I’m purchasing an Xbox Live Indie Game every day, seeking out the quality titles that got lost in the shuffle and no longer appear in the top 50 downloads. Today is day #40, and today’s game is “ZP2K9”.
ZP2K9 is a side-scrolling shooter that draws elements from both platform games and first-person shooters. It has a laissez-faire approach to physics that lets you run up walls and along ceilings that opens up the gameplay in intriquing ways, it has a wide range of weapons, and common FPS gameplay types such as deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag. The game further differentiates itself by the addition of equipment in the form of costume suits that let you do everything from fly short distances (when wearing a bumblebee costume) to create poisonous gas (when wearing a skunk costume).
This was one of the earliest Indie Games titles to support Xbox Live multiplayer matchmaking. Since multiplayer is the heart of any shooter, getting this crucial feature right is a great deal of what makes the game great. Bots are supported for offline fragfests, and (interestingly) bots are available in online play as well (both allied and enemy bots).
This game does a great deal right, and virtually nothing wrong. For 80 Microsoft Points, it’s worth checking out whether you’re a fan of platformers, of shooters, or of mind-bending physics puzzle games.
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