Favorite Games of 2017

For the first time in my life, I don't have a public presence to state my opinion.  SOUNDS NARCISSISTIC, yeah, it is but isn't that the kingpin of social media?  Blogging?  Tweeting?  Whatever.... anyway, I still have a need and desire to state my opinion and I enjoy making lists of things I like.  Don't we all?

I'm just going to throw games at the wall that come to mind as leaving a positive impression on me in 2017, then I'll whittle that list down.

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Yakuza 0
• Stardew Valley (Switch)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Million Onion Hotel
• Miracle Merchant
• PinballFX3
• Splatoon 2
• Ironcast
• Golf Story
• The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth +
• Steamworld Dig 2
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy
• Dead Rising 4
• Superhot
• Pit People
• Titanfall 2
• Prey
• Resident Evil 7
• Steep
• Nex Machina
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Gravity Rush
• Nier:Automata
• Everybody's Golf
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Aaero
• GNOG
• Watchdogs 2
• HQ Trivia
• Death Road to Canada
• Game Dev Tycoon
• Reigns: Her Majesty
• Space Frontier

Good enough.  I played a lot more than that, but it's a good start.  Played a ton of Skyrim on Switch and SongPop on iOS AND Lego City Undercover on PS4, but also played a ton of those in previous years.

Alright, now I'll post the list and bold game that 'might' be Top Ten worthy.

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Yakuza 0
• Stardew Valley (Switch)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Million Onion Hotel
• Miracle Merchant
• PinballFX3
• Splatoon 2
• Ironcast
• Golf Story
• The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth +
• Steamworld Dig 2
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Telltale Guardians of the Galaxy
• Dead Rising 4
• Superhot
• Pit People
• Titanfall 2
• Prey
• Resident Evil 7
• Steep
• Nex Machina
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Gravity Rush
• Nier:Automata
• Everybody's Golf
• Yakuza Kiwami
• Aaero
• GNOG
• Watchdogs 2
• HQ Trivia
• Death Road to Canada
• Game Dev Tycoon
• Reigns: Her Majesty
• Space Frontier

Ok...Now let's get a look at that list...

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Yakuza 0
• Stardew Valley (Switch)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Miracle Merchant
• Ironcast (Switch)
• The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + (Switch)
• Steamworld Dig 2
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Dead Rising 4
• Superhot
• Pit People
• Titanfall 2
• Prey
• Resident Evil 7
• Aaero
• HQ Trivia
• Game Dev Tycoon (iOS)

And let's get rid of games that didn't come out in 2017... Which leaves 16 games...

• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Super Mario Odyssey
• Yakuza 0
• Stardew Valley (Switch)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn
• Miracle Merchant
• Ironcast (Switch)
• The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth + (Switch)
• Steamworld Dig 2
• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Pit People
• Prey
• Resident Evil 7
• Aaero
• HQ Trivia
• Game Dev Tycoon (iOS)

Now, I'm going to cut stuff...

'Prey' can go because I got stuck!  It gets very difficult, even on Easy.  I just can't make it through a section, somewhat late in the game.  I really loved everything about the game once I finally got around to playing it in December 2017.  I played it in a beta form or rental or something around the time it came out and thought it was awful, but liked the story.  I gave it a shot later when it hit $12 and immediately got sucked in.  The developers added a lot of patches over the year, and it looked and played great by the time I got back to it.

'Aaero' is a great rhythm shooter, but it can go because I didn't bother sticking with it/finishing it.

'Pit People' can go for similar reasons.  It is constantly updated, but I haven't revisited it in months.  It's here because I generally hate strategy games, but really enjoyed its engaging gameplay, variety, and humor.

'The Binding of Isaac' is in a similar boat.  I do play it every month or so, and 2017 is the first time I finally 'got' what Isaac was all about.  It showed me that a game can be so much more than what you see at face value.  I thought it was a confusing, difficult, twin stick shooter.  It is all of those things, but the hook is in how vastly different each playthrough can be, and showed me a joy of discovery and experimentation/strategy in a 'plain Jane' wrapping.

