By Craig Pearson on January 26th, 2012.
Indie platformer A Walk In The Dark has a cat rescuing a lost little girl in a dark, fantasy world; the quarter of Dexter that John owns once lost a fight with his own feet (my bit was obviously the winner there). I see now why they had to place the game in a gothic forest: as a cat owner of four years, I wouldn’t believe the skills he shows off in the trailer below.
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By Adam Smith on January 24th, 2012.
Fun fact: ibb and obb shouldn’t be capitalised, as per The Well of Lost Plots from which their names are taken. They are capitalised in my headline though, but so is everything else. Such is the way of the Style Guide (must also be capitalised) that guides my hand. Now that I think about it, that wasn’t very ‘fun’ at all, so here’s a new trailer for ibb and obb instead, which shows the gravity-bending cooperative platformer in action.
By Adam Smith on November 28th, 2011.
Beep, bloop, boppity-beep goes the music. Jump, splat, zap go the Tiny Plumbers. Goombas didn’t burst into a shower of garish red pixels when Mario jumped on their bonces but otherwise, a quick look at this odd little indie platformer could have you thinking it’s little more than a tired spoof. There are even different suits to change into, pipes to travel through and princesses to rescue. However, beyond the obvious references, which are not simply aesthetic, there is plenty to discover. Most importantly, it’s not obvious from the trailer that the levels are procedurally generated. And wait ’til the sky police chase the hovering plumber, their sirens/screams drowning out everything and betokening doom.
By Adam Smith on November 17th, 2011.
I don’t know how one would ‘hip’ but I’ve made it into a verb and there’s nothing that can be done about that now. Sideway New York is a platforming game with an urban aesthetic, by which I don’t just mean that it’s set in a city, I mean that it contains hip hop music and graffiti. The characters are two dimensional but the world is not, as seen in the trailer here. I don’t know how well it works because I haven’t played it yet, but you can! There is a demo available on Steam and if you enjoy that, the full version will only set you back £5.94.
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By Adam Smith on November 9th, 2011.
Somehow, despite The Internet having my phone number, a browser-based platform-puzzler in which the player controls a Victorian magician rescuing ghosts has existed since 2009 and yet I didn’t receive a call about it. Outrageous blaggardry of the first water.
The game in question is The Pretender and the release of a third chapter in the top-hatted trickster’s adventures and the diligence of Jayisgames has served to notify me of his existence. There’s a basic but pleasingly worded story and I’d say it’s worth going back to the start for the full experience since there’s much pleasure to be gained from the antiquated banter.
By Adam Smith on November 4th, 2011.
Deliberate spontaneous combustion would be an incredibly useful tool, provided one could survive the ensuing explosion and that it caused significant propulsion in a direction of choice. Jolly good news for the star of Explodemon! who has such powers and is therefore able to navigate the obstacle-laden levels in which he finds himself. The game is available now, after a prolonged vacation in PSN country, and looks like a cross between Megaman and Splosion Man. There’s an interesting piece on the latter similarity here, and a bright and boomy trailer below.
By Adam Smith on November 2nd, 2011.
Phew. I ran here as fast as I could. I know the entire internet is waiting for the hottest new trailer in town but some git thieved my automocar so I’ve had to come by foot. Here it is then. Thomas Was Alone is an upcoming indie game “about friendship and jumping”, with a cast of angular shapes working together to make their way through minimalist platform environments. It’s based on an earlier free prototype but the full release isn’t due until March/April next year. It’s worth taking a look at the trailer just for the gorgeous music by David Housden. Apparently the full game will have a procedural score, which sounds like something I’d like to wrap my ears round.
By Adam Smith on November 2nd, 2011.
Do you want to see all the colours in the rainbow? I believe I have them here for you in this Sonic Generations launch trailer. Why not make a checklist and see if you can tick off every one of those colours and then list any more obscure hues that you can spot. It’s a game I like to call Sonic Colours, which makes it the unofficial PC port of the existing game Sonic Colours. Open Notepad and type them all in as fast as you can!
Sonic Generations, thankfully, has a fully-fledged port which is out November 4th on various downloadable services, Steam included.
By Adam Smith on October 26th, 2011.
Does anyone care about The Adventures of Tintin? I don’t mean the books, the cartoon or even the film, I mean the game, which Dan’s pre-release thoughts may have actively diminished interest in. If you’re still willing to give the game a chance though, good news has intrepidly burst onto the scene in the form of a demo. As far as I can tell, it’s only available on GamersGate at the moment, but you don’t even need an account there to download it, you can just captcha your way through instead. My immense fondness for Tintin means I’ll inevitably try this at some point. Good to have the option of doing that for free.
By Adam Smith on October 24th, 2011.
What is a day without spikes? Brazilian indie game Mr Bree: Returning Home is mostly about a pig repeatedly falling onto spikes and spikes repeatedly falling onto a pig. As with other spike-themed platformers, it’s rather tricky and, as the trailer shows, it has a resemblance to the fiendish Super Meat Boy, except with a pig instead of a sentient meat-chunk. Let’s be honest, there is precious little difference between the two. The game is currently in beta and shall be out on PC and Mac this winter, hopefully preceded by a demo. I’ve played a little already, enough to confirm my understanding that abattoirs are unpleasant and pointy metal things are my least favourite acquaintance.
By Adam Smith on September 22nd, 2011.
I missed this video for The Bridge during my roundup of the most interesting IndieCade finalists and I’m sorry that I did, which is why I’m going to share it now. There’s not a lot of information on the game yet, not even a website, but I think it’s safe to say it will have a bit in common with And Yet It Moves. The trailer shows that the game world rotates and then frames the device rather poetically: “The world is much larger when every wall is a floor…” I’m already smitten by the Eschery design and you can be too by watching the trailer, right here. Thanks to Indie Games for bringing my attention to this one.
