Super Amazing Wagon Adventure (PC/XBLIG)

Gritty reboots are the in-thing for cinema these days. Man of Steel recently reforged the camp-as-Christmas-and-twice-as-festive Superman franchise into a love poem to fatalism and duty, the Christopher Nolan Batman films did away with such marvels as the Bat Credit Card (never leave home without it) and there's a similar trend in video games, with the latest Tomb Raider excursion being more a bit grimy. But what is to be done with a game already brutal and unforgiving? A game that for thirty or more years has been chewing people up and spitting them out?

I speak of The Oregon Trail, the merciless edutainment game of watching settlers die horribly and uselessly. Often of dysentery. And the answer to the question is: go in the opposite direction and make a wagon-based migration game that is an absolutely unhinged and dirtily, filthily fun shoot-em-up. Welcome to the stage of history, colonist. This is Super Amazing Wagon Adventure. This is How The West Was FUN. Let's get edutained!

Bleed (PC/XBLIG)

As I write this my hands are shaking and my wrists are aching. Tonight I fired up my review copy of platform shooter Bleed and didn't stop playing until I had completed it. At one point (not my greatest achievement but close) I used my foot to drag a shopping bag full of energy drinks over to me while I continued to play. That's how absurdly gripping this game is.

Late in the game there's a level where the field of play tilts. Right now I've lost my sense of balance and I feel like I've just got off a ship because it took me ages to get past that part. But I didn't give in, spurred on in part by our heroine's all-too-nice insistence in the game over screen that her horrible and repeated deaths were totally not my fault (although the times when she asked if I had an older brother who could take the reins were a bit of a slap in the face) and eventually ploughed through the entire thing, coming out feeling like a satisfied, caffeine-crashing hummingbird with arthritis.

Retro City Rampage (PC/XBOX/PS3/Vita/Wii)

Retro City Rampage is a game with a legacy, a long history dating back to 2002 - when it was known as "Grand Theftendo." A pet project of Canadian programmer Brian Provinciano, over the years it grew from a hobby project of demaking Grand Theft Auto on the NES to a full-blown commercial multi-platform and original open-world parody adventure. Finally, on October 9th, 2012, the game was released, and as a pre-order customer, I had first dibs on this unique labour of love.

Right out of the gate, Retro City Rampage pimp slaps players with its, well, retro references. I don't even remember how many nods to 8-Bit gaming were included in even the first few minutes of play. Even the title is a reference to one of my favourite childhood beat-em-ups. These little gems are more than peppered throughout play - the game is simply smothered with them. It's extremely tempting to share some of them with you, dear reader, but for those of us who spent their days hunkered down in their bedrooms, Nintendo Power in hand, muttering semi-curses at Ninja Gaiden and staring blankly at the mysteries of Castlevania II after watching Saturday morning cartoons, I won't ruin them for you.

qrth-phyl (PC/XBLIG)

qrth-phyl is a game that is equally brilliant and mysterious, familiar and alien, and 100% enthralling no matter which way (or from which axis) you look at it. Inspired by the classic 'Snake', a mainstay on the ancient, ubiquitous Nokia mobiles of yore, qrth-phyl was borne from a "prototype created in the deep south west of Cornwall in 2004." The creation of hermitgames, a one-man operation founded by Matt James, this title successfully transforms the classic time-waster into an immersive, otherworldly arcade experience that's nothing like the original.

Spelunky (XBLA/PC/Mac)

Who hasn't heard of Spelunky? You know, the cave-diving, procedurally generated magnum opus by designer Derek Yu (aka Mossmouth?) Wait... actually, I'm guessing a lot of people, up until the XBOX Live Arcade release on July 4th, 2012.

For those who haven't yet donned their khakis, gripped their whips and adjusted their fedoras, this fantastic platforming romp began as a humble freeware title tracing its origins back to late 2008. For a while, I believe it was only available via a thread in the TIGSource forums, then later got its own official home on the web. I, like other videogame enthusiasts - as well as a slew of talented developers - played this gem before it was cool. Since I'm not an annoying hipster, I won't be assaulting your retinas by Instagramming a screenie of old school Spelunky next to a picture of my feet at the beach distorted by some stupid filter making it look old, but I digress.

Orbitron: Revolution (PC/XBLIG)

Imagine taking Eugene Jarvis' coin-op classic Defender and putting it in a blender with Psygnosis' Wipeout. Not literally of course - not only would that require a blender of industrial proportions, but the end result would most likely resemble a very unpleasant pile of broken circuit components and shattered CD fragments. Orbitron: Revolution might not be greater than the sum of its parts, but with a combination of game design set firmly in the 1980's arcades and stylish 21st Century presentation, it is clear to see why Firebase Industries have received such high acclaim for their cross-platform arcade shmup.

