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.

DLC. I don’t like it. I remember the “good ol’ days” when my game came to me as a completed product. I know, it sounds pretty crazy these days right? But true enough, I could buy a game for ~$50 (back then) and not have to worry about needing this or that “map pack” just to keep playing with the general populace of gamers. Dark times indeed…

On the bright side, at least we get kick ass satirical games like DLC Quest, a Xbox Live Indie Game platformer which takes the meaning of the acronym “DLC” and envisions a world where DLC is no longer an option but a requirement.

Just about this time last year, our old friend Michael Rose (who currently does great things at IndieGames.com) wrote a review about the then little known game development management simulation game Game Dev Story. Soon after the game became one of the most popular smart phone games amongst gamers due to its subject matter and genuine fun. Seriously, it was a great game, proven by just how much Michael enjoyed it.

Since then, Japanese indie developers Kairosoft have gone on to release other simulation titles in the same style like Hot Springs Story (where you manage a popular Hot Springs inn), Grand Prix Story (where you manage a racing team) and, as of this week, Pocket League Story, a game which strives to bring soccer club management to smart phones.

So I’m not going to beat around the bush and go on and on about this or that. I mean, I will if you keep reading, but let me cut to the chase really quick: if you enjoyed any of Kairosoft’s other sim games, you will enjoy Pocket League Story. It’s as simple as that. The mechanics are the essentially the same.

Now that that’s out of the way I’ll resume with the traditional review…

Essentially what Pocket League Story is about is managing a soccer (football) club. Those of you, like myself, who are very passionate about the world’s game will find that many of the basic aspects of the sport are kept true in the game, something that’s very reassuring. For example, a win gets you three points, a draw 1 point and a loss no points. Sometimes games like this can tweak the original sport to make it better for casual gamers or non-sports fans. Luckily, Kairosoft did not. You are running a soccer club and you’re building your team to play honest, legitimate soccer.

What Kairosoft has done here is created one of the most perfect soccer management simulation games possible on a screen with very limited real estate on a platform that’s not really designed to hold your attention for a few hours worth of gameplay, as is the case with the PC’s fantastic Football Manager series (which has destroyed more hours of my life than I’d prefer to admit).

In the game you’ll be able to hire/negotiate with players, build new facilities, send out players on fan services (to create more fans) and, as you’d expect, play matches. It’s a remarkably simple system that is both easy to learn and understand, but also deep enough so that you feel like you have full control of managing a team. You can even fire and hire new coaches if you want.

Of course, the ultimate goal of the game is to win matches. Doing so requires training and leveling up your players with new skills. This is automatically done when players are simply milling about your training field, but you can also increase individual stats by giving them specialty training. This is especially helpful when you’re trying to give players key advantages in certain areas of the soccer field.

And then we have the coup de grace… once you’ve trained your players up you’ll naturally want to have them play a match. When this happens, you actually get to see your little players passing, crossing, and shooting for goals. It’s quite fun to watch and, at times, can almost feel just as nail biting as a real soccer match, especially if you have a lot on the line.

There’s a lot more to Pocket League Story than I could ever get into in a single review, but suffice it to say, it’s a great smart phone simulation game. If you enjoy those types of games, or even enjoy games like Football Manager, then you should probably check this one out. It’s been more than worth my investment.

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Pocket League Story is available on Android right now for $4.99. It’s not yet available on iOS, but I would assume it’ll be there soon.

[Pocket League Story]

There’s a lot to be impressed by with a game such as Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. First, and we’ll get to each of these things more in depth later on in the review, is the style. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a game ooze with this much character and class. Second, you’ve got some phenomenal gameplay that’s unhampered by traditional platformer mechanics. Finally, you’ve got an entire Metroid-like package wrapped up into a singularly, very fun game. Something we haven’t really seen since Chair Entertainment’s fantastic Shadow Complex XBLA title.

So, suffice it to say, by this first paragraph you can probably tell that I’m a rather large fan of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet. In fact, if you want to skip all the rest of this review I’ll just go ahead and say it right now: buy this game. It’s worth the money. I’ll reserve judgement until each of the Summer of Arcade titles gets released, but I’d wager that this will be a contender for the best of the bunch. If you’d like to know more about the game… read on!

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (from here on known as ITSP) is a Metroid-like game, as I’ve already mentioned. If you’re unfamiliar with the term “Metroid-like” then… what are you doing here? Go play Metroid right now! Seriously, though, essentially what it refers to is an action adventure platformer with a large singular map begging to be explored. This isn’t a traditional platformer where you’ll fly from one end of the level to the other and carry on to the next. Instead you’ll be exploring various areas of the map, retracing your steps, acquiring items and fighting bigger and badder enemies as you proceed through the game. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet nails this concept. If you’re a fan of Metroid-like games, you’re gonna love this one.

Of course, the unique thing about ITSP isn’t so much its genre, but rather the way the game plays. In a traditional platformer you play as a character of some sort who can run and jump, etc. Largely, more often than not, said character is stuck on the ground. ITSP takes place in a flying saucer alien ship meaning you have full range to fly up and over obstacles or underneath them. Really the only thing keeping you down are walls. This method of movement gives the game a feeling of being unhampered by traditional platforming mechanics. Quite refreshing really…

Finally, you have the art and design. If you haven’t seen some videos of this game, you’ll probably want to check it out. Essentially the team behind ITSP puts some serious thought into the way this game was going to look and feel. And you know what? They nailed it. For a game called “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” their style has worked out tremendously in conveying the idea. Enemies are dark, shadowy creatures and the overall aesthetic almost appears to be entirely silhouetted across the game leaving the color to primarily accent the game’s main features. It’s remarkably well done.

Combine all this beautiful, free flowing, Metroid-like concepts and add in a few weapons, some exploration, and hidden items for collectors and you’ve got yourself one very solid game. If you’ve got 1200 Microsoft Points lying around the house somewhere, you could do far worse than buying ITSP. At the very least, it’s a fun 8-ish hour romp.

[Xbox Live Arcade]

[DIYGamer.com was given a free copy of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet for review purposes.]

It’s a sad fact that the Japanese indie scene doesn’t get much coverage outside of a few localization projects such as Recettear, or the occasional english-friendly freeware release. Usually relegated to the dustier corners of the internet, most Japanese indie studios aim their products solely at their local market, sometimes even selling purely through hobby stores or convention stalls.

My day has gone as such, thus far: I woke up at the crack of dawn, warm (it was about 31 degrees outside) and proceeded to make myself a delicious breakfast of Frosted Flakes with 2% (everything else is disgusting!) milk. Then I sat down in front of my Playstation 3, downloaded/installed Tales From Space: About a Blob, and loved the crap out of it until I had essentially beat the game.

The reason why I decided to go through such an odd method of opening this review was because, as somebody who has obligations, responsibilities, etc. I never get to act like my 10 year old self who used to go through this exact same routine almost every Saturday and Sunday. It was a nice departure from what my adult life has mandated over the last 10 years. It was also something that would have been impossible had About a Blob not been so incredibly fun.

But enough about my morning, let’s discuss the game itself.

For those who don’t know Tales From Space: About a Blob, is Drinkbox Studio’s new platformer about — what else? — blobs who have landed on Earth from space. It’s actually an interesting plot that is reminiscent of mid-20th century horror movies, but, at the same time, has you playing as the invading blob. Essentially you’re playing as the “bad guy” in this game, but Drinkbox has crafted the story in such a way so as to not make it so obvious.

Turning to the gameplay for a bit, About a Blob shares some similarities with cult hit Katamari Damacy. In fact, were Katamari a 2D platformer, I would say the games were frighteningly similar. You see the entire mechanics around About a Blob are that you eat things and grow bigger. In each level you start off small and, as you progress, you’ll slowly build up to the point where you are eating larger and larger items. Like with Katamari, it’s incredibly fun to see your little blob grow and grow and you solve puzzles and find new ways to eat bigger things.

