Monthly Archives: December 2010

Hands On Cthulhu Saves The World

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We indienerds follow a simple recipe with our reviews; if it is not worth playing for at least fans of the genre, then we don´t bother reviewing it. No point in wasting your time or ours.

The games reviewed here represent the best you can find on the Xbox Live Indie marketplace and when I tell you that “Cthulhu Saves The World” is one of the finest indie games I ever reviewed, you might want to consider skipping the review and just go ahead and download it. I won´t blame you (much) and I don´t limit this suggestion to fans of the (J)RPG genre – this game is suited for everyone who enjoys a good laugh and well-thought-out dialogs.

Before you hit the MORE button to read the full review you should prepare yourself by adding the game to your download queue on the marketplace site and turn on your Xbox.

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Hands On: Football Games Room

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Football Games Room truly surprised me. With its lackluster presentation and Avatar support, I honestly was not expecting much out of the game. Instead, I found that I couldn’t stop playing. Football Games Room is surprisingly fun, and while initially it may not look like much, I highly suggest giving it a chance. The game is an incredibly deep experience for only 80 Microsoft points, with a variety of features and customizable options. While it does have its flaws, these are easy to overlook considering the asking price.

Press the MORE button to read the full review.

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Hands On: Astroman

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When I saw the trailer for Astroman from StarQuail (which you can watch after the MORE button in the full review), I immediately wanted to play the game. I like platformers, and this one seemed to be quite polished for an Xbox Live Indie title.

Now that I have played it, I am in awe, because it’s a beautiful game with an atmosphere that very few titles manage to establish these days. But I also do have some mixed feelings for the game, because I can’t recommend it for everyone.

Hit the MORE button to read the full review.

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Hands On: radiangames Crossfire 2

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It goes without saying that Luke over at radiangames has blessed the indie marketplace with a library of games that skimps on neither quality nor quantity.  With six releases over the last seven months and each one offering some great arcade goodness, it still confuses me as to how such a constant stream of high quality titles can come from one human being.  Even still, there hasn’t been a game from radiangames that I’ve wanted near as much as Crossfire 2, and as I waited for the game to download I even let myself worry that this anticipation would cause the game to be a let-down.  After all, what was the last hyped-up game you played that truly lived up to your expectations?  Well, if it’s any indication of what’s in store for someone purchasing this game, after six or so hours of play time I don’t want to write this review.

I just want to keep playing.

Your choice – click the MORE button, read the review, watch the trailer or just skip ahead and get radiangames Crossfire 2 for yourself. You can find it here.

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Hands On: Chu’s Dynasty

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Chu’s Dynasty is touted as a combination between the frenetic gameplay of Super Smash Bros. and the controlled, one-on-one battles of Street Fighter. The development team at Tribetoy has managed to not only create an intriguing game that plays very well, but also an incredibly well produced one. The game has production values that are up there with some Xbox Live Arcade games, surpassing others. Chu’s Dynasty is a little rough around the edges, but these flaws are understandable and easy to overlook (for the most part).

Press the MORE button the read the full review and have a look at the (beautiful) screenshots as well as the trailer

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Interview with Mike Muir of Eyehook Games

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Eyehook Games is responsible for a recent indie release; Epic Dungeon, the first installment in the Indie Games Winter Uprising. Mike Muir (the one-man team of Eyehook) was kind enough to answer a few questions about Epic Dungeon, game development, and upcoming projects.

Press the MORE button to read the interview.

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Hands On: Epic Dungeon

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Epic Dungeon from Eyehook Games was the first title released in the Indie Games Winter Uprising and so far seems to be the most successful one (discounting recent releases such as Decimation X3, as they haven’t received sales data yet). It was instantly a best seller with almost 50% conversion rate (meaning one out of two people that tried the game purchased it afterwards). That said it is a no brainer that you should check it out, but if you’d like to know a little bit more about it, then press the MORE button and read the review and watch the trailer.

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Hands On: Soulcaster II

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Recently, genre mash-ups have provided some of the more enjoyable and interesting pleasures in the gaming medium.  Titles such as twin-stick/dungeon crawler Inferno or tower-defense/shooter Toy Soldiers continue to make me think that, if Dr. Frankenstein were real, he’d probably give up the mad scientist gig and just start tossing together different game types.  Earlier this year, indie developer MagicalTimeBean gave the world Soulcaster, the genre blend of tower defense and Gauntlet and what was quite possibly my favorite game of the year.  And now its sequel is upon us, giving us another taste of that unique yet delicious recipe we remember from the first game.

Hit the MORE button to read the full review and watch the gameplay trailer.
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Support radiangames and get Crossfire 2

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When I got my hands on Crossfire 2 (download here) I was amazed at how much fun it was to reduce wave after wave of Space Invaders to pixel dust. This time it´s coupled with a very nice and fast going upgrade system that turns your little ship into a bullet spitting hell machine. Every casual gamer should have just as much fun with the normal wave mode as cracks of the genre will have trying to rise in the online scoreboards. The game comes a week late, and I´m feeling half guilty for that, but is certainly worth checking out.
And buy it, because the fate of Crossfire 2 might decide the fate of radiangames as Luke Schneider wrote on Radiangames.com. Maybe he should have called it Final Invaders.
So to support Luke a little bit…

try out & buy the other radiangames!!! (if you look for them on the dashboard … they are all listed under radiangames, so you can download them all at once with ease)

Inferno rating: 4,5/5 stars (download here, watch the videoreview here)


Fireball rating: 4/5 stars (download here)


Fluid rating: 4/5 stars (download here, watch the videoreview here)


Crossfire rating: 4/5 stars (download here, watch the videoreview here)


JoyJoy rating 4,25/5 stars (download here)

So help one of the finest developers on the Xbox Indie channel to keep developing great games – don´t forget it´s just $6 for 6 great games and it´s (almost) christmas. Spread the word – link to this blog post or to radiangames.com directly in forums, blogs or whereever you see the chance.

Hands On Decimation X3

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Decimation X3 is the successor to the quite successful Decimation X that I hold very dearly to my heart since it robbed me of many hours of my life – and I just can´t blame it. I also love the indie reviews from Michael Connolly (digitalquarters.blogspot.com) a lot and when he offered to write a Decimation X3 review for indienerds.com I was very happy. And then he didn´t like Decimation X3 even though I did. BUGGER! Still a great review and absolutely worth reading – I just had to add my personal conclusion at the very end of it. So now I hand over to Michael and get back to you at the very end.

Sometimes things come along that remind us what happens when we concentrate just a little bit too much on gratuitous shooting and explosions rather than substance.  Usually, Michael Bay has us covered on that front, but I couldn’t help thinking “less is more” during my time with Decimation X3, Xona’s recent XBLIG shooter.

read the rest and watch the trailer after the MORE button
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