Verdict: Not Bad
In a Nutshell: This is a time and resource management game wrapped around a casual “swap” game.
“Welcome to World Train Royale! Join Lyria and her crew as they cross the continent expanding the Train Royale Company!
Search for new resources, meet strange and amazing hidden wonders. Create the best strategies in order to become the greatest Train Baron of All Time! “
Verdict: interesting
In a Nutshell: This is a first-person shooter/puzzle and was one of the 2009 PAX 10.
“Tag: The Power of Paint, a first-person platformer created by seven RTIS and BFA students at DigiPen, was chosen from ten IGF Student Showcase Finalists as winner of the Best Student Game Award.”
Verdict: delightful
In a Nutshell: This is a point-and-click adventure about a robot trying to save his girl and the leader of the city and was one of the 2009 PAX 10.
“Machinarium is an independent puzzle / adventure game developed by the makers of popular web-games Samorost and Samorost2. A little robot who’s been thrown out to the scrap yard behind the city must return and confront the Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot-girl friend. The game takes place in a strange rusty metallic city populated only by robots. The story is about a little robot who has been unjustly thrown out to the scrapyard behind the city. In the game he returns to the town where he meets the bad guys from Black Cap Brotherhood – they are just preparing a bomb attack on the central tower where the town ruler has residence in. Of course our hero must stop them and also rescue his friend robot-girl.”
Verdict: soooo relaxing
In a Nutshell: Physics game about cell-like creatures and was one of the 2009 PAX 10.
“Enter the ambient world of Osmos: elegant, physics-based gameplay, dreamlike visuals, and a minimalist, electronic soundtrack.
Your objective is to grow by absorbing other motes. Propel yourself by ejecting matter behind you. But be wise: ejecting matter also shrinks you. Relax… good things come to those who wait.
Progress from serenely ambient levels into varied and more challenging worlds. Confront attractors, repulsors and intelligent motes with similar abilities and goals as you.”
Verdict: not bad
In a Nutshell: This plays like a puzzling variation on pinball but with a rag doll and was one of the 2009 PAX 10.
“CarneyVale: Showtime is a vertical ragdoll platform game for Xbox LIVE Community Games. In the game, you play as Slinky, a circus acrobat trying to rise up the ranks by performing acrobatic tricks and death-defying stunts through increasingly complex arenas.”
Verdict: spooky
In a Nutshell: I can’t describe it any better than the website can. The still-being-developed, second installment of Closure was one of the 2009 PAX 10.
“A creepy puzzle about darkness and the unknown.”
Verdict: more please
In a Nutshell: Puzzle game involving a tree spirit and captive bears. This was one of the 2009 PAX 10
“Puzzle Bloom is the innovative action-puzzle game where you control the tree spirit Canotila in her quest to bring back life to her island. Canotila needs the assistance of the island’s native creatures to get past the rigid machines of the world. She flies from creature to creature and uses her powers to guide them. New life will bloom into the world for each time Canotila breaks a machine, bringing Canotila closer to her ultimate goal of a return to nature.”
Verdict: cute and nostalgic
In a Nutshell: Interactive story book about a kid cyclops that includes a memory game and music videos. This was one of the 2009 PAX10.
“What is Bothering Carl? is the tale of a young cyclops named Carl whose laid back attitude is disrupted by a single nuisance. Readers will discover Carl’s dilemma and follow along as he tries to solve his problem in this colorful interactive adventure.”
Verdict: extreme challenge!
In a Nutshell: This is a top-down, real-time strategy space conquest.
(from the game’s manual)
“You are a space war commander who controls a small fleet of ships and must win against all odds. While your enemies usually have more money and ships than you, a clever strategy can always turn the situation upside down so that you’re the one with all the cash and a giant armada. One last thing. In an act of sabotage, someone turned on your starbase’s self-destruct mechanism. This means that it will gradually destroy itself, assuming that your enemies don’t eliminate you first. Really, you have no time to waste. Get to it, commander!”
Verdict: If not for the load times . . .
In a Nutshell: This is a dogfighter with campaigns that take you through the time-line of WWII.
“Air Conflicts is an arcade flight simulator game set in World War II, featuring the aircraft of this period and historically inspired missions. The emphasis is on intense dogfights, daring bombing raids and exciting aerial missions.”