Welcome to the latest Indie Game round up of releases and updates. Some nice releases in this round up, in particular Zombie Armageddon which surprised me a lot. Also I should have some news on the domain name in the next day or two, just waiting for the name servers to update.
If you follow me on Twitter or have spotted the site tagline you will have noticed we will have a new domain name soon. I will announce the domain name on Sunday night once the DNS has updated. The new domain is quite catchy and I hope you will like it as everyone that I have mentioned it to did. Now onto the round up of indie game news from the past few days.
Two new demos are now available to download on the Marketplace. Prepare yourself for some extreme chaos creation in this non-stop adrenalin-fuelled demo of Just Cause 2. Whether freefalling from thousands of feet, hijacking enemy fighters in mid-air or simply blasting your way through military compounds on the ground, as agent Rico Rodriguez you’re guaranteed to leave your mark on the tropical island of Panau. With literally hundreds of weapons, vehicles and collectables to discover and near unlimited possibilities for creative fun, you’ll soon find this vast playground is only a tiny portion of what the full game has to offer. Grab a parachute and ready your grapple… it’s time to cause some chaos! The demo can be found on the Marketplace.
Quite a few releases since Mondays Indie Games round up so you can have this one a day early. Also, controversially I am putting the continue reading… link after the first batch of images instead of just before the trailers near the end. The front page looks a bit tidier if everything is kept to similar sizes and also the anchor link to the trailers will now always work.
The winner of the Toy Soldiers code was picked by staff member Bryan last night, he used Random.org and the winner was tmj with the correct answer being Signal Studios. Congratulations to tmj, you should already have the code in your inbox. Thanks to everyone that entered, it was our most successful code giveaway to date and we hope to do more XBLA giveaways in the future.
Our weekly Indie Game code giveaway will start a little later than usual, later today instead of Monday or Tuesday. This week is two codes for Hypno Vol. 1 which we reviewed on Monday.
The XBLA Block/House Party promotion starts this coming Wednesday with Toy Soldiers. We are happy to announce that this will be the sites first XBLA game we have received a review code for in advance of the release. Staff member Bryan Tremblay is currently reviewing it, so keep an eye out for the full review in the coming days. We also have a code for the full version of the game to give away, more news on that soon.
Command your TOY SOLDIERS in epic, action-packed battles set in a World War I toy diorama. Assemble your troops and position your defenses before the enemy storms over the top! Then take direct control of your artillery to bomb the enemy positions, pilot your bi-plane against the enemy trench, or maneuver your tanks across No-Man’s Land… and lead your TOY SOLDIERS to victory! Play the single-player campaign and dive into two-player head-to-head combat, local or on Xbox LIVE.
Toy Soldiers is due to be released this Wednesday on XBLA for 1200 
, you can read more information about the game on the homepage at http://www.signalstudios.net/toysoldiers/.
March already, time goes way too fast! Here is the latest round up of Indie Games releases and updates.
Avatar Showdown is a time reaction based game where you can play against a human either locally or online or against the CPU. I accidentally redeemed the code to review the game before the trial impression so I am not sure how much of the game is in the trial. In the single player mode you are put up against avatars representing famous people and although no names are given you should recognise at least a few of them from their quotes. You must hit the button when the warning message/sound is shown and the fastest knocks out the opponent and wins. It is an OK quick blast game but I couldn’t beat what I guess is the final boss as my reaction times were not fast enough. Worth checking out the trial at least for the amusement factor, a full review will be available soon. Avatar Showdown costs 80 and more information can be found here.
kukaku is an action puzzle game played against either a CPU or Human opponent in which you must place blocks to make groups of three or more to remove them from the game and add to your opponent, similar in style to Battle Tetris. The graphics are nicely done and suit the game and the action is fast paced. I had a lot of fun playing this and is well worth checking out. kukaku costs 80 and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found below.
Maze Haze is a puzzle game in which you must guide a ball through a maze to the exit by rotating the screen. Graphics are minimal but the gameplay is pretty good and add in a timer to complete the level you have a fairly fun game in which you can try to perfect your times. The price point of 240 is however a little high compared to other games quality in this price range. Worth checking out at least, more information can be found here.
What do you get if you cross Out Run with Burnout? You get MotorHEAT, a fast paced driving game in which you must dodge cars as close as possible to gain boost and make it to the next checkpoint before the timer runs out. You only need to worry about moving left and right and applying the boost, everything else is taken care of. I think it is a great little game with that ‘one more go’ factor, Local and Global highscores are included so start those engines and check this one out. MotorHEAT costs 240 and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found below.
Mouse Maze is a skill based game where you take control of a mouse who must navigate a maze collecting cheese and find the exit. If the mouse touches the walls he/she is electrified and must start back from the beginning. I found the game a little boring after a couple of levels and the designs didn’t really provide much of a challenge, it might be more fun for a young child to play but it was not enough for me. Mouse Maze costs 80 and more information can be found here.
Pixelkiller is a minimalistic platform game in which you must find the exit and collect coins along the way. Obstacles including moving enemies, turrets and enemies with guns provide some action for the player to deal with. The game wont win any awards for graphics but there is something about the game that kept me interested until the trial time limit was up. I am 50/50 on this game so do check it out and see what you think. Pixelkiller costs 80 and more information can be found here.
Shoot 1UP is a vertical scrolling shooter from the good old days of 16bit style graphics. There is a little twist in that you can collect 1UP’s which increase your wingmen to provide more firepower, they can be ordered to join or split your craft which is a great idea and I managed to collect 18 which seeing on screen was very cool. If you like your retro shooters this is a must have! Shoot 1UP costs 80 and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found below.
Space Poker is a kind of shooter game, playing cards fall down the screen and you must avoid them and shoot the playing cards you want to make a poker hand. I really did not like the controls in this game, too floaty for my liking and after a few goes I had enough. A nice idea for a game but in my opinion not done very well. Space Poker costs 80 and more information can be found here.
Space Radar Opera 360 is a Geometry Wars inspired shooter but instead of twin sticks you use the Shoulder buttons to rotate and the A button to fire. While the action is not as fast paced as the usual twin stick shooters the gameplay is more relaxed due to the control system and it makes for an interesting game as you have to play in a different style. It is a nice twist on the overcrowded genre and is well worth checking out. Space Radar Opera 360 costs 240 and more information can be found here, a trailer can be found below.
Titles that have received a software update or price change are Storage Inc, Gravity, Missing Reel, Hexothermic, Kaleidoscope, Relic Raider, Rate My Avatar, Snake4D and Nuke Your Neighbor.
Trailers for new releases can be found below:
