Nostalgia is an interesting feeling. Elements throughout our lives rekindle memories of things we knew in our younger days, and generally bring a smile of remembrance to our faces. In the world of video games, which is a relatively young world all things considered, it’s when a game presents an homage to the games of yore or outright copies them in respect. If it’s a game we’ve played at a younger, it’s going to bring that same grin to our faces as we recognize a significant gaming moment from our past. With Retro City Rampage, the game doesn’t only present small homages to the past, it outright paints itself from head to toe in shout-outs and moments of remembrance.

Originally conceived as a way to recreate Grand Theft Auto on the original Nintendo under the title Grand Theftendo, Retro City Rampage quickly grew into something bigger. With countless pop-culture elements to pull from and dozens of games to tip the hat to, almost every aspect of the game is a nod to something. As a gamer approaching thirty who recognizes almost every one, the game’s flow kept me significantly entertained and bathed in the warm light of the days of yore. But at the same time, this excess of callbacks and references makes me worry about any younger generations picking up the game. Will they get it? While more modern catch-phrases like “more car bell” are dropped into the game, what child of the nineties is going to recognize Roger Wilco’s ship from Space Quest III in the junkyard of Retro City? But in the game’s favor, it has excellent gameplay and can be a successful experience for anyone who picks up a controller. And if any parents happen upon their kids playing the game, they’ll spend the entire time saying “isn’t that?” or “that looks just like” or “I remember that!” and it will be like a living history lesson.

I’ve put hours into the most recent build of the game courtesy of the developer Brian Provinciano and seen a lot of its gameplay, story and secrets.

The gameplay is simple. You control a pixellated character from a top-down view who can maneuver in all directions, jump and attack. You can also get into cars by pulling out the driver or stealing one from its parking space. You’ll find additional weapons like pistols, uzis, bazookas, baseball bats, molotov cocktails and more along the way. There is plenty of mayhem to undertake. Using the joystick of the Xbox 360 controller (or PS2 controller as was offered in this build of the game) it’s quite easy to control who or what you’re shooting. The game features an adept lock-on system so you don’t have to get your angle perfect, just close to your target.

If your crime starts getting out of hand or you happen to murder someone in front of the police, your wanted meter raises on police cruises and bikes begin hounding you. To the game’s credit, the cops are more difficult to shake than any prior installment of Grand Theft Auto I’ve experienced. If the cops get on your tail during a mission, you’re going to be looping, circling, parking in alleys, and generally trying to hide yourself from the fuzz – which is no easy feat. The cops are able to zip right up to your bumper and try to ram you off the road, but if you thread enough traffic, pull of illegal u-turns and generally drive dangerously, you might just get away.

On the note of driving, the game offers two control schemes. In one you can turn your car with the joystick and accelerate with the normal trigger, and in the other the car automatically drives in whichever direction you may be holding the joystick. I preferred the latter. It’s easy to maneuver through traffic, around (or over) pedestrians, and generally get to your destinations unscathed. The cars are all pretty solid and can take a beating without exploding, but it still pays to drive safely.

The missions throughout Retro City Rampage pull a lot from the games of yore. Your character is called simply PLAYER, in an entertainingly self-reflexive manner. The game begins when you find a job ad looking for henchmen, and you’re crime career begins in earnest. From planting underwater bombs a la Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on NES (though the heroes-in-half-shells definitely defused them) to escaping a laser-filled base in the vein of Contra, you’ll experience a lot of memories as you work your way through the game’s story. One mission has you trying to rid the local high school of a student with the name “Norris,” one letter off a certain TV-troublemaker. And throughout the city, almost every business has a sign that’s a play on game history. From “Gargle Quest” mouthwash to the “Fresh Prints” copy shop, you’ll be experiencing a lot of “oh yeah!” moments throughout.

Along the way, the game manages to shake up its general gameplay with unique twists on what might be called mini-games. At one point, you’re helping a team not unlike the Ghostbusters rid a possessed van of spirits. To do this, you head to the local retirement home where they throw bodies out of the window and you have to “feed” these bodies to the haunted car in order to satiate its possessor. Nobody said the game would be politically correct in its mission structure. Later on, while in disguise as the town’s superhero “Biffman” in order to “offset your criminal footprint,” you’re kidnapped and lowered into a tank of crocodiles. But to save yourself you have to swing back and forth, catching henchmen from a henchmen-dispenser (every villain’s dream machine) and feeding them to the gators in place of yourself in order to stuff them and keep them from eating you.

