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This week's Xbox Live Indie Game comes to us from the Indie Games Summer Uprising, the 'sequel' of sorts to the Winter Uprising. The Summer Uprising brought plenty of new, quality indie games to the table, much like its predecessor. Look forward for tons of new Indie games to be featured!
SpeedRunner HD is a pretty straightforward title for this game… well, except for the HD part. In SpeedRunner, you speed through stages, getting the fastest time as possible in order to dismantle the bombs the villain has laid down. You don't simply have to run and jump, however. As you progress through the stages, you'll start unlocking powers, such as the grappling hook. By the end of the game, you can double jump and wall jump, and traipse about with the hook. As with this type of game, though, you'll have to effectively use all of your skills in order to make it to the end of the stage in time, and masterfully execute them if you want to get the gold medal.
The main game to SpeedRunner, as you might expect, is short. Since you speed through levels, a game can only be so long, right? However, the game extends its length by placing collectibles throughout the stages to grab. Collect them all, and you'll unlock a bonus stage… well, on top of the bonus stages unlocked after beating the game! The bonus stages will test the limits of your running, jumping, and grappling abilities, and if you can beat them, you can definitely be proud of yourself.
Despite all of this, the single player mode is far from the best aspect of this game. That's right, SpeedRunner HD has multiplayer, and it's what really makes this game worth picking up. You and up to three friends can race around multiplayer maps, putting your beat SpeedRunner abilities up against your friends. If someone falls off the edge of the screen (basically from moving too slow), they lose 1 of their 'health' points, and get closer to being knocked out of the race. Be careful, though, if you knock out a player and they knock you off the screen in return, they'll take the point from you and regain a point for themselves! If you're worried about matches taking too long due to equal player abilities, don't worry: If a match goes on for too long without a point loss, Sudden Death will start, and the screen will get red borders and start closing in on the center of the screen. If you touch the borders, you're out for good no matter how many points you had, so it's really a test for the best of the best.
But wait, there's more! In addition to multiplayer being a racing speed running game, you can also use items to screw over your opponents. You can get anything from boxes to place in the way, to special grappling hooks that'll latch onto an opponent and bring you up to their speed (with a momentum boost!), to rockets to blast others out of the sky. Learning when and how to use these items is the key to victory, but it's also the key to a friend busting a controller over your head for launching them into a pit and making them lose, so be careful.
I suppose The Flash is on vacation.
If you're up for a game that requires quick reflexes and skill, then look no farther than SpeedRunner HD this weekend. Or, if you're looking for a fun game to play with friends, then SpeedRunner HD is also a great choice. All in all, it's a nice title that every gamer should try out.
Interested? SpeedRunner HD is 240 MS Points ($3) and you can check it out here.
Got an unloved Indie Game that needs attention? Post it in the comments, and I'll give it a shot (and give you credit)! Well… except for A Pimp RPG. I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole.