3. CarneyVale: Showtime – GAMBIT (240 MS Points): This game puts the life of Slinky, a CarenyVale highflyer, in your hands. You shoot him out of a cannon using rotating arms to grab him and throw him higher and higher into the air eventually reaching a flaming hoop he must travel through in order to complete the stage. Along the way there are balloons that lower your timer and a secret star in each stage in order to help you earn a Five Star Performance and become renowned in the highflyer scene. None of the stages are straight climbs however. Most require you to navigate throwing Slinky through passageways in his climb to the top. Bonus points are awarded for preforming tricks such are flips, high launches and fast falls. Along the way you can unlock trophies and concept art for the game. There is also a map editor to create your own stages and play them at a later time. GAMBIT at MIT really out did themselves on this game. It’s a game polished enough that one would expect to see it on Live Arcade or the Steam platforms. The art and presentation of the game is really a treat. CarneyVale: Showtime is only 240 MS points and I highly recommend at least trying the demo. It is worth your time.
2. Tobe’s Vertical Adventure (240 MS Points): Tobe is a kid that loves playing video games. One day while playing, his sister (or girlfriend?) comes over and is annoyed that he’s always playing video games (must be girlfriend). She tells him he shouldn’t play so much and should go on his own adventure but pauses to break the fourth wall and tell you, the player that you should obviously keep playing. Thus begins Tobe’s adventure. You start of being carried into the dungeon depth on balloons. Once you land, you had to run, wall jump and climb your way to the bottom to get the treasure. Along the way you can pick up baby chicks, other collectables and power ups such as balloons to slow falling and beans to grow vines to climb. Lanterns act as a sort of check point along the way down. Fall a ways and you’ll knock yourself silly for a moment and lose some life. Fall too far and you will die going back to the nearest check point. Once you reach the bottom, the cave starts to crumble and you have to work your way back up within the time limit. If you don’t make it out, the cave crumbles and you die in it. Tobe’s Vertical Adventure is another great diamond in the rough that will only set you back 240MS points.
1. Soulcaster (240 MS Points): This has to be my favorite indie game. It is an old school styled RPG where you play as a wizard who has stumbled onto a land of monsters. It reminds me a lot of NES style graphics with the innovation in a lot of RPGs seen in the SNES era. The wizard happens upon a statue of an archer that speaks to him and offers him a soul orb. This soul orb allows him to summon the archer to fight for the defenseless wizard. Enemies spawn from random orbs on the map. Once the last enemy from that orb is killed, the orb explodes and allows passage to the next section of the dungeon. Along the way, you meet more warrior statues that join you through soul orbs; a knight with melee attacks and a thief who throw Molotov cocktails over walls. Using the extra soul orbs, you are able to summon one of each warrior or multiple images of the same one. You can recall warriors one at a time to replace them using the Y button. This system gives it a tower defense meets dungeon crawler feel. The game features a password saving system similar to Metroid. While you are at that screen just try inputting Justin Bailey, you know you want to. According to the creator this is one of 6 hidden passwords that will activate special things within the game. Soulcaster is an excellent RPG hybrid that only 240 MS points.
So there you have it, my current Top 10 picks of Xbox LIVE Indie Games that are sure to give you a good bit of enjoyment for a very small price in Microsoft Points. I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting indie games. As I find them, expect to have more mini reviews like this in the future. If you are an indie game developer, feel free to contact me (holt.gerry at gmail dot com) and have me review indy your game in an upcoming article.
Honorable Mentions: Gerbil Physics, Square Off, Twin Blades, ZP2K9
