Xbox 360 Indie Games

[Jisho23]

I don't know if anyone else is as huge a fan as I am of this, but I've spent the last couple of days going through several. I figure since many of (almost all) go through with no reviews or attention, these games could use a little forum space for promotion. The best part of many games on the Xbox Indie is that they can played and enjoyed w/out having to purchase them (since many are that short). Here are some of the gems that I've stumbled accross.

BLOW: really cool puzzle game that is based upon placing fans to blow bubbles through specific objectives. Whether or not its worth 400 points... mileage may vary but I really like it.

Crystal Spear remake: kind of cool to see how little can be done with very little and still make a really cool addictive game. Its a tunnel game where you simply dodge obstacles in a first person perspective. Definitely worth 80 pts, but the game can be enjoyed w/ out purchase since rounds don't even last the alloted time of the demo. So don't purchase it, just dl it.

Green Island: Really cute and well made (Japanese) puzzle platformer where you shoot bubbles to collect orbs. Its a bit easy and relatively short, so the challenge comes from getting "par" on all the levels.

Groove: Cross Lumines w/ Geometry wars. Its basically a twin stick w/ a "neo retro" design but the soundtrack and audio changes based upon how you are doing and what you are doing (shooting or idling). Definitely worth 80 pts.

Leave Home: best tradition sidescroll shooter I've played in a while. Nice visuals, different shooting mechanic (you can split your shot... hard to explain unless you see it). Its just a shame the rounds are fixed length... real bummer.

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!!1: ... download this. Words cannot justify how nuts this game is. Bring 3 friends or you will have trouble. DEFINITELY worth 80 pts.

Dont B Nervous Talking 2 Girls: Depending on the crowd you are with, this game can be loads of fun. 80 pts is not a bad asking price, but its basically a "choose your path" FMV game. Only you pick up a chick. Who is a totally bitch (but with really nice tits). Really funny.

Colosseum: Its really surprising that this is an indie game... the production quality of it is really good. A bit complicated, but a good beat 'em up nonetheless. Its just very expensive.

[tubeway]

What kind of quality control is in place for indie titles? Do they have to go through a first party approval process?

[Daria]

Aesop's Garden - NES style puzzle block sliding game. AWESOME.

[Jisho23]

What kind of quality control is in place for indie titles? Do they have to go through a first party approval process?

VERY little quality assurance. Most (all?) are not even checked by the ESRB. But thats half the fun, most of them download real quick, can be enjoyed (or hated) in the alloted demo time, and then you move onto the next. For the first time I almost feel like I'm really at an arcade moving from game to game. Only I pay even less.

[Famidrive-16]

Everyone should give ZP2K9 a try, it's an awesome 2D deathmatch game by the same guy who did Dishwasher/ZOMB1ES. It has online too and there's still dozens of people playing it every day, more than most Arcade titles I own.

[kaedesdisciple]

Streets of Fury is another great title. SoF pays homage to many of the side-scrolling beat-em-ups of the 90's with bad graphics, pretty awful sound, paper-thin story, and AWESOME gameplay. I gladly plunked down the few hundred points for this game and couldn't stop playing until I unlocked everything.

[Jisho23]

Give "Angry Barry" a try. Its definitely not a good game (and worth the purchase), but its fun playing as Obama and beating the tar out of old women.

[BHvrd]

I'll stick to flash games on the pc.

[ubersaurus]

I really enjoy Bailout. It's some classic style gaming, wherein you must dodge falling suicidal stockbrokers while catching falling money! You must then deposit your money in the safe, and kick away any hobos who try to get it for health care. My buddies and I have been putting time into that game for a while now, and it's still good for when I have a few minutes to kill.

[Nebagram]

It's old, but Miner Dig Deep really is crack in software form and worth every single MS point. I loved Hexothermic as well. :)

[Gapporin]

I think a thread like this is essential for talking about Indie games, especially when there's so much to choose from and not all of it is even worth glancing over (Avatar Alarm Clock? Really?). Let me add to the pile of selections:

Mirror - Another puzzler, but this time you are given a pair of markers on one side of a "mirror" and you have to plot out where you think you'll end up once they cross over to the other side. If it sounds complex, believe me, it is. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's only 80 points, has dozens of levels, and if you're a really cerebal thinker, this may be the game for you. It might be worth it just to try out the trial first, however.

Ninja Bros. - "Traditional" side scrolling game in which you control a pair (or three, or four) of ninjas at the same time helping each other solve puzzles in order to enable each ninja to exit the level. Pretty unique gameplay but not hard to learn at all. The 8-bit asthetics and in-game "achievements" help propel this title, plus the amount of levels included means you won't be over with this one very quickly. Definitely worth your dollar (80 points!).

I also recommend the aforementioned "Groov" and "I MAED A GAM3..."

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

i'd recommend gerbil physics. it's short, but entertaining. your task is to knock down structures made of... gerbils, using bombs, ropes, and a physics engine. and it's 80 pts.

[mairsil]

I recommend Glide (click here (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855042b)), but then again, I made it so I might be a little bit biased.

First one to use the code gets it for free:
T8DJG-7B63D-49XMD-3HW3V-MHPQ3

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

thanks! i'll give it a try tonight.

