Our latest indie game review is for La Mulana, an adventure / puzzler / platform game that may or may not become a movie starring Harrison Ford. . .

Indie Game Review: La Mulana

The first thing to strike me when writing this indie game review is that La-Mulana has none of the tutorials, flashing objectives and other instructions that are supposed to make games accessible but which ultimately get in the way.  This is a good thing, we think, as the less distractions there are the more immersive the game feels.

La-Mulana throws you right into the action. On the first level you won’t be entirely certain where to go or how to get there. You’re in a 2D open world on an exploration a’la Indiana Jones. As you explore your environment you’ll find vital clues that will tell you where to go and what to do.

La Mulana pulls together the genres of platformer, adventure and puzzler, and combines those three genres with ease. It’s testament to the video game design skills of the development team that they’re able to seamlessly blend these genres. Everything comes together smoothly: you explore areas in platformer style then find puzzles that are naturally blended into the environment.  There are tons of secrets waiting to be unearthed too, which makes you thoroughly search through each location.

Puzzles take a variety of forms, ranging from riddles to breaking mysterious looking walks.

As you journey through the game you’ll find many tablets that hold important information that you need to progress. You can’t actually recall these items later, though, meaning you’ll need to write things down on a notepad. This could annoy some gamers, but those willing to truly get in the retro spirit may love the old pen n paper mechanic.

As you progress through La-Mulana you’ll pick up tons of items, weapons and power-ups. Though you’ll need to grind for gold occasionally, the economy works very well and most of the time you find yourself somewhere in the middle—not flat broke but not loaded either. Most of the time you’ll have the gold you need in order to acquire any required items. You’ll need to make sure you have the right weapons, too, as the bosses are a real challenge.

The difficult of La Mulana’s bosses comes from the fact that their vulnerable areas are hard to hit. You need to be extremely precise in your attack. In fact, the bosses are probably the worst part of the game. They require inhuman precision and will be more annoying than entertaining. Still, this is the one negative point that I have in this indie game review.

 The indie game review Overview

La Mulana is a very solid game that retro gamers are going to love. While the story isn’t that interesting and you probably won’t care that much about the history or La-Mulana, the basic gameplay is exceptional. Very few games bring together divergent genres as elegantly as La Mulana. The boss fights might not be perfect, but they’re the one downside of this game.

If you love a challenge and love retro adventure / puzzler / platform games, you’re going to eat La Mulana up.

Indie Game Review Score: 5 out of 5  

The latest game from University of Utah Arts and Engineering degree students is Magnetic by Nature, in which players take on the role of a robot who must move through levels using magnetic powers.

The first thing to strike us about Magnetic by Nature is the intuitive feel to the controls. Controls are, of course, one of the most important elements of video game design, so it says much to University of Utah’s credit that its students have created so high a quality control scheme.

With the XBLIG version of the game you get about an hour to an hour and a half of gaming. In that time you’ll be exposed to many different playstyles. Levels range from physics puzzles to platforming to fighting, hence touching on a truly diverse range of genres.  In all play-styles you’ll be madly trying to control your robot character, who zooms through levels at breathtaking speed.

At times, the movement can feel somewhat out of control. There are times when hazardous elements of the environment move too fast, making success more a case of luck than skill. In one level a beam of light— that kills you in one touch—moves much too fast and invariably leads to frustrating deaths. Elements like this show a slight lack of polish (or perhaps a lack of time). The good news in this respect is that the game’s developers are apparently aware of the issues and are making efforts to correct the issues.

Even without the few fixes the team are making, there is a great deal about Magnetic by Nature that does University of Utah’s Arts and Engineering department proud. The game is good fun, has solid controls and the majority of the key ingredients of game design have been created professionally.  This is one of the best student games we have played here at GamePlayersReview, a great representation of the work being done at University of Utah.

Our latest indie game review is for Evoland, an action-adventure RPG game from Shiro Games.

