Weekly Xbox Indies - 6/26/09

It's a good week for multiplayer games on the Xbox 360 indie game marketplace. Try and get as much multiplayer gaming in as you can now, because next week is expected to include the release of Microsoft's game making tool Kodu, which could have you shutting yourself off from the outside world as you make an interactive masterpiece of your own.

Yay

Plows In Hell - 200 MS points. Someone took the concept of Hell freezing over a little too seriously. You control a laser-turret wielding snowplow trying to survive the waves of enemies. To make things more interesting the ice sheet you are playing on is constantly melting, and enemies will melt paths through the ice as they move, so no two sessions will play exactly the same. You also have some handy tools to deploy like sentery turrets and decoys. The action really heats up in multiplayer, making this an excellent download.

Scallywags - 200 MS points. Turn-based pirate plundering? It may sound a little crazy, but this multiplayer focused game is simple enough to get right into, but has enough depth to keep you coming back. The first player to collect 5 coins wins, but do you spend your coins on new ships to try and collect faster or horde your coins? Or do you embrace your inner pirate and plunder your opponent's ships? Get a group together and you'll be playing this one for a long time.

Chinese Checkers Deluxe - 200 MS points. As a general rule I'm skeptical of games that put "Deluxe" in their name, but this one actually lives up to it. The standard mode plays a great game of Chinese Checkers, either against the AI or up to 3 other players (or 6 total online). Then there's a combo mode where you score more points for making more jumps, a time attack mode, and a puzzle mode that can get quite challenging. Overall it's a very complete and well made package for anyone with a Chinese Checkers craving.

Ay?

Shield Defense - 400 MS points. They say that the best offense is a good defense, and in this game they would be right. You play as a defenseless military base with only one way to defend yourself: a giant Pong-like shield. Use the shield to reflect enemy bullets and missiles back at them, and collect cash for each enemy destroyed which can be used to buy upgrades that give you some more ways to fight back. My only issue with the game is price, since there are other indie games on Xbox Live that have more content and more gameplay depth for half of what Shield Defense is asking.

Penguin Slip-Slide - 200 MS points. You control a penguin sliding across the ice to get back to his igloo home. There are 150 puzzle levels, as well as a bunch of achievements to unlock, so there's plenty of content. Just make sure you keep your patience while playing, because these puzzles are highly based on trial and error.

Bop N' Pop! - 200 MS points. I can respect this game trying to put a new spin on falling-block puzzle games, but I'm not sure that it's a welcome change. Pieces fall one at a time and you stack them by color until a colored wedge falls to clear the stack. I feel like there's some potential in this game, but it was just a bit too simplistic to be a must-download.

Nay

Sky-Defender - 200 MS points. This is about as generic as a shooter gets. Enemies move back and forth across the screen while your ship is stuck along the bottom Space Invaders style. But unlike Space Invaders the enemies never get any closer nor do they ever pose much of a threat. I'm sure this was the developer's first game, and so I don't want to offend, but from the perspective of someone who'd actually be paying for these games, this one is not worth it.

System Override - 200 MS points. Another Simon clone makes its way into the community games. There's a regular and "turbo" mode, but for the life of me I don't see a difference between them. There's also multiplayer, but the pattern matching in this game is so slow that the multiplayer never gets as intense as it needs to be.

Updated Games
Valhyrie
Clover
Little Racers