Writings of Mass Deduction

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 #88, and today’s game is “Battle Havoc”.

Battle Havoc is a bit like a real-time version of Worms or Scorched Earth, if all the combatants had jump jets they could use to quickly reposition themselves on the battlefield. This puts a great new spin on an old classic, and then dolls it up with a tonne of options and unique weapons, not to mention plenty of multiplayer and singleplayer levels both.

The impressive list of (more…)

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 #82, and today’s game is “Orbyx – Mystic Orbs of Chaos”.

Did you ever play Peggle and wish there were a tonne more options? Then Orbyx is your game.

This is Peggle (which is itself just a flavour of pachinko; similar to “Plinko” from the Price is Right game show if you’re unfamiliar), but there are a lot of additions too, including:

– in about 1/3 of the levels you have a paddle at the bottom of the screen, ala Arkanoid, something that many Peggle players have yearned for

– there’s a (more…)

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 #75, and today’s game is “Lumi”.

Lumi’s a winner, and I don’t mean that just metaphorically. Lumi won Microsoft’s 2010 Dream.Build.Play contest, out of a strong field of contenders, and it deserved that accolade.

I wasn’t surprised by its polish, the game comes from the same author (Christophe Panattoni) that made the absolutely stunning game Soul, that I reviewed back on day day 9 of my XBL-Indie-Game-a-day-binge. I’ve been in contact with Christophe on and off since, and he has dropped the price of Lumi from 400 Microsoft Points to only 240 Microsoft Points today in concert with my review going up, and Writings of Mass Deduction readers are the first to hear about it. Thanks Christophe!

First, from the developer:

“Lumi, the 2010 DreamBuildPlay winner is an action/puzzle/platform game, in a marvelous 2D universe. You control Lumi, a small creature with powers based on magnetism and light, and with the goal to save the universe sunk into darkness.”

Let it not be said that this game is not polished, Lumi is gorgeous through and through. And while this game is (more…)

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 #67, and today’s game is “Halfbrick Echoes”.

From the developer:

“Race to collect crystals while dodging the Echoes shadowing your footsteps in this innovative, seat-of-your-pants arcade game. Try the blend of action and strategy in Arcade Mode, the tense maneuvering of Clockwork Mode, the frenetic pace of Survival Mode or challenge a friend to an intense Duel Match. With dozens of surreal levels across seven unique gameplay modes, theres plenty for everyone.”

In Halfbrick Echoes, you have to move around the playfield collecting crystals. Simple enough right? Well, you have to avoid your “echoes” (think a ghost car in a racing game that’s mimicking your moves from a previous lap). Each gem you pick up triggers another echo, leading to a growing number of them as you play each level… and contact with an echo means instant death.

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