Review - Twin Tiger Shark (Xbox Indie)

An indie tribute to classic arcade shmups, now on your Xbox 360!

Wide Pixel Games, or Mikael Tillander as he is known to his friends, is back with another Xbox indie title following a string of enjoyable and well made titles. Twin Tiger Shark is a vertical scrolling shmup that obviously has a hard-on for classic coin-op shooters from the late 80's and early 90's, most notably those of developer Toaplan. Both the visuals and sound mimic the look of the arcade games of yesteryear perfectly, giving it an air of authenticity that will delight fans of titles such as Capcom's 1942 series, Raiden and especially Toaplan's Twin Hawk, Twin Cobra and Fireshark. Indeed, the likeness is so spot-on that I initially thought it was a straight-up clone of one of those titles, so much so that I had to boot up MAME in order to discover which one it was. I never found a match, of course, but it pays such faithful tribute to their various titles that it's hard to tell - from the almost identical plane to the one used in Twin Hawk, the similar plane formations, background environments and soundtrack of Fireshark, or the enemy vehicles seen in Twin Cobra, every element of Twin Tiger Shark appears to be from a Toaplan title.

Midnight Bite - Enjoyable stealth game, out now on Xbox Indie & iOS

Bite-Sized Fun

For those of you still checking the Xbox Live Indie Channel (all three of you), there are still some small nuggets of joy nestled amongst the throne of Flappy Bird clones and appalling anime masturbatory aids. Midnight Bite is one of those nuggets. Coming from the dependable Milkstone Studios, responsible for XBLIG gems such as Little Racers Street and Infinite Danger, Midnight Bite is a top down stealth game that puts you in the shoes of Little Dracu, a young blood sucker who has been left alone in his castle without anything to eat. With a powerful thirst on, he decides to go into town and find some villagers to chow down on, much to their obvious dismay.

Review (Double) - Rofaxan 2089 AD & Nostalgya (Xbox Live Indie)

Xbox Indie Shmup Double Review

There's nothing quite like a good Shmup (or 'Shoot-em-up, for the uninitiated). Easy to pick up and play for a few minutes, but with a difficulty level that will see only the most dedicated and hardcore gamer succeed. The genre has been around since the birth of videogames, and has evolved to incorporate many new mechanics to keep the score chasers happy. They can also be an easy entryway for games developers wishing to bring some fast paced arcade action to the indie scene. The only problem with this is that it can lead to a plethora of copycat and unoriginal titles, displaying a distinct lack of imagination. Logging onto the Xbox Live Indie Channel yesterday, I was pleased to see two new shmups that, from the screenshots, looked to be half-decent, which is high praise considering the abundance of utter garbage on the service. Rather than divide the two games into seperate reviews, I have bundled them together because, well, I am very lazy. 

Review - Mechanician Alex (Xbox Live Indie)

Imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery

Mechanician Alex is a new platformer on the Xbox Live Indie Channel. Taking heavy inspiration from the single screen platform games of the 8-bit home computer era - most notably the ZX Spectrum's Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy - Mechanician is simplistic 2D jumping action in its oldest form.

REVIEW - One Finger Death Punch (Xbox Live Indie)

Fear does not exist in this dojo!

Sometimes a game appears on the Xbox Indie channel that really impresses me. But for every Escape Goat, Super Amazing Wagon Adventure, Shark Attack or Qrth-Phyl there are 1000 other software abominations stinking up the service. I foolishly and prematurely assumed that One Finger Death Punch would fall firmly into the latter, but it turns out to be one of the most exciting and downright fun games on XBLIG right now.

REVIEW - Aqua Kitty- Milk Mine Defender (Xbox Indie / PS Vita)

Got Milk?

There is nothing worse than running out of milk. We have all been there. First thing in the morning, you stagger into the kitchen and sleepily pour yourself a bowl of cereal and put the kettle on, only to discover moments later that you have run out of milk. Disaster! I guess there is always the option of a cereal bar or black coffee though. Poor old cats don't have that luxury. So imagine their abject horror upon discovering that the entire world supply of milk has been depleted – vanished – gone! It makes one wonder what happened to all the cows – or even goats (yuk!) - but this is never explained. Anyway, never ones to sit around doing nothing (er.. actually) the cats set off to locate a new source. As it turns out, naturally forming full fat milk is produced under the ocean floor – handy - so the felines turn to subaquatic mining to gather the goods.