Of course, eating and growing isn’t the only thing you’ll do in About a Blob. The game is a tried and true platformer at heart, and a damn good one at that. As such you’ll be jumping around, fighting off enemies, and solving puzzles throughout each level. What really tops off all these standard mechanics is how perfect the developers gave the blob actual, physical, blob-like characteristics. Everything rolls and slugs along as you’d expect from a being made out of translucent goo.

Oh and don’t even get me started on the co-op. As I was sitting downstair this morning playing the game, my significant other decided to join me about an hour and a half later. Upon seeing the game she instantly wanted to play. Now, for most games, this would require dropping out and starting a new game with two players. Drinkbox Studios, however, decided to make this process and simple as picking up a second controller and pressing start. Easy-peasy.

Finally, I’m not really a “music” guy, but the soundtrack of this game adds so much to the experience that it’s almost reason enough to check this game out by itself.

In the end, I wasn’t able to find a single thing I didn’t enjoy about About a Blob. Levels were long and intriguing enough. The atmosphere and game were overwhelmingly enjoyable. And, overall, I feel that Tales from Space: About a Blob is easily one of the best PSN games available.

Tales from Space: About a Blob is available right now for North American Playstation Plus members for $14.99. Non-PS+  members will have access to the game starting February 8th.

Elementally, My Dear Watson

Hogwarts this ain’t. A generic fantasy world is being threatened by a generic, creeping evil, so the generic magic school has dispatched 1-4 terrifyingly powerful (but comically inaccurate) wizards on a generic quest to save the world. Is Magicka, the first release by small swedish studio Arrowhead truly magical, or does it struggle to even pull a rabbit from a hat?

Ahead of its PC/Mac release this Thursday, I was able to get my hands on a copy of Nifflas’ roly poly puzzle platformer NightSky.

The game has you rolling around as a mysterious orb through ten twilight-filled worlds, solving different physics-based challenges and uncovering secrets along the way. So how does the latest title from Nicalis stack up?

After watching the beautiful intro, I felt right at home from the get go with the game and how it played. Similar to other puzzle platformers, NightSky offers individual one-screen challenges (occasionally more than one) combined together by variations of the title’s core gameplay mechanic to form the playable worlds. Each new level seemingly brings in another layer to this relatively simple mechanic, refreshing the player with new methods of completing puzzles.

The controls are solid and you really get a feel for controlling the sphere right away. Advancing through, the sphere obtains new powers that you’ll have to implement to progress to the next screen such as picking up more speed, becoming much heavier or even defying gravity — in some cases using these powers were actually enforced, which brought about its own set of challenges.

The game offers a normal mode for more casual players that includes a tutorial and hints and an alternative mode with more complicated puzzles and no hints for those looking for a tougher challenge. Running through both I can say that I’m glad I made the normal run first as suggested. There’s a certain ambiance that’s lost in the alt mode behind my shouts and curses (the good “oh, you tricky bastard” kind.) Though if you do find yourself getting bored with normal mode, I’d suggest making the switch. It’s really a matter of preference, and a nice touch that the option was provided.

I may just be a victim of being to into the title’s genre, but I did notice a familiarity with almost every aspect of the game; that is, I feel like I’ve been through it all before. The game does an excellent job measuring up with any of the better puzzle platformers out there, but I never felt it presented me with anything mind-blowingly new when drawing comparisons to them. That said, the puzzles are still wildly creative in places and plenty of fun, it just never struck that “woah this is different” chord with me.

As far as style, the game makes a conscious effort to soothe the player with both sights and sounds. The artwork is a treat for the eyes, using backgrounds with calmer, cooler colors and silhouetting the foreground including the surrounding wildlife and the sphere itself.

It’s also not hard to understand why the game received an honorable mention for Excellence in Audio in this year’s IGF as the diverse soundtrack, by composer Chris Shlarb, is quite excellent. At times the music is treated as a kind of reward upon completion of an area or by activating a puzzle’s solution, with the absence of music filled by the ambient sounds of ocean waves crashing against a shore. The result is an extremely harmonious buffet for your ears and really adds a tremendous amount to the overall experience of playing through the game.

