4th Place  - Tie - 

Marble Blast Gold [by Monster Studios published by GarageGames]

Our Review

Marble Blast Gold is one of the many entries this year that came through Garage Games and used the Torque engine.

The game takes the Marble Madness idea from years ago and completely turns it on its head.  With multiple power-ups, and maps that require you to do everything including moving upside down, Marble Blast Gold offers a lot of game play options. 

As you can tell by the screen shot, Marble Blast went with a different look than we are seeing in most games today.  Instead of giving a shinny look that you might expect from a marble game, the developers made the game much more cartoony, and to their credit, it worked perfectly.  Well maybe not perfectly enough to beat out the rest of the competition here, but it had some pretty steep competition. 

Score:  3.75

4th Place  - Tie - 

Orbz [by 21-6 Productions published by GarageGames]

Our Review

Easily one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long time Orbz is a game that everyone should try at a LAN party.  The graphics are very smooth.  Orbz also uses the Torque engine as its basis, and the simple but bright graphics make Orbz fun to look at. 

The game is played by taking control of one of many balls called Orbz.  When the whistle blows everyone attempts to hit as many stars as possible with their Orbz ball.  You control the ball by aiming with your mouse, and then controlling the distance on a power meter with the mouse button, something along the lines of how Golf games work. 

This is one of those games that just works, where in describing the game you cannot describe why it is such a wonderful game, it just is. The fun factor while playing a multiplayer game on the internet is immense, as the large online Orbz gaming community attests to.  Still, the game does take a little while to get into, and until you have it down, you'll finish dead last every time.  Probably the level of skill needed to play was the only reason it didn't finish first in the Action Category.

Score:  3.75

3rd Place

Demonstar: SM2 [by Mountain King]

Our Review

Mountain King has become known over the years for creating some of the best Independent games on the market.  This year was no different as two similar though different games came out.  The first was Demonstar:  Secret Missions part 1, and the second was Demonstar:  Seceret Missions Part 2.  Not a lot changed between the two games, which was a good thing.  The same great graphics and 2-player simultaneous game play exists in both games. 

Demonstar hails back to the days of Raiden, and other classic shooters and proves that a 2D engine can still deliver fantastic results when properly used.  The only disappointment on this one was the general rehash of the weapons used in the earlier version of Demonstar. 

Demonstar scored just barely above the 4th place finishers, but honestly all 5 finalists are well worth your time to play.

Score:  3.5

2ND Place

3D Airstrike: Operation W.A.T. [by Divogames]

Our Review

Combining wonderful 3D graphics and brilliant special effects, 3D Airstrike was one of the first major Independent releases of the year and it turned out to be the force to be reckoned with that we thought it would be when we first reviewed it back in March.

3D Airstrike added even more features after that review, with 2-Player Simultaneous play.  This game is everything that a shooter should be and that is said for many reasons.  Helicopters should be naturals as stars of shooter games due to the fact that they actually can move laterally, whereas jets really cannot.  Why there are not more Helicopter shooters like this is really a good question.

What is not in question is that this is easily one of the best looking games that we've played in the Indie sector.  Airstrike 3D will get you excited for the old school action that Independent Gaming offers.

Score:  2.25

1st Place

Alien Shooter [by Sigma]

Our Review

Alien Shooter is proof that games do not have to have the newest and coolest graphics to be a blast to play. 

Not to say that the graphics in Alien Shooter are not great, they are wonderful.  However at 640 x 480 resolution, it is one of those games that people may be tempted to scoff at just by looking at the numbers. 

However, the first time you bring the game up on your computer, you'll quickly look past the numbers.  Alien Shooter has done an amazing job of taking little and turning it into a lot.  With only a few real different varieties of aliens, Alien Shooter has created endless hordes of aliens to shoot.  Blasting aliens back to their own dimension is only half of the story.  The bigger part of the story here is how the game feels.  There is a very creepy feel to this game that is aided by eerie music.  As you walk through each stage, there are 2 distinct parts.  The first part is the "finding" part of the stage where you try to either flip on the lights or blast a power generator as you find the aliens.  For those who have played Splatterhouse or other games where the tension builds to such a point that you start attacking randomly because you know that any moment you are going to be overwhelmed by enemies, you have just the smallest sense of who this game plays.  The second part of the stage is the all-out blood bath you've been "waiting for" while you attempt to destroy an angry never-ending mob of aliens. 

Alien Shooter is a special game that though it doesn't really present anything new, it takes many ideas that have been done before and makes them perfect.  This game is a great example of everything working perfectly in a game and it is the best Independent Action Game of the Year!

Score:  1.75