Indie | Community Games Roundup – 14/07/09

//Get The Ball
Clay Schubiner [link]
Get The Ball is an incredibly straight-forward effort that, for better or worse, does exactly what it says on the tin. A ball is released into the arena; you have to collect it using your own coloured spherical entity, which adds a point to your tally and triggers the release of another. Simple. However, it has one tweak that makes it endearing. The ball gains speed as the match goes on, ratcheting up the tension considerably, especially when someone misses an easy catch and everyone darts around the screen like kittens after a ball of string.

It’s instantly playable and almost refreshing until the match ends, at which point, you can’t get back to the dashboard quickly enough. Although it has plenty of adjustable speed parameters and an ‘unbeatable’ difficulty to add replayability, there is no realistic situation in which you would play this past the one-minute mark. It has multiplayer for up to four people, but would your mates honestly play this over Pro Evo? If they would, they’re obviously cats in disguise.

Additionally, the ‘randomly’ placed balls are predictably released from one side then the other, making camping a serious possibility and ruining any chance of a completely bonkers chase-fest.

Its humdrum Comic Sans-laden presentation does it no favours either, and it doesn’t even allow you to test its one and only selling point in the demo – multiplayer. While its simplicity is its initial strength, it quickly becomes its most potent weakness, and a quick play of the demo will make your mind up pretty quickly.

//Karnn Age Lite
Louis Lavallee [link]
If any game nails the feel of an action-packed computer title from the early 90s, it’s Karnn Age Lite. Yes, it’s yet another twin-stick shooter, but it doesn’t just stick you in a box to fire at dawdling ships. Hordes of insects scurry toward you and paint the floor crimson on their demise; gun turrets sprout from the ground and flood the screen with bullets; and huge scaled beasts pin you to the middle, all drawn with wonderfully retro sprite art that looks rough and ready, going hand-in-hand with the barbaric gameplay.

Each stage throws another enemy or mechanic to explosive pile, and while it’s nowhere near the ingenuity or scale of Geometry Wars 2, each one is excellently strung-together. One boss consists of a train that charges around the screen, excreting waves of bees and foot soldiers as you search for its weak spot, while another has atomic jellyfish that must be kept at bay using gunfire. While it hinges on its strong enemy design, the foes never overwhelm the gameplay, with stages lasting just long enough to satisfy before moving on to the next one. It’s like a gory pick-and-mix.

Replayability is hampered by the lack of online leaderboards, but that’s more a fault with the Community Games service than anything. Between the booming Europop soundtrack, the delightful Amiga-style visuals and the constantly surprising enemy designs, everything just fits together and works, making this charming shooter definitely worth checking out.

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