Text Zedventure // XBL Indie Games

I get the feeling that Text Zedventure was developed for me. Or at least the special subset of people who held choose-your-own-adventure books very dear to their hearts. As a young boy, I used to love ‘playing’ the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks; a whole series of paperbacks from the pens of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, who later went on to found Games Workshop. Played with a pair of dice and a pencil to make notes and fight battles, the gamebooks allowed the reader to forge his own path through the adventure, making key decisions along the way. Although Text Zedventure lacks the dice, and the combat, of these fondly-remembered works, I can’t help but feel that a love for the choose-your-own-adventure paperbacks beats at its austere heart.

Decay – Part 1 // XBL Indie Games

Reviewing Decay – Part 1 using traditional videogaming criteria is a tricky business, as it bears little resemblance to anything else on the Xbox Live Indie Game platform, or any of the current crop of retail titles. Sure, there are puzzles, and the kind of item examination and use that recalls fond memories of a certain Resident Evil, a franchise cited as one of developer Shining Gate Software’s influences. But there is no jump button, no shooting, no health bars, no enemies, no game overs. Just a series of moments, snatches of plot, a few cerebral puzzles and an atmosphere of true dread.

The Impossible Game // XBL Indie Games

I must be feeling masochistic. After subjecting myself to Brian O’Keefe’s brutal gate-’em-up FlipSide last weekend, this week I cranked up the difficulty gauge by yet another notch by downloading the ominously-titled ‘The Impossible Game’ from the Xbox Live Indie Games platform. Although its name suggests it offers an insurmountable challenge, the inclusion of a ‘Beat The Game’ medal on the game’s menu screen offers a glimmer of hope. Regardless, this is still the gaming’s Mount Everest.

FlipSide // XBL Indie Games

Despite loving blockbuster games from big-name developers as much as the next person, infinitecontinues also likes to champion the cause of the proverbial ‘little guy’, the one-man-band outfits whose love of videogaming inspires them to put together their own creations. In the first of a new series of reviews of titles available on the Xbox Live Indie Games platform, we check out FlipSide, a pure skill-based game that’s as sadistic as it is addictive.