I’m a huge fan of action runner games like Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack, where you avoid obstacles as your character runs. It’s so great to run as fast as you can, jumping to avoid doom and getting faster to the point where the you can’t see what’s happening and you start frantically crying as you try to dodge falling debris. Well, the last part is mainly just me I imagine, but I still think running platform games are good fun that most people can enjoy. I don’t get to see enough 3D ones, though. I also don’t get to see enough where you’re a massive mountain of a man who looks a bit like ‘The Thing’s’ less rational cousin and you smash right through rocks and barrels. Definitely a nice touch.

If you’ve ever fantasised about traveling back through time and considered how, in practice, it might actually work then Void is the game for you. It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago via those learned souls over at Rock Paper Shotgun, but only yesterday did I manage to sit down and actually play the bally thing.

Japanese indie studio Astro Port are, in essence, a videogame tribute band. Their games are love-letters to the SNES era, with their previous game – Gigantic Army, also reviewed here – being their fond recollections of Cybernator/Assault Suits Valken filtered through their own particular stylistic prism. Their latest release, Satazius (and their first on Steam and other digital platforms), is their interpretation of the classic Gradius series. It’s a tough act to follow, especially as genre masters Treasure took on the franchise and brought it to an official close. Does Satazius hit the core, or does it fly into a random moai head? We investigate after the break.

Yesterday, Xbox 360 gamers were treated to one of the best PSN indie games released: Joe Danger. For those of you who remember the “good ol’ days” of gaming this newly minted XBLA version should remind you of the time honored classic: ExciteBike, only with more stunts and danger because it’s 2011 not 1984.

Technology and charm are not two things that naturally go hand-in-hand. This year has seen massive studios create technologically stunning new ways to render brown dirt roads and shattered concrete – there’s just no room for whimsy in triple-A development, it seems. That’s where the indie scene comes in. Frozenbyte’s Trine 2 is a great big cozy comfort-blanket of a game, but is charisma all this fairy-tale storybook has to offer? It takes more than graphics to make a complex platform-puzzle game sing, after all. Wrap up warm, grab yourself some hot cocoa and read on for our verdict.

‘Maximalist’ is a good word to use to describe Trendy Entertainment‘s action/tower defense hybrid Dungeon Defenders. Lots of levels, lots of monsters, lots of stats, huge numbers, mountains of loot, options out the wazoo and more over-bloomed neon colored lighting than you’ve ever seen before. The bigness extends beyond the core design, too, with sweeping rebalances in patches and heaps of content-filled DLC already bulking the game out further. But does all this extra baggage make for a compelling co-op tower-defense experience, though? Read on and find out.

As I sit down to write this, my hands still occasionally twitch as my pulse returns to normal level. I just completed Serious Sam 3: BFE (Before First Encounter, allegedly, although it varied depending on who you ask), and I would not be the slightest bit surprised if there were more enemies in the final level than in the entire Modern Warfare trilogy combined. This is a game that wears its heart on it’s sleeve – it’s relentlessly, proudly bright, loud and old-school, despite having a slightly more muted aesthetic than the earlier games. Just don’t mistake ‘loud’ for ‘dumb’. SS3 is a game that you shouldn’t ever underestimate.

In the hustle-bustle of what is the holiday gaming season, or rather what it has become thanks to the delicious Steam sale and the unforgivable urge to shed all my money-pounds by giving it to developers and publishers, it has become hard to sit down and play a game for over a few hours and actually write a review. What with Skyrim and Arkham City and the umpteen indie bundles I’ve purchased throughout the months, I start questioning whether I’ll ever even get to actually playing the games, or if I’ll just be purchasing them in the hopes that one day — presumably when I retire — I will play the hell out of each of them.

Enter Die Gute Fabrik’s Where is my Heart?

If you’re a fan of arena shmups of the twin stick variety, you’ve been spoiled for choice over the last few years. Ever since Bizarre Creation’s (RIP) Geometry Wars was the first mega-hit for XBLA, it seems developers around the world have been on a major retro shooter kick, with everyone wanting to bring their own take on the genre to the table. Up steps Rob Hale, the man behind solo indie outfit, Squid In A Box. Waves is his first release, and it’s his answer to modern twin stick shooter craze, and I’ll let you in on a secret: It’s a bit bloody good.

Vlambeer is building their name upon solid gameplay. Title after title they continue to come up with addictive mechanics that players can dive into again and again without things getting repetitive. It’s kind of their thing. So it was exciting to hear that, along with other notable devs Mommy’s Best Games and Be-Rad Entertainment, the developer would be taking part in a Serious Sam 3 indie games promo. Thus getting a chance to weave their magic into an already enjoyable franchise by creating Serious Sam: The Random Encounter.

Now their effort is out on Steam ($5) for everyone to purchase and play. So how is it? A variety of feelings come to mind after playing through, and (like the game’s familiar enemies) the whole lot happen to slam into me simultaneously.