You won’t get an argument from me against NightSky being a good game. The physics-based gameplay is tight, the songs are splendid and the art is simple yet gorgeous. If you’re a fan of platformers with a little more thought involved like Braid, VVVVVV and LIMBO, they’ll be plenty for you to like here.

NightSky arrives January 6 for PC/Mac and is pinned for WiiWare sometime down the road.

[NightSky]

I had originally meant for this review to go live last week, but, unfortuantely, the holidays just got the better of me. I do hope that you didn’t take that to mean Frobot wasn’t a good game, however, as I’ve just finished playing my review copy and I came away thoroughly impressed with not only the gameplay, but also the aesthetic, characters and story… yes this game most certainly has a story.

Frobot, for those of you who haven’t seen it, can be summed up in a single word: funky. Everything about this game oozes with that sort of jive 1970s vibe that was so pervasive 40 years ago. While it might seem dated now, you can rest assured that reliving this fabled time of gold chains and jive turkeys is actually well worth the entry price, particularly if you always found yourself fond of a certain American detective named Shaft.

But enough about that let’s tackle what you’re probably really interested in, the gameplay.

I’ve mentioned this previously on this site multiple times, but I’ll say it again: the entire gameplay of Frobot is very similar to playing a the classic 2D Zelda temples. This, in my opinion is a fantastic gameplay structure as it creates a fun, puzzle atmosphere but without getting overly complicated for people who just want to play a game and not worry a third dimension as is now customary in modern Zelda titles.

The primary difference between Frobot‘s puzzle “temples” and Zelda‘s is that Frobot‘s puzzles aren’t contained to a singular room. What I mean by this is that you’ll habitually be dragging items from one screen to the next and back again in order to solve a puzzle. This ensures that no puzzle is too easy, aside from the very first few, of course.

Now, naturally, being a badass Frobot, the game hooks you up with an impressive arsenal to dispose of any enemies that you most definitely will come into contact with. You’ve got the traditional “pew pew” energy blast gun, remote mines, a rocket launcher, the “Jive Stalker” which follows your Wii pointer, and a grenade which can be thrown over walls. Each weapon provides it’s own use and functionality within the game that will allow you to proceed through the levels. Note: the grenade is for multiplayer only.

Beyond the weapons, Frobot also has a a shield with which he can block energy blasts as well as a dash that allows Frobot to quickly move out of the way should you require it. These two items are fairly standard within this type of game.

My favorite part about the game, however, isn’t really the puzzles but rather the bosses for each section of the game. During these fights, the game’s camera zooms out and gives you a much wider perspective from with which you can view everything. Each boss has a unique hook to it that makes fighting them different from traditional games where you’re usually just required to hit them ‘x’ amount of times.

Frobot also comes with a local  multiplayer mode. It’s pretty fun, although nothing really spectacular. It’s just you and 2-3 friends blasting each other with all of Frobot’s arsenal. It can be particularly fun if you’re with the right people. Sadly, however, beyond that there’s just not much to it.

Stylistically, Frobot is a double edged sword. On the one hand, the aesthetic and setting of the game are great. I love how colorful and funky the game feels. On the other side, Frobot is a glaring reminder at the Wii’s inadequacies when it comes to graphics. Colors are dimmer and everything is rougher than what you’d expect on even most Xbox Live Indie Games. A PC version of Frobot is supposed to be coming out soon and I can only hope that it doesn’t suffer from similar issues.

Finally, we come to the story. As you can imagine Frobot absolutely has quite a ridiculous plot line. But that’s okay because being set in the same vein as Shaft entitles you to have a ridiculous plot even if it involves jive robots from a dystopian future. I won’t delve too deep into it, but suffice it to say “the Man” has decided to abduct Frobot‘s women, an entirely unacceptable proposition.

Overall, I was impressed with Frobot‘s simplistic yet addictive gameplay that had me returning for more time and again. There’s a lot of gameplay to be had here, especially for fans of the old Zelda games.

Frobot can be had today on the Nintendo WiiWare store for 1000 Nintendo points ($10).

[Frobot, WiiWare]