 4-player local "Battle Mode" and cooperative play, at a mere 80 Microsoft points this is a steal.

Brixx – Card & Board – 80 Points – Download

Based on the traditional board game Reversi(Othello), Brixx is a very confusing,  challenging, and polished puzzle game. I’ve never played the actual board game,  but if this is exactly how it is played, it takes a long time to understand.

The object of Brixx is to cover each square of the board red before your opponent until there are no more moves left. In most games when you start, you expect a tutorial that shows a little demo of how the game is played, some basic strategies and maybe a little gameplay with an opponent. In Brixx, however, you either start playing and be thoroughly confused or in the main menu scroll down to the How To Play screen. While on this screen, the instructions are just as confusing – poorly translated, no video tutorial, or anything else. Now, I know the developer is German, but since this game is released for the English language, a proper translation would have helped describe how to play. Anyways, from what I understand, you are supposed to take turns placing a stone beside your opponents stone in three directions – Straight, cross, and horizontal.  Unlike the board game, you paint squares instead of placing stones. I’m sure there is some sort of strategy or proper way of playing, but no matter what I do, I can never really understand the proper way to play. If I win, it’s by sheer luck and controlling the corners but it is in no way fun. I’ve tried so hard to understand this game but had no luck. Also included in the game is local multiplayer; I didn’t get a chance to try this feature out, but I’m sure both my friends and I would end up confused.

Since Brixx is based off a board game, you would think it would be a two-dimensional game. However, the overall board is re-modeled in three-dimensional space. The graphics are polished and it is a nice re-imagining of the traditional board game.

In Brixx, there is no original music. It would have been nice to of had some looped music in the background, but for the amount of time you’ll be playing this game, I can see why it wasn’t included.

In the end, Brixx is a very short game. There are three difficulty settings, but even on Beginner, it felt like I was playing Expert. For players of the traditional board game, Brixx does a nice job of bringing Reversi to video game form. For newcomers, it’s hard to get into this game. Play the trial and see what you think, but even at 80 points, it’s a pass.

If you know how to play Reversi it may be worth downloading but newcomers should avoid it.

Along Came A Spider – Platformer – 400 Points – Download

Don’t let the opening few levels of “Along Came a Spider” deceive you, underneath the colourful and cute graphics lies one of the most challenging games I have played for some time. The premise for the game couldn’t be simpler, there is no story as such and no cutscenes, just you as spider trying to make your way to the end of 20 platforming levels trying to catch the 3 flies that inhabit each level until you have all 60.

The game guides you in gently and the difficulty curve is pitched just about right with the exception of a few difficulty spikes along the way which are sure to frustrate some gamers, however, the feeling of achievement is up there with the best when you finally crack that tricky level. You start the game with only the jump ability and every 5 levels you are given a fresh move to help you along the way such as connecting your self to the silk platforms so you can bungee yourself off edges and reach higher areas. It’s a great way of keeping things fresh and keeps the game varied enough to hold your interest until the final “hard as nails” boss.

Unfortunately the game won’t last you too long due to a feature within the game that lets you move onto a new level if you fail the last one a certain amount of times, some people might find this a useful thing to have but it does take away the challenge if you use it, so to get the maximum enjoyment out of the game just persevere and play it level by level.

On the whole this is a very well put together package that looks and handles like a dream, the 400 Microsoft Points might seem a little steep for an indie game but you get out of this game what you put in so it still comes highly recommended.

Underneath the colourful and cute graphics lies one of the most challenging games I have played for some time.

Goblyn Stomp – Action & Adventure – 80 Points – Download

Developed by Trevor Boone, Goblyn Stomper is a simple play-till-you-lose game with a lot of charm behind it. As Mr. Chap Scaliwag, you’ve been tasked with clearing the streets of a never-ending swarm of Goblyns with a taste for your ankles in the most gentlemanly way possible. For starters, you’re only capable of a care-free jump onto their squishy noggins, but as the Goblyn bloodsplatters pile up you gain access to super stomps, remote mines, and your trusty spinning cane to help knock down the Goblyn hordes. You’ll need all of those abilities too, as although the Goblyn numbers are few to start out with, they soon after start swarming in from nearly every side of the screen.

Chap’s animation of happily jumping in the air never fails to amuse me. The soundtrack to the game is great as well, composed of ragtime-style piano tunes made specially for the game. Sometimes the higher tempo portions of the music feel just right as fresh swarms of Goblyns emerge from the left and the right. The controls are very responsive and it is easy to manuver Chap around in the air as you position yourself to deliver a blow from above. As the Goblyns pile up, though, you’ll find yourself having to weigh the risks and gains. Do you go for a super stomp on a pile of 7 just sitting around, knowing that missing just one of them will leave you vulnerable, or do you instead drop some mines and hope they’ll come your way? While most of the weapons are useful for particular situations, you’ll find yourself using your standard jumps the most often as the safe spots upon the ground dry up.

Aside from the game itself, its only other feature is a high score board (no online leaderboards, sadly), but after putting in a hard effort it’s satisfying to see Chap standing upon a 50-foot tower of Goblyn carcasses. At the low cost of 80 points, Goblyn Stomper allows you to indulge in some ol’ timey ultraviolence at a price that matches those classic times.

Goblyn Stomper allows you to indulge in some ol' timey ultraviolence at a price that matches those classic times.

Duel: The Art of Combat – Shooter – 240 Points – Download

On the Xbox Live Indie Game section, there is no shortage of dual stick shooters. Most of them are Geometry Wars clones, some add extra barriers you have to avoid and some are setup like a 2D platformer. If you’ve ever played ZP2K9, you’ll know what the Duel: The Art of Combat is like. It is quite similar in terms of how ZP2K9 plays, except one major difference, it’s much harder to play.

