Indie Watch 2011

[J T]

Fez
http://polytroncorporation.com/




Fez has been getting good press for quite awhile now. They have recently released some gameplay footage from PAX East though, and the game just keeps looking better and better. It plays like a 2D sidescroller, BUT you can rotate the screen at 90 degree angles, like turning a box to look at a different side. You play on 2D and use the 3D rotation to solve puzzles. Just watch the gameplay trailers and you will get a good idea of how this game is going to majorly mess with our heads when they finally get around to releasing it.

[J T]

Fallen Frontier
http://www.moonshotgames.com/2011/03/we ... -frontier/



I'm not terribly excited about this game because it looks like a generic not-very-fun run n gun game. I very well could be wrong, but a lot of the modern 2.5D run n gun games have disappointed me. HOWEVER, there is one thing that looks very cool about Fallen Frontier and that is the co-op.

To see what I mean, watch this video. The problem with co-op in run n gun games or other side scrollers has always been that if you're buddy falls behind, you get stuck. When you get stuck, that means trouble. Friendships have been destroyed over co-op Contra. ("DUDE! Wait up! You made me fall down the hole! Ass face!"). In Fallen Frontier, if you lose track of your buddy, a clever split-screen divider smoothly comes into play. This idea is gold. Hopefully this idea catches on, and hopefully Fallen Frontier is more fun than I am expecting it to be. It does have some former Bungie developers working on the project, so they have that going for them.

[aaron]

fallen frontier looks right up my alley.

are most of these PC releases or are many of them available for other platforms? i suppose i could just click the links...

[J T]

are most of these PC releases or are many of them available for other platforms? i suppose i could just click the links...

They vary. Most all can be played on the PC, but some will also be on PSN or Xbox Live. So yeah, just click the links.

[Ivo]

Fallen Frontier looks like co-op Abuse with great graphics (Abuse already had great gameplay)!

It also has "Ninja Rope" which usually makes things better

Ivo.

[J T]

Jamestown
http://www.jamestowngame.com/



Jamestown is a 4-player cooperative, vertical shmup set in... 17th Century British Colonial Mars??? WTF!?

Somebody failed history and made a video game.

[jfrost]

Somebody improved history and made a video game.

[J T]

Miegakure
http://marctenbosch.com/miegakure/



Miegakure is the first 4D game ever. I've watched the videos in the link and I still don't know what that mean. It's got me excited to play the game though.

[J T]

The Witness
http://the-witness.net/news/



The Witness is the latest project by Jonathan Blow (developer of Braid). I don't know much about it other than it is a puzzle game with some lovely graphics.

[MrHealthy]

Ok, Jamestown looks awesome. As long as its a reasonable price I will bite.