Please don’t let the headline confuse you. We are, in fact, on G (an excellent letter, through and through). It just so happens that the indie game I played that really got me interested in doing a regular column like this falls in this category.
I heard about Gravity Bone from our friends at Rebel FM. Just as they began talking about it, one of the guys said, “Download it. It’s free and it’s quick — we’ll wait.” And with lemming-like dexterity, I did. And provided you’ve been enjoying this series, you could say it was for the best.
G:
Gravity Bone (PC, free)
Gravity Bone stuck with me because it was different than all the “proper” retail games I had played before it. The exact scenario here is somewhat obtuse, but let’s call it a first-person problem-solver.
You enter a party populated by a group of literal block-heads (you can even hop up on them and treat them like a platform). as a cacophony of horns plays over the partygoers’ murmur. You look down to your invitation to see a “business initiative,” which simply suggests you go to the furnace room.
From there, you do some exploring and hopping around until you get a briefcase that contains more instructions. The loose direction continues until you finish the short mission, along the way realizing you’re an agent — and when you’re a spy, you have to adapt to your situation, and fast, since it immediately rolls into your second case.
Given that the game is so short (maybe 15 minutes to play to completion), I don’t want to spill any more details, but expect a couple clever twists, a couple handy items, and a simply bizarre objective.
When the game ends, you’ll likely have some lingering questions, just like me (just wait till the bizarre end montage), and I liked that. It actually felt like it could have kept on going, but ending abruptly also prevented it from wearing out its welcome. This is a bite-sized game yet it had me thinknig about it for days afterward just based on its twisted execution.
Groov (Xbox Live, $2.50)
The musical accompaniment is a pivotal portion of Geometry Wars. Its frantic, pulsing beat kept me focused but on edge. Groov — an Xbox Live Indie Game that Julian from developer Funkmasonry Industries sent me a download code for — takes it to the next logical step (an effect, from what I understand, is likely similar to PSN’s Everyday Shooter, though I haven’t played that one).
Like those games, it’s a twin-stick shooter, and it looks strikingly like Geo Wars but with all the effects turned off as you pass through waves of one-track-mind enemies. During this action, your shots and dying enemies all register a noise. Shoot an enemy, and it turns harmless and white, as it get cached for when the beat needs, say, the noise of a dying trumpet. Likewise, your rate of fire increases and decreases with the music. Get far enough, and the straight-moving trumpets start appearing in waves, just like Geometry Wars: Waves.
Groov is also tough, in part because of the nature of the swarming enemies, but also because of your power attack. Instead of the screen-clearing bomb you’d expect, you get the ability to slow down time for a spell. My problems with this: The effect doesn’t last long enough, and you can only activate on the music’s downbeat — which, in the heat of an intense wave, can be lethally inconvenient.
Otherwise, I had a great time with Groov — it sucked me in for a decent chunk of time, instilling that “just one more game” feeling or relentless chaos.
And that’s it for the Gs — two good ones for you to try out, and then think ahead to H. Also take a few minutes and check out regular commenter James DeRosa’s new indie series as well. From what he says, sounds like he really knows his fringe games. I can’t wait to see what he digs up as well — it just goes to show just how much is going on in the world of indies.
As always, if you have any suggestions for future games, simply drop them in the comments below. If you’d like to read a previous Indie Scene entry, simply hit the appropriate link: