If people ever ask you about the biggest difference between this hardware generation and the last, don't think about Achievements or horse armor. Think about this: for the last few years, the Xbox 360 has let ordinary people create their own videogames and sell them on a console.
Okay, so a lot of these games are not very good. Surfing through the Xbox Live Indie Games menus you're going to find broken shooters, bone-headed platformers and creepy study guides filling you in on how to talk to girls.
You're also going to see design at its most creative, however, as coders with no marketing departments to answer to offer up unlikely collisions of old genres, and ink-splattered sketches of genres that are yet to come.
Because it's worryingly easy to find nothing of interest, we've selected 50 of the best Indie Games currently available. These are the titles you shouldn't miss out on if you want to see the fruits of Microsoft's great experiment at their bizarre, unpredictable, and brilliant best.
Developer: Wam! Games
Price: 80MP (70p)
Most of the really old-school vertical shooters on the Indie Games platform tend to take Space Invaders as their point of origin. Retrofit: Overload opts for Galaga instead, and you can feel the developers' love for the game emerging as the colourful swooping waves progress. Murderously hard in its later stages, this is homage design at its most engaging.
Developer: Press Start Studio
Price: 400MP (£3.40)
Hack away at the undead or shoot them into millions of tiny pieces in this beautiful anime-styled action game that ensures the medieval enemies keep pouring in and the thick red blood keeps pouring out. Baddies are little more than points-fodder for you to chew through, but the chewing's good and the upgrades just keep coming.
Developer: Radiangames
Price: 80MP (70p)
The prolific Indie Games dev puts its spin on Space Invaders with this hectic action game that sees you flipping your turret from the top of the screen to the bottom as you take on waves of baddies. Power-ups and new enemies keep you interested in the short term, while the long game belongs to the high-score table.
47. Groov
Developer: Funkmasonry Industries
Price: 80MP (70p)
Groov combines twin-stick shooting with ambient music to surprisingly non-boring effect, allowing you to sculpt a plinky-plonk score by sniping away at an array of abstract baddies. Sterile and rather melancholy, it's a lot more refined and considered than the noisy chaos of most Indie Game blasters.
Developer: Radiangames
Price: 80MP (70p)
Clean lines, smooth beats, and twitch controls dominate in this astonishingly polished four-player blaster. Upgrade your drones, discover secret rooms, and spend absolutely ages titting about with locks and keys as you fight your way to the exit. It's something of a looker, too.
7 comments so far...
Kobokun on 6 Apr '11 said:
How about the shooter Vorpal from http://teamredwolf.com :)
Thos. on 6 Apr '11 said:
Great list. I'm going to work through it - it's easy to miss good stuff in the indie shop; the quality is so, er, 'mixed'. The printed mag has often pointed me towards some golden nuggets.
But the best thing about this feature is that it's all on one page, and not spread out over 20 pages like pretty much every other site would do.
Windowlicker79 on 7 Apr '11 said:
The only one out of that list I've actually played for any length of time is Apple Jack, which I highly recommend every should get. Its very addictive and can get very tough later in the game.
mistergrimm on 7 Apr '11 said:
Sad to see Light's End isn't on the list. While it's very story-based and not the most action-packed game, the concept of being able to play as any character in the world was a very unique one. It was admittedly, a lot of walking around and talking to people. I felt that perhaps if there were more complex puzzles, or if there were RPG style combat sequences, it would have been excellent. It's certainly worth getting for the unique way it is played through, it is only about an hour or two long.
thehumanmanUK on 7 Apr '11 said:
Dissapointed not to see NextWar: Quest For Earth on this list, it's an awesome tower defense game with epic music and beautiful Geometry Wars style vector graphics.
Also RC Air Sim is a great little game, and one of the few Indie's that I still play regularly.
CunningSmile on 7 Apr '11 said:
Did I miss it or is Cthulu Saves the World not on there? Brilliant RPG from the same devs as Breath of Death VI, with great 4th wall breaking dialogue, funny NPCs and an impressive 8 hour play time for 240 points.
I also have a soft spot for Zombie Accountants, but that's just me.
qupe on 7 Apr '11 said:
Have a look here, http://www.grcade.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11888
you're bound to find some good games.
You must play Protect Me Knight
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Produ ... 02585504f8