The basic concept in And Yet It Moves is not so different from other side-scrollers wherein you try run and jump your way through the levels except that here we find a crazy twist: you can rotate the whole world.

That’s right! Up is down and left is right. You can’t fall to your doom, but you can still die. I played this game a couple years ago after seeing it on a list somewhere on the Interweb. The thing that got me hooked was how you can do your normal run and jump through the levels like Earthworm Jim, but you also control the world around you. For example, imagine you are running from a boulder and arrive at a cliff. You can jump off the cliff, rotate the world, and be standing on the side of the wall.

The game’s graphics are a love / hate thing with me. The level and the character look like they have been cut out of a piece of construction paper, a strangely popular design choice among many contemporary indie games, perhaps because it “breaks down the 4th wall,” and reminds it us that is the golden age of indie game innovation in much the same way that Nirvana’s Bleach album or early Mudhoney were anti-establishment and though they were excellent musicians, leaned towards the lo-fi to demonstrate that they were not bred of corporate money. But the background pictures are pretty to look at.

This game has won various awards at indie game events and was well liked by the guys at IGN (which we point out only because a large lens like theirs can help move a lot of units for a small indie game). The major drawback I have seen is that the version I played was only two levels long although it has since been re-released as a full-length. The music is very relaxing which can be good for an after work stress reliever. Recommended for anyone!

Check out the trailer for And Yet It Moves:

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Title: And Yet It Moves (various)
Developer: Broken Rules
Genre: Side Scroller
Platform: Windows, Mac, Wii

Price: $9.99 for full version

Purchase / Download link

Reviewed by MT

My favorite independent video game to be recently released is World of Goo. There is so much to say about this fantastic title.

Developed by 2D Boy (a pair of guys from San Francisco who have collectively worked for Maxim, EA and pogo.com), the basic premise of the game is to move goo.  This sounds ridiculous, but the game combines a story line that is very affecting by any standard, graphics that leave players stunned and amazed and a level of game play rivaled by no other game currently on the market. It’s that good.

All of the myriad different things to do in this game are almost overwhelming; seemingly mundane tasks such as moving goo, creating goo and solving goo-related puzzles take on importance that cannot be properly quantized with words from the English language.  I know I must sound insane, but you need to play this game for yourself.  At its core, World of Goo is a puzzle game, but it is really so much more than that.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The design is breathtaking, the levels of interaction are countless, there is great sync between the controller and the on-screen action and the visuals vibrate with amazing color and depth.  Sure, the box which the game comes in looks a little bit plain.  Visually, the game itself feels like a juxtaposition of a nostalgic past through the lens of Saturday morning cartoons with hallucinatory, hypnotic visions of the future. I could go on, but just trust me when I say you should start collecting some goo for yourself.

Developer: 2D Boy
Genre: Puzzle, Role-Playing
Platforms: PC / Mac / Linux / Wii Ware
Price: $19.99

Wii version: WiiWare.
PC versions are available at: Steam, Direct2Drive, Greenhouse, Impulse
Mac: Mac Game Store, Gametree Online

Also check the above online store for a Linux version which is also available!

It is no secret that this year’s E3 Video Game conference was all about motion sensors with the big three companies – Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft showing new motion controllers. In this video we see just what this will mean to the future of not only video games, but the human experience itself.

Granted, this is not so different than the powerful virtual reality tools created by Jaron Lanier back in the late 1980′s early 90′s, but it has now gone mainstream and the integration and graphics take it to a whole new level – no longer will we require the bulky and once oh-so-hip virtual reality glasses around which many a Hollywood film was spun; now you will be able to interact from wherever you are in the living room, rec room, kitchen or otherwise.  The level of immersion will take on a whole new meaning as it opens up to anyone around, as opposed to merely the lone participant once relegated to a private experience and oblivious to the outside world.

This is no longer the stuff of fiction, the technology is here, it is only a matter of when the launch dates will be announced.

• Connect to OnLive with your TV, PC or Mac and start a game
• Your game runs in a state-of-the-art OnLive game server center
• OnLive connects you to game servers through the Internet, instantly sending your controller actions upstream and the results back downstream at blinding fast speeds
• Enjoy ultra high-performance gameplay on your TV or entry-level PC or Mac

Essentially you will be able to play any game anywhere, anytime over a broadband connection without any downloads.  Similarly, you can play demos for any of these games to check ‘em out before committing to the full game.

If this astounding service ends up delivering what it is promising, gaming will never be the same.  Imagine picking up a round of multiplayer Gears of War 2 from your hotel room in Reno, or testing out a new map in COD – World at War in the waiting area at the airport without ever having purchased or downloaded the game.

For the indie game developer, this could mean riding the Long Tail of the larger games so that a massive global audience can be exposed to your creation.  Watch the amazing HD videos about this new service now at:

http://www.onlive.com/

]]> http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/after-years-of-development-in-stealth-mode-onlive-arrives/feed/ 0 http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/video-raymans-raving-rabbids-the-complete-collection/ http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/video-raymans-raving-rabbids-the-complete-collection/#comments Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:34:15 +0000 Indie-Game-Freak http://www.indiegamereviewer.com/?p=197 Whether or not the game lived up to the hype, one can’t deny that the marketing for this quirky camera cacophony is among the best ever made.

For your viewing enjoyment, here is the complete collection of Rayman’s Raving Rabbids ad spots

Click here to view the embedded video.