REVIEW - Bleed (PC indie / Xbox Indie)

"There can be only one" said the tag line in those Highlander movies. Well that's the basic premise of Bleed, a new indie run 'N gun game for PC and Xbox Live Indie.

The year is 21XX and our heroine, the punky haired Wryn, is tired of the old set taking up the top spots in the Hall of Heroes. So she sets out to become the ultimate heroine by destroying all those who currently reside in the esteemed leaderboard. To do so she must defeat the current heroes, who take the in-game form of huge boss monsters.

REVIEW - Zombie Death Quota (Xbox Indie)

Zombie Death Quota [80 points]

Zombie Death Quota is a game that exceeded my expectations by a considerable margin. The notion of another Indie zombie title was bad enough, but one set in a blocky Minecraft style world ascended it to the level of dread usually associated with a trip to the dentists. However, I was was very pleasantly surprised. 

REVIEW - White Noise : A Tale Of Horror (XBLIG)

White Noise : A Tale Of Horror [80 Points]

Coming from the dependable Milkstone Studios I was expecting something better than the usual XBLIG standard, and I was not disappointed. White Noise is a pure horror first person game. There is no 'shooter' part to this game though, it is purely explorational. Armed with only a torch, you walk around a dark and sinister graveyard and forest area, trying to locate 8 hidden tape recorders. As you near the items you hear radio static, much like that heard in the original Silent Hill game. 

CHRISTMAS GAMES - Festive Retro Goodness!

Christmas is here, and what better way to celebrate Santa's birthday than to fire up some festive retro gaming goodies! The 'Christmas game' was a popular gimmick in the 8-bit and 16-bit home computer days. Games were cheap to produce and to purchase, so developers could create a quick Christmas game on a small budget and release it at a low enough price for parents to buy for their kids as a stocking filler. There was also the free cover tape given away with the computer magazines at the time. The December issue of a games publication was the perfect place for Christmas games, and well known developers such as Team 17 and Sensible Software produced short, seasonal versions of their hit games for these give-aways. The ZX Spectrum had an excellent Monty Mole game called Moley Christmas, given away with the December 1987 issue of Your Sinclair. The Commodore 64 also got in the holiday spirit, with one memorable title being Frosty The Snowman, given away on the front of Your Commodore magazine in 1990. The Amiga was also home to a wealth of Yuletide treats, with Christmas versions of Cannon Fodder, Lemmings, ATR : All Terrain Racing, and Fire N Ice all gracing cover disks over the years. PC users were not left in the dark either, with an enjoyable Xmas edition of Jetpack, and some frantic platform action in the form of, not one, but three, Jazz Jackrabbit Christmas specials.

Xbox Live Indie Weekly Roundup (Dec 5th - Dec 11th)

Wow, I am just two weeks into my proposed weekly review of the Xbox Live Indie Channel and already I feel as though a small part of me has died inside. This week follows in the footsteps of a number of preceding weeks I can only guess at, where the entertainment value of the games on offer is lower than that of watching paint dry. Not even a colourful, vibrant type of paint, but just regular dull magnolia. It is pretty soul destroying to have to wade through this shit every week in the vague hope of finding something even mildly enjoyable. This is also highlighted by the fact that there have been some fantastic PC indie games for released over the last week, all of which put this Xbox indie selection to shame. 

This week:

• 2D Voxel Madness
• 60 Seconds To Park
• Dream Divers 2
• Project Gert Recon
• Retro Pixel Racers
• TrickyTreat
• Vampire Slayer FPS

REVIEW - Shark Attack Deathmatch (Xbox Live Indie)

Sharks are evil! Don't believe what the Discovery Channel tells you, great white sharks are not the misunderstood apex predators of the ocean depths. No, they are savage monsters with hearts filled with hate, and an insatiable hunger for human flesh, bones and organs.

We have all seen the movie Jaws, and its many appalling sequels, so we know exactly what sharks are capable of. As a result of these movies, 80's kids grew up with an inherent fear of the ocean and what possibly lurks beneath the surface. It is this primal fear of the watery unknown that Lighthouse Games calls upon to get your pulse racing and your nerves twisted.