Xbox Indie Games Roundup
Homebrewing up.
Arkedo Series 03: PIXEL!
- Price: 240 Microsoft Points
The Arkedo Series is a monthly offering from Arkedo Studios, the three-man French outfit responsible for cult DS hit Big Bang Mini. This latest is a collaboration with Pastagames, and despite a few quirks too far, it's well worth a look.
Following on from JUMP! and SWAP! this time our hero is a charmingly pixellated cat called, well, Pixel. Gameplay is pure old school platformer - you guide him through lo-fi blocky worlds made of glowing blue pixels, using his powers of run and jump to reach the exit. Even the enemies can be defeated the traditional way, by jumping on their heads.
The only real twist to formula comes at the end of the levels, where you must use a magnifying glass to find the clue that will unlock the door. Once found, you zoom into the pixels and must follow an arrow marker to actually reveal the way out of the level.
Clearly, originality isn't PIXEL's greatest weapon, but charm probably is. This is a lovely-looking game, simple and immediately enjoyable, and a lot of care and attention has gone into the visuals. Plenty of indie games use old-school graphics in order to mask their tiny budgets, yet Arkedo has a knack for producing cheap games that look impeccably stylish. You could easily put this alongside any Xbox Live Arcade title without it looking shabby in comparison.
7/10
SlideColors
- Price: 80 Microsoft Points
A cheap and cheerful puzzler, SlideColors is about as inspired as its self-explanatory title suggests, but it brings enough Rubik inspiration to the table for it to justify its impulsive price.
While gameplay revolves, as usual, around the shifting of coloured gems, the twist this time is that you can only move entire rows and columns at a time. In the main puzzle mode, this is the source of much forward planning, as you work out the sequence of moves that will move the gems to their colour-matched cell without ruining the pattern. Clear Blocks, meanwhile, only lets you progress once you eliminate all the blocks on the board with a metallic edge.
Trouble is, the game isn't exactly tough. There's no sense of urgency, and not much can go wrong, so it's unlikely to get the brain buzzing or the heart racing. It's only Puzzle Mode that offers any long-term challenge, and even that will be a breeze for anyone weaned on the genre's more famous offerings.
So SlideColors is no Hexic or Puzzle Quest, and the Match 3 genre rivals only the twin-stick shooter for indie developer over exposure, but with immaculate presentation and a simple concept realised in style it's an above average pocket money diversion for laidback gamers.
6/10