Originating on the XBox as a top 20 entry for the annual Dream Build Play competition (2011), Firebase Industries released an enhanced Windows version earlier this year and I've been playing it on and off for the past three months. The reason for the delayed review is two-fold; aside from being incredibly busy with real-life work, I've found it difficult to draw a conclusion regarding how I feel about the game. Don't get me wrong - it's a great game, no doubt, but even so I've been unable to make up my mind as to what final score to give until now.

RobotRiot (PC/Mac/XBLIG/iOS)

Like most game news sites, we receive emails on a daily basis from groups or individuals wanting to submit their games for review. Most of the time these are blanket emails sent to various sites at once or simply generic messages, whereas occasionally they are targeted directly at us due to our focus on 'retro' games. Indie developers, please take note; RobotRiot is exactly the kind of game that ticks all the right boxes at RGCD HQ.

After recently acquiring an iPhone through work, my initial discovery of RobotRiot was a happy accident via iTunes - an accident that became considerably happier-still when I stumbled upon the PC/Mac version on Desura after googling for more information on the developers, Retromite. Immediately drawn in by the stylish and vibrant pixel art on the screenshots (not to mention the fact that it promised to deliver the exciting experience of playing as an interstellar robot debt-collector), I impulse-purchased both phone and PC versions. My retro-senses were obviously on top form, as this has proved to have been a great decision.

Birth Order (XBLIG)

The Xbox Live Indie Games section has been a hive for games that either do what has been done before or attempt something unique. Being an example of this latter case, Wide Pixel Games' Birth Order tries some very interesting ideas when it comes to danmaku shmups.

The poetic intro to Birth Order does not really say much about a story as it's really just an excuse to fly a ship and shoot things that shoot back. The game starts on a hexagonal grip map that reveals as you progress through each stage toward the goal of the final opponent. This map is randomly generated each time with different stages and spots with various landmarks such as extra lives, experience or boss fights to earn keys necessary to unlock the final area. As you your ship levels up and progress, the game gradually gets harder with more enemy color palette varieties with lots more bullets to dodge and by halfway through the map, the carpet of florescent-colored death will be formidable.

Wizorb (PC/Mac/Linux/XBLA)

I've always had a deep love/hate relationship with brick breakers. I can literally smell the fresh scent of pre-made chain restaurant pizza wafting over to the small corner in which my nemesis lay waiting. This particular purveyor of pizza pie held within its confines an original Arkanoid machine, and circa 1987 or so, I often found myself begging my poor parents for quarters to give those colorful bricks a good thrashing just... one... more... time.

See, brick breakers tap into one's compulsive mind - those with a need for order, complete elimination of barriers, or an eye for precision can be irresistibly drawn to the unforgivable nature of these old-school paddle controlled games. Not much has changed in the genre, however - from Atari's original Breakout to modern day casual games such as Brick Breaker Revolution 3D, we're continually met with the same old "move the paddle, hit the ball, don't die, occasionally grab a laser and shoot" pattern.

I had hoped, then, that Wizorb would put a fresh face on this tired genre. Wizorb is brought to us by Tribute Games and Johnathan "Pixeltao" Lavigne, who also worked on the River City Ransom throwback Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game and the indie classic platformer Ninja Senki.

Fez (XBLA)

After five years of development Fez was always going to have to be pretty special to impress. Fortunately, it is, and does.

Gomez is a 2D fellow living happily in his 2D world, until he is given the game's titular Fez and inherits the ability to rotate the world 90 degrees. That is as much plot as you need. Thus each room or tower becomes four interlocking areas to be traversed in 2D. Once rotated, any surfaces that appear to be connected (from the current viewpoint) behave as if they are connected. Whilst this is a device we've seen before (albeit in a more M.C. Escher like way) in Echochrome, it feels fresh and unforced here. After very little time playing you have adjusted to this 3D way of thinking and are happily guiding Gomez around platforms that would otherwise be insurmountable by deftly rotating the world - conveniently mapped to the shoulder buttons. The aim of the game is to collect the 32 golden cubes spread throughout the levels, most of which have been split into 8 smaller shards. And thus, in a very Super Mario-esque way, you are left to collect shiny things in a beautiful landscape.

Retro News Update

It's all go here at RGCD HQ, and even with our new team members we've been unable to give all the games that have come out recently the full coverage they deserve! So, whilst we struggle to catch up with our backlog of reviews, here's a quick update on the stuff we've missed. There's quite a lot here, so get ready with that scroll-wheel...

