Xbox Live Indie Games Insider: Vol. 8

I absolutely despise the word “shmups”, but I love the arcade-shooter genre. Whether it’s Ikaruga on the Dreamcast or Espgaluda II on the iPhone, I’ll take my bullet-hell ridiculousness anyway I can get it. These types of games are particularly popular in the Xbox Live Indie Games portal, as they’re seemingly fairly easy to make. But are any of them actually good? We take a look at three more recent releases and find out.

Break Limit
Developer: Xalterax

Break Limit is refreshing take on the side-scrolling and top-down arcade-shooters made famous by sadomasochistic Japanese developers over the past couple decades. Break Limit isn’t quite at a Cave level of challenge, thanks in part to a rather generous life bar, but when you crank up the difficulty and head into the final stage, you will know defeat, and anguish, and possibly a broken controller or two. There are actually no standard enemies, but rather the environment is the enemy. Whether it’s asteroids or all manner of moving obstacles, there’s always something to shoot/dodge/plow through with your temporary invulnerability.

As you collect more weapon pick-ups, your attacks rank up, increasing your survivability. The stages are littered with power-ups, most of which simply increase your score, but others refill your break gauge allowing to fly through otherwise dangerous obstacles for longer. There are also branching paths that change the viewpoint of the game; switching from a vertical-stroller to a horizontal one and then back the other way. The developer even writes little warnings and memes using the in-game objects, adding to Break Limit’s indie charm. Definitely worth a play, and the price is just right.

BUY IT!

Decimation X3
Developer: Xona Games

If Space Invaders had a modern remake, it would be called Space Invaders Infinity Gene, which is a thing that exists. If Space Invaders had a modern remake by an indie developer, it would be called Decimation X3, which is also a thing that exists. Unfortunately, I’m not sure why. Decimation X3 is neither fun nor enough of an evolution over games like Space Invaders or Galaga to merit its existence, even as a cheap XBL indie title. It’s caught somewhere in between the original coin-op classics and modern overhauls like Infinity Gene and Galaga Legions, with outdated pixel graphics (albeit with decidedly more colors than were available 20 years ago) and limited gameplay.

You are fixed to a horizontal bar at the very bottom of the screen, while the enemy encompasses pretty much everywhere else. This restriction is a little too claustrophobic for this day and age, especially when every other game featured or mentioned in this article allows free range of motion. The extremely basic graphics also do the game no favors, as even when your ship is fully powered up, it fails to impress. I suppose for $1, Decimation X3 is not the offense to humanity that say, Heavy Rain is, but it’s not just your money you’d be wasting; it’s your time.

SKIP IT!

Score Rush
Dev: Xona Games

Although Score Rush has the least compelling name of this bunch, it is by far the most thrilling. Classifying itself as a bullet-hell shooter, Score Rush is a four-player DoDonpachi/Geometry Wars hybrid whose pulsing neon visuals are as absolutely manic as its gameplay; not since Beat Hazard have I been so gleefully willing to test my resistance to epilepsy. This is without a doubt Xona’s best title all around, and easily rivals radiangames’ Crossfire series. What’s more is that up to four players can tackle the dual-stick insanity locally, finally giving us the spiritual predecessor to Heavy Weapon that we didn’t know we wanted but our glad it’s here.

Even on the more tame difficulty settings, Score Rush is no pushover; I had to play it several times before I finally survived Normal. There is an extreme amount of replay value here, thanks not only due to quality of the content, but also to the quantity. If this were an actual XBLA offering, complete with online leaderboards, online multiplayer, and achievements, I’d gladly pay $5 or possibly $10 for it. Hopefully Xona will stop focusing on Decimation and Duality and give Score Rush 2 their full attention.

BUY IT!