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Journalism of Courage
A look at low-cost indie games that pack good graphics with innovative game play.
While the video game industry has been pushing itself to deliver the best titles,many PC gamers have been unable to keep up,as upgrading hardware to match evolution in technology often proves to be difficult.
So,are all the good games being scooped up by the big studios? The answer is no. Just as we have several independent (indie) movies and bands,there are many indie games to save our game-starved souls. Many of these games have low hardware requirements,meaning you can play them on most computers. Three-year-old computers are deadwood no longer,as many indie games are available for Windows,Mac OS and Linux. Almost all of these games are free of Digital Rights Management (DRM),allowing you to circumvent normal copy protection issues. Pay once,and play as many times you want to and install on any number of computers.
The following indie games have excellent in-game artwork,melodious soundtracks and challenging difficulty levels:
VVVVVV
Designed by Terry Cavanagh
(Rs 250 approx) on steam
(store.steampowered.com)
The player plays as Captain Viridian,whose spaceship is lost in an alternate dimension. His crew members have been teleported to different locations and the objective is to rescue them. The games graphics are of the 8-bit era,but that does not make the game less exciting. The controls are simple arrow keys and V,however there is no jump button. Instead,Viridian defies gravity and attaches himself to the ceiling through the up arrow. This means a simple task in Mario will be immensely tough in VVVVVV. The game requires reflexes and you will spend hours trying to get the timing right.
Apart from rescuing crew members,there are 20 bonus trinkets to find in the game. These are needed to unlock the six songs of the games great digital soundtrack,titled PPPPPP.
Osmos
Hemisphere Games
(Rs 500) on Steam
The player controls a single-celled organism,called a Mote,a glowing blue orb. The game is essentially a series of puzzles with a simple objective to become the biggest glowing orb in the zone. The controls are almost entirely mouse-driven. Left-click to propel the orb. Each time you do that,it loses mass and becomes smaller. Your orb can grow by absorbing smaller ones (dull blue) and the bigger ones (red-coloured) will reduce you to a terminated life-form.
The game might sound simple,but some of the advanced levels may take several attempts to clear.
The ambient electronic soundtrack deserves special mention,as its soothing tunes fit right in with the space background.
Atom Zombie Smasher
Blendo Games
(Rs 500) on Steam
The first thing youll notice when you fire up Atom Zombie Smasher is the peppy soundtrack. Here humans are waging a losing war against the zombies and the player will oversee a last ditch attempt to rescue as many survivors as possible.
This is a top-down strategy/tower defence game,which gets extremely challenging as the levels progress. To win,the player has to rescue humans (yellow dots) before they turn into zombies (pink dots),or kill all zombies before nightfall to capture a territory.
The game is strewn with vague cut scenes,which are explained only at the end. The game is mod-friendly (it allows one to modify the campaign) and up to three can play it in co-op mode (join hands to stop the undead horde).
Conclusion
Whether you are the hardcore gamer or belong to the casual fire-it-up-once category,these games are sure to get you hooked. The only downside is that these are not available off retail stores in India. So those without credit cards may find it difficult to buy it on Steam. If that is not a problem,prepare your gaming couch and pack some powerful virtual punches.
Set the Price
Of late,indie game developers have allowed buyers to set the price for their wares. The idea is to take their games to a large audience,and the volume of sales makes up for the relatively low price per game. http://www.humblebundle.com is a portal where you can set the price for a pack of indie games. The amount you pay is split between the developers,charity and the Humble Bundle Inc. Following its lead,several other portals have emerged over the past few months,which allow players to set the price; http://www.indiegala.com and http://www.indieroyale.com are two new entrants. Recently a group of indie video game soundtrack creators also founded http://www.gamemusicbundle.com to sell their albums at any price buyers want to pay.
