Like Web Games and Freeware, Xbox Live Indie Games fly out pretty fast. A lot of times those deserving of the praise and play time can slip through the cracks, so we’re here to spotlight some of these titles based on critical reception, Xbox Live ratings and of course our own play-throughs.

Mechanoid Army (Mancebo)
Mechanoid Army is a title that induces thoughts of strategy or shoot ‘em up types, but it’s actually a cool little platformer. The title isn’t entirely a misnomer though as you’ll assume different a robot who can assume different robot types to move your way through a mysterious spaceship, the Nexus-9, taking on the rest of the mech army.

Pro: A fun, engaging 2.5D platformer with some puzzle elements and certainly more impressive than what you’ll typically see on Indie Games section.

Con: The title is a bit short, only running 30 minutes to an hour.

Mechanoid Army weighs in at 230 MB and goes for 240 MS Points ($3) with a demo available as well.

Olu (Red Button Games)
An on-rails shooter with elements of the music rhythm genre that borrows heavily from Rez, Olu has you using two different types of weapons that destroy the opposite types of enemies in both analog and digital worlds. You’ll gain points and powerups faster when using the right weapon on the right enemy.

The music element drives you through the levels as it reacts to the choices you make, with visual, rhythm and rumble feedback.

Pro: It reaches and, for some, perhaps even surpasses its spiritual predecessors in Rez and Ikaruga.

Con: That being said it’s not a whole lot different from the title it was inspired by, some different choices but maybe not the leap of faith away from Rez that makes Olu its own game.

Olu weighs in at 39 MB and runs 240 MS Points ($3) with a demo as well.

Relativity (PurpleGames)
As the name suggests, the game Relativity revolves around Einstein’s famous theory, putting players into a space war atmosphere that relies on physics, and subsequently gravity, as a weapon instead of a fleet of battleships. The joy of the situation is that you don’t really need to know a whole lot about these concepts to take advantage of them.

While everything you see is represented in a 2D plane, gravity is represented in three dimensions, therefore gravitational pull is effected differently depending on what planet or star you’re trying to manipulate or destroy.

Pro: The effects are fantastic to watch, putting down the ships and guns, which are still a part of the game that you can take advantage of, and watching the distortion waves ripple and collide to do your bidding makes for quite a bit of fun.

Con: The game’s real-time strategy component is rather basic as is the standard look of the game sans the effects mentioned previously.

Relativity weighs in at 97 MB and and runs 240 MS Points ($3) with a demo to try.

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