XBL Indie Game Pick: I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 (Jamezila)
If you own an Xbox 360, please do yourself a favour. Go switch it on, maneuver your way to the Indie Games section and use 80 of your Microsoft Points - that's a mere dollar - to grab a copy of Jamezila's I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES 1N IT!!!1 It's the Best Selling and Top Rated title in the entire XBLIG catalogue for a reason, you know.
OK, so it has a stupid name and that might be putting you off, but you seriously shouldn't let it. What's on offer here is a mindless, top-down shooter which is way too much fun for its own good. The premise is simple: Zombies are advancing - take them down. There are special weapon pickups to help knock em down faster and other performance enhancing grabbables, but all in all there is one key idea - just keep shooting.
Of course, there are tons of mindless shooters out there, so what makes this one so special? Check out the above video to see for yourself. The entire game revolves around a single music track which includes lyrics such as 'I made this game using XNA, it costs a dollar and I hope you'll pay'. Depending on whether the song is thrashing about or is in a brief lull, the number of enemies/flashing lights will reflect the mood.
The great thing about the above video is that it cuts out right before things start getting... interesting. Freaky, even. You'll see much more than simply zombies, I'll tell you that much!
For a dollar, you're getting an epilepsy-inducing action-packed mindtrip that you'll genuinely want to stick on every time your friends are round. There's no online multiplayer, but it really doesn't matter - it's one of those experiences where you'll want to shout at people in the room with you anyway. Go and grab it from the XBLIG store. It'll make you smile.
Comments
Looks like a fun reimagining of crimsonland. Too bad I don't have an xbox360
Posted by: 9o47 | August 24, 2009 12:05 PM
At least you don't have to burn a rope to hear the song.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 24, 2009 12:49 PM
Please, tell me that song and the associated animation plays like that in game. that was epoch!
Posted by: Joe Larson | August 24, 2009 3:41 PM
I think it looks more like an old game "Phobia".
Posted by: Kalle | August 24, 2009 7:03 PM
Yup, that's the game. It's excellently done.
Posted by: RobF | August 24, 2009 7:22 PM
Meh. Played it. Gets boring after a while.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 24, 2009 7:49 PM
of course it gets boring, games like this are fun in short bursts
Posted by: mots | August 24, 2009 10:02 PM
@Anon: How long is 'after a while'? One dollar's worth of after a while?
Posted by: Michael Rose | August 24, 2009 10:43 PM
Nah, 99 cents at best. Those bastards robbed me of a penny.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 25, 2009 1:13 AM
How exactly does this game have "a stupid name"? I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!1" is brilliant
Posted by: BV | August 25, 2009 4:21 AM
I've made a similar game for the PC, a real-time rogue-like top-down-shooter:
http://plague-like.blogspot.com/
Posted by: benedict | August 25, 2009 8:32 AM
This would be a mediocre free flash game with a novelty theme (YHtBtR style.) Why is it the highest rated game and why is it worth even a dollar?
Have we all been so battered by the countless homework assignments, controller vibrators, and picture games readily available on community games that we'll call any actual attempt a good game worth your money?
Posted by: YAYitsAndrew | August 25, 2009 2:32 PM
Give me a break with the 'so not worth the money' attitude. It's a freaking dollar. Even if EVERY person who tried it bought it, sales aren't even going to pay the bills much less make anyone rich.
Such a rip-off. *rollseyes*
Posted by: 9572AD | August 25, 2009 3:54 PM
The game has over 6000 ratings. Let's assume that some people rated it without playing it, but also that some people played it without rating it and that there's been roughly 6000 plays.
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/media/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802585502a6/
At $1 per, and after Microsoft's cut, this game so far would net a little over $4000 dollars if every person who tried it bought it (as you suggest). This would have been enough to put it into the top 6 community games of ALL TIME if we look at the sales figures from back in March.
http://www.gamerbytes.com/xnasalesmar09.png
This game would take a professional under a week to make. With all these stats, it looks like this game is poised to be VERY VERY successful for the developer. And for what? Boxhead is right here:
http://www.games.seantcooper.com/Boxhead_TheZombieWars.aