When it comes to gaming, there are a multitude of different genres out there ranging from your standard FPS fare to obscure mash-ups of sub-genres. Many games tend to the specific needs many players seek out. My interests in particular lean towards the niche genre of gaming known as survival simulation. With that, I introduce to you Renewal, an upcoming zombie survival RPG game.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have my luxurious mane available for the hairstyles. A bowl cut will do.

Renewal is a 2D top-down RPG with heavy emphasis on player survival in a randomly-generated world. You create your own character and you must ensure the survival of yourself, as well as attempting to rebuild in a world devastated by zombies. Yes, zombies. I can already hear some of you readers groaning.

Yeah zombies are a bit overdone, but I among others welcome more contributions to the classic monster. Renewal has plenty of them roaming around for you to encounter and vanquish, all while you scavenge around looking for supplies and weapons. Go out into the world beyond the safety of your town walls in order to find better items for yourself and for the citizens. Use your wits and your newfound items to craft more weapons as you get stronger and bolder.

The game has been in development for about a year, and from what I’ve seen while playing the public beta, it looks to be promising. There really isn’t much to look at in terms of art, but the gameplay is the main focus here and so far everything seems interesting. That is, while the game was playable. I continuously ran into some game-stopping bugs, but seeing as this is still in beta this is to be expected.

Thrust headfirst into the undead nightmare.

More features and gameplay are planned for the future, but so far I like what I see. The beta and its planned goals hold some good promise, and it caters to the survival aspect nicely with its randomly-generated world and loot.

If you like RPGs, survival games, or zombies, I would keep an eye on this one. If you wish to contribute to its development, there is an Indiegogo campaign created by its sole developer, available here. The beta is also available for download there so give it a go if you wish. Give a helping monetary hand or even some encouraging words if you like what you hear.

It is always nice seeing new entries into a specific niche corner of gaming, I for one welcome it.

Watch the Renewal trailer.
Visit the game’s Indiegogo page.

© 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

For gamers like myself who grew up in 1980′s America, one of the best parts of the elementary school day was driving a covered wagon through the harsh wilderness. I am, of course, talking about playing Oregon Trail. The game is a lauded example of early gaming, and for many of us it was our first introduction to digital gaming. Chicago-based studio The Men Who Wear Many Hats have taken this classic game and combined it with a genre that’s incredibly popular today. Organ Trail: Director’s Cut manages to honor its predecessor while adding enough new twists and turns to surprise seasoned veterans of the original game.

Organ Trail maintains pretty much the same goal as its forebearer which is to navigate a party of companions from the east coast of America to the promised land in the west. This time around, it’s not to seek fortune and prosperity in California, but simply to escape the zombie apocalypse. Now aboard a station wagon, players make dozens of stops along the journey in order to scavenge for food and supplies or seek a trade. There are also a couple dozen checkpoints in the form of overrun cities and hovels. While the original game used these spots to mark the progress of a growing, pioneering nation, Organ Trail uses the waypoints to show the decline of both society and humanity.

Oregon Trail is not the only homage to be found

As with Oregon Trail, Organ Trail is not about conquering or dominating. Instead it’s about surviving by any means necessary. Players aren’t going to get the power rush imbued by a first-person shooter, and they won’t find the “a-ha” moment achieved in a puzzle game.  Organ Trail is meant to test patience and resolve. No matter which of the difficulty modes the player picks, resources are always stretched to the limit, the vehicle’s always on the verge of breaking down, and party members are constantly being afflicted by maladies. It’s that fight against the “I’m barely holding everything together” feeling – akin to keeping spinning plates aloft – that is the draw to the game. Lessons learned about when and what to sacrifice are acquired through failure, and it is a large part of the appeal of retrying the game with a different selection of starting resources and different decisions being made. There’s also a heavy dose of randomness to what can happen that will make each playthrough different from the last.

