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Originally posted at XBLI.net
This was a rough week for Indie Games. A slew of awful releases are complemented by a bit of hope here and there. The end result features a few new and noteworthy additions, but nothing on par with say, last week’s Fishing Girl. There’s always next week!
Astro Taxi Astro Taxi is awesome for being both a nostalgic and original game. It adopts Commodore 64-style graphics and uses them to create a 2D version of Crazy Taxi. The goal is to propel your rocket-powered taxi to and from various platforms around the level – all the while you must be careful not to crash or forget to use landing gear. It’s not going to blow you away, but it manages to nail a sweet spot where the propulsion-based physics are challenging without being overly frustrating. (240pts)
MoleGame MoleGame is whack-a-mole, and it’s about as short-lived as that simple carnival game. Still, it’s slim-pickings this week for XBLI and MoleGame isn’t half-bad. It nails its simple controls and feedback in a way that so many Indie games fail to do. The game doesn’t last more than a minute, but if you buy it you get a few different modes and it’s pretty fun to go for a high score. (80pts)
Junkyard Battle Junkyard Battle is a physics-based object stacking game. You use a crane to create a tower of junk and reach a specific height threshold. It’s a multiplayer game, but the single-player training levels are pretty fun on their own. The only issue is that the feel of the game is a bit off. The physics aren’t quite right, and objects tend to slide off of each other in odd ways. Still, it’s something different on XBLI, and it sets a solid groundwork for more physics games. (80pts)
Astero Defender (80pts) – While it’s kind of fun to see how far you can get within the length of the demo, this 2D shooter has little else to offer. Lazy enemy patterns, awkward collision detection, and poor graphics completely sour the experience.
War Ships (240pts) – War Ships is an unnecessarily confusing take on Battleship that assumes a level of trust among a couch full of players that’s just a little too optimistic.
VectorForce (80pts) – VectorForce may be the closest XBLI has come to offering a true “bullet hell” 2D shooter. The problem is that the onslaught of death is repetitive and the feel of the combat is completely dull.
Tartaros (240pts) – Tartaros is an awful example of game design that’s so bare bones you can practically understand the math behind it with a passing glance. When Indie games begin to strip away the magic of game design and programming you have to wonder if this is all worth it.
Jake’s Room (80pts) – Another example of game design hot out of someone’s Direct X textbook, Jake’s Room screams Computer Science project. Your teacher may have given you an A, but that doesn’t mean you should be selling this.
Cassie’s Corner (80pts) – Cassie’s Corner is so pathetically pandering that they included the off-beat blond and her boobs but forgot to finish the actual game. Cassie reads quiz questions which involve interesting, Snapple cap-style facts, but you’re never given the answers. What the hell?
Picture Slider (80pts) – Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it doesn’t get you any points here. Picture Slider is nearly identical to 15 Puzzle, and that game already nailed sliding puzzle controls and presentation.
Criminals Under Arrest (80pts) – Spelling errors, poor graphics, and sloppy combat spell doom for this 2D brawler. There’s a million other brawlers out there and this one isn’t worth your time.
Lander Mania (80pts) – You’ve probably played some form of Lunar Lander before, the game where you propel yourself around and try to make safe landings. Lander Mania is exactly that, only unpolished – it’s a bad version of an already boring game.
The Adhara War (240pts) – This is a pretty good idea – mix turn-based strategy with twin-stick shooter battles to decide the outcome. Unfortunately, neither feature is implemented well at all. 
Fireworks Screensaver (80pts)
Clownfish Aquarium (80pts)
The Fart Machine II (80pts)