Halfbrick Blast Off

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

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.

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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.

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.

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.

Graffiti LIVE! – 240 points – Download

Essentially like MS Paint. You are able to share your creations with others over Xbox LIVE.

Hypno Vol. 1 – 400 points – Download

You play a psychic who can control other people. Very interesting concept and despite it’s extremely basic presentation it seems to be quite a deep game. Overpriced at 400 points though.

KGB Episode One – 240 points – Download

A fully 3D FPS with a good looking engine and solid mechanics. OK so it’s not the best FPS ever, but it’s an extremely impressive example of how powerful XNA is.

You Can’t Win! – 80 points – Download

Interesting rhythm puzzle game that sees you stack boxes on top of each other. The trial is way too short though.

Physics Lab – 240 points – Download

A bit (well actually a lot) like Physics Sandbox. If you haven’t played that it is essentially a (kind of) user friendly way to experiment with a popular XNA physics engine.

Warhounds – 80 points – Download

Pretty poor vertical shmup. Very basic graphics and very little animation. The shooting mechanics and collision detection are also pretty bad.

Titamus Attack – 240 points – Download

Another FPS. This one isn’t very polished but it’s crude enemy designs and broken English have a certain charm to them. You should at least try it.

Cell Life – 80 points – Download

Simulator based on Conway’s Game of Life. It’s quite interesting to watch and experiment so it’s worth a look.

Four Player Tangerine Fight – 80 points – Download

This one requires more than one player so I was unable to try it properly.

Lethal Judgment – 400 points – Download

The kind of game that made me so excited when I first learned of Xbox LIVE Indie Games. A stunning horizontal shooter with great mechanics. Full review soon.

Soul – 80 points – Download

Have any doubts that Xbox LIVE Indie Games won’t produce some amazing titles? Soul will shatter them. It combines atmosphere with stunning visuals and some brilliant surprises. I’ll call it now and say Soul will be one of the biggest games on XBLIG so far. Tip: Play with the lights out and the sound up.

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.

Asphalt Jungle – 80 points – Download

Rotate road pieces to keep the car moving along. Dull presentation but suprisingly fun to play.

Rubble Muddle – 80 points – Download

Nice little puzzle game where you must blow up adjacent blocks and collect gems. The presentation could be better.

Hoyle Texas Hold ‘em – 400 points  – Download

This is from the same developer as the XBLA Texas Hold ‘em game. If features Avatar support and online multiplayer for up to 10 players. Great fun.

Xmas Defender – 240 points  – Download

This obviously was meant to come out last month. With the seasonal theme no longer relevant you are left with a pretty average tower defence game and there are much better on XBLIGs.

Princess Baker Palace – 240 points – Download

Build machines that can create different recipes. A pretty fun little puzzle game with some unique ideas.

Football League Simulator – 80 points – Download

Simulate an English football league season. I love the Sky Sports News inspired interface but there is little point to it all.

Synth Jam – 400 points – Download

Another sysnthesizer program. As i’ve said before, anyone who is skilled enough to make something decent with this will find many better programs on their PC.

Musicus2 – 400 points – Download

Intresting musical puzzle game with great presentation. The actual puzzle aspect seemed a little complicated to me though.

Canno-Blast – 240 points – Download

A mix between a shooter and air hockey. It gets dull very quickly.

Merry Inc. – 80 points – Download

A Christmas-themed board game with Avatars. It’s come out at the wrong time and the mini games aren’t fun.

Note: These impressions are based off 8 minutes of gameplay and are not an accurate assessment of the full product.

Decimation X – 80 points – Shooter – Download

Fantastic Space Invaders/Bullet Hell shooter form the developers behind the forthcoming Duality ZF. One of the most fun and polished games on the service.

Blood on the Dance Floor – 80 points – Action & Adventure- Download

Zombie themed top-down shooter. The co-op may be fun but the controls are a little strange.

Plucky’s 3D Adventure – 80 points – Action & Adventure – Download

Solid controls and very pretty 3D. I hope the full game has much more of a challenge than the trial.