Evoland Review

The RPG genre has one of the proudest lineages of any gaming genres, passing from The Legend of Zelda to Final Fantasy to Elder Scrolls and beyond.  With such a proud lineage, it’s no surprise that so many new titles pay homage to the history of the RPG genre. One of the latest titles to do so is Shiro Games’ Evoland, a veritable love letter to the RPG genre.

The first thing that struck us in this review for Evoland is the sheer amout of nostalgia oozing from the game’s  pores.

Evoland tells the story of Clink as he journey’s to save his world.  As you play through Clink’s quests, you’ll be treated to a simulated evolution of the RPG genre, as black and white environments become coloured become 3D.  If you’re an older gamer, you’ll likely be drying your eyes as you recount the history of RPGs.

In journeying through Evoland you may very well wonder where the story is. The narrative is very thin. There’s little depth to the character of Clink or his story to sink your teeth into. This is a shame, to be sure.  There is no reason why the multiple references to RPG games couldn’t have been turned into a whole new story. It could have followed in the steps of Inkheart (the book, nod the shoddily produced movie spin-off), which took famous old fictional characters and worked them into a brand new story. In this way, we would have had the best of both worlds: famous old elements of RPG games we know and love, reworked into a new story.

“New” really isn’t something that can be said of Evoland. There’s nothing new to the gameplay, with TBC, hack n slash and other elements being directly borrowed from other games. The result of this lack of innovation is gameplay that quickly tires.

What is lacking in gameplay is made up for in presentation. Its graphics are beautiful and the 8-bit soundtracks are the perfect accompaniment. Evoland is a treat for eyes and ears.

While it is impossible to deny the sense of frustration at Evoland’s inability or unwillingness to match its love for old with a love for new, it is equally impossible to deny the beautiful and heart-touching references the game makes to older RPG games.

I have to recommend Evoland for the beauty of its nostalgia, even though I can’t help but feel it could have been more.

OVERALL: **** out of 5

The moment I heard the title To The City of The Clouds I thought of Star Wars (Cloud City). . . well, I was wrong. To The City in the Clouds is Choice Of Games’ new title in which you play as an archaeologist who has heard word of a lost Incan city. The game is available for free on iOS and Android, but is it worthy of your time?

Like many other Choice of Games’ titles, you get to pick the gender of your hero in To The city of the Clouds. Once you choose your gender you’ll be introduced to the games romantic story, though the romance is a little thin it must be said.

As you play through the game you’ll get to make many important choices that determine the development of your character and story. While the romantic side of title lacks all finesse, the politics between characters and the many humorous moments of the game do well to make amends. another fantastic element of the story is the detail of imagery. You really do find yourself immersed in the game’s environments.

Probably the most annoying part of the game is the inability to save halfway though. You’ll play for hours then realise that, oops, you can’t save and either have to quit or keep on grinding on. This is such a basic flaw that it is somewhat unforgiveable and it definitely does have a negative affect no the experience.

So, what are we left with? To The City of the Clouds is a well written story with humour and solid character development, even if it is lacking in the romantic compartment. It’s not perfect, but it is entertaining, and given that its free… well, is there any reason not to play it?

Majestic-12 by Exis Interactive is a game packed full of carnage but backed with a healthy amount of depth, creating a deep and engaging gaming experience. Majestic-12 is a 3D side-scrolling shoot-em-up in which your mind will be blown as you desperately try to dodge millions of bullets.

The story behind Majestic-12 doesn’t aim to be hugely original. Aliens are wrecking Earth and you have to destroy them. Simple formula but heck, it aint broke, why fix it?

You’ll be introduced to the game comfortably through some easy early levels but before long the difficulty will rise to the level of full-blown bullet-hell. Your missions will be displayed when loading a new level and most are simple in concept but challenging to complete. You aim with a crosshair which is adequate though at times a little wonky.

Majest-c-12 has eight levels, each with a unique environment and tons of enemies that include boss battles. Some levels offer gameplay diversity by having you play on foot. There’s also co-op for 4 players and a survival mode and versus mode. There’s online play, though it’s a little laggy.

Adding to the longevity of the game are 40 achievements to be unlocked and tons of weapons. Still, it’s the basic thrill of the all-out action and carnage that will be the game’s biggest draw.

