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By Ben, February 2, 2010 3:56 am

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.

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By Alex, February 2, 2010 3:49 am

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.

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By Tim, February 2, 2010 3:41 am

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.

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By Sam, August 3, 2009 4:09 am

Horn Swaggle Islands – 400 points – Strategy & Simulation – Download

Horn Swaggle Islands is a pirate-themed tower defense game coming from developer Pencel Games.

For the uninitiated, tower defense games see you try to stop ever increasing waves of enemies from reaching a certain point of the map by buying and placing a variety of weapons  such as turrets and cannons. You are given a certain amount of ‘life’ which depletes every time an enemy reaches one of the exits. Each time you kill an enemy you are given money that allows you to purchase more weapons or upgrade existing ones.

Horn Swaggle Islands certainly gets the basics spot on. It has the right balance of giving you the opportunity to approach most levels how you see fit but also throws in some interesting level designs that make the game play more as a puzzle game in which you have to find the right areas to build and choose the correct weaponry in each of these locations. With fifteen levels, most taking around 20-30 minutes to complete, there is a good amount of content in the game.

The selection of weapons has been kept to a small but efficient set. Unlike most tower defence games Horn Swaggle Islands doesn’t have flying enemies so you don’t need to set up two different sets of weapons, I enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to worry about investing money just for a couple of waves of enemies and I could focus on the main waves.

So what sets Horn Swaggle Islands apart from other tower defence games? Well in addition to the puzzle-like levels mentioned above you can move any of your weapons around at any point with no penalty. This is a handy feature and allows you to quickly change your strategies and results in a lot less frustration when you invest in the wrong place.  Also, on most maps there are red x’s placed on the ground, if you can make the enemy walk over these you are rewarded with either extra cash or a weapon.

The presentation of the game also deserves praise. It’s appealing pirate theme is well done and the enemies, whilst very simple, fit the style of the game well. The sound also fits in nicely even if it’s more sound effects than music. One worrying element though is the text and interface is quite small and hard to see. This is more of a problem on SDTV’s but may also be an issue on your HDTV depending on it’s size.

So overall Horn Swaggle Islands is a very good tower defence game that features solid core mechanics and brings some new things to the genre, my concerns from the trial that the price was too high have been eased with the amount of content and the length of each level and most importantly the game is fun to play.

Solid mechanics and fun to play so make sure to check it out.

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By Sam, July 31, 2009 5:42 am

Note: This is my first review, please feel free to leave comments and/or suggestions so I can improve.

XNcAve – 200 points – Action & Adventure – Download

Inspired by a java game, XNcAve is a fast paced arcade game that sees you navigate your space ship through an ever more challenging cave.

The basic mechanics in XNcAve require you to pull the right trigger to engage the ships thruster which raises your ships height and pressing LB which activates your ship’s shield and protects you from damage. You must use both these abilities to avoid colliding with the cave walls and obstacles. Occasionally earthquakes occue which cause the screen to shake and make it even tougher to control your ship.

The gameplay and graphics, whilst simple, are very polished and the game is extremely addictive. There are three difficulties and the two harder difficulties increase your ship’s speed (I found the hardest diffculty, Insane, to be the most fun).

One of the problems with the game is the fact that the entire game is available in the trial and you could just keep playing it without buying. The only part of the game that is unlocked when you purchase it is high scores. The lack of an online leaderboard is a little disappointing but they are so rare in XBLIG’s it is to be expected.

Overall, XNcAve is an addictive, well-made title. By keeping it simple the developer has been able to polish the features and make the game fun to play. If it was 80 points I would have no problem recommending buying the full game (even if there is not much reason to, other than to support the dev) but even at 200 points you should at least download the trial. (It’s worth noting the 80 msp price point was not available when the game was submitted, hopefully the developer will reduce the price at some point)

At the very least you should download the trial.