The missions are varied and hilarious and will keep you entertained throughout from the cheesy dialogue to the hilarious situations you’ll find yourself in.

The game also features a series of sprees in which you unleash timed havoc on the city. From a bazooka with unlimited ammo to a DeLorean that can only get up to 88-mph by running over pedestrians to how fast you can flatten fifty people in a steam roller, the challenges are varied. You’ll see skulls on your mini-map indicating where you can launch one of these challenges. The game tracks your scores and records, along with a staggering numbers of stats from “Invisible Walls Found” to “Bikeapults.” In fact, it appears that the game keeps tabs on more elements than most full retail releases to a hilarious extent. Want to know how many swimming lessons you’ve given? No problem! It’s all there. For 8-bits of sound and graphics, the game has gigabytes of stats (not literally).

The music and sound effects are fabulous throughout. With composition that could truly be coming directly from the 8-bit era, everything from the explosions to the game’s theme song are great. Just check out the soundtrack trailer we posted a few weeks ago to hear it in action.

The aspects that linger long after you’ve shut down your console are the details. From the clever signs spotted about the city to PLAYER’s tiny little feet pedaling a bicycle.

Retro City Rampage was originally announced as a Wii title to be released by the end of 2010. But as of now the game has been pushed into next year (hopefully February) as the platform of choice is now up in the air. If you have any inkling of interest in the game, make sure you’re following it on Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll have any key updates and trailers right here at DIYgamer along the way.

So, remember that little rant I had a couple weeks ago about Microsoft’s newest endeavor to push the Xbox Live Indie Games channel to further obscurity? Yeah, it’s still kind of a big deal, especially to the developers who are angry that their games are going to get even less attention now than ever before.

Well, as was to be expected, at east one developer is turning it’s back on the service. Stir Fry Games, creator of SFG Soccer and SFG Office Brawlers is planning on pursuing other platforms instead of their traditional mainstay XBLIG. Here’s what Andy Kwiatkowski, founder of Stir Fry Games, had to say:

“The recent dashboard change has been a total disaster. Our sales have been seriously affected and I don’t think XBLIG is a viable platform for full-time Indie developers any more. We’ve now moved on and have started developing technology to allow us to make games for different platforms.”

When asked about what platforms they were actively pursuing for their next game Andy mentioned the usual: iOS, PS, and WiiWare as prospective platforms for their future games.

Are you a developer who is turning away from XBLIG now? Let us know in the comments below!

[Stir Fry Games]

UPDATE: 20 minutes after I wrote this article I received word that Microsoft caved to the pressure and moved XBLIG back to its rightful place with the other video game channels. This is a great victory for indie developers everywhere.

Whenever I gloss over the Xbox Live Indie Games Channel, I undoubtedly come across a few “Avatar” enhanced games. Usually I don’t even both checking out to see what the game is really about because, given their history, the Avatar games aren’t that great. In fact, I’ve yet to play one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Most are just kind of ‘meh’ titles. For this reason alone, it was probably a smart idea for Stir Fry Games to leave out the word Avatar in their newly released SFG Office Brawler game.

SFG Office Brawler is pretty much exactly what you’d expect out of a game entitled as such: a fighting game based in an office like setting. The idea is that you’re playing as your average office working avatar fighting against other office working avatars.

For what? I have no idea. I’d like to think it was for some sort of inner-office fight club, or maybe that, in a desperate attempt to escape from work, your avatar went crazy and just started beating the crap out of your fellow compatriots who didn’t want you to escape while they had to endear the torture. It could be whatever you want I suppose.

What SFG Office Brawler does offer is a robust fighting experience on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel, well at least if the trailer is to be believed. Check it out.

SFG Office Brawler is available right now on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel (under “Specialty Shops”) for 240 MS points. As always the game is available for free to try it out.

[Buy/Try, Stir Fry Games]

Trailer

Ludosity, makers of the delightful ship rebuilder Bob Came in Pieces has something (kinda) new for 360 users via the XBLIG, a port of their bonkers flash title Garden Gnome Carnage.

The addictive arcade-like* has you swinging around a garden gnome trying to destroy oncoming enemies and throwing bricks at helicopters, all for the joy of points.

Both the title and its trial version are available now on the Marketplace. 80 MS Points ($1) will score you a 360 copy in all of its 720p and gamepad goodness. Of course you can also just play the flash version for free here, whatever works.

*I fear the staff will be fighting over this one on Thursday.

[While our XBLIG Thursday feature fights against the main issue of Xbox 360’s Indie Games channel–gaming brilliance being lost in a sea of medicore titles and cheap apps–as good as anything out there, there’s just too many total releases for us to try them all.

That being said, we can still highlight them on a weekly basis, and perhaps posting these new titles will benefit both player and developer by allowing a connection to be made before the game floats on down the river and into the backlogs of the channel. Whether it be an all-time great, a one time play-through or a complete lemon; all will have their chance to speak. Here are this week's releases.]

Chain Reaction (80 MS Points)
“Set off your explosion at the right time to start a chain reaction and rack up the points! Share highscores with friends, Addictive Gameplay, Inovative Sound Design.”

Mutant Zombie Onslaught (80 MS Points)
“The year is 2012 and the world as we know it has ended. A virus sent from the depths of Hell has decimated humanity. Genetic mutations caused by the virus have turned many of those remaining into mindless zombies with dangerous mutant powers. Can you survive the zombie onslaught and save humanity from Armageddon?”

Avatar Pumpkin Smash (240 MS Points)
“Get your Avatar into the autumn spirit and have a smashing good time too! Ghoulishly throw pumpkins at other Avatars to score the most points within the time limit. Play in teams or everyone for themselves. Each map can be played during the day or at night if you dare. You are even treated to power ups. Play against computer controlled fiends or play online against friends or enemies.”

Burn1420 (80 MS Points)
“Multi directional, level pattern, strategy shooter. Campaign and Practice modes. Global high scores. 80pts- hours of entertainment.”

Br00t4l Qwest (80 MS Points)
“You take the role as an alien cowboy or a gigantic mutated brain as you fight your way through an onslaught of enemies, alone or with a friend, in this br00t4l top-down multidirectional shooter. Awarded for “best execution” at Swedish Game Awards 2010, it features two full episodes as well as an intense survival mode, all playable either by yourself or with a friend in co-op mode.”

Melon Madness (80 MS Points)
“A small 2D stadium with a quick gravitational hiccup to get things moving in a new way, a few over eager players to kick a ball about and you are playing ‘Melon Madness’. In ‘Tournament’ mode, take on the rookies and work your way to the pros for a challenge that only fools and heroes would rise to. In ‘Exhibition’ mode, invite a friend for co-op or VS gameplay with up to 4 players (2 Vs 2).”

Avatarmageddon (80 MS Points)
“Protect the mysterious artifacts from waves of suspiciously cubic invaders in this fast paced third person shooter that includes full avatar support.”

Quantum Ninja (80 MS Points)
“Quantum Ninja – Time & Gravity & Space are all Mixed up. Help the Ninja get past the Time Bandits and Collect Chrono-Crystals and Help Him Save Time!”

Turret Battlefield (80 MS Points)
“Turret Battlefield is a face paced space shooter game where you put your skills to the test in one on one turret combat. Battle against AI turrets or attempt to overcome your friend in the game’s multiplayer mode.”

For Glory (80 MS Points)
“Battle your way through a seemingly endless horde of monsters on a journey to stop their evil leader. Defeat monsters to earn glory and upgrade your equipment.”

Steam Heroes (240 MS Points)
“Help three brave adventurers on their quest to stop the diabolical Baron Von Smog’s plot to conquer Steam Land. However, there is an army of evil minions that stand in your way. Challenge yourself in this new puzzle strategy game; includes 12 action-packed stages, a full soundtrack, competitive online play, all in stunning 720p HD Graphics. It’s up to you to save Steam Land!”