Those random events that occur while traveling the road more often than not hurt the player’s party rather than help. Although these events are a hallmark of the original game, it can be frustrating to repeatedly have precious resources fly out of an open window or have a gas can leak. It would’ve been nice to have a more realistic variety of mishaps. Like with Oregon Trail, the vehicle is constantly breaking down and it’s up to the player to try to keep enough spare parts on hand to repair it. Intermittent action sequences like avoiding stampeding deer or knocking over marauding bikers also have the potential to damage the car. It really felt like the bulk of the adventure was spent maintaining the station wagon, rather than the health of the party. Players can use a variable amount of collected scrap for a chance at fixing the car, but even those scenarios seem to defy the success odds displayed on the screen. However, it never felt like the game was intentionally being unfair as repeated playthroughs were sometimes easier or more difficult from area to area each time.

Zombies aren’t the only hazards to deal with

A large part of the appeal of Organ Trail is naturally going to be the nods to Oregon Trail. The presentation of this game is largely taken from the early versions of the Apple 2′s 16-color game. Retro is in – perhaps perpetually so – and seeing reimagined elements like the covered wagon replaced with a slightly less than modern station wagon is a delight not unlike viewing a well-done mod of a favorite shooter. Broken legs and the meme-worthy dysentery return to make appearances. Even a non-gameplay element like the ability to write epitaphs on the tombstones of fallen comrades is back. There’s a really strong correlation between the enjoyment of this game and whether or not the player has played the original series. That’s obviously the intent of the developers considering the play on words evident in the game’s title.

Old is new again

That’s not to say there’s nothing entertaining here for new players or even veteran players. Anyone who plays Organ Trail has a chance to enjoy a game that includes strategy, mini-game-esque action sequences, a trade/market system, and primitive, but tensely exciting shooting sequences. For Oregon Trail pros, the zombie theme alone opens up new possibilities such as whether to put down a stricken party member or try to keep them healthy enough to not turn into the undead (and boost your GameCenter score at the end). Hunting no longer means shooting prey. It means shooting zombies while you scavenge for food and supplies that randomly appear. Taking a closer look at a grave epitaph or a roadside disturbance can lead to humor and/or profit, but it can also result in a surprise zombie attack. There’s really a lot of variety in the different systems that make up the Organ Trail experience. When combined, they create a satisfying, never tiresome game.

When a developer puts their own spin on an established game or franchise, they walk a dangerous line between an homage and an uninspired ripoff. When the gentlemen of The Men Who Wear Many Hats decided to take on a classic like Oregon Trail, they took a big risk. It paid off. While I think the game can be unreasonably punishing at times, and the first release build experiences some crashes, overall it really offers something for everyone. New players and younger gamers get a modern take on a classic revered by thousands, maybe millions. And for those of us who’ve been gaming for a couple of decades now, we get a bit of nostalgia we can take with us on our own journeys.

Organ Trail is currently available for iOS and Android. This review was conducted using the iPad version.

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆ 

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Freds Fridays on The Indie Mine

Sticky DPad Games is a relatively new indie game development studio, but what they lack in experience they make up for with ambition. They currently have three separate projects in various phases of design and development. While their first announced project was Night of the Fred, they’ve since announced the prequel, Dawn of the Fred along with another unnamed project. To drum up awareness for these titles, they’ve been partnering with indie press sites like The Indie Mine to help share updates as part of a feature called Freds Fridays. Freds Fridays previously made its home at VVGTV.com and OtakuDante’s Gaming Inferno and is now making a pit stop here for the remaining few weeks leading up to Dawn‘s launch.

Hello zombie fans, we’re back. It’s been quite a few weeks since we’ve had a chance to see some updated looks at Dawn of the Fred, but Sticky DPad Games has provided us with a fresh batch of screenshots right out of the infernal oven. We’ve got a look at a few environments and a peek at some weapons and their rating system. Keep in mind that the game is still nowhere near the polish stage, so these won’t resemble the final quality of the game.

Zombie apocalypse or Wal Mart at 2am?

I’d heard the produce section was a meat market, but this is ridiculous!

Gentlemen, choose your weapons

If I had a house carpeted like that, I’d want to be eaten too

Buddy, just don’t turn around

Well that’s it for this week folks. Hope you enjoyed the latest glimpse into what awaits Dawn of the Fred fans this summer. Be sure to tune in next week for the latest update direct from Sticky DPad Games.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

After criticisms coming in from the gaming community over Insane Zombie Carnage‘s similarity with Vlambeer’s Super Crate Box(SBC), last year’s surprise hit, developer Playberries has offered a cure to the invading horde of SBC fans by making Insane Zombie Carnage free. Much of the disapproval of this game has been towards Playberries seemingly cashing-in by simply copying SBC. So how much of a clone is this game?

First of all, I had to download SBC just to do a comparison – I’ve always wanted to take a look at SBC but haven’t had the time. Thanks to this review I’ve finally done it. Maybe that’s the advantage of clone games – it allows you to review two games in one. Alright to the point, Insane Zombie Carnage is almost a blatant rip-off of SBC. Apart from a few differences, everything else from the gameplay to the level design and right down to most of the weapons is identical.

Players have to dodge and shoot zombies that spawn at the top of the screen and head towards the fire pit at the bottom whereupon they become more powerful when they respawn. Collecting crate boxes unlocks new weapons and levels – there’s only three so far, same as SBC. Sound familiar? Well, the concept of SBC combining platforming with the endless nature and intensity of defend your base games isn’t taken to a new level here.

What Insane Zombie Carnage does add is having mystery boxes that can help or hinder players by doing everything from clearing the screen of zombies to making zombies move faster. It’s a nice touch, and you’ll hope that the developer came up with more features like this to separate itself from SBC. The rest of the changes are more cosmetic. The graphics are better, there’s a soft mode that gives you three lives instead of one. There’s a local co-op mode to play with a friend as well. Playberries promises more new things to come and when they do they’ll turn this back to being paid. We’ll have to see what they come up with then.

The following applies to Super Crate Box as well – see here’s where the two for one part comes in! Insane Zombie Carnage can be addictive but in a negative, frustrating way.  You constantly die and there are more useless weapons than there are useful ones. It’s deceptively simple and seems to pit you against your gamer pride. “Come on, It can’t be that difficult to collect ten crate boxes!!”.  But it is that difficult. Sure the gameplay is intense, but it’s just too much when you keep dying while you’re just one crate box away from unlocking the next level. Maybe I do suck at games requiring fast reflexes, but this game doesn’t do anything at all to ease you into the intensity of it.

I’m just hiding here because I’m a coward

The game is also unbalanced. It just throws too much against you. Depending on the type of weapon you have, zombies may take several hits to kill while it only takes one hit for you to die. Each weapon has its own quirks to use, for example the bazooka has area damage but it takes too long to reload, making you a sitting duck for the onrushing zombies. There’s nothing like a ‘super weapon’, which you can overwhelm the zombies with and have no disadvantages to using it. You do move faster than the zombies, but only slightly.

Insane Zombie Carnage has an XBLIG version as well although really you’re better off downloading Super Crate Box. Apart from the mystery boxes and slightly better graphics, Super Crate Box is just superior in every other way. Better controls and a much smoother gameplay experience overall. It will be interesting to see what new concepts the developer might bring in the future though.

Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Freds Fridays on The Indie Mine

Sticky DPad Games is a relatively new indie game development studio, but what they lack in experience they make up for with ambition. They currently have three separate projects in various phases of design and development. While their first announced project was Night of the Fred, they’ve since announced the prequel, Dawn of the Fred along with another unnamed project. To drum up awareness for these titles, they’ve been partnering with indie press sites like The Indie Mine to help share updates as part of a feature called Freds Fridays. Freds Fridays previously made its home at VVGTV.com and OtakuDante’s Gaming Inferno and is now making a pit stop here for the remaining few weeks leading up to Dawn‘s launch.

We’re back after a couple of weeks off with another round of Freds Fridays. This one’s special too because it involves you, the reader.

Ladies and gentlemen, choose your weapons

Sticky DPad Games wants your help in choosing the newest weapon to add to the arsenal in Dawn of the Fred. They are taking ANY and ALL suggestions and the most fun and creative idea will make its way into the final game.

There are two ways to enter:

• Leave a comment on this post that contains your idea. Include your Twitter account if you have one so we can give you credit if you win.
• Tweet @StickyDpadGames with your idea.

That’s all it takes! So come up the craziest, most visceral idea you can think of and submit it.  Who knows, it might make it into the game.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Freds Fridays on The Indie Mine

Sticky DPad Games is a relatively new indie game development studio, but what they lack in experience they make up for with ambition. They currently have three separate projects in various phases of design and development. While their first announced project was Night of the Fred, they’ve since announced the prequel, Dawn of the Fred along with another unnamed project. To drum up awareness for these titles, they’ve been partnering with indie press sites like The Indie Mine to help share updates as part of a feature called Freds Fridays. Freds Fridays previously made its home at VVGTV.com and OtakuDante’s Gaming Inferno and is now making a pit stop here for the remaining few weeks leading up to Dawn‘s launch.

In this week’s Freds Fridays, we take a closer look at the undead horde you’ll be facing in the upcoming Dawn of the Fred. One of the recent trends in zombies games is diversifying the flesh-hungry foes. From Plants vs. Zombies to the Left for Dead franchise, giving zombies different mannerisms, appearances, and abilities helps keep the game fresh, funny, and exciting.

This week, Sticky DPad Games revealed to us a number of new zombie types that will make their appearance in just a couple of months. Check out the concept art below along with descriptions of a few members in the ensemble.

Some of the pretty faces you’ll meet

From left to right:

• The Norm – Just your everyday, bloodsucking zombie.
• Secret Zombie #1!
• The Zombomb – Will explode on impact. Will explode when killed! Keep your distance…
• The Insane – Alerts nearby zombies with its cries. Not good if you’re outside with The Exiled lurking…
• The Exiled – Blind zombie that won’t attack until it hears gunfire or The Insane. If you wake it, you’d better start running, as he’ll rip you to pieces.
• The Monster – Overly powerful zombie. It’s going to take more than a pistol to take this thing down.
• The Large – Not as powerful as The Monster, but more powerful than your regular zombie.
• Secret Zombie #2!
• The Carrier – If touched by this zombie, you’ll begin the transformation process into one yourself. Seek an antidote quick or it’s game over for you!
• Secret Zombie #3!

Tune in next week for another preview from Sticky DPad Games. In the meantime, check out our previous volumes.

• Freds Fridays: Volume 1

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.

Freds Fridays on The Indie Mine

Sticky DPad Games is a relatively new indie game development studio, but what they lack in experience they make up for with ambition. They currently have three separate projects in various phases of design and development. While their first announced project was Night of the Fred, they’ve since announced the prequel, Dawn of the Fred along with another unnamed project. To drum up awareness for these titles, they’ve been partnering with indie press sites like The Indie Mine to help share updates as part of a feature called Freds Fridays. Freds Fridays previously made its home at VVGTV.com and OtakuDante’s Gaming Inferno and is now making a pit stop here for the remaining few weeks leading up to Dawn‘s launch.

In this week’s Freds Fridays, we’ll get you caught up on all the facts and features surrounding Dawn of the Fred. The Fred series is all about zombie survival. While Night of the Fred takes you through the zombie apocalypse as Fred himself, Dawn lets you play as Fred’s dad to see what actually happened in the mysterious hours before Fred awoke to the end of the world. The dad’s story is told through a 2D isometric action shooter.

There are three modes in all to Dawn of the Fred. There’s the aforementioned campaign for single players, but there are also two modes built with cooperative teamwork in mind. “Survival” allows you and three friends to hold down the fort as an onslaught of zombies try to get at your brains. There are two separate maps of 100 waves to take on for that mode. “Escape” challenges you and your friends to make it from one end of the city to the other with the hordes bearing down on you. “Escape” offers three separate maps. I’m a big fan of cooperative multiplayer and local multiplayer in general on home consoles, so I’m hoping these modes are a treat for my buddies and I.

For a first title, Sticky DPad is promising a lot of options and features within Dawn of the Fred that will hopefully help to separate it from the glut of  zombie-themed titles in the Xbox indie market. There will be over ten playable characters to choose from, mostly drawing from comical stereotypes like nerds, playboys, and luchadores. Ten different types of zombies can be taken down with over 75 different weapons. These weapons can skew as bizarre as razor blade machine guns and swordfish chainsaws. There’s an achievement system in the game called Awardments that will allow you to unlock those characters, weapons, and other game tweaks.

This week’s Freds Fridays comes at a perfect time because Sticky DPad Games recently announced plans to release Dawn of the Fred this July in the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace for 80 MSP. Tune in for next week’s Freds Fridays for the latest updates on the game. Even we don’t know what will be in store.

© 2012 – 2013, The Indie Mine. All rights reserved.