Crocodile Entertainment inform us that the US PSN Store now comes equipped with a demo for Zack Zero so players can try out the game before purchasing.
Zack Zero has been on PSN since January of this year, but have you bothered trying it out? No, of course not because you couldn’t before but now that has changed with the release of the demo on the American PSN Store. The demo allows players to play through the first two levels of Zack Zero, thus giving them ample opportunity to get a feel for the game and whether they want to purchase the full game.
Zack Zero is an action platformer that combines puzzle solving, combat and of course jumping to keep the adventure varied and exciting. The game didn’t fare so well in our review but since then, a HUGE update has been released that fixes many of the issues we brought up – we outline the bug list in this previous post.
Ultimately, you can find out if the update has made that much of a difference by download the demo now, can’t you? Yes quite.
More information on Zack Zero can be found on the game’s official website.
Smudged Cat Games have released a playable demo for their 2D puzzle platformer, Gateways. If you wanted to check the game out before you pre-order, now is your chance.
You may recall a game we talked about a little while ago called Gateways which caused a few brain ruptures and probably a few deaths – this was just the trailer! Gateways is lazily described as a 2D version of Portal, but it’s actually a whole lot more than that. The ‘gateways’ in this game don’t just transport you, they have other effects such as resizing you and even fiddling with time. It looks very complicated but has great potential as a puzzle game.
Gateways is due for release on June 22nd 2012 for PC and Xbox Live Indie Games and you can pre-order it right now. There’s two pre-order packages – the $10 download of the game or the $30 Deluxe Packaged which also comes with a Gateways mousemat, a signed A2 poster of the Gateways map and a Smudged Cat Games pen.
No doubt there are those of you out there who like to remain sceptical, to whom we present the Gateways Windows-only demo which was just released today. You can check out the beginning stages of the game and learn how the standard and re-sizing gateway guns work in the demo, so grab your download right here.
You can find out more information on Gateways over on the official website.
21st Street Games have brought their meme-themed single button arcade title, Nyan Cat Adventures, to the App Store because it needed more rainbows clearly.
You might remember a little game called Nyan Cat Adventures which we decided wasn’t too bad if a little crazy. 21st Street’s psychedelic cat madness has burst its way of out the confines of the Xbox Live Marketplace now though as it hits the App Store.
It’s pretty much the same game for anyone wondering – Nyan Cat Adventures requires only one button to be played so it makes sense to bring it to touchscreen really. You travel across space as the famous cat dodging as many things as possible. On the odd occasion the odd effect is put in to vary it up a little bit too. There’s actually two versions on the App Store – the LITE version is free and lets you only play as Nyan Cat and play in Party Mode.
If you want to unlock the rest of the game it’s going to cost you $0.99 but for that you will get all 8 characters, 5 game modes, Game Center achievements and leaderboards and you’ll get to hear the entire soundtrack if you can bear it.
More information on Nyan Cat Adventures can be found on the game’s official website.
Pathea Games announced their next project at GDC with a trailer – Planet Explorers features dinosaurs, digging, building, combat and other RPG elements and is set on a distant planet.
Following their action platformer, Drains, Pathea are now developing an open world RPG experience which incorporates many of the features that come associated with the many voxel-based games of today’s gaming landscape. Planet Explorers is set in the year 2287 after one of the first colony ships crash lands on the planet Maria, killing many of the colonists. The ones who survive step out to find a would inhabited by dangerous creatures but they learn to use the planet’s resources to their advantage.
This is where you come in – you’ll create your own character and set off to survive Maria with the rest of the colonists that remain. You’ll be able to combine and create weapons, vehicles, and buildings to help you out across the many missions that will come your way in this otherwise typical RPG gameplay. Planet Explorers will be single player initially but the developers are looking to add co-op and other multiplayer modes before the final release.
The plan is to release the open beta in July – it will be Windows only but a Mac version may be available sometime in the future, in anticipation of a full release by late summer. Be sure to check out all of the information available on Planet Explorers with the many screenshots over on the official website.
Every BIT Counts have released a trailer for their short student project, There And Back, which uses an interesting mechanic to identify itself in the crowded puzzle platformer space.
Students from the Vancouver Film School on the Game Design course have had 3 months to develop a game and the result that Team Every BIT Counts is boasting is looking pretty good. Though in many ways it’s just another puzzle platformer with a unique mechanic, There And Back certainly looks intriguing enough to warrant a playthrough.
