Perhaps great is a strong word. These titles might not be great in the same way as Alexander the Great. His empire went from the Himalayas to the Ionian Sea, which is somewhat more impressive than making a game where you slide greasily along a strip of pixels.
Nevertheless! Every month, we review nine indie games in the magazine, and every month a couple stand up to more than a moment's scrutiny. Here are the ten games that scored four stars over the last few months. Including one, if you'll hold onto your ten-gallon happy hats, that scored the maximum five stars. What is this Indie Skyrim? Read on...
Social Loner, 80MP
A pithy, absurd wit sets this shooter apart. Ploughing through the mercenary forces of the Guardians of Devastation feels like the top-down sections of Contra, only this game realises just how ridiculous it is.
ESP Games, 80MP
Turn-based tactics game in which you and the enemy AI plot your moves separately but simultaneously, then commit them to action to see how the plans collide. Clumsily presented, but with a sharp mechanical hook.
GZ Storm, 80MP
Not a game in itself, but an unending torrent of games pastiche. Illogical moral-choices follow army character creation screens and absurd minigames. Funny - though it's doubtful that XBLIG needs more help to look ridiculous.
Venesectrix, 80MP
XBLIG needs another twin-stick shooter like a fish needs a cybernetic plasma launcher fin attachment. However, this one lets you design your own weapons. It's a fair schmup besides - chaotic and colourful.
Andrew Gaubatz, 240MP
Tower defence, city builder and Scrabble game - looks like this'll have the middle of that Venn diagram to itself for a while. Its UI struggles, andthe mash-up of rules is tricky to digest, but definitely moreish. Unique and ingenious.
11 comments so far...
lazercut123 on 29 Jul '12 said:
i'd like to see Alexander the great make an indie game
NOMMER
bamozzy on 29 Jul '12 said:
It would be nice to see a round up at the end of each month of the top ten (or maybe 5 if there isn't enough games released) games of that month of ALL available releases (Fulll Retail, XBLA and Indie games) based on all of your opinions combined. i.e. OXM's top 10 games for *Insert Month* where each persons 'score' for the games are averaged out to give position.
It would be interesting to see how many Indie games make that list as well as seeing how many full retail games are beaten by Indie and Arcade games too!
Personally I have not bought any Indie game - do they achievements? To me most look like poor clones of other games and to be honest I would rather play those as they look better - for example there is that racing game - why play that when you have Out Run?
If you are to have a top 10 (or 5) then you could also have a brief description of the game and comments/reasons why it is a good game from various members of the OXM team and Obviously the Number 1 game is OXM's Game of the Month and why it is too!
Far better journalism, reading material and FACT based than 'people you would like to see in Black Ops 2 Zombies' for example!
Bezza89 on 29 Jul '12 said:
They do an indie games round up in the mag every month. I've only bought two games indie - fortress craft (a boring version of minecraft without anything that makes minecraft good) and the most addicting sheep game, which confuses me grammar wise and gameplay wise, you press a button at a musical prompt to jump, with it getting progressively harder - it's the best qte I've seen, and is quite addictive (especially hard difficulty), recommended for 80 ms points. Neither have achievements, and I'm 99% sure no indie games do, at 60p though? Come on.
bamozzy on 29 Jul '12 said:
I know they do a round up of Indie Games however I wanted to see how ALL games compare with each other - would ANY indie game make a top ten list? A re some of the XBLA games better than some retail games etc etc.
I know most Indie games are cheap but there is one on this list that is 400 ms points - does that have achievements? I know Achievements are not the reason many people (including myself) play games - although they are fun and I would prefer they existed than didn't. It is not something I consider when buying a game either!
I don't understand why some Indie Games cost 400 ms points as opposed to 80 for example, I am more interested in game play and what they offer that sets them apart from buying a different game - hence a top 10 list of ALL games. I have bought XBLA games for 400ms points and less in sales However if certain games made it into a top ten I would certainly give them more consideration. By comparing them amongst themselves though you don't get an overall picture of how good they can be. Its like comparing a Skoda with another Skoda. By having All games included you get a better indication of how good they are. Its like comparing all cars together. Maybe the Full priced ones might be your top end cars, XBLA are the more everyday cars and Indie are the budget range but when compared to each other (and price is taking into consideration) some of those budget cars are very good indeed where as the full price cars often have a lot of issues (reliability, running costs, build quality...)
Bezza89 on 29 Jul '12 said:
Indie devs set the price they want to sell at, 400 is max, I think. Each game gets rated, not sure whether you can rate price, but I'm sure a high priced game which isn't worth it would be rated lower. I was trying to sell that sheep game for its 60p price, I'm not saying you should buy indie games cos some are cheap, quite frankly most are shit and aren't even worth a penny, I can say none I've had a trial of are even close to good apart from the two I bought, and even then they are average and I can see why they aren't arcade games. Perhaps your ranking system would help separate the weak from the good ones, but when they are good the price goes up and you might as well get a decent arcade game anyway. I see arcade as good stuff, with indie as a poor mans arcade with rarely a great game.
Thos. on 29 Jul '12 said:
I think Microsoft are quite misleading in their categorisation of 'Indie'. Braid, Fez and Minecraft are all indie games. Still, at least the way they've arranged it, it keeps the bedroom-coded rubbish away from the decent stuff. </trollmode>
BuzzHyperfish on 29 Jul '12 said:
My favorite Indie game has got to be Apple Jack. Its such a beautifully simple concept, but its soooooo satistfying and it gets pretty though later into the game. Better stilll, the music is really zen.
GallifreyDog on 29 Jul '12 said:
Unfortunately they don't, which is a shame. The only one I've ever bought was I Made a Game with Zombies in It, which is quite fun. Gets boring after the point where the trial would end so I sort of regret buying it. I was thinking about getting DLC Quest but it only lasts about half an hour. I know they're only cheap but I'd prefer some replay value.
The other indie games look terrible - all of the Minecraft knockoffs, avatar games, dating sims etc. Can't really find any good ones. Maybe I should stop being so picky though.
falcon on 29 Jul '12 said:
The only indie game I've bought is Cthulhu Saves the World. It's a decent RPG with a great sense of humour - it loves to rip on the stereotypes of rpg's and has everything from zombies to aliens abducting cows! I think it took me about 7ish hours to complete which is incredible value for 80msp!
I've heard good things about I made a game with zombies, but think Geometry Wars would have much better replay value because of all its different modes.
I'd say it's a good thing that indie games don't have achievements. If they did have them you'd probably get a lot of poor games selling loads just because you can get some easy points from them - this'd probably lower the overall standard of indie games, making people less inclined to buy even the good ones. That said, it happens with full release games (eg Avatar), so maybe I'm just over reacting a bit!
Windowlicker79 on 29 Jul '12 said:
I'd really like to see more coverage of Indie games on OXM. There's some great titles out there that would benefit from the exposure that a proper review would give them. Apple Jack and Dead Pixels are two of my favourites.
bamozzy on 29 Jul '12 said:
Thats part of the reason why a top ten games of the Month would be a good idea. That way you get the odd gem (if most are awful) indie game appearing and showing how it compares to XBLA and full price retail games. If it is a gem and you are only comparing it to awful Indie games it will not stand out, however if it beats some XBLA and full price games then it will certainly stand out and probably get some much needed coverage and sales.