Indie | XBL Indie Games Round-Up – 11/08/09

By Matthew Reynolds

A problem with the Indie Games service so far is its lack of innovation. Yes, it’s a new service, and while there are some interesting ideas, it lacks that bright spark that the “genre” is so renowned for providing – if indie games are classed as such. This week highlights this worrying trend, with three examples of tired mechanics or genres that you have no doubt played before in some capacity. Of course, execution means almost everything, and the two sides of the coin are represented here in full strength, both in the innovative and timeless.

//Extreme RPS Online
MonkeyWare Studios [link]
When you think about it, Rock, Paper, Scissors has been in videogames for a long, long time. Real-time strategy and fighting games are obvious examples of units or characters with a specific weakness and strength, and Pokèmon takes the idea and runs a marathon with it. And we’ve all played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide a stalemate, whether it be who has the last biscuit, or who rides shotgun. It’s a simple and timeless way of deciding things, but does it make good game on its own?

Extreme RPS Online falls flat on its face because of the lack of purpose. While the mentioned games use the idea alongside other mechanics, on its own it’s a soulless and random exercise. It also severely lacks any impact whenever your move is played. You are given around two seconds to decide, the result displayed through the character animation, but there’s no specific feedback if you win lose or draw; it just moves onto the next round as if nothing happened. It could have sorely done with commentary of some sort.

Without purpose or impact, there’s nothing to get from this game. It does a decent job at attempting to instil personality with its cute and bold characters, including a cool Mario rip-off in one of the stages, but its gameplay is simply an empty endeavour.

//GLITNIR
Hironori [link]
It pains me that this game has a few glaring problems, because it’s an incredibly good and innovative tower-defence game. Placing units onto a three-dimensional grid, you must position and update satellites and missile launchers at the most strategically viable points.

Its three-dimensional interface is something new for the genre, where the radius of the unit can spread across the path at several points. Should you focus at narrow straights or corners? Which side? Above or below? Which units need upgrading? Multiple enemies can also occupy the same space, meaning positioning within the added dimension requires more thought.

Of course, it also brings more headaches. The controls take a while to get used to, where the camera dictates the cursor movement. Side-to-side moves it left and right according to where you’re facing, but up and down always moves it vertically. The result is lots of manoveuring the camera so you can slide the curser around, but never naturally move it freely. A variety of speed options ensures you can get around in time, but it makes the game slower as a result.

There’s also a pretty annoying glitch where defeated enemies didn’t register as such, meaning the level didn’t end despite everything being destroyed. Although this could be rare, it’s something that marred the experience considerably, especially after cheerfully purchasing the game based on its prior strengths. Hopefully an update will iron out the creases and make the controls easier, but as an innovative and solid tower-defence game, it’s certainly worth checking out.

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