'Ironcast' can possibly go for similar reasons.  It's not an attractive game, but it took the old 'match 3' genre and turned it into a roguelike!  Compelling, addictive gameplay, with a 'one more try' gameplay loop made me stick to it on PS4, and buy it again on Switch so I could have a portable version.  It hit PC in 2015 though.

'Resident Evil 7' came out of nowhere, in my case.  I haven't finished an RE game since RE2 in 1998.  I played the beta for RE7, and it felt like a totally different game than I expected from the RE franchise.  It was creepy and frightening, but also played really well, looked AMAZING and made me want to keep playing even beyond the beta or demo.  I've always shotgunned games, playing 10 minutes of this and 10 minutes of that, rarely diving deep into a game.  Resident Evil 7 Gold Edition was posted as a price mistake of $24, so I preordered it.  Late in the year, we were pinching pennies a bit and I cancelled all of my preorders except RE7 because it had been revealed to actually be a $50 game.  I also used a $10 reward card when I preordered it, so for $15 I figured I might as well stick with it and I could sell it for $20 of more if I didn't want it.  I popped it in and loved it.  Finished it and immediately started playing the DLC, which is also very rare for me to do.

So let's see what we can do with the list now...

1. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
2. Super Mario Odyssey
3. Horizon: Zero Dawn
4. Yakuza 0
5. Stardew Valley (Switch)
6. Miracle Merchant
7. HQ Trivia
8. Game Dev Tycoon
9. SteamWorld Dig 2
10. What Remains of Edith Finch

Yeah, yeah, everyone (that matters) loves Zelda.  It has it's faults, but the reason it's at number one is because it changed the way I play games, and what I expect from them.  I went from 'finishing' Zelda around 50 hours in, to immediately playing Horizon: Zero Dawn, a similar 'open world' adventure game.  Coming off BotW, I was used to jumping off the top of cliffs and gliding down.  I was used to climbing any surface I wanted, to reach any peak I could see.  I was used to physically moving my controller to fine tune aiming controls when using my bow.  Similar to cruise control in Saint's Row vs. open world driving games, after having those options in a game, it didn't make sense for other games to NOT include them. (PS. A decade later, games still don't have cruise control as a standard feature...)

The story in BotW is pretty standard fare.  The graphics and music are excellent, but not mind-blowing and not on the same level as Resident Evil 7 or Horizon: Zero Dawn, etc.  The inventory system is AWFUL; incredibly cumbersome to navigate, awkward and tedious.  But the sense of exploration the game provides is unmatched.  You're never walking long before stumbling across a pleasant surprise. Maybe a NPC engagement, maybe a strange sight in the distance, beckoning you to check it out, perhaps a hidden shrine, or doku nut, or half-buried treasure chest, enemy camp, or ruins to explore.  You can finish the whole game and not see giant areas of the map, filled with new adventures.  You might come across an island that strips you of your inventory and forces you to survive amidst a  new gameplay type.  Or maybe you'll find an entire forest, completely void of light causing you to mix up your routine to explore and make it out.  Or someone building a village from scratch in the middle of nowhere (and also in the middle of a crater).  Find a morbid, oddball body parts salesman in the bottom of a pit.  Find yourself at the entrance to an enormous labyrinth.  The game is constantly throwing surprises at you; something that led me to play the game another 50 hours after 'finishing' it.  And I've barely touched on the DLC which throws even more new content your way.

I could go on at length about each of the games on the list, but I feel like everyone else already has over the past month.  2017 was an amazing year for gaming, and it was a nice necessity to escape the awful reality of the year, for me and many others.  2018 is stacked with release dates already...we'll see if it matches last year in output or maybe gives us time to enjoy some of the 2017 games we didn't have time for.

Yooka Laylikwami

TRYING TO KEEP POSTING STUFF.

At first, 'Yakuza Kiwami' felt a lot like 'Yakuza 0', which I recently finished, but after a few minutes the story already had me sucked in and now I'm 6 hours into the game or so.  Looks to be a bit shorter than Zero too.

Kinda torn on Majima.  Loved him in Zero, and I like him well enough here, but with Zero had developed his mental break a bit more smoothly.  He's like night and day and its hard to even see him as the same character.  Long time fans of the series must have been super confused by his character in Zero.

Anyway, I'll keep chipping away at it.

Nobody's Golf

Wow, it's already been a week since I last updated.  I need to set a routine.  I've had some health stuff going on and it's been on my mind constantly.  ANYWAY.

Tuesday, I picked up 'Yakuza Kiwami' and 'Everybody's Golf' for the PS4.  I played a little bit of Yakuza, and it feels like straight up 'Yakuza 0'.  Like a very direct continuation of that game (although my favorite save point was missing in Kiwami).  Mostly though I've been digging 'Everybody's Golf'.  Known up until now as 'Hot Shots Golf' in the US, but always known as Everybody's Golf overseas.  The game is very easily accessible.  It's the same three tap system golf games have used for thirty years (or a two tap system for beginners), and getting to actual gameplay is fast and straightforward.  BUT the clubs level up alongside your player, and to greater effect.  For example, my driver might be leveling up quickly on power, but not as quickly on control, while my sand wedge might have great control, but is slower to level on power.  It's pretty engaging and fun to watch your clubs level up, but it kinda bones beginners.  I had played an hour or so alone, then played with a friend who was about eight hours into the game.  He had the ability to outdrive me by 80 yards because his power was leveled up way past mine.  My best score with my normal player was -4 on a 9 hole round.  I tried using a maxed out player in a multiplayer mode, and my first 9 hold round I was -12 just because I was maxed out!  My clubs were all the best they could be.  Even my wife, who hasn't played a golf game in 15 years, and even then only one or two rounds, got two birdies with her maxed out player.  So the game is a bit lopsided in that aspect, but still very charming and fun.  I gotta unlock a cart and fishing ASAP.

Quick Hits

Grabbed several digital games this week:

• The Sexy Brutale (XBO)
• Shadow Warrior/Shadow Warrior 2 (PS4)
• Slime-San (Switch)
• Mighty Gunvolt Burst (Switch)
• Sonic Mania (Switch)

Played a little 'Sexy Brutale' and I like it so far.  Groundhog Day mixed with CLUE.  Prevent murders, turn back the clock, prevent more murders.  Great art and music so far.

Also, played some 'Shadow Warrior 2' last night and really enjoyed it.  Even my wife was into watching it.  Your character is named Lo Wang and is constantly delivering bad one-liners, to decent comedic effect.  Tight controls, decent graphics, cool weapons... Big dumb fun.  Reminds me a bit of 'Shadow of the Damned' in tone.

'Sonic Mania' feels great.  Feels like how you remember 'good' Sonic feeling, but with some great polish tacked on too.  'Mighty Gunvolt' is a lot of fun so far too.  Mega Man-style gameplay and graphics with a lot of additional challenges and secrets to dig into.  'Slime-San' kinda feels like a mobile game, but with the benefit of physical controls.  It's like a more puzzle-y, easier Super Meat Boy I guess.  Good music too.

Played some 'Sine More EX (XBO)' yesterday too and loved it, but was sleepy and you cannot play a sidescrolling shooter while dozing off.

Just wanted to get SOME thoughts down to keep some momentum writing.  I need to go solder, and have to get x-rays of my guts later today.

Agents of Meh-ham

AS SOON AS I OPENED THIS BLANK PAGE TO WRITE, my wife walks in and starts talking to me.  Being married is constantly getting interrupted and trying to remember what you saying.  Having kids is like writing and someone bumps your elbow and fucks up whatever you were writing.  Over and over and over and over.