The game is nearing release now and the students are showing off the main parts of the game – that being the three environments, snippets of the game’s puzzles and the “snap” mechanic. The latter seems to make a clone of the avatar which moves in an opposite direction from the player. The player can then snap to the position of the clone to solve puzzles and reach places they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
There’s no release date for There And Back quite yet but keep an eye on the game’s official blog for updates.
Arcade space shooter, Solar Struggle, is making the shift from XBLIG to PC this coming March 29th – there’s new screenshots and a trailer to pique your curiousity.
Z Software announced that they were working on a PC version of their arcade space shooter, Solar Struggle, back in December of last year but now they bring forth the news that the release of said version will be released this coming week – March 29th, in fact.
Originally released back in 2010 on XBLIG, Solar Struggle was met with mixed reviews – being praised for its visuals but criticized for the awkward controls. Let’s be fair, it’s a tale we hear time and again.
Can Z Software make any improvements with this PC version of the game though? By the look of the new trailer, the PC version still looks fairly good but the most important thing is nailing those controls. Fingers crossed!
Solar Struggle will be released on Little Indie on March 29th for Windows only and is available to pre-order now for 6.95€. The Xbox 360 version can be purchased on the >Xbox Live Marketplace for 400MSP.
Narrow Monolith have released the first playable demo of their estranged environmental puzzler, INIT, will you see past misconception?
Just in case you thought there weren’t enough abstract, first person experiences flying around at the moment, up pops Narrow Monolith. These are a three man team from jolly old England and the original founders, it has to be pointed out, have the best names ever – Dante Knoxx and Zakk Altair. Now, they’re probably fake but they are amazing names.
Anyway, on to the game then! Their debut title, INIT, is an abstract, minimalistic, first person puzzler, essentially. Though the team prefer words like, “immersive”, “illusion” and “exploration”. Those are the kinds of things you’ll be doing. You may as well go and find out for yourself really – it’s a free demo after all.
The full game will feature over 55 unique environments to muddle through as well as co-op challenge missions. Should be an interesting venture at least. We’ve supplied you with some footage of the game but please bear in mind this is very old and early footage – just grab the demo already.
Torn Banner Studios have prised the Chivalry: Medieval Warfare GDC trailer away from PC Gamer, who had it exclusive for a while, and have unleashed it so everyone can share it. So, here we are, sharing it. Double decaptitations and everything.
Coming third place in IndieDB’s “Best Upcoming Indie Games” award last year, Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is no stranger to arousing the bloodthirsty. It’s a multiplayer first-person medieval combat game, which, with the help of Mount & Blade and War of the Roses, is probably going to be the next big thing. Brutal melee and ranged combat ensues with swords, battle axes, longbows, flails and warhammers. Huge medieval arenas with lush, atmospheric scenes and gore flying everywhere.
If this sounds like the kind of thing that you’d be interested in, then trust us, you’ll love this trailer. The GDC trailer showcases the first good look at the first-person view in Chivalry, so we can finally get a feel for the game. Do bear in mind that this is all alpha footage though, not like that will stop you from getting rather moist, we don’t doubt.
More information on Chivalry: Medieval Combat can be found over on the game’s official website.
Planet-eating monsters are coming to destroy you and everything you know in Gravity Fleet – good job you’re rather excellent at shooting things using physics then, right?
The game itself not out on the App Store quite yet – we’re told it will be in the next couple of days – but Gravity Fleet‘s trailer is most certainly out and my word it’s sporadically marvellous chaps. Slap some humor in, spread a load of explosions over the top and sprinkle a dash of zesty physics-based gameplay and we have a rather sumptuous sandwich.
As you might guess with such a name, Gravity Fleet is all about bending the gravity of the planets in space in order to line up your projectiles at the incoming monsters. Add in some worm holes, stars and black holes and you have some risky maneuvers at hand.
With 80 levels, a crazy arsenal of weapons, glamorous planet-saving assistants with their own abilities and lots of space monster slaying, we’re pretty excited for Gravity Fleet. Just watch the trailer already!
Ever wanted to play Notch’s Minecraft spinoff, Minicraft, with lots of people at the same time? Well, Instafight may just be the answer to your wishes.
Ham Studios are developing Instafight which is, we dare say, Minicraft in all but name. Well, not quite yet it isn’t. Instafight is a retro-styled RPG which features a randomly generated world, quests, combat, coin collecting and yes you guessed it, crafting!
The developers are currently looking for funding over on 8-Bit Funding so they can continue to make Instafight bigger and better, with the aim of adding mulitplayer support as well as other features.
Instafight is available to buy in its alpha stage right now for $8.99 and is playable on Windows and Mac, or you can always give the free trial a go – head to the store page for both options.
More information on Instafight is available on the game’s official website.