Verminest '83 & Boxed Copies of Locomalito's Games For Sale! (PC)

Starting with the PC news first, our good friend Locomalito has not only released a special early coin-op 'coloured' version of his recent blast Verminest (it now looks even more like a suped-up version of Galaga), but he's also made the decision to make boxed copies of his back-catalogue of widely acclaimed games available to buy! The games themselves are of course still free to download - the boxed copies are offered as a 'gift' for people who make donations, with around 30 Euros for one game or 90 for all five. Grab yours today from here.

Retro News Update

'Tis the season to be jolly (so they say), but 'tis also the season to be incredibly busy with little time for reviewing, so here's an early Christmas delivery of stuff that we haven't had time to feature over the past couple of weeks.

The festive period always delivers a stocking bursting with new retro releases, and this year is no different with some exciting games, freebies, previews and bundles. So without further a-do, here's the news.

Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe (PC)

Our original review of Andrew Morrish's Super Puzzle Platformer is still the most viewed post on this blog - and with it's gorgeous low resolution visuals and maddeningly addictive game-play it's easy to see why. A mash-up of Mr. Driller and arcade shoot'em up, Super Puzzle Platformer's design was pure genius and far too much fun to be wasted on a simple browser-based prototype, so myself, Simon from Pixel Prospector (and quite possibly many, many others) begged for a further enhanced version - and now several months later Andrew has announced a fully-fledged deluxe version is in the works. With multiplayer, new levels, new obstacles, unlockable characters and "lots of other shit", Super Puzzle Platformer Deluxe could well be the Super Meat Boy of 2012. Yeah, it looks that good..!

Escape Goat (XBLIG)

The number of games in which one plays a goat is disappointingly small, whereas other animals (fish, dogs, cats, monkeys etc.) seem to have no problem landing a starring role. Thankfully Ian Stocker a.k.a. MagicalTimeBean has added to the small pool of goat-em-ups with a game that is outstanding for more than just its hero's taxonomy.

Essentially, Escape Goat is an arcade platform puzzler with 50+ single-screen levels to be tackled. Each level's goal is simple – get the keys and get to the exit. Switches need to be pressed, and baddies avoided – straight forward enough, although the actions of switches can dramatically change the layout of blocks upon a screen – so trial and error are the order of the day here. The virtually instant restarts after death or by pressing 'back', encourage this approach.

Whilst your goat-hero is a nimble fellow – possessing tight controls, double jumps and a block-moving charge – he would not be able to complete his quest without the assistance of his mouse familiar. This rodent friend can be sent scurrying in a direction, up walls, over ceilings and through tiny gaps to press buttons that would be otherwise inaccessible. Also some levels feature a magic hat pick-up which enable your goat and mouse to exchange places. As we all know, magic hats improve any game ten-fold.

Cursed Loot (XBLIG)

RGCD readers who are familiar with the XBOX indie scene will realise that a purchase can be a bit of a gamble. Polished gems sit innocuously beside poisonous 'games' that do naught but make the controller vibrate. (Ahem). If only we could up our real life luck' stats by equipping an enchanted ring, perhaps we'd stumble across games like Cursed Loot more often.

A polished and deliberately old-school roguelike, Cursed Loot has the player choosing between 5 classes of character and sending them off into a randomly generated dungeon 50 levels deep. Play is quick and vicious, with automatic attacking as you move. The speed of the game can mean the play can feel slightly more like Gauntlet than Rogue in places, especially when coupled with the NES-era style graphics.

Wyv & Keep (Preview) (PC/XBLA)

  

Earlier this week I received a press release from indie studio Jolly Corpse about Wyv & Keep, a new co-op two player game that promised to deliver "mind-boggling puzzles with exciting action elements". Well, normally I'd take a passing glance at the website before (probably) moving on to something else, but as soon as I saw the Fallen Angel Industries logo on the page, I knew that it was at least worthy of a download - and Wyv & Keep most certainly was.

Treasure Treasure: Fortress Forage - Extra Edition (XBLIG)

  

Before the casual social gaming boom of Guitar Hero, Wii Sports et al, video gaming was often accused of being a solitary experience, and the traditional image of the platform adventure does little to change this. Two-player takes on this model often felt bolted on, or just plain unnecessary. The received wisdom is that platforming is an activity best enjoyed alone.

  

Treasure Treasure: Fortress Forage: Extra Edition is, however, a resolutely two player platforming experience presented here for Xbox (via the oft-neglected XBLIG xbox indie games channel). Its slightly ungainly title betrays it as an update of ‘Treasure Treasure: Fortress Forage’, a freeware PC indie title from 2008.