'Wonder Boy and the Dragon's Trap' physical copy came today.  'Sine Mora EX' came the other day.  'No Man's Sky' received a huge update yesterday and it's been kinda sounding good again lately.  I'm going to play a bit more 'Agents of Mayhem' though because it is not kid-safe and they are asleep.  AOM is already kinda getting stale.  There is a lot to do, but its all the same thing. Over and over and over and over. (*cough*)  The LEGION Lair's are almost all literally the same.  They look identical and half the rooms just say 'exit to next room' or whatever.  Boring grind.  Crackdown 3 was just pushed back six months and it feels like AOM has lots of room to rule that arena in the meantime.  How many people are going to sit through the grind though?  I have 9 of the 12 agents unlocked as playable characters.  So far, the only interesting stories are the agent stories, but even the missions are kinda dull.  How did they go from Saint's Row 2 that was BURSTING with so many different sidemissions and playstyles and distractions, to this?  I'm guessing building the new engine took more time than they expected and they weren't able to flesh out the missions/modes as much?  Each of the 12 agents (14 with DLC) has full dialogue in all the story missions.  That's a lot of time spent writing text and recording.  I guess that's where they focused their time.  Who wants to play through the game once though, nevertheless FOURTEEN TIMES doing the same boring missions over and over.

Maybe they'll do some 'quality of life'-type patches to make things a little smoother (you can't fast travel or even select a custom waypoint.  You also cannot shoot your weapon while driving, but other vehicles can only be hurt by ramming them so I guess it doesn't matter?), and it'll breathe a little life into it?  Will I have moved on by then though?

Agents of Mayhem Day One Post

I use Gamepedia to track my physical game purchases.  Today, I picked up 'Agents of Mayhem' for the PS4.  First time in a while that I've bought a game on release day.  I also packed up 'Ever Oasis' to mail to a friend because after a couple months, I just know I'll never touch it again, and I'm looking at only getting $14 or so for it...might as well have a friend play it if they're into it.  Anyway, the last game I added to Gamepedia was 'Ever Oasis'!  In May of this year, I only added three new games to my collection, but every other month for ages has been 10+.  That's two games a week on average.

Kinda proud of myself for slowing down, BUT I did actually buy another game today.  Gamefly posted their monthly clearance sale, so I grabbed 'Halo Wars 2' for $14.99.  I passed on Prey for $19.99, 'Mafia III' for $17.99 and 'Steep' for $14.99, though I do want to play all of those games eventually.  Should I grab them now, knowing I can't play FIVE games at once?  They'll either get lower, or get lower digitally, right?

I don't play on Steam, so let me stop you right there.  I just won't play them on Steam, even if they're free.  Nothing against Steam, I just know myself and I won't get around to doing it.

It's Oh So Quiet

Miracle Merchant - iOS

For the first time in a decade, I'm not involved in any podcasts.  I've done five (I think) in that time span.  One hit 100 episodes and 4,000 concurrent downloads (then I quit), another hit 50 episodes (then we both quit), another hit 30-some shows (then I quit) and the others were only a handful of episodes.  So now I'm TRAPPED with my own thoughts, and no one to vent to.  When my kids were born four years ago, I thought I could finally practice writing and make something out of myself.  I was wrong.  KIDS ARE A FUCKTON OF WORK.  Not ideal for practicing anything except operating motor vehicles on two hours of sleep for months at a time.

Been really down with what the 45 has done to the climate...not the atmospheric climate (yet), but the social climate?  Political climate?  MY EMOTIONAL CLIMATE?  Not trying to be a drama queen, but the dude is a major bummer and I've found myself reading more news in the past year than possibly in my entire lifetime combined, and also wanting to avoid the news at all costs.  It's seriously giving me anxiety.  I need to get some positive thoughts down, SO WHY NOT BLOG ABOUT IT?

High Speed (NES)

I almost want to do a review of this YouTube review of 'High Speed' for the NES... Narrated by a young Ben Stein.



Ok, so anyway... I just received a copy of 'High Speed' for the NES via Goozex. I dug out my RetroStation and stuck it in.

I was first struck by the awesome soundtrack, and then derailed by the terrible graphics. I was wondering if maybe the cart was not pushed down all the way, but it turns out the graphics just suck.

ANYWAY...

So, I have never actually played a real life 'High Speed' pinball machine (HS being one of the best selling pins of all time, with something like 17,000+ cabinets in existence.), though I have played the sequel, The Getaway, many times. Either way, I was expecting a straight virtual representation of the actual pin a la the other Rare pinball NES game, Pin*Bot.

No dice. Mere seconds into my first game, I collected a helicopter. WHAT? Yeah, a flashing helicopter showed up on the screen, and when I hit it, it flew down to rest on the apron. Ok... then I noticed some water bubbling up on the left of the playfield... then a tumbleweed passing by. THEN, a freaking BOMB blew up one of my flippers! ie. shattered it to pieces. A new flipper was airlifted in and installed during gameplay. So, it's a mix of the actual High Speed game, with some videogame flair. Then it turns out that collecting items leads to minigames (as seen in the YouTube review I posted above).

Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I was weirded out enough to run over to the computer to type up this mini review. It's like a mix of a 'real' pin and 'Pinball Quest', the NES pinball RPG. Yes, I just wrote 'pinball RPG'... but that's a game for another entry...

So, I'm intrigued, and will play more. My only real knock on the game (the bad graphics are a slight ding) is that the ball stops during some text, thus throwing off your rhythm. Kinda like the spiral magnets on Twilight Zone. You think the ball is coming and you flip, only to have the ball come a split-second later and pass by your flipper.

Overall: A for effort, C+ for execution.

nail'd Demo - Out Now on XBox Live

I'm a sucker for offroad games and breakneck racing titles. Pure, Burnout 3, Trials HD. I love to imagine myself blowing past trees and kicking up mud in my opponents faces while I sit in my recliner. As such, I've been really excited to try the latest over-the-top offroad racing game, nail'd. The advertising campaign for the game has been weak at best. Apparently, it was released last November! Anyway, the demo just hit Xbox Live yesterday.

So, I sat down, started my race, and within literal seconds I was already blowing doors at top speed... right out of the starting lanes... 'ok guys, we get it... let's ease in a little...' were my first thoughts. Too much too soon. After a few races, I became accustomed to the speed. There is no 0-60. There is only 60. And by 60 I mean 160. You're ALWAYS moving at top speed. Only once did I land on a ramp wrong and it slowed me a little.

nail'd feels a bit like the PS2 game 'Downhill Domination'. Crazy stuff going on around you at all times, way over-the-top with a spoonful of charm and a knowing wink.... 'THIS is what you REALLY want from a racing game...' Not a sim in the least. It also feels just a little... off. It feels like a semi-polished budget title. A decent budget title. Not much depth, but gorgeous tracks that are constantly changing, and branching out into dozens of shortcuts. nail's has a total focus on FUN. It also reminded me of the 'Flatout' games. Yeah, they're far-fetched, but you have a great time with it in short bursts.

It turns out that nail'd was released as a budget title at $50. It's currently about $33 new on Amazon.

Monster Mayhem - FREE (currently) - iPhone/iPod Touch

I swear I have been meaning to update this more often... promise... It wasn't until today though, when I gave a little game called 'Monster Mayhem' a spin, that I was inspired to write up a little review.

In a nutshell, 'Monster Mayhem' by Chillingo is 'Plants vs. Zombies', but with less plants, and touch screen weaponry. Basically, keep the incoming waves of monsters away from your property! The monsters filter in from the right side of the screen, with their goal on the left side.

You begin with a knife and revolver. The knife controls a la 'Fruit Ninja', while the firearms have a touch-screen shooting gallery feel to them. Each level is comprised of a half dozen stages or so, and each stage has a half dozen waves or so.

Pros
- Excellent cartoony graphics, bright colors, clean animations... typical top notch Chillingo art style here.
- Steady learning/difficulty curve. Never too hard, but stays challenging.
- Weapon variety - grenades, flame throwers, knives, etc. All upgradeable and with different perks.
- The 'Monster Handbook' has a little 'trading card' that shows their different strengths and weaknesses, etc.
- Crystal integration.
- Did I mention it's FREE right now? A lite version is also available when the sale ends.

Cons
- When some monsters are defeated, they drop coins or ammo. You have to specifically touch these items to collect them, or they time-out and disappear fairly quickly. It would have been nice to collect them if your finger touches them, even if you are attacking at the same time.
- Crystal integration. Hopefully, they will add GameCenter support soon. With Plus+ and Openfeint and Crystal all providing similar services, I wish there were only one game in town for leaderboard and friend connectivity.

Overall: At the current price, it's a no-brainer. Great action, great humor, very well-polished title that can kill a few minutes or keep you in your seat for a few hours. I'll put a CAG value of $2.99 on it.

Grade: A

24 games - 1 afternoon

Alright, I just downloaded a backlog of 24 games from the Xbox Indie Games Creators Club. All are full versions, but not necessarily final builds.

In an effort to not spam my Twitter feed to death, I'm going to do a quick round up right here.

Let's begin...

1. Fish Listening to Radio - Cute, hand-drawn graphics and twee acoustic guitar music. Your fish must eat worms on hooks as they lower into the sea, and avoid the hooks as they rise from the water. You also must protect the radio at all costs (though inexplicably). Despite the fact that I suck horribly at the game (my high score is 520), its a cute game, and quite a bit of fun. I want to try the multiplayer as I think my wife may enjoy it.

2. Omoti - I downloaded this because the cover looks like the Japanese cover of 'Ico'. Ok... I have no idea what the hell is going on. The game just ended. I was looking at oranges and octopuses (octopai?), like I was selecting a character, but then it ended. Needless to say, the game is in japanese. Ok, so I was able to stack junk and if I stacked matching items, I received 5 points instead of the 1 point you get for stacking randomly. Pass...

3. Bacterio - So, it looks like a mix of Cubivore and Intelligent Cube. Your cube can eat other cubes, and the goal it to reach a blue cube within each small level. Fairly clever, with nice options and difficulty settings, but not enough to make me want to keep playing.

4. MatchingPair - The title says it all. Flip over cards to make matching sets. it's fun as a minigame in Super Mario Bros. to earn powerups, but it doesn't make for an exciting experience on its own.

5. Phono Alliance - More hand drawn animation. Kind of like a bad R. Crumb vibe. You play music in time with the beat to attack, defend or speed up. You are supposed to 'protect someone on each level', but the level just loops unless I attack the protected myself. Then a crazy butcher comes out an kills me. The instructions are misspelled, lengthy, and confusing.

6. Samurai vs. Zombie - Weird soundtrack. Everything from quiet acoustic jumbles to bad rap beats and modern techno pop. Cel shaded button masher that pits your player against a horde of zombies armed with only a samurai sword. A potential multiplayer hit, but a bit of a dud solo despite several gameplay options.

7. The Cruelest Day - A maniac has kidnapped you and put you in his basement. You have two minutes to escape each level. It's a platformer in the most basic sense. You jump from platform to platform, over a bunch of cobras that look like sliding turds, collecting jewels while you seek the exit. The entire time Buffalo Bill is standing at the top of dungeon singing an awful, looping, Nickleback-esque song about 'everyone dies'. I kind of like how the platforms are indistinguishable from the background, and there are some clever shortcuts. Not very compelling though. Oh, and the main character is a blur in a dress with two large round blurs on the chest area. A Code 4 error ended my game. The Cruelest Day indeed.

8. Masters of Belial - I don't know what its about yet, but the title is kind of awesome. Hot pirate chick... looks promising. Ok... taking forever to load with bad Celtic looping audio. Alright, so this is a multiplayer arena game. It looks Diablo-esque, decent graphics, you run around with a group of people and try to kill the leader of the opposing team while collecting treasure and attacking minions. The enemies are alright, the 'creeper' (ie. giant hand) is kind of cool. So, now some dude is talking like Jack Black over the bad Celtic music about lore and ancient realms and whatnot. Time to move on...