Seizonrenda (400 MS Points)
“Seizonrenda is frantic arcade Shoot ‘em up with one objective, survive. Get into the zone with heart pounding music and nerve rattling close calls. This isn’t your parents’ asteroid game, so lock and load. Play through endless waves and climb the high score charts. Defend the human race against an unknown threat. Do your part to stop the invasion.”

Dice XY (240 MS Points)
“Dice XY is a challenging puzzle where you must wipe out all the dices from the board. Includes several nature ambiances to get a relaxing environment. 50 levels included for children!”

Starlight (240 MS Points)
“Starlight is a Puzzle Platformer about shifting between worlds. The game world exits on two planes, and the player is tasked with jumping between these two parallel worlds in order to collect every star. The game becomes increasingly more complex when new elements are introduced such as changing the gravitational pull.”

Acid Rain Heroes (80 MS Points)
“Join a friend in Acid Rain Heroes, the sequel to Acid Rain. Featuring 2 Player co-op and auto switching split screen. A survival action adventure with 13 story and 3 challenge missions. A volcano erupts, raining fiery destruction! People are in peril, trapped in the valley by acid rain and volcanic rocks, seeking refuge in the forest and caves. Will you lead the rescue effort and become a hero?”

Inertia! (80 MS Points)
“Anti gravity platformer. Suspend gravity to overcome obstacles and beat levels.”

Snail Story (240 MS Points)
“Join the Snail and Butterfly as they embark on a learning adventure. This early education game features symbols with audio for the English Alphabet, Numbers, Shapes, Musical Instruments and Animals. Each level introduces slightly different game play to help children further develop hand and visual coordination.”

Suuey (80 MS Points)
“Suuey is a 2D arcade game for family fun! Players take control of a lonely pig on his quest to gain barnyard fame… by eating as much as possible! Pig out against up to 3 other players on your local xbox!”

Miasma (400 MS Points)
“Miasma is a turn-based strategy game set in a dystopian future; where the mega-corporation Vilhelm Industries rules the world and everyone blindly and inexplicably follows their regime. Join a small band of rebels, specialise and develop their skills, and lead them in an attempt to restore everyone’s individuality.”

Physics Sandbox 2 is the sequel to the original Physics Sandbox game that was released onto the XBLIG channel a while ago. To be honest, it’s a pretty self explanatory game and one that should either instantly appeal to you or not depending on how much you enjoy 2D physics based puzzlers. But we’ll get a bit more in depth with the title anyway.

Physics Sandbox 2 comes with two different game modes, there’s the puzzle mode which offers an array of physics based puzzles for you to complete or the sanbox mode which allows you to just dick around with various shapes that you create; each of which has its own physical properties.

The puzzle mode is fairly simple and is reminiscent of games like Crayon Physics Deluxe. In each level you’re given a red ball and a star. The object is to get the red ball to hit the star. Doing so will allow you to move on to the next level for a total of 20 levels.

The way you go about this is by drawing either squares, circles or triangles (along with other mechanics such as springs and hooks) and then pushing the play button to see if everything goes according to plan. In many instances it can be quite fun to watch as your creations react in the way you had envisioned. Other times it can be downright frustrating to know that nothing is happening. But that’s physics for you.

Of course, being tasked with drawing and creating objects within the game isn’t all that great. Let’s be honest, there’s a reason why Crayon Physics Deluxe didn’t get ported to a console and that’s because the analog sticks make for poor drawing apparatuses. While the developer did use a lot of automation in the process, it still wasn’t an ideal situation, at least not one that could have been easily been fixed were the game available on the PC instead.

Overall the game is fairly robust for a $1 puzzler. The physics are all splendid and the art style has this whole “hand drawn” style to it that’s quite endearing. Finally, the game’s been given quite a discount from the original title which was priced at $3 instead. With all that said, I’d recommend this to anybody looking for a “poor mans” Crayon Physics Deluxe.

Physics Sandbox 2 is available right now via the XBLIG channel for 80 MS points ($1).

[This is not a review. This is a "first impressions" piece based on less than an hour of gameplay.]

