It's Chris!
However, for my first piece it’s probably best that I start at the beginning. Simply browsing through the hundreds of titles available is a daunting experience, so let me take you by the hand and guide you through this particular minefield, so you don’t get your legs blown off. Um, metaphorically speaking, you understand.
Motorheat
You don’t know? Well, in fairness, you’re clearly not the only one. And your ignorance can be forgiven in the face of Microsoft’s continued attempts to make the service feel like the dirty little secret of Xbox Live.
Indie Games have been available to download and buy from Live for over two years now, originally under the less appealing moniker of 'Community Games.' In the recent past, they’ve been hidden even further out of sight, tucked away behind the curtain of the dubiously-named ‘Speciality Shop’.
So, now Microsoft, has made these titles more prominent than they used to be. Simply select the Games and Demos section of the Game Marketplace, and you can see them nuzzling up to those Games on Demand. That’s where you’ll find a great many titles at extremely low prices.
Tempura of the Dead
Isn’t there just? The biggest problem with the Indie Games service is that it’s accessible to just about anyone with the relevant development kit (and judging by the quality of some titles, even that qualification is debatable.)
So, yes, you do get a lot of crap. But then you don’t ignore Super Mario Galaxy 2 just because the Wii has a lot of shovelware, do you? Exactly.
Well, now that the lovely chaps at SPOnG have very kindly allowed me to write a fortnightly round-up covering the very best games on the service I can guide you in the right direction.
Radiangames Fluid
For those who haven’t downloaded any Indie Games yet, the following ten titles are as good a place to start as any:
The Tempura of the Dead (by JPN 8bits fanatics, 240 points)
Brilliantly deranged side-scroller where you shoot and slice zombies but have to juggle their heads with your bullets or sword to earn big points. Gorgeous 8-bit graphics and a fantastic chiptune soundtrack make this an absolute must.
i maed a gam3 w1th z0mb1es!!!1
The one real success of the Indie Games service, with creator James Silva trousering over $215,000 in revenue from this simple twin-stick shooter. It’s silly, gory fun and has an absurdly catchy theme song that you’ll wake up humming at 2am.
Miner Dig Deep (by Robir, 80 points)
You’re a miner and you have to... well, you can probably guess from the title. Playing like a mix of Boulder Dash and Mr. Driller on Valium, this slow-paced resource-grabber is so hour-devouringly addictive the BBC is probably making a documentary about it right now. Grab it before it’s deemed too dangerous for the nation’s children to play.
Text Zedventure
Or Choose Your Own Adventure: Fallout Edition. These three post-apocalyptic tales are skilfully told with some beautifully efficient text descriptions which, combined with the sparse sound effects, create an unnerving atmosphere. For a game with no pictures it’s surprisingly powerful.
radiangames Fluid (by radiangames, 80 points)
I could recommend pretty much any one of the radiangames series, but the elegant simplicity of Fluid makes it my personal pick of the bunch. Like a cross between Pac-Man and Snake, it’s another Indie Game that you can easily lose hours to.
Space Police on Highway 9
A top down racer where you pilot a police cruiser (in space, obviously), smashing bad guys’ vehicles to bits – in other words, a bit like a 16-bit Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. It’s every bit as joyous as that hopefully sounds.
Ancient Trader
A brilliant and polished strategy game that could easily sit alongside 400- and 800-point XBLA titles. Feels like you’re playing on some kind of magical parchment map from a children’s fantasy adventure film. Delightful.
Breath of Death VII
Probably the funniest game on the service, this old-school turn-based Japanese RPG fits plenty into five or six hours, including some hilarious mocking swipes at the very genre it falls into. It’s far more brisk and easygoing than most JRPGs so it gets away with its simplistic battles and repetition.
MotorHEAT (by Milkstone Studios, 80 points)
One of the first games I fondly remember playing was Sega’s Monaco GP, a top-down arcade racer which simply saw you dodging cars and reaching checkpoints to extend your timer. MotorHEAT is basically a modern third-person rear-view version of that game, hence I love it.
Platformance
Indie Games developers have problems with their Caps Lock keys, don’t they? Anyway, Platformance is a rock hard old-school platforming challenge that’s over in a blink but which has enough significant changes on higher difficulties to have you coming back for more.
Miner Dig Deep
I know, I know. I missed your favourite game out, Mr. Savvy Indie Know-It-All. I didn’t mention Apple Jack or Score Rush or Decimation X3? How about Epic Dungeon or Decay or Shoot 1UP or the Arkedo series or OSR Unhinged or Explosionade or You Get The Picture?
So, you see the fact that I struggled to pick just ten says a lot about the quality you can find on the Indie Games service if you look hard enough. In the end, these ten games are probably the ten I personally had the most fun with. But don’t worry! Older games will still pop up every now and again in this fortnightly round-up, as I take a regular look back at the classic Indies you might have missed.
See ya.
Join me in 2011 for a round-up of the Indie Games Winter Uprising (including more on the fabulous Epic Dungeon once I’ve had time to play more than ten minutes of it), and a few words on the scariest Indie Game around. In the meantime, have a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year!