30 Reviews in 30 Days, Day 13: Artoon

So was I able to convince you that there are Xbox Indie games worth playing in my review of Groov? Or are there just too many dual stick shooters out there, and you just cannot bring yourself to play another no matter how unique it may be? Either way, I’m going to try again to convince you that there are good Indie games out there. This time, I turn to Artoon.

Q-Bert reborn?

So what exactly is Artoon? Well, it’s sort a a twisted take on Q-Bert. You play as Art, a bluish-gray bouncy ball with googly eyes who must bounce on different squares to make his way to the exit of each level. You can’t just bounce to the end, however. You have to color 60 percent of the locks in the level before you can finish.

Sounds simple enough, right? Well, at its heart, Artoon is a very simple game. There are 2 things that make it a little more interesting, however.

Gotta get that high score

The main goal of the game is to get high scores on each level. You are graded on the levels based on how well you actually get through them. This score consists of three separate parts.

1. The percentage of blocks you cover: This should be pretty self explanatory. The more blocks you color, the higher the score you get.

2. The number of your combo meter when you hit the finish: For every block you land on, you get a boost to your combo meter. This is only true, however, if you do not jump on the same block more than once in a row or once it is colored. This would be much easier if there weren’t blocks out there with numbers on them representing the number of times you have to jump on it. Thing is, you can’t just sit there bouncing on it; the number will not decrease unless you bounce on another tile.

The levels in Artoon are defenitely creative.

3. Your style meter: If you choose to, you can cut off your jump by hitting a button before you reach its peak. This makes it harder sometimes to hit the square you are aiming for, but it increases your style points.

What twisted mind thought of these levels?

If the score keeps you interested in Artoon, its the crazy levels that will keep you coming back for more. You face levels where you have to look into the light facing in one direction of the board; rotating the camera at all starts creating vertical hold problems that make it much more difficult to make you next jump. Then there are levels where the blocks become wire frames after you jump on them or rotate in rings both clockwise and counter clockwise. There are also levels where the background “skyscrapers” pule with the music of the level, distracting you from your goal and making you fall off. Basically, the levels can be almost sadistic, but they are also just challenging enough to be addictive.

If you are looking for a real deep gaming experience, this game is probably not for you. If you give it a try, however, I can almost bet you will fine yourself really enjoying this game. Artoon gets a 4 out of 5.

30 Reviews in 30 Days, Day 3: Groov

For a while now I have been talking about doing a Community Games Spotlight. Matter of fact, I have been talking about it for so long the games are no longer even called Community Games. They are Indie. I do not begrudge Microsoft the change if name. If I was a developer, I would rather have my game called Indie than Community. Still, it seems a little funny, and maybe more than a little discouraging, that things have changed that much.

Well, no matter. The 30 Reviews in 30 Days articles give me the perfect chance to review a few of the best ones out there.

And in my opinion, there is no better place to start than Groov.

Not just another Geometry Wars (Robotron) rip-off:

One thing you will find in the Indie Games section of Xbox Live is a lot of dual stick shooters. I can understand the reasons: relatively easy to make, simple mechanic and there is a segment of players who will always gravitate to them. Still, it becomes a little depressing to see the same basic design repeated over and over again. Of course, the remakes of Pong are even worse, but I digress.

So you can imagine my hesitance when I stumbled across Groov. After all, it was another in the long line of games trying to cash in on the success of Geometry Wars. Still, the description did catch my eye. Something about a dual stick shooter with a jazz fusion touch sounded intriguing. I downloaded the trial, tried it once, and was hooked.

Jazz Fusion?

You did not read that wrong. Groov takes the standard dual stick shooter and brings in a unique musical twist. You are not just flying around your little box shooting enemies, you are building a jazz fusion piece as you play. Each shot fired is the stroke of fingers on a keyboard. Enemies take on unique sounds, be they the strum of a base, blast of a well timed horn or a little bit of scat voice.

Think you’re looking at another Geometry Wars clone? Think again.

These enemies don’t just vanish immediately, either. They turn white, which allows you to fly through them. They then fade out with timing that matches the music. This “symphony” is calm enough when the battlefield is relatively light, but as things get more frantic, so does the music. You go from a relaxing jazz mix to a frantic, pulsing rhythm that is only matched by the harried travel of your ship.

On top of that, you cannot really use the standard conventions of dual shooters to get you through the levels. Like to stay in to the sides? You’ll start seeing more and more of the “Horn” enemies, which materialize on the sides. Think the corners help by cutting down the the angles from which you can be attacked? How about enemies that care not what boundaries are laid before them. You will also need to pay attnetion to when enemies turn white. Not all do it on first shot.

So you are severely outnumbered, just like any dual stick shooter. The game creators have to give you something to help even the odds, right? Well, they do: a time slowing mechanic. That’s right; in the middle of the hectic fights, you have a limited number of times you can slow down time, which slows enemies, music…everything except you. Sounds great, right? Well it is, but ther is one small catch. You can only activate it on the downbeat of the music.

Skip to the good part

If you play enough dual stick shooters, you know there is one major problem with them. Just as things get really good, you lose your last life. You are pumped until you realize you have to work your way back through all the ealry parts of the game again just to get to the good part.

Well, Groov gives you the chance to unlock the Expert Remix mode once you score enough in the regular. Expert Remix throws you right into the best part of the game with limited time slows and 1 life. You go from zero to frantic in no time flat, and you’ll love every minute of it.

There is also a Jam Session mode, but you have to score 25,000 in Expert Remix to unlock that. Let’s just say I’m not that good yet.

It’s nice to see someone take a tried and true mechanic and turn it around a bit. Besides, you can get Groov for 200 points, and I gauruatee you will get more than $2.50 worth of enjoyment out of the game. Don’t believe me? Check out the demo for yourself. Groov gets a 5 out of 5.