9. Kong360 Gorilla Warfare - This one gets big points on the box art and name alone, but let's see how it plays. Very cool! Like a cel shaded Ikaruga Warriors or Assault Heroes, or a top down Serious Sam game, but with monkeys. Looks to be a multiplayer combat game, single player vs. bots. The weapons are fun, the graphics are nice, the controls are fluid... the only bad part is that the bots are kicking my ass!

10. Zulu Hour - Shoot 'Em Up with a story. Weapons are waaay underpowered. Competent, but boring.

11. Avatar Plays Basketball - I throw de ball 8 times. I make de 1 basket. I never play de game again. Terrible. I do dig the incredibly over dramatic soundtrack however.

12. Yet Another Zombie Defense - The title pretty well says it all, except that these zombies aren't after brains! No, they prefer to go right after any fences you put up and focus on destroying those. Not bad, but Smash TV and iDracula did it much much much better. At least this guy knows what he's got, and knows his market given the Marilyn Manson soundtrack.

13. Word Duelist - Like Boggle, but faster paced, with changing objectives and including almost only words you've never heard of. I think there was some Portuguese in there as well. Early build I think, because even when I was losing, I won. What's a Peipald?

14. Hang 'Em High A Hangman Game - How you screw up a Hangman game? You don't. It's a decent, if unspectacular Hangman game with varying difficulties. My only knock is that it doesn't display the letters you've missed.

15. Avatar Avenue - Like a Mii parade, but from a distance, and without using any of your avatars. Just generic avatars. Maybe that's because it's in beta, but I can't imagine it would pull your friends avatars if no 'official' xbox games do that. I could be wrong. It literally advertises itself as 'a complete waste of 80 points'. No more glowing review could be made.

16. Demo Durb - Demolition Derby! Pleasepleasepleaseplease be fun. Gah! Code 4!

17. Rate My Avatar - Done and done. Might be decent if my friends played it. Or if anyone actually cared what their avatars looked like.

18. Pwned - Chess on the 360. Multiplayer only, and I do not have multiple players who know how to play chess locally. No online matches found.

19. ToyBorgs - Multiplayer only deathmatch sidescroller with toy robots... would have been a great title for this game.

20. Murder on Snake Road - Silver. Dollar. Games. If you're familiar with Xbox Indie Games, you know this 'developer' and need not read any further. It took one, ten minute playthrough to beat the game. It's a murder mystery where someone feeds you clues and you move the suspects around the crime scene, trying to pinpoint the killer. Fun for highschoolers who want a pretty girl to 'talk' to them, but the mystery falls flat.

21. ItsSayOnSet - 'Traditional' Japanese game kind of like 'Rock/Paper/Scissors'. You guess how many thumbs will be raised from a group of eight hands. If you are the first to guess correctly twice, you win. Actually, pretty fun! Very well done game, as far as features and graphics go. I'm trying to figure out how this would be played in real life... like... do you write down the number of thumbs as your guess before each round or what?

22. ToyBox Racing - Race little cars around tracks made of toys. This one is from some local boys. Cel shaded graphics, decent controls, boring gameplay. Did anyone else play 'Toy Commander'? That game was awesome! The bar was set pretty high... TEN YEARS AGO. I demand a good toy game to be made ASAP. I guess Katamari is close enough.

23. Boom Chick Chick - Silver Dollar strikes again! This time it's a zombie defense game where you fight multicolored meatballs against a terrible metal soundtrack. Oddly compelling, but maybe I'm just getting worn out on Indie Games.

24. Party Boat - The title screen hasn't even shown up and I'm already in love. I just named my ship the SS Boner. Hop Aboard the SS Boner, Gals! I see boobies and some guy just said 'a slap in the nuts'. My love is true. He now said 'I love the titties!'. I'm now smuggling guns to Cuba! This cruise ship sim is the bees knees! A swingers party on the C deck, and clothing is contraband on the A deck. I vow to never cease playing this, the greatest Indie game of all time!

