Magicians and Looters pays homage to old Metroid-esque side-scrollers and does it well. It has a beautiful 2D high-definition pixel artstyle, real time map system, items to discover, and skills to unlock. You play as three apprentice sorcerers aiming to save their mentor from the ominous castle Looter. In Magicians and Looters you switch between  Brent, Nyn and Vienna. Each character has access to the same magic abilities, but also have their own personal abilities. After the epilogue is finished you are able to switch between the three at any save point.

Brent using in-game map

Brent is a classic warrior type, toting a sword and shield. He is the slowest of the three, but can use his shield to block incoming melee and projectile attacks from any direction. He later gains the ability to wall jump, a useful skill for solving puzzles, gaining loot and reaching hidden areas. Brent’s personality is very straightforward. He has good intentions but is very oblivious at times.

Vienna is the sister of Brent, and she’s a headstrong fighter type who specializes in speed and hand-to-hand combat. She is by far the fastest of the three and her only weapons are her fists. She can also equip the most accessories and has more abilities at her disposal than the other two. Vienna is my personal favorite because she has an “in your face” attitude that matches her fighting style. She has abilities like a high jump, wall run and a falcon kick (a likely nod to the Blue Falcon). Nyn and Brent occasionally mention that Vienna may have a screw loose. The fact that she unlocks abilities from her talking cat isn’t helping her case.

Nyn is a hardened ex-child mercenary that doesn’t back down from a fight, and she would be considered the rogue of the group. She can equip two swords, is speedy and has an evasive roll. She later attains the ability to slide, furthering her usefulness in evasion and obstacle clearing. She was my least favorite to play as, but I loved any of the dialog involving her. She is sarcastic, quick-witted and doesn’t pull punches when it comes to her opinions.

While I did find the game’s dialog funny, the actual plot lacked a bit. The story played off the popular cliches of older successes. A majority of the game’s talking has a satirical undertone that I loved, often taking jabs at current games versus the older ones. In one instance, two sorcerers converse about how sorcerers nowadays always use tutorials and teleporting instead of backtracking. I found this hilarious and spot on as today’s games have a tendency to spoon feed players. On random occasions and at save points, the main characters might have a chat with one another. This would at times provide backstory to one or more of the characters in a witty fashion.

King of Looter

Exploration is encouraged and necessary. Rather than grinding to gain levels you must collect a certain number of orbs. These orbs are usually well hidden, and each time you level up the number of orbs required increases. This is a nice reward system for completionists and makes backtracking that much more worthwhile. Orbs aren’t the only things you will discover while exploring; weapons, accessories and even the occasional dungeon wall chicken are out there, ripe for the picking.

The gameplay is easy to get a feel for, and fans of older Castlevania games will feel at home here. For this review I played the PC version and used an Xbox 360 gamepad. The controls are pretty standard with jump, attack and ability buttons. The ability varies depending on the character selected; a block for Brent, back dash for Vienna, and roll/slide for Nyn. Activating the map is done in real time and fills in as you discover new areas. Holding down the right trigger gives you access to any magic abilities that you’ve unlocked including shooting fruit. Yep, in this game rapid fire fruit is a magic spell, attained from defeating the devious Fruit Magician.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Magicians and Looters, and I honestly hope that Morgopolis Studios puts out another one. With a $7.99 price tag it’s well worth the money. Magicians and Looters is available for PC and Xbox 360, and you can purchase your copy here.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

The top-down shooter genre is very saturated these days, but developers Headless Wizard aim to stand out with their unique art style and addictive, fast-paced gameplay. Enter Bloody Streets, a top-down shooter that is chock full of heavy metal and heavy violence toward the undead. 

 In Bloody Streets, you must survive waves of monsters. The objective is to survive until the end of each level and rack up as many points as you can in the progress. The more kills you get in succession the higher the point bonus. Using explosives and the environment are also key ways to boost your points.  More weapons are unlocked as you proceed through the game. Headless Wizard boast that there is “music dynamic rhythm system”, but I didn’t notice any changes based on my actions. The “music dynamic rhythm system” may be something that will be added at a later time.

For the demo I was given the tutorial and first five levels, and it was just enough to get me craving for more. The first level was simple, primarily an extension of the tutorial. The second level is where things started heating up. The difficulty shoots up very quickly as you are forced to think on your feet. Using the environment is essential for survival; the levels are littered with hazards and environmental switches that can work with or against you. As the game progresses I was introduced to new and more aggressive enemies. There are acid-spitting arachnids, exploding zombies and more. They came at me in startling numbers, forcing me to retreat while spraying bullets and lobbing grenades. At one point I lured a giant mob of my pursuers to a giant spinning saw blade and watched the points rack up.

The art-style of Bloody Streets is a cartoony hand-drawn style. This contrast the over the top violence taking place, making the animations satisfying yet humorous.  The animations on the game are  polished, complimenting the tight controls of the game. The characters are nothing special to look at, but masterpiece of blood you can create is spectacular.