[Buy/Try]

Screenshots

Storybook Tactics, by developer Mercury Wave, is a strategy RPG in a similar vein as games like Ogre Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics (one of the very best games to ever be released). Now, I haven’t played every single XBLIG title out there, but I believe this may be the first SRPG on the XBLIG channel making this game a unique proposition for any fans of the genre. That is of course, if it’s any good.

Here’s what I can say about Storybook Tactics: the game accurately mimics the great SRPGs of the past. If you’re at all familiar with previous SRPG games then you’ll feel right at home with Storybook Tactics. Of course, being that the game is an XBLIG title you shouldn’t necessarily expect the same level of polish that mainstream SRPG games enjoy for obvious reasons.

Still, despite that, everything works well. Your characters take turns moving around on a grid and attacking using an AP (action point) system that’s not terribly uncommon within the genre. From what I was able to play, each character is given 5 AP per turn which can be used to move, attack, defend or meditate. While the former three actions are self explanatory, the meditate is simply a device so that you can regain MP at the end of each turn using any left over AP you might have.

Of course, one thing you’ll instantly notice about the game is it’s unique art style. Yes, everything looks like blocks with heads attached to them. It doesn’t really look all that bad, although some of the attacking movements could definitely have been given a bit more polish, especially when it comes to magic. Spells like “flare” or ‘fireball” look woefully plain compared to what you’d expect.

There’s really not much more for me to say about the game. It has unique classes, a overarching story, a world map that’s reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics. Overall it seems like a great way to spend an afternoon if you’re a fan of the SRPG genre, especially given it’s “indie friendly” price point.

Storybook Tactics is available right now via the XBLIG channel for a scant 80 MS points. While I can’t say just how in depth the game is given my relatively short time with it, I can say that the game seems to be worth the money based on what I was able to experience.

[This is not a review. This is a "first impressions" piece based on less than an hour of gameplay.]

[Buy/Try, Mercury Wave]

Screenshots

When I wrote my piece yesterday about the new Xbox dashboard and how Microsoft had, once again, decided to bury the service behind a new category that seemingly made no sense for a games channel I was a little worried I was merely blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Would developers really care? Would gamers really care? Would this, in any way, change the current landscape of indie gaming on the Xbox 360?

Well, as of today I have my answer to at least one of those questions: the developers are pissed off. As well they should be too. With each successive Dashboard update Microsoft is making the Xbox Live Indie Games channel less and less relevant. How long will it be until all the best developers there simply give up on the platform and instead move onto iOS/mobile development or simply back to PC development?

Here’s what a few had to say about the situation brewing over on the App Hub forums:

“Looks like all the Devs who made XBLIG apps had it right all the time, and we “Game” developers were the ones who had it wrong. As the new dashboard clearly shows, Microsoft does no longer consider XBLIGs to be “Games” (at least not “Games” enough to merit a place in the “Games & Demos” section).

So please stand with me in a minute of silence to mourn the passing away of Xbox LIVE Indie Games.”

- Johannes Hubert, Spyn Doctor Games

“I would like to suggest that this sucks.

I’d like to know the rationale behind it – at least then the community could try and come up with constructive alternatives, rather than being pushed further into obscurity.”

- Deejay, Binary Tweed

“It just.. boggles the mind. Clearly it’s not based on even the simplest logic.. which is what I’d assume gamers vaguely use when scrolling through those lists. It’s not like there’s not enough space (there’s only 3 boxes in Games and Demos.) It’s a categorical failure (literally).

Gamer “I’d like a game”. They go to the Games and Demos spot. And then they’re done. No one will naturally think ‘games’ are in the specialty store.”

- Nathan Fouts, Mommy’s Best Games

We agree wholeheartedly with these developers. Currently the Xbox 360 is the only console that makes it easy for indie developers to get their game onto the console without all the red tape usually involved. Unfortunately, beyond that they seem to care so little about it. It’s gotten to the point where it almost makes sense for developers to simply create more “apps” for the service than games.

I can tell you this much, if the sales of games don’t start to pick up I can guarantee you some of our favorite XBLIG devs will start leaving the service for greener pastures which would be a blow not only to the Xbox Live Indie Games, but also to console indie game development as a whole.