Duel: The Art of Combat, is essentially a side scrolling multiplayer shooter where you use both sticks to move and aim. You can also use only the left stick to move and aim, but that’s where the problems start. If you are facing left, and want to move left, but aim behind, you can’t. In most dual stick shooters, you would auto rotate based on the aim, but not in Duel. I guess it isn’t a huge problem as you can stop, rotate, and shoot, but it’s something to get used to. It’s something that should have at least been an option. You move around the levels by jumping and swinging from a rope that attaches on to anything above you. Actually, this game really reminds me of a spider man game, but with worms and weapons.

Included in the game are 3 modes – Story mode, Duel Mode, and Survival mode. The story can be completed pretty quickly and is done within waves of enemies. At the end of each level, you unlock new weapons and perks. Duel mode consists of you and a friend battling it out in splitscreen. I guess the best way to play this game is with a friend in survival mode; even though it is hard to control, jumping around the level and seeing how many enemies you can kill is quite a time waster in itself.

Duel offers a decent selection of weapons, perks, and powerups as you play through the game. Before each level, you have the option of picking what weapons and perks you want to use. I don’t recommend using melee weapons though as they are slow and weak. Perks give you extra speed, faster reload, higher jumps, and faster use of the rope.

There are two types of music in this game – Rock and Electronic. The Rock setting isn’t too bad and adds to the frustrating but fast paced action. I didn’t get around to trying out the Electronic setting, but I’d imagine it works just as well. Either way, I’m sure it’d work much better with your own selection of a metal album.

In the end, Duel: The Art of Combat has plenty of potential to be good, but the controls need plenty of work. The art style, weapons, upgrades and game modes are all fine, but in order to play those game modes again, you really need to to get used to the controls. If you like worms, ZP2K9, or any of these 2D multiplayer arena type games, this game is for you.

It's hard to master the art of combat, but when you do, a fun multiplayer game awaits.

Sidehill Gouger – Puzzle & Trivia – 80 Points – Download

Sidehill Gouger is Canned Games’ puzzle offering to XBLIG. As a young boy visiting his grandpa’s fishing hole, you must navigate your way through a series of grass-filled mazes to discover and knock-out the Sidehill Gouger before safely heading on your way. The game plays similar to minesweeper; as you walk through the mazes, you uncover things such as blood spots that hint at the Gouger’s location or rock piles that mark a nearby hole waiting for you to fall through it. Using these clues, you can approximate the hiding spot of the Gouger before beaning it with your slingshot.

While the game’s graphics, done in a hand-drawn style, and laid-back soundtrack are charming, it also falls into the same trap as minesweeper in that it is rather easy to get unlucky. Even when you’ve found a clue to a trap or Gouger location, it’s possible to accidentally step into the trap itself since the clues can appear on any square adjacent to the hostile one. Once you reach the stages that introduce curved paths, it becomes even more confusing as not only do they force you to go a certain square unless you double back, but clues don’t appear on them, making some of your searches less than informative. Also, your slingshot only travels one square across, so you’ll have to be certain of the clues on all sides before taking aim.

The game includes some re-playability by giving a “par time” to shoot for stage, but again there is some element of luck as to whether or not you’ll complete a stage that quickly. Each set of stages also includes a set of trophies to collect for completing certain objectives. Sidehill Gouger will lull you in with its storybook-like presentation, but players will need to exercise patience more than once to get through it.

Great presentation but ultimately frustrating.

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.

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.

Molly the Were-Zompire – Role Playing – 80 Points – Download

Molly the Were-Zompire is an interactive fiction (IF) game created under the wife-and-husband pen name R.W. Boyd. Molly is actually their second IF work for XBLIG, the first being Epiphany in Spaaace. While an IF sounds like something strange and unusual, the format is identical to choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA) books. Interactive fiction works have been popular among independent games for some time, so ideally making one for XBLIG should give players, or readers as the case may be, a chance to see what these are all about.

As the title indicates, players are put in the shoes of Molly Desper, a graduate student. Through extraordinary circumstances, she is turned into a Were-Zompire (Werewolf + zombie + vampire) and goes on a series of adventures at the player’s whim. The controls are simple enough. The A button is used to proceed through pages. Occasionally, a decision will come up and is chosen using X, Y or A. Some choices can lead to new branches of the story while others bring the story to an end, usually negatively. A handy feature built into the game is the ability to warp back to the previous set of choices by pressing left trigger or B. For curious players, it helps immensely with exploring each choice rather than going all the way back to the beginning once a game over is reached.

In terms of the game’s writing, it follows the traditional COYA style of referring to you in the second person (i.e. “You are…”). The humor, however, is at times hit and miss. Much of it relies heavily on breaking the 4th wall and reminding the player they’re playing a game, or the developer injecting themselves into the script to give them a personal message. The overall story is straightforward and does occasionally surprise you with your decisions, but is nothing groundbreaking

On a plus side, the game’s presentation is simple and uncluttered. The text is largely-printed and crisp, and the simple texture backgrounds don’t distract from the text. The music is a continuous piano lounge tune that, while calming, could drag on if you intend to read every inch of the game in one sitting. Luckily, the game supports playing your own music while reading.

For the price of a used book, Molly the Were-Zompire offers a simple and quick escape for CYOA fans, but the overabundance of 4th wall humor and cheesy story might make it more suitable for juvenile tastes.

Molly the Were-Zompire offers a simple and quick escape for CYOA fans, but the overabundance of 4th wall humor and cheesy story might make it more suitable for juvenile tastes.