Sometimes life is full of happy accidents. Yesterday I reviewed “Hypotenuse”, a great 3D game from the maker of “Chalked” (which I absolutely loved, though that was a controversial opinion in some quarters). But that led me to an obscure game from late 2009, in the very early days of the Xbox Live Indie Games channel, from the same developer. And I’m glad it did.
“Dot Error” is a reimagining of Defender, done in super-retro green monochrome, leaving you feeling a bit like you were playing it on some ancient university workstation. There’s at least one significant gameplay enhancement on offer: the ability to fire in one direction while you fly in the other. That mechanic works surprisingly well, with an innovative control system that eschews the analogue sticks and instead focuses in on the triggers and bumpers. Innovative in this case takes some getting used to, but I actually think it has its strengths in this case.
One unusual element of the game is the ability to edit its musical tracks! That’s a brilliant option, and relatively easy to implement with a chiptune or MIDI soundtrack, I would imagine. I really liked a lot about this game at 80 Microsoft Points.
Here’s what the developer (rece) has to say about the game:
“Dot Error. Delete the unmanned space rockets before they breach the atmosphere, edit the music, and share your high scores with friends! … [ http://iamrece.com/dotError ]”
Writings of Mass Deduction 