The worst aspect of the game are the graphics. It’s cartoonish, bright and matches the game’s theme, but it lacks polish and a little more attention to detail would go a heck of a long way.

The soundtrack makes up for some of the graphical issues. It’s a rocky style of music that matches both the theme and the gameplay and helps to get the gamer immersed in the experience.

Majestic-12 doesn’t concern itself with being the most unique title out there. It’s more concerned with being a solid entry in its genre, and it succeeds for the most part. If you love bullet hell carnage, Majestic-12 is more than worthy of your consideration.

For more, visit the game developers website. 

Back in 2010 Monaco won the IGF with a stunning prototype that blew everyone away. Now, in 2013, the game is being released as a heist game that could very well become the best indie game of the year.

Monaco is the best indie game of 2013 so far

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: Monaco is a phenomenally unique and utterly compelling gaming experience.  The game is a top-down crime game  that is hard to do justice in words. Watch the trailer below and you’ll see what I mean. . .

Monaco Game Trailer

To say the least, this is a game with its own unique style. And in gaming, a unique style is extremely important. After all, it’s one thing playing a high quality iteration of a shooter you’ve played a million times before, and something altogether different to experience a genuinely new type of game.

In Monaco, each character has their own skills and abilities and each character can also pick an item. This combination of skill + item then determines the way in which the character will infiltrate the environment of whichever level they’re in (and there are a lot of levels). Characters also have unique storylines which develop throughout the game. Naturally, with unique character abilities, unique tools and multiple stories, you’ll also be getting a healthy slice of longevity with Monaco, which is the icing on an already divine cake.

In order to get through levels you’ll need to avoid police and guards while using your abilities to reach the goal. The manner in which you do so will be heavily dependent on the character you choose, and that, in itself, isn’t an easy choice given the sheer quality of character design. All players are certain to have their favourite character, and that character will lead the gamer through a unique experience.

I’m feeling a little guilty now as I’ve used the word “Unique” about a trillion times in this review (my old English teachers would not be impressed). But unique really is the word for Monaco. It’s yet another indie game that seems to stick 2 fingers up at AAA game developers. Where so many major game releases fail to offer anything new, indie games like Monaco are entirely new, and they deserve recognition.

Monaco is a game that makes me feel excited about the future of indie gaming. It’s one of those titles that makes clear that there are still tons of new ways in which games can be designed, tons of new creative ideas just waiting to be explored.

Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, Monaco is a masterpiece. I only have five stars to rate the game with for this review, and it’s getting all five. I kinda wish I could give it 6 out of 5 though.

For more visit the game developers website. 

Don’t you just love indie games that take the best elements of various genres and bring them together to create an entirely new game? I know I do, and that’s precisely what Gentleman Squid have done with Rise of the Ravager; it’s part RPG, part shooter, part Guitar Hero.

In Rise of the Ravager it’s your duty to defend a charming cartoon land from four different colours of enemy: red, blue, yellow and green by shooting them with the right colour of bullet. That sounds a little easy, but Rise of the Ravager does actually present a solid challenge, with later levels requiring a lot of skill to complete.

To set up your defence you’ll use the in-game currency that you earn through completing levels. You’ll spend currency on upgrading your stats for power, rate of fire and more, and can create automatic turrets and towers to create your devastating arsenal.

Controls in Rise of the Ravager are tight and accurate and I personally didn’t have any trouble using them. There’s also a co-op mode, though I haven’t been able to play it yet.

One of my favourite parts of this great indie game is its boss fights, which reveal some real creative spark at work in Gentleman Squid.  As for the worst part of the game, I will say that I would have liked to have seen more variety to the enemies, having such a limit number of sprites does make the game feel a little repetitive. ~The same can be said of the backgrounds: there’s just not enough variety.

Those graphical issues aren’t enough to stop me from praising this game. Rise of the Ravagers is a highly addictive and wonderfully playable game with great controls and a healthy amount of challenge.

Overall: 8.5 out of 10.