The Shrine

I'll wait 'til they're on sale in December. $15 is just too much for a game I won't spend more than 5 hours on. And having to pay for Live severely limits the appeal of the Castlevania game as I won't be able to play it online. However, if it comes for the PSN I may be more tempted at the $10 price point.

BTW, I tried a few of those indie games you suggested. Beat Hazard is a really fun Asteroid-Rez love child, it was quite fun. And Biology Battle was a pretty entertaining Geometry Wars rip-off. Fun games just not worth the $5 asking price. Arkedo 03 was pretty neat but I'm not sure how long I'd play it. Miner Dig Deep, however, I'm quite tempted to get. For $1 it's very tempting. I also tried that puzzle game Paradox, it was neat but not sure if I'd play it more than a couple of times. There was another shooter where you shot junk in space but each "enemy" you shot with a different button. It was the same thing, OK but likely only for a demo. And I also tried that Bloody Death game, which is basically Night Trap for XBLA. So it's OK as a demo but ultimately boring. Also hard to get over the very childish F-movie sequences.

So, so far, only two games I think are worth the asking price: Breath of Death, which is a steal at $1, and Miner Dig Deep, which I may get very soon. The rest are neat but hardly worth playing more than just the demo or priced a little high.

I was looking at the newer indie titles, and there's a new sci-fi RPG out. The demo is, of course, way too short for an RPG. Not quite sure if the gameplay is worth it or not, but hey, it's an RPG for $3.

Also, for the same price, there is Crossfire. Yes, it's another 2D shooter, but instead of the dual-stick function like most of the clones out there, this is a Space Invaders style game with really nice gfx and very good gameplay. The hyperdrive mechanic is unique, since you can get behind enemies. Beat the game in about 2 hours, though there are extra modes available, too.

SineSwiper wrote:I was looking at the newer indie titles, and there's a new sci-fi RPG out. The demo is, of course, way too short for an RPG. Not quite sure if the gameplay is worth it or not, but hey, it's an RPG for $3.

Also, for the same price, there is Crossfire. Yes, it's another 2D shooter, but instead of the dual-stick function like most of the clones out there, this is a Space Invaders style game with really nice gfx and very good gameplay. The hyperdrive mechanic is unique, since you can get behind enemies. Beat the game in about 2 hours, though there are extra modes available, too.

Yeah, I actually started downloading that RPG last night after I posted that reply. I'm gonna check it out to see if it's worth it. If it looks good enough, I'd be OK payin' $3 for it. Breath of Death is an absolute steal at $1 and is certainly worth $3. If this one is close, I'll probably get it. I'll check out Crossfire too. I keep checking on the newer titles every 2 or 3 weeks, if I run into anything decent, I'll post it. Seems like we're the only two who care about the indies anyway.

Well, I wasn't really impressed with the 5 minute demo for that RPG, so I didn't buy. However, that's an unfair assessment for an RPG (too short to judge), so one of us is going to have to make a leap of faith to buy it. Either that, or maybe there's a review of it somewhere.

SineSwiper wrote:Well, I wasn't really impressed with the 5 minute demo for that RPG, so I didn't buy. However, that's an unfair assessment for an RPG (too short to judge), so one of us is going to have to make a leap of faith to buy it. Either that, or maybe there's a review of it somewhere.

Breath of Death had me within 5 minutes. I loved the demo so much I played it three times.

I'll let you know after I play the demo. It is a 5-hour game and I'm sure there will be a review of it up soon. I got 600 points left, if it's good enough, I'll get it

I like the indie titles, but for steam and PSN...

Flip wrote:I like the indie titles, but for steam and PSN...

Those are more like the titles that show up on XBox Arcade. We're talking experimental $1-3 games on XBox's indie section. There's a lot of crap there, but you can find some good gems that can entertain you for hours. We had another thread on this earlier.

So far, I would recommend at least trialing and/or buying the following XBLA indie titles:

I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1
Breath of Death
Miner Dig Deep
Soulcaster (really great music; one of my favorites)
Crossfire
Shoot 1UP
Blow
Kodu Game Labs
Protect Me Knight (or Japanese name; you can find it in the Popular Downloads)
The Impossible Game
Leave Home
Beat Hazard
Biology Battle

Also tried Square Shooters (or something like that; Square something). Not a bad little "shoot aliens" thing, with multiple weapons. Also features 4 player support.

That RPG that just came out didn't impress me too much. I actually turned it off before the demo was over. I also tried that Helico Hero game. It was horrible, brutal controls.

Too much crap on the Indies section. There has to be SOME sort of quality control. It really doesn't seem that there is any.

The teams that actually put effort into their games should be pushing for this kind of control. That indy RPG... Alphion? Good idea, but shitty overall execution: I'm inside, why is the battle screen taking place outside?

Sometimes I want to shit myself when I see the amount of creativity and effort that goes into something like this, and then seeing such obvious errors.

Blotus wrote:Too much crap on the Indies section. There has to be SOME sort of quality control. It really doesn't seem that there is any.

The teams that actually put effort into their games should be pushing for this kind of control. That indy RPG... Alphion? Good idea, but shitty overall execution: I'm inside, why is the battle screen taking place outside?

Sometimes I want to shit myself when I see the amount of creativity and effort that goes into something like this, and then seeing such obvious errors.

Yeah, the indies certainly are a crapshoot, but you just d'load them and give them a shot. They're usually small so don't take too long to download.

Blotus wrote:Too much crap on the Indies section. There has to be SOME sort of quality control. It really doesn't seem that there is any.

The rating system seems to be very good at quality control. The Top Rated section is a good start. Sure, there may be types of games that you might not like, but for people that like that type of game, it's a good rating.

The problem is that the section only goes to 20 entries, and it would be grand to look at, say, the Top 50 to get a good sampling.

I'd recommend trying out the games I suggested first, and then look around for others. Other sites have good Top 10/20 lists out there.