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September’s Best Indie Game: Hammerfight

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Hammerfight


Hammerfight is a two-dimensional physics-based indie game produced by Konstantin Koshutin and released in September of 2009. Previously known as Hammerfall, players control a gyroscope flying machine, on which deadly weaponry is mounted, not limited to hammers, swords, and maces.

The general idea of the game is that your character embarks upon scenarios in which you must use your flying machine to attack enemies by swinging blunt weapons, dealing damage through kinetic force, or pelting them with your add-ons such as guns and dynamite launchers. Newton’s laws of physics are used then speed up if you want to deal more damage and use the momentum of your enemy to land a lovely strike.

Hammerfight’s controls are a bit tricky to get used to at first. You might need to adjust your sensitivity frequently to fit your hand- unless you desire a carpal tunnel. After that, it gets very fun, very fast. Swinging weapons such as maces at your foes can get very entertaining, especially when a well-coordinated attack makes contact. Flails were my favorite weapon, as they do brutal crushing damage from a distance, and are easy to control. When hits are made, cheers are set off and slow-motion effects can initiate, along with highlights of blue or red on your weapon. Gibs will fly out of your enemy, sparks will fly and wood and stone will be scraped off the wall with every impact.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Hammerfight

This game will make you frustrated. It is very easy to take large amounts of damage, which is nearly impossible to avoid. Striking an enemy flyer can cause it to explode- and damage you. Destructable debris you would normally associate as unimportant, visual effects will surprisingly damage you on contact. Many starter scenarios are brutally difficult, and the only alternative requires you to sacrifice all the gold you have earned so far to skip it.

The graphics are very nice to look at, and the number of juicy effects located in this game is immense. An interactive, moving backdrop of cheering crowds will enhance your fights- especially when a lantern lights the stadium on fire. Music is fitting and provides competitive excitement. The absence of an online multiplayer mode is disappointing because the amazing fighting system would make this game a hit.]

Out of all the indie games we have reviewed in this month of September, Hammerfight is the best, with a unique fighting system, a cool story, and juicy effects with a tinge of annoying kinks here and there.

Conclusion: September’s Best Indie Game, a must-buy. The great fighting system, interesting story, nice cutscenes, and decent graphics with eye-dazzling effects.

Hammerfight

9.5/10

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VVVVVV

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of VVVVVV

VVVVVV is an indie action platformer developed by Terry Cavanagh and was released on January 11, 2010. Its core gameplay mechanic, gravity-flipping was inspired by one of his previous games, Sine Wave Ninja.

In the game, you are Captain Viridian, in a pixelized world. Your ship and crew have been separated in a horrible accident, and your goal is to rescue your crew and escape from the space station that you have been stranded on. There is a twist, though. Unlike common platforming games, you can not jump. Instead, you can flip gravity, causing you to fall in the opposite direction. But you can only flip gravity when you are on a solid surface. This mechanic is used extensively in the game and used to move around, and complete puzzles.

This game is a quick-action-paced game. The game revolves around making quick maneuvers with your gravity-flipping ability, cleverly challenged by trampolines, a number of abstract objects (don’t touch them), and optional yet so satisfying “trinkets” that are extremely hard to acquire. This makes VVVVVV the best indie game if you want to have some great casual fun.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of VVVVVV

Akin to Super Meat Boy, another 2D platformer, the game is very difficult. Some sections, are extremely hard to maneuver around and require perfect coordination of keyboard presses and timing. What VVVVVV does cleverly to prevent this from being detrimental to the game, is by adding quick-save points where you will respawn every time you die. This makes the game less unforgiving, preventing one from having to repeat territory.

The gameplay was madly addicting, except for a frustrating portion here and there. The 8bit music is catchy, the puzzles are entertaining and fast-paced. For the most part, it is a great experience. Savepoints were plentiful that offset this design choice. The graphics were 8bit, which fit the style of the game and provided a nice aesthetic, but the options were lacking and many little things were missing like the ability to lower the volume. The gameplay was top-notch and challenging if a bit repeating at times. The game wasn’t that long too, but it was still good.

Conclusion: Great gameplay if not for some seemingly impossible areas, good aesthetics, good music and it lacked many different settings.

VVVVVV

8/10

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Achron

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Achron

What sets apart Indie games from normal titles is their innovation. Huge companies can’t afford to sink resources into creating a game that might flop, but indie developers can. This is what Hazardous did with Achron.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Achron

In Achron, you control the commander of Capt. Holloway and his forces.  You must guide Holloway through 35 single-player missions typical of any other RTS title. Seems standard, but what separates Achron from the rest is one amazing feature. Time Travel. At the bottom of the screen is a timeline that lets you control what time it is, which is very useful for fighting enemies, as it can act as one huge and giant Ctrl + Z. Woops, all my soldiers just died, lemme retry that bit! My god, my base just exploded, better go back in time and save it! If you make a mistake, just one click can bring you back and lets you fix it, kind of the opposite of Frozen Synapse.

This game has kind of a steep learning curve at the start, but once you figure it out this game is great fun. Three unique races keep the game fun challenging and refreshing, and you get to use all three at some time or other in the campaign. The Graphics are fine, not exactly exceptional but mediocre.  The soundtrack is quite amazing and really adds to the gameplay. There is a complete multiplayer package with 16 maps and a map editor and many other features. There are problems with this game too though. Units are almost impossible to tell apart without zooming in all the way. Pathfinding can at times be absolutely gobsmackingly heartstoppingly face-meltingly atrocious. Experienced RTS players will feel this game has much to work on, as some of its fundamental RTS aspects need some work. The game is easy in the sense that you are guided almost every step of the way. Noobs will like this, but anyone with even a Modicum of RTS experience will feel frustrated and limited. Ironically there is no instruction manual. Opening cut scenes cannot be skipped and have to be watched every time you want to play a level. But most of this is all nit-picking. This game does have a unique gameplay aspect in the form of time travel, and past the few small bugs, glitches, and weird quirks this game is quite good. Although is it worth 30 dollars? I don’t think so, but it may very well be depending on how you like your games.

Conclusion: Good game with a nice aspect, but there are glitches bugs, and quirks that kind of ruin the game, but it has a very good gameplay mechanic. Mediocre graphics, great soundtrack

Achron

6/10

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Dwarf Fortress – Fortress Mode

Best Indie Game - Dwarf Fortress Screenshot

If you’re looking at the disturbing and confusing image, worry not. It is a screenshot of the fortress mode of Dwarf Fortress, which is one of the best indie games I have played in a very long time. A cross between The Sims, Civilization, and Sim City, Bay 12 games provides us with an amazing sandbox indie game, but only if you are okay with repeatedly smashing your head into a brick wall because failure and frustration will occur. There is also a mode called Adventure mode, but it is a different game and we haven’t had a chance to play it.

Dwarf Fortress is kind of like many other RTS but it is VERY deep, in terms of gameplay.  The world generator creates huge 3d maps, several layers of 2d-maps drawn in beautiful ASCII characters. Then, you choose where you want to settle on the world map. Then, you are thrust into the gameplay, with no tutorial to help you. You start out with 7 dwarves, and you have to build a fortress, your home, and your base, by mining out caverns, collecting resources, and trading with caravans that come to visit you a couple of times a year. You can order the construction of buildings, workshops, and all manner of buildings, which usually your dwarves will be happy enough to oblige, as long as sufficient building material is provided.

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Realm of the Mad God

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Realm of the Mad God


Realm of the Mad God is a free-to-play indie MMORPG by Wild Shadow Studios in partnership with Spry Fox. It plays like any other MMORPG, except it is browser-based, and made in flash. Tasks done during the game are completing an endless number of simple quests, killing monsters, leveling up, and unlocking more classes, all the while as you horde your stocks of rare equipment found from killing bosses. The game has an old-school feel to it, with pixelated characters, and some beautiful pixel art.

This indie game is very intuitive, and simple, it has a casual feel to it and has a low learning curve. Anyone can start playing immediately because you don’t even need to take the time to sign-up before beginning to play. You can jump right into the action by pressing the Play button. Much better than some other MMORPGs, where learning how to control the menus can be the most difficult part of all.

It is simplified even further because the game starts you off immediately. You don’t have to go through the process of choosing your class, hair color, or even name, because it is done for you. (Although if you want you can register your account to set your name, for free of course). If it’s your first time a very easy tutorial quickly teaches you the game in an example mission. The tiresome task of setting your skill points once you level up is removed. Realm of the Mad God is the best indie game, in terms of intuitiveness.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Realm of the Mad God

Simplification has its drawbacks. This game is not a game you can play for a long time, mostly because it is too simple. You can only have 12 items in your inventory at any time, and with the frequency of drops, you end up disregarding any items 90% of the time. You only have eight slots in a chest at home (More slots can be bought for real-world currency, and if you dont want to spend money it is very limited.) There is no way to sell items, and trading rarely is done. There is a market where you can buy items, but you either need to pay real money, or die with high-level characters to receive fame, which you can then spend on these items. You can only have one character at a time, so if you have unlocked a new class you will have to delete your old one to be able to use different weapons. (Or die, as death is permanent.) Again, real money can be used to buy more character slots.

The gameplay is very impressive compared to many indie MMORPGs out there today, even quite good when compared to regular MMORPGs. Most MMORPGs have quests like “Kill 1000  Turtles” or “Get 500 Zubat Kills”. This will get boring fast. Realm of the Mad God is one of the few games that quit this horrible practice and introduces a fun way to fight. Realm of the Mad God, most quests consist of going to a boss fight, and then fighting off the minions and finishing off the boss. You play as if you are playing Asteroids. This means projectiles are slow, and people are fast. You can often run faster than projectiles therefore an action-paced shoot-em-up occurs. Dodging while spamming your lasers can really be a blast. Lag is non-existent in this game so huge multiplayer boss fights can occur, with bullets and magic constantly being dodged.

Best Indie Game - Screenshot of Realm of the Mad God

Qualifying for the title of “best indie game”, Realm of the Mad God presents a nice simple system were getting someone who has never played an MMORPG before playing in seconds with no hassle. The music is alright but doesn’t deserve any rewards for its loop that can get monotonous at times. The graphics are not very high quality but I do enjoy the pixelated retro feel. This is a pretty good game that I would recommend if you had an hour to burn on a bad computer.

Conclusion: Realm of the Mad God is an intuitive MMORPG, great to burn an hour or two but sustained play is virtually impossible.

Realm of the Mad God

7/10