Just something to think about.

[App Hub]

I know the first game has just released onto it’s first of three planned platforms, but Edmund is already chatting up about the sequel to their already smash hit game: Super Meat Boy. And when I say “chatting up” I really mean shooting down as he has confirmed that neither he nor Tommy wants to create a sequel to their beloved franchise and possibly tarnish its image.

Here are the reasons given by Edmund:

• It’s bad to over explain and over develop characters like the ones in super meat boy.
• We feel like we did it right the 1st time.
• The book is left open. (They, and PC users can expand without making a sequel)
• It would mean we are just doing it for money.

Of course Edmund goes a little more in depth with his reasons and I recommend checking them out if only for the fact that you can see that these two guys are stand up developers who are more interested in creating a unique experience than cashing in at every opportunity.

Of course, that said, Super Meat Boy is already kind of a “sequel” to the original Meat Boy flash game. Check and mate Mr. Edmund.

[Team Meat]

Alright, this can probably be filed under news/rant because it’s gonna be both.

First, the new Xbox Live dashboard update is out. It, once again, makes your Xbox feel all sparkly/shiny/new and generally does a nice job of making the aesthetics of the UI far more enjoyable than it was previously. The entire system has a nice “green and white” feel to it, which is especially nice for me given it’s the same as my favorite soccer team.

Anyway, I digress. If you have an Xbox 360 all you have to do to get the new update is boot up your Xbox 360 and log into Xbox Live where you’ll be prompted to get the update.Easy-peasy.

And now for the rant part of this post. Which, by the way, you’re welcome for the warning.

As many of you know, we are HUGE proponents of the Xbox Live Indie Games channel here at DIY HQ. Not only do we review games on a regular basis, but we’ve dedicated an entire day of the week to the service called XBLIG Thursday. This was done just so that we could try and play as many of them as possible to give you guys, the readers, an overall sense of what the channel is doing at the moment. Additionally, we also keep track of every single game released in our weekly “Xbox Live Indie Games Releases” series which premieres once a week with screenshots and descriptions of each game that’s been released for that prior week. So, to call us dedicated to the channel’s well being is a bit of an understatement.

Unfortunately, Microsoft isn’t as committed as we are. Now, honestly, I don’t really believe they should be. XBLIG was a nice gesture by them back in 2008 that’s done a lot of good for the indie game scene around the world. While I’d love it if they would advertise the channel, or do anything to give the channel some more publicity I don’t really expect them to given their dedication to their console, XBLA, primary games, and now Kinect. Let’s face it, when faced up against all those things XBLIG is a pretty low priority.

However, after today’s newest update, I do believe that the indie developers of the service have been given a figurative slap in the face. You see, along with the new dashboard update, it seems that Microsoft has decided to rearrange the game marketplace into categories: Features, Games & Demos, Add-Ons & Extras, Genres, Titles A-Z, and lastly Specialty Shops. Obviously this isn’t the problem as I believe it does help reduce the amount of clutter on the storefront with the last update.

Indie games aren't real games apparently.

However, while one might assume that XBLIG would be placed under the “Games & Demos” category along with XBLA, Games on Demand, and demos it was not. Instead it was given a spot under “Specialty Shops” along with the Avatar Marketplace, Game Room, Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and the Lips music stores. Oh and just as a final “piss off” from Microsoft, the XBLIG channel was placed behind the Avatar Marketplace within the Specialty Shops.

Behind the Avatar Marketplace? Really?

So, in affect, Microsoft is telling indie developers as well as gamers in general, that these aren’t “real games.” They’re just small little specialty things/trinkets they have added to the store but aren’t really cared about. Misused and abused, to say the least.

I know this might not seem like a big issue to most, but indie developers deserve a fair shake when it comes to placement within their own store. I’m not asking Microsoft to put out a $50 million ad campaign for the service. I’m not even asking for Microsoft to highlight the store/games on the “Spotlight” anymore like I used to. All I want for them to do is to treat the Xbox Live Indie Games channel like a real channel with real games like they do for XBLA, is that really so much to ask? Apparently…