Nicalis Makes Critical Strides For Independent Games On Wiiware

Nintendo’s Wii is currently standing at the top of the console-market, just two years since becoming the fastest-selling console from 2007-2009, and now reaching fifty million homes worldwide according to Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata (and that was back in March). With all those consoles in homes across the globe, there is one corner of the gaming world that is seeing a surprising boom, independent games. Nintendo’s WiiWare seems to know how to branch out when it really wants to, and over the last year various independent games have blasted their way onto the home console DLC scene courtesy of Nintendo’s little white wonder. [Continue Reading]

Roogoo: Twisted Towers Review: Peg-In-Hole Gets Complicated

Southpeak Games may be a fairly new player in the video game market, but they aren’t holding back in terms of the uniqueness and quality of their releases. The company has received various levels of acclaim courtesy of their console releases across every genre, including “Two Worlds” and “X-Blades.” Southpeak has also made a name for themselves on the philanthropic side of gaming as well, having given over $12.9 million to the development of independent gaming, and the presentation of it to the mainstream markets. One of those independent companies, Spidermonk Enterainment, received the 2009 Best Puzzler award at this year’s E3, courtesy of 411mania.com, for their recently released Wii title, “Roogoo: Twisted Towers.” [Continue Reading]

Avernum Review: Independent Incarceration Like Never Before

Jeff Vogel is known pretty well in the RPG scene when it comes to independent work. His RPGs, which started with his original “Exile” series and progressed onto “Nethergate,” are well-known for their sandbox adventuring style, simple controls, and difficult gameplay as the player is thrust into very different fantasy worlds. Gone are the glorious worlds of elves and dwarves and kind unicorns, and in his games you get thrown into jail! And that jail is where, you ask? Several thousand miles underground in cavern which has formed an unknown and mysterious world all of it’s own. Welcome to “Avernum,” the remake of “Exile: Escape of the Pit.”

Plants vs. Zombies Review: Not Just Another Zombie Game

As of late, the “Tower Defense” genre has generally been tackled by independent developers exploiting flash games to their most addictive capacity, forcing players to defend a fixed, critical points on a map using other fixed defenses of varying degrees of effectiveness. Some games even let the player take a more direct role by activating one-use items to clear the area of attackers, or send their own army to battle their oncoming opponents. The original games which birthed this concept stem from the original cult following from Battle.net game “Starcraft,” and have become well known to hardcore and casual gamers alike with names like “Defend Your Castle” and “Desktop Tower Defense.” While they boil down to mindless fun, with a dash of strategy built in, the initial concept has not changed much; protect yourself by using all the means at your disposal and preserve enough resources to effectively advance through the game without being overrun by enemies. As the game progresses the player builds and upgrades until they can just sit back and watch the baddies drop like bad sitcoms until the level ends. Sure, the levels change and the towers and monsters become more interesting and powerful, but a solid player can clear any stage with enough understanding of the game’s rules and the basic layout. One thing is clear though; players that are new to the genre tend to keep back; the amount of enemies might be too overwhelming even with tutorials or help, due to the speed, strategy, and technique required. Fortunately, PopCap’s “Plants vs Zombies” is a pretty solid attempt to change the genre of defense games forever. [Continue Reading]

Noitu Love Review: Finally, A Game That Doesn’t Make Sense Again!

Back in the glory days of the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the early start of the Super Nintendo, game developers didn’t care how crazy a platformer’s plot was; all you needed was a character shooting, fighting or jumping on his or her enemies on their way to a goal. That was the end of all the muss and fuss, and the games would become popular because they kept people interested. The only plot you needed was in the instruction manual, or the opening title sequence, and there were usually enough holes and crazy developments in a single plot that you’d need a pincushion to stick a needle in them all. After all, who in their right mind would send a single man with a robotic, swinging hand to defeat the Nazis (”Bionic Commando”), or have a blue-collar worker from Brooklyn enter a pipe bigger than most taxis and go to a world with mushrooms that make you grow to save a princess that has been captured by a large, spiked turtle. Those games are still great, and, nowadays, developers only do so much to keep the insanity in a “good” game. [Continue Reading]

World of Goo Review: Puzzles With a Creamy Filling Inside

When it comes to puzzle games, most recognize the simple gameplay and progressive designs that eventually get harder, and require more skill and knowledge that has been acquired through the game. This method of learning and practical application has been the staple for most puzzle games since the beginning of time; stick the right row of blocks into the correct place, fire the right kind of orb over the field into the right order, send the psychotic green-haired mooks into different roles-as taught to you be the handbook and tutorial-to the end of the level. It’s a very efficient system. In 2D Boy’s award-winning “World of Goo” no such learning period exists. [Continue Reading]

Bonesaw Review: Kirby Meets Hockey Fights

When you think “hockey,” do you think of a “Kirby”-style platformer with NES-style graphics? That’s what I thought, and clearly Kyle Pulver didn’t approve of that fact. Based on a college-hockey game, and their prime method of cheering – referring to a bonesaw cutting of a man’s arm -”Bonesaw” combines fighting and platformer exploration all into one game. You play a young Golden Knight, a hockey player, off to rescue your teammates who have been placed in the penalty box by the all-powerful referee. [Continue Reading]

Spelunky Review: Independent Gaming By Derek Yu

In my recent articles, I have mentioned several games known as “Roguelikes,” which are generally fully-designed, highly-detailed role-playing games with a dungeon-crawling aspect. Using numerals and letters in a computer system database, the player is the at (@) symbol who fights monsters and hordes treasure all in the vain hope that you will reach the end? Why I say “vain”, you may ask? Because Roguelikes are HARD. These games, not for the faint-at-heart, tend to set you up against monsters and monster hordes that whittle you and your resources down, in addition to insidious traps which degrade your equipment, lower you to different floors, and teleport you. You have to learn from each death, plan out each of your next moves carefully, and pray that the random factors of each game don’t screw you over.

This leads most people I’ve talked to about “Spelunky,” a independent platformer by designer Darek Yu, to ask a very simple and reasonable question; why am I talking about roguelikes, a completely different genre of games entirely, when referring to a platformer? [Continue Reading]