Review: Velocity Ultra

At first glance, Velocity Ultra from developer FuturLab looks like your standard retro space shoot'em-up with a classic top-down view, in which players take on hordes of enemy vessels with their own spaceship, blasting them into the infinite vastness of space with well-aimed shots while maneuvering their ship through the onslaught of enemy fire. These game elements can also be found in Velocity Ultra, but this indie game stands out from other representatives of this long-established genre by introducing a novel game mechanic and focusing on solving switch puzzles.

Review: Shoot 1UP!

This shoot'em-up by Mommy's Best Games was literally a blast in its original release on the Indie Games channel back on Xbox 360 and its Steam port is just as much fun. The game lets you control a phalanx of up to 30 ships at the same time because whenever you gain an extra life, it immediately joins your fleet on screen. Using the combined firepower by arranging the formation of the fleet is a lot of fun and a unique gameplay twist you won't find anywhere else.

New Release: Echoes III now available on Steam

Shoot'em-up afficionados rejoice: a new challenger has entered the arena! Last week, the third iteration of Echoes, one of my favorite twin-stick shooters, was released on Steam. I was not even aware that this game was in the making as developer binary zoo hasn't been promoting the title much except for a few tweets on Twitter. His website doesn't even mention the game and it certainly isn't easy to find among the many new releases on Steam. If you don't want to miss out on this retro shooter, head over to its store page and check out the trailer, which unfortunately can't be found on YouTube.

Review: Echoes+

Back then, one of the first games that got me hooked on the now extinct Xbox LIVE Indie Games channel on Xbox 360 was Echoes+, an excellent twin-stick shooter by one-man developer binary zoo. It was an eye-opener with regards to the kind of quality that could be found on the service amongst all the rubbish that used to be prevalent there. Quality-wise, the game is easily on par with Geometry Wars, which was a huge success on Xbox LIVE Arcade at the time and obviously served as an inspiration. Echoes+ doesn't need to hide behind Bizzare Creations' game, though, neither in terms of gameplay nor amount of content.

IndieWatch Episode Six

Is it a joy, joy if one shoots up at giant, robotic boobs?

I've been so busy over the past few weeks (and still am) that I've been severely neglecting the Indie Lair and now have to catch up with GamePro, which is still promoting selected Xbox LIVE Indie Games on the german dashboard in a bi-weekly video series called IndieWatch. With episode six they slightly changed the presentation, inserting the GamePro logo on the startup picture on the Inside Xbox channel and shortening the title to "#06" (instead of "Folge 06", which is german for "episode"). Due to time constraints, I will quote marketplace descriptions for most titles but will also state my personal opinion in a few words - a few more when I think the title deserves it. I usually have played at least the trials of the featured games (if not stated otherwise) and will give recommendations based on my experiences. You can also find the video at the end of the article. So let's take a look at the line-up of episode 06!

IndieWatch Episode Five

What do rodents, insects, sea monsters, submarines and spaceships have in common?

Some fine Indie Games have gained more spotlight by the recent update of the Kotaku's Favorites list such as the highly addictive, hilarious platformer Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess, which was also featured on Episode 3 of GamePro's IndieWatch series on the Inside Xbox channel of the german dashboard. Episode 5 resumed highlighting quality XBLIG this week with the following lineup:

IndieWatch Episode Four presents another fine selection

Taking a look at the current german Top Downloads list reveals what a dashboard promotion like GamePro's IndieWatch can do for titles that are featured in it. Episode four went live on the german dashboard last Tuesday, and since then all of the games covered in the video have reappeared among the Top Downloads and on high positions on the best selling today list on Xbox.com. GamePro's selection in the new episode of IndieWatch presents some of the finest games available on XBLIG: