Indie Game Sale on Steam!!

What better way to kick off spring break than a plethora of ridiculously inexpensive indie games on Steam? When I logged into my account today, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the big, bold letters of Indie Spring Sale staring at me from the home page. As I looked down the list, I was overjoyed to see such award-winning titles as Braid and Amnesia for a quarter of their usual price! I knew I would find Super Meat Boy, The Binding Of Isaac, and Limbo on the list, but I was surprised (and happy) to notice more obscure titles like Retro City Rampage, Puddle and Organ Trail (no, its not a typo - its a zombie game) among the more popular indie titles.

Suffice to say, I will be busy this week buying and playing an inordinate amount of games, both well-known and less popular. On my wishlist is Audiosurf, Dead Pixels, and many more. So, in the weeks to come, expect a lot of reviews on all sorts of games!

Primal Carnage Review

Okay, be honest. Who doesn't want to go around shooting dinosaurs? Better yet, who doesn't want to go around AS a dinosaur, biting the heads off the humans? Primal Carnage lets us do just that. It appeals to the child in all of us, the one that was rooting for the dinos when they watched Jurassic Park for the first time.

Primal Carnage takes further the concept pioneered by Left 4 Dead 2 - human vs monster. Although the game has a very unique take on the shooter genre, it's a novelty that doesn't wear off. The switch between playing as first-person humans and third-person dinos helps keep the game exciting. I shall never tire of swooping down as a Pteranodon and using my claws to drag people away into the sky.

Lukewarm Media could have gone so ridiculously wrong with the game, but they managed to pull off a very respectable indie shooter. The developers balanced the play very well, considering the teams are so diverse. From the Pyro to the Raptor to the T-Rex and the Commando, Primal Carnage gives us plenty of choices when it comes to playable classes. My only complaint is that the game will often have very unbalanced numbers of people per team. Sometimes, you may be playing in an 11 vs 15 match. This can give one team an advantage, which makes it very unfair and frustrating for the other team.

Naturally, everyone wants to start out playing as the dinos, but when they decide to try playing a human, they will find them to be just as fun. The classes are very balanced on both teams. The number of T-Rexes is limited, and the developers try to nudge new players towards playing as a Raptor. The Raptors are easy and fun to play, which means that you will usually have 8 or 9 Raptors on a given team.The accessibility of the class develops a sort of a pack mentality.

As far as the bigger dinos go, their immense strength is made up for in their limits. Generally, only 3 or 4 T-Rexes at a time will be allowed on any given team. Although their bite is normally an insta-kill, they are slow and hard to maneuver. This makes it so that, unless the T-Rex player has impeccable skill and accuracy, a small group of humans can easily take it down. As a side note, I found it entertaining that if you play as a human and a T-Rex comes close, the ground starts to rumble and you can hear the heavy thump of  footsteps. It reminded me of that one scene in Jurassic Park, with the car and the glass of water... You know what I'm talking about.

In all seriousness, I enjoyed Primal Carnage's unique playstyle. I had fun playing as both sides, and the game's balance was pleasantly surprising. I would say that this game was a success as both an indie game and a shooter.

8/10

Terraria Review

I was brought to Terraria because I had heard it was like Minecraft, and, being an avid Minecrafter I decided to give it a try.What I unearthed was a completely new, and in some aspects better experience. Sure, it gave a nod to Minecraft in the fact that you can place and destroy blocks. But, that is where their similarities end. This is a completely different indie game (hence the word "indie") and its diversity can make it appeal to many people, perhaps even people who aren't interested in Minecraft.

If I had to make a comparison here, I would say that Terraria is a cross between Castlevania and 16-bit Zelda, with, sure, a little bit of Minecraft action thrown in there. The game has no real storyline; you gather resources, make a house and go mining in the seemingly endless underground. There is a myriad of bosses out there, and plenty of remarkable biomes. An interesting aspect of this game that I have found is the help that it gives you at the start of the game; you spawn in your world right next to an NPC that gives you advice and can show you any crafting recipe. This makes basic crafting far less hard than it could have been, and once you gather different resources you will start to realize how sprawling the crafting system really is.

However, although the crafting system is fantastic, another even more interesting aspect of the game is its multiplayer. You can play your world in single player, but whenever you log onto a server, your gear stays with you. This is a great way for people to go pvp on the fly without having to build up all their resources on that server.

All told, I have spent around 15 hours on this game. I have gotten about halfway through (a third if you are a perfectionist) and Terraria keeps me coming back for more. It has a fantastic wiki, and plenty of stuff for the fans too. Add that to the extremely agreeable price of $10, and you have a very solid game.

9/10

VVVVVV Review

Despite its unorthodox name, I had been looking forward to playing VVVVVV for a long time before I actually found it on Steam. I had read of its indie-game style, its throwback graphics and its soul-crushingly difficult levels. But until I tried it just last week, I had no idea that this game would be a cult hit for the ages.

Those of you who are fans of the ever-growing indie game franchise may have seen this game mentioned on Twitter, or maybe you just saw it in Steam's budget list. Even though it's only $5, it packs quite a punch. And if you are a real penny-pincher and like to try before you buy, never fear. A free demo of the game is at your disposal on Steam.

VVVVVV has a very solid, sweet story.The premise is that you are a spaceship pilot trapped in an alternate dimension. You have to find your lost shipmates throughout the vast, Metroid-esque world. Along the way you find trinkets, which are normally hidden behind a wave of extremely difficult obstacles. Collect all 20, and you unlock a little surprise.

The difficulty of the levels is what makes it stand out among the other indie games. It does an amazing job of reproducing the classic NES difficulty level, what with its spikes, bouncing stop signs, flying words, and spikes. Did I mention the spikes?

The soundtrack is arguably the best part about the game, and quite possibly one of the best chiptune masterpieces of all time. Created by Swedish composer Magnus Palsson, (aka SoulEye), it is truly an 8-bit gem. The songs are so inspiring, it makes you want to play the game just to listen to the music. Which I do. It's just that good.

Although the main storyline is relatively short (about 3 hours), this game implements the beauty of user-designed levels. On the list you will find plenty of worlds created by people like us, including SoulEye and even Notch (the producer of Minecraft).

VVVVVV is fantastic all around. From its pixelated graphics to its reminiscient music, it will sate the hunger of any gamer, indie or not.

9/10