***

In summary:

- Party Boat is the greatest game of all time.

- Fish Listening to Radio, Kong360 Gorilla Warfare, Bacterio and ItsSayOnSet are all pretty decent.

- 80% of Xbox Indie Games are crap. Edit: I only downloaded games that I thought looked decent or interesting. There are over 700 Indie games. I've played over 100, about a dozen of those were ok or good. So that puts the percentage... at like 95% of Xbox Indie games are crap.

Tobe's Vertical Adventure - 240 Points - Xbox Indie Game

The rundown from Xbox.com:
Tobe's Vertical Adventure is a classic 2D platformer, where players join Tobe on his quest for the treasure of King Garuza. Play the game in single or co-op modes through hours of platforming fun, in 16 levels, on 4 unique islands! Get ready for Tobe, the little guy with the big head, big adventure!


Pros
- Very polished design and great 'pixel-y' graphics
- Clever level design - the levels change within themselves. You make your way down, then they change as you make your way back up.
- Cute cutscenes
- Multiple save slots
- More than just jumping - you've got a balloon (ie. parachute) and a hook ladder (ie. chain) that you can use beyond just jumping. You can also sprint and roll.
- Collectibles! You can save chickens and collect items for bonuses.

Cons
- Awkward controls on account of...
- Reliance on the awful Xbox 360 D-Pad

Really, thats the biggest bummer, but it's a deal-breaker for me personally. I was eager to jump into the great looking levels, but found myself missing easy jumps because of the mushy D-pad. I'm not generally one to bash that D-pad, but it really hurts an otherwise interesting game.

Overall: A nice title that just made one (unforgivable) wrong turn.
C

Click here to add the trial version to your queue.

Green Island - 80 points - Xbox Indie Game

The rundown from Xbox.com:
Name:GREEN ISLAND,Genre:ACTION,A BUTTON:The bubble is shot.,B BUTTON:Jump, Y BUTTON:Menu,Copyright 2009 Alpha Secret Base. All Rights Reserved.


Pros:
- Clever puzzle design with action elements
- TONS of options (stage select, replay, 16bit-era options screen with sound tests, language selection, tutorial, time attack, etc.)
- Lots of levels
- Great colors with decent 16bit-era graphics
- A lot of content for only 80 points
- Constantly challenging with a comfortable learning curve

Cons:
- Incredibly messy, text-heavy interface
- Several elements are lost in translation
- Annoying, generic lo-fi soundtrack
- Bizarre, tacked-on back story involving a quest for a pumpkin pie recipe

Overall: Very solid puzzler. A must-buy at 80 pts for puzzle fans.
A-

Click here to add trial version to your download queue.
This review was based on the trial version of 'Green Island'.

Bailout! - 80 points - Xbox Indie Game

The rundown from Xbox.com:
When the rich get poor they get a Bailout! Collect as much money as possible as it falls from the sky while avoiding suicidal stockbrokers. Don't forget to kick the homeless before they steal your free government money and use it for medical treatment. Get a job, hippies!


Pros:

- Great '8 bit' soundtrack
- Great '8 bit' graphics
- Humorous 'tongue-in-cheek' premise
- Money looks like tacos and cannonballs.
- Thorough, but easy to understand instructional guide.
- Decent amount of depth in the form of purchasable upgrades to your wallet, etc. and a timed 'sprint' button to grab money, or dodge danger.
- 'Classic' gameplay - dodge the falling objects while collecting other objects. Simple and fun premise that has stood the test of time.
- At only 80 pts ($1), it knows it's a quick diversion.

Cons:

- Difficult demo. I had to restart it several times because it boots you after two lives. Gamers with less diligence might just give up.
- Not THAT much depth. You're just running around, chasing a high score overall.
- No leaderboard to compare with friends or other XBL users.

Overall:
B-

Click here to add trial version to your download queue.
This review was based on the trial version of 'Bailout!'
EDIT: The lack of a leaderboard is a restriction of XBN publishing, not of the game developer. It's still something that would add to the game however!