Indie Friday

 

On Friday, March 11th, Press Pause Radio set out on a mission to expose independently developed games that deserved exposure beyond any conceived expectation one would have with a quote unquote "Indie game" by today's standards. These are the results of our humble expeditions, prepare yourselves as we work to wow the fuck out of you.

 

Calling a game like Shoot Many Robots an independent title may actually be false, due to the fact that developer Demiurge Studios has been a household name for years. With titles such as Bioshock, Borderlands and Mass Effect under their belt, Demiurge is now focusing on a new IP that is “Metal Slug meets Borderlands on a drinking binge.” Our first hands-on with the game only proved that sentiment, as well as securing itself as one of the surprise hits of PAX East 2011.

In the game, you take control of P. Walter Tugnut as he fights an incessant amount of robots, using dozens of weapons and power-ups. That’s basically the extent of the story, but who really needs a story for a game “based on ‘Tallahassee’ from Zombieland”? This insanely fun run and gun is set for a 2011 release, although no systems have been announced at the time of PAX East. Shoot Many Robots should be on every one's radar, especially for fans of frantic shooting, hordes of mechanical death and excessive amounts of drinking.

Shoot 1up and Explosionade developer Mommy's Best Games is on a real streak. So far, Nathan Fouts, president and lead prgrammer, has failed to disappoint with each of his published titles.

So far, Serious Sam: Double D is no exception. As a run-and-gun styled action platformer, Serious Sam: Double D was a bit of a challenge to map into 2D from its FPS origins, but maintains a lot of the spirit that the original games had.

Even in its early state, Double D is very playable, and incorporates a lot of cool features not the least of which includes the awesome Gun Stacker, described as a "Build your own 'Spread Gun' [from Contra]" and jump pads that can be thrown anywhere for a boosted jump on command.The new enemies are really creative, well designed and mesh with the backgrounds very well.

Serious Sam Double D is on track to hit its launch window of May to June.

If I had to describe this insanity myself, I'd say it's Smash Bros. meets Tetris -- or was that what the Fire Hose guys said at the booth? Alright, how about Street Fighter on crack meets a healthy game of Jenga while drunk? Random descriptions aside, Fire Hose's Slam Bolt Scrappers is all about the mayhem, and thankfully there's plenty to go around. The first match I played (with Serraxor) was a co-op battle to the end, as we all fought what appeared to be the block stacking battle of our lives. Your objective is to pick up as many blocks of the same color as possible, stacking them up and implementing weaponry as you construct the city's most impressive tower.

 

You'll even find yourself blasting around and attacking random creatures, as they're converted into additional building blocks. At some points you'll kick the crap out of other players, in an effort to make sure they don't steal your blocks or eliminate you first. 

I also sampled the four-player battle mode, which I'd say is some kind of "Super Stacker Tetris Deathmatch." Building as a team was intense enough, but deciding if you want to slam on every other player you encounter? On top of that, now you have three other guys trying to steal your blocks away (when they're not just beating on you some more). 

This game is packed full of options, with co-op campaign and competitive modes taking place among multiple backgrounds. Slam Bolt Scrappers was released this past Tuesday, so If you're looking for a stacker-brawler-platformer (woah) with loads of variety and innovation, I'd highly recommend checking this out.

“Sometimes a picture is worth so much more than just 1,000 words.” In Snapshot, the first title developed by the three man team known as Retro Affect, a picture can fabricate the crate you need to pass an obstacle, relocate a bouncy elephant, or even create a clone of yourself.In Snapshot, you take control of a tiny robot named Pic that has the ability to take photographs of objects in the environment and then relocate, rotate, and re-paste them. Using this ability, you navigate through platforming puzzles in five artistically vivid worlds.

 
   I had some hands on time with the demo of Snapshot, and it looks and plays beautifully. Despite revolving around one simple (yet unique) game mechanic, the photography is particularly deep and goes beyond simply capturing stationary items. An object in motion when the picture is taken, will stay in motion when it is pasted, which makes for some interesting and innovative physics puzzles. Beyond that, you can also capture sources of light or even the image of yourself, further adding to the many ways in which the photo mechanic is creatively executed.

Snapshot will be released sometime Summer 2011 for PC and tentatively on the Xbox Live Marketplace and/or the PlayStation Store. I highly recommend you keep a look out for this title. It's a bold claim, but I personally believe Snapshot will be the next big indie hit, and we will be hearing much more about it in the future.

Xbox Live Arcade has been set with lofty expectations with indie smash hits like Limbo and Super Meat Boy but Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a game that has a charm and a core mechanic that kept me thinking about it since I left its booth.The look of the game may feature an aesthetic of silhouette imagery that's been shallowly tacked on to about every 2D side-scroller as of yet but ITSP makes the look feel refreshing once more, the modern wave flat-layered look that gave it a motion comic feel both in game and within the cut scenes really drew me to the front of the screen.

Controller in hand, the initial impression of the protagonist instantly inject this sense of unintentional nostalgia within me. The stereo-typically depicted UFO immediately brought about this reminiscent feeling of the  Nintendo franchise Kirby, when he inhales an enemy with the UFO ability. The reference mind you, was derived from the free roaming movement the UFO gave and the versatility of using variety of weapons may have also been have been yet another unintentional homage to the pink puff-ball as I curiously started to use the tools at my disposal.   
  The freedom comes in hand with a twin-stick mechanic of the UFO's tools, I started out with having a mechanical arm that nailed the movement and use right down to the flexibility of bending or extending an arm. The arm with its claw allowed me to grip and interact within the environment, primarily to remove rocks piled in a collapsed fashion that was obstructing my path. The physics of removing the bottom rock from said pile to watch all the others soon subside away and create my projected cavity really added to the satisfaction of the game's intuitive feel. Another tool which added to enhancing the enjoyment to the setting is a scanner tool which provides various hints of what tool is suggested next to be used on the scanned object like the rocks that were dealt with earlier. Progressing through the game, the collection of a laser power up allowed me to fire through enemies, whether small or a large harmful blockade. Blasting through these creatures, a revelation finally came to mind concerning this evocative feeling that eluded any detection up until now.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is cleverly disguised Metroid-Vania game where the sense of exploring different pathways of progression based on your available abilities and what can be done by them only adds to the depth of the game because of the movement involved with it. Games such as Shadow Complex of Symphony of the Night use this same core mechanic but it all involves platform jumping, ITSP planet however, enhances this mechanic through it's free roaming movement which the setting is based around and gives it an overall fun touch that set it apart from the other games on the show floor.

So that's it, if any of you guys have some picks of your own that you enjoyed from PAX East then comment below or post it on our forums. Press Pause Radio still has more to deliver so make sure to check in and give us some feedback!

Comments

[KnittedFox]

One game I can't seem to ever get enough of is Serious Sam. It always wad a favorite of mine at LAN parties. The run and gun style of SS is my favorite play style. Guns blazing, wall of destruction... I love it! This new SS game looks like a great addition to the franchise. What system(s) is it going to be coming out for?