The little bit of time I had with Bloody Streets was very enjoyable, I hope the entirety of the game holds up to my expectations. Bloody Streets can be voted for on Steam Greenlight for PC and Linux, and you can find the official website here.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Hive is a board game like chess, but with colorful insects in place of the the traditional pieces. Published by Blue Line Game Studios, it’s available on Xbox Live and Steam, with Macintosh and Linux releases planned for the future.

As the title indicates, you’re building an insect hive not unlike a colony of bees, with a single queen supported by many workers. This structure leads to a number of logical rules: Your queen must be placed in the first four turns; no piece can be moved until the queen is in play; when placing a piece, it must be next to one of yours and cannot be next to the opposing team’s pieces; pieces must move in a sliding motion and can not move into a space where it wouldn’t naturally fit; and no piece may break the Hive, which means a piece may not move if it connects two or more other pieces. The rules aren’t too cumbersome making it easy to pick up, but a challenge to master.

Hive is played on a dynamic hex map, and each game creates a unique board as pieces are placed. Once you learn the rules, play proceeds naturally and quickly.

Like the king in chess, the queen is the weakest piece and moves only one space at a time. The objective of the game is to surround the opposing player’s queen using any pieces, yours or your opponent’s. One move by the queen can turn the tide of the game.

Other pieces have their strengths and weaknesses. The ant is powerful because it can move anywhere, but frequently gets in the way of your own strategy as well as your opponent’s. The beetle can move in three dimensions to occupy a hex over other pieces, but only one space at a time. The grasshopper can move any distance through any other piece, but only in a straight line. And the spider, like the knight in chess, must move in a specific pattern over a specific number of spaces. An upcoming expansion will introduce a mysterious new pill bug piece to add more strategic options.

The Steam version AI has four different difficulty levels, and provides a satisfying challenge. When playing I started off with a very aggressive tactic, going straight for the opposing queen. Over time I learned that I had to also protect my own queen in order to be successful at higher difficulties. I enjoyed the level of depth that can be applied once you master the basics.

My only complaint is that playing the AI can get dull after a while. Blue Line Game Studios plans to release their multiplayer patch soon. Player vs player is where I know this game will shine, so I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to experience that since the human factor is really a key element to games like these.

All in all Hive is both interesting and challenging, and will appeal to people who enjoy games like chess, checkers or other classic board games. You can get early access to the Steam version here.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a PC copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2014, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Drox Operative: Invasion of the Ancients offers a lot of new content for players. There’s a new race, the Scavengers, which is available to play as or against. There are also three new monster races; the Talon, Hezog, and Overlord join the roster for galactic domination. Any of these three races can suddenly appear on any planet (including already occupied ones) making them unpredictable and very dangerous. Space stations are a new strategic structure which you can help defend for your allies or destroy those of your enemies. New components for your ship are available, including new chips to be fitted into them. There are nineteen sub-races that can be unlocked, new quests including the Drox guild quest, and the responsibility of guiding the evolution of persistent galaxies. Of course, you have the Ancient invasions, but let’s get a better understanding of this race.

Before the Drox ruled the galaxy, before they were even sentient, there were older races now known as the Ancients. Using their Operatives, the Drox crushed and enslaved most of these races. The rest fled known space. When the Drox turned on their own Operatives, the Drox were utterly destroyed. Newer races emerged and thrived in the power void, never knowing the menace waited. Seizing their chance, the Ancients are invading to take their rightful place in the galaxy, as rulers! Thirsting for revenge, the Ancients can’t harm the extinct Drox, but they can crush the next best thing, the Drox Operatives.

So what we have here is a good old fashioned case of revenge, and the Drox Operatives are only a conduit for the Ancients’ rage. Ancient ships emerge at any given time, and will stop at nothing to destroy a Drox Operative. The Ancients have the fastest ships by far, making them very hard to keep up with. Their armor and weaponry make them near impossible to kill, unless you have an upgraded ship and/or allied races to fight by your side.

For this review, I decided to play as the new Scavenger race. Their ships are well-rounded  focusing on both defense and damage. The addition of the three new races makes diplomacy even more challenging, though the Talon tend to be a bit more diplomatic in comparison to the Hezog and Overlord. The latter two are extremely aggressive, adding an extra layer of difficulty to an already challenging game. They can appear suddenly, wage war at a moment’s notice, and are strong and relentless. Things can escalate rather quickly.

Overall, there’s a lot to like about the expansion. One of my favorite features is that it supports the use of a gamepad. The controls take a bit of getting used to, but for space battle it’s my preferred method. A good combination of diplomacy, exploration, and upgrading your ship is essential to being a successful at the game. At times the game borders on the realm of challenging and frustrating, but overall Drox Operative: Invasion of the Ancients is a great first expansion. The original game and expansion can be picked up for around $30, and I recommend it. You can pick up both games as well as Soldak Entertainment’s other games here.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

What does this score mean?

This game was reviewed using a PC copy provided by the developer for that purpose.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.