The Indies Issue #15
Some thoughts on lofty goals, weak teams and a look at my favorite indie blog.
Date: Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Author: James Fudge

Gladiator Trials II is a tycoon-style management game that rolls real-time strategy, simulation and role-playing elements into the mix. The game also comes with a built-in editor to create your own scenarios and campaigns, and a Mod Editor to create opponents, spells and objects. These are the same editors used to create the main campaign, so you can probably do anything you set your mind to doing - at least on par with what the original developers accomplished. The developers of this indie game say that that have extensive plans to add new content and gameplay regularly. You can grab the demo from GameTrove.net .

Another interesting title landing on GameTrove.net this week is 3030 Deathwar , a top down space adventure game seasoned with a dash of 80s nostalgia. The game offers top-down 2D space exploration, plenty of NPCs to talk to and interact with, pirate bounties, courier jobs, passenger jobs and more, 7 different ships to fly, over 60 upgrades to equip, 30 different goods to trade, a hidden cleaner plot. A demo is available but doesn't allow you to save, load, or buy ships. Try it out and if you like it buy the full version at the link above.

And now for something completely different.. Emily Enough is indeed a different kind of adventure game where you take on the role of of an 11 year old girl named Emily who decides to slice her family apart to be emancipated from them. Of course, this leads to Emily being locked up in an asylum, where all the medical staff have been replaced with pharmaceutical representatives. If this sounds weird, don't worry it gets even stranger.. Emily Enough is an interesting mix of dark humor with good old fashioned gameplay that adventure fans should take a look at.

Glest is one of two open-sourced projects being highlighted this week. Glest is a free 3D real time strategy game, available for several operative systems and that can be modified using XML and a set of tools. While the game is far from complete, it looks pretty good by most open-sourced standards and offers a lot of gameplay for a very little price. The current version includes single player against AI controlled players, with two factions for the player to control- Magic and Tech, each with their own corresponding tech trees, units and buildings. For more info on what operating systems are supported visit the link above.

My second entry in the open-sourced category this week and our final entry in this segment is a cool little game called Damnation of the Gods . While this project has been around for awhile, it's really worth checking out if you are a fan of a certain classic RPG that was on the Atari ST in the 80's. Damnation of the Gods is a clone of the old Atari ST game Dungeon Master developed using the LUA language. The game promise a familiar experience to fans of that classic game and looks pretty good to boot. You can check it out at the link above.

Yggdra Union Review
Yggdra Union is a surprising disappointment.
N+ Review
Simple and satisfying, N+ will give any platforming purist a run for their money.
Decapitation has never been so entertaining.
It’s gruesome and disturbing, and that’s exactly why we like it.
While this year's PSP game has its share of problems it does bring lots of new stuff to the table..
Monster Hunter: Freedom Unite set to be released next spring
Dynasty Warriors: StrikeForce allowing players to work as a team
Crash and Coco heading to every system but the PS3
First Departure and now Star Ocean: Second Evolution for the PSP
E3 2008: N+ Preview
We get a hands on look at the PSP version of the upcoming ninja platformer.
E3 2008: LEGO Batman: The Video Game Preview
LEGO Batman: The Videogame looks and plays a whole lot like its LEGO predecessors, which is its greatest strength and weakness.
GameShark takes a closer look at Activision's promising super hero action RPG.
GameShark takes a closer look at Atari's urban-themed collection of mini-games for the PSP.
Sony Computer Entertainment reveals the power of the PS3, PSP and PS2 platforms in its pre-E3 press conference.