Tuesday 13 November 2012

This week's indie round-up

Flug GB
Flug GB is a super cool retro style platformer which reminds me of Sonic the Hedgehog and Amiga classic Super Frog. Only one level is available to play at the moment, but gameplay is exactly what you would expect, with blocks to smash, gems to collect, platforms to negotiate and lots of enemies to stomp. With its neat 8-bit soundtrack and sound effects and GameBoy-style visuals, Flug the Slug's adventure if definitely worth keeping an eye on.


Anodyne
Another game influenced by the GameBoy is Anodyne - specifically Link's adventures on Nintendo's much-loved hand-held. It's beautifully presented and gameplay will be instantly familiar to those who have spent time with classic Zelda games of the 8 and 16-bit eras, with the lead character, Young, stepping on switches, collecting keys from battered old chests and defeating enemies to open gates and doorways.
Special mention goes to the soundtrack, which flits between eerie and unsettling, to beautiful and uplifting and gives the game a rather wonderful atmosphere.
Anodyne is due to be released before the turn of the year on Windows, Mac and Linux and it is also eligible for Steam's Greenlight, so pop on over and give this the thumbs up.


Ghost Racer
Due for release any day now is this latest game from Physmo. It's a far cry from their brilliant platformer Mos Speedrun - another game you should vote up on Greenlight - but early indications reveal it has the same 'one more go' factor. It's obviously a racer, but while a casual glance at the screenshot might indicate a frantic arcade racer in the style of Super Sprint, the cars in Ghost Racer have a much more weighty feel, ensuring essential use of the brake to get the best times. While Mos Speedrun featured multiple ghosts of your previous attempts to beat the level - here, ghosts of people's best laps from around the world are shown snaking their way across the tarmac. Trying to keep up and even better these ghost times is utterly addictive and when you add your Game Center friends to the list, the challenge becomes an obsession. I was given early access by the Physmo team and trying to match their times has given me hours of fun already.

1 comment:

Paco Studios said...

Thank you so much for the spot on Flug GB! I'm glad you enjoy what you are seeing so far.

The game is approaching its final testing phase, and then it will be ready for launch.

Again, thank you so much.
-PS