Weekend Wrapup- 10/11

One of the more prevalent complaints among both enthusiasts and journalists is ‘game fatigue’. The ailment can be prompted by either a barrage of overly-similar annual iterations or an onslaught of nearly indistinguishable titles within a specific genre. Personally, I’ve felt the effects of the malady in the midst of a Battlefield: Call of Honor match, when the distinction between each multiplayer competition became temporarily indistinguishable. “Wait, I didn’t unlock the P90 already? Oh, that was in that other military shooter”

One of the best avenues for solace can be found within independent games, which are often driven by an appreciation for the pastime, rather than financial dividend. Often crafted by individuals or small teams, the indie scene has had an increasingly profound impact on the industry, where critical acclaimed titles like Blow, Limbo, and The Misadventures of P.J. Winterbottom have offered does of ingenuity into an often homogeneous landscape.

Last weekend’s IndieCade, held in Culver City, CA is the sole festival for nurturing and promoting development, presenting awards to outstanding concepts, artistic merit, and overall execution. Tech-Gaming’s Ana M was on hand to document the show, and ended up becoming horribly atrociously addicted to Retro/Grade, a rhythm-based shmup which delightfully inverts the typical temporal mechanics of games. Playstation 3 owners can expect to see this time-reversal shooter in 2011.
 

Next on Ana’s indie-minded itinerary, was an expedition to a Hollywood, CA Gamestop for the launch of Super Scribblenauts, 5th Cell’s sequel to last year’s linguistic-based platform-puzzler.  Whereas the original game stumbled as players moved protagonist Maxwell around the hand-drawn environment, any control quirks have been removed. Additionally, the game’s “think of a noun, have it appear on-screen” mechanic has been augmented to allow players to use adjectives. Like the last game, early purchasers were transfixed by the game’s open-world title screen, watching a “hungry zombie” react to a “winged goat.” Expect a review and contest announcement before the end of the week.