[Vectorman0]

The only two I have bought so far are "I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES!!!1" and and "The Impossible Game" for $1 each. I like the simplicity offered with many Indie games, the problem is that there are just too many for me to sift through.

[Sothy]

sin surfer is a cool one, kinda reminds me of that snes unicycle game.

[scooterb23]

The Carrum Indie game is decent, although it's a little on the easy side, and the AI isn't very good.

[Vectorman0]

Decimation X (http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025855040a/) - It's my favorite indie game yet. It looks like and starts out like Space Invaders but quickly turns into a "maniac" take on the original, with power ups.

It's only $1, and you can play with four players simultaneously. (local multiplayer only) I recommend everyone try this game out.

[Robocop2]

Shoot 1 up is actually pretty fun as well. interesting take on the overhead shooter where all of your lives are in play at once and as you pick up more lives, your on screen fleet gets bigger.

[carlcarlson]

Breath of Death VII is an rpg in the style of the NES Dragon Warriors. It's apparently got about five hours of gameplay, so if you like jrpgs but don't have the time to invest in a "real" one this game might be for you.

[NayusDante]

Breath of Death VII is an rpg in the style of the NES Dragon Warriors. It's apparently got about five hours of gameplay, so if you like jrpgs but don't have the time to invest in a "real" one this game might be for you.

I finally finished it, and 5 hours is about right. It started a little too easy, but it got really good toward the end. The humor is mostly found in parodic game quotes, but I got a few really good laughs out of it.

The humor seems to take precedence over gameplay at a few points in the game. It keeps it light, but it made it hard for me to get immersed.

The music ranges from pretty good to downright bad. A lot of the area themes are very fitting, like the ruins and final dungeon themes. The battle results theme, however, is too contrasting to the battle theme, so the transition is rather jarring. The dungeon theme is what really drags it down for me, it just sounds awkward and out of place.

The final battle was probably the shining moment for me, being a good fight and an RPG cliche that I didn't expect them to use. It could have gone on a bit longer, but all of my characters were level 30 and I dealt maybe 4000-5000 damage per turn.

[Cryomancer]

Look up Ninja Chop.

[lookfun78]

Streets of Fury is another great title. SoF pays homage to many of the side-scrolling beat-em-ups of the 90's with bad graphics, pretty awful sound, paper-thin story, and AWESOME gameplay. I gladly plunked down the few hundred points for this game and couldn't stop playing until I unlocked everything.

Yes I have to agree with this it is the most fun side-scrolling beat-em-up games to come out for an indie game. For me I played a few other demos for other indie games and this plus massage are the only indie titles I own.

[Jisho23]

Everytime I look Xbox indie somehow gets another little game worth mentioning...

"Protect Me Knight" is probably one of the most fun local-multiplayer games you can get. 3 bucks, totally worth it. With more than 1 person the game is great. With a full system, the game is golden.

More to come, probably downloading a new batch of games tonight.

*edit* I still don't know what to think of "Breath of Death." On the one hand, it is a good RPG (mechanically speaking) and the sheer amount of game you get for the one dollar is neat. On the other hand... I can't stand the humor. Too much of it relies on quoting other games in a very non-subtle way. Still, for one dollar its hard not to recommend.

[Jisho23]

Bumpity!

New game came out a couple days back, "Platformance: Castle Pain" is worth giving a look at. Unfortunately, the demo is really damn short, so I recommend just biting the bullet on this one and giving the full game a shot. Same addictiveness as "The Impossible Game" but not nearly as... fun (the music isn't as awesome)?

Also: After finally beating Breath of Death VII... I'm honestly disappointed. I'm all for satirical games, but for it to work it has to be really polished. BOD just felt like a really sloppy fan game-- albeit with all the right intentions. I also hated how small all of the sprites were, could not get over that.

[Jisho23]

Not Xbox Indie, but indie nonetheless. Cool, short platformer thats worth looking at, especially if you are a mythology buff (I don't want to spoil what myth its based on, but you'll be surprised).

http://distractionware.com/blog/?p=672

[Cryomancer]

Protect Me Knight is indeed awesome.

Shoot 1up is pretty neat too.

[Jisho23]

Hopefully, all the Xbox people have been paying attention, but if you have not check out the "Winter Uprising." Bunch of devs on the service have decide "Enough is enough!" and are banding together to attempt to not let Xbox Indie get quite as bad as the iphone app store (mileage may vary; I'm sure plenty of people think its already there).

Some of these look damn good (got my eye on "Asteroids DO Concern Me").

The showstopper seems to be thus far "Epic Dungeon." The best game I can compare it to is "Half-Minute Hero" in which its seamless blend of RPG and arcade style action. This is still a true rouge-like (and a good one at that) but everything action based and its all about getting as much loot as you can. Seriously, its 80 pts. Don't be stupid and pass this up, we can afford to stop playing CoD for this.

PS: Link to winter uprising: http://www.indiegames-uprising.com/

[Cryomancer]

Bumping this back up. I suggest everyone give Alpha Squad a try. It's a twin stick shooter with exploration and a store. Game was made by a guy who always wanted to make games and saved up money from his "normal job" to start a studio and make this game. I rather enjoy it (but am so bad at it!) The water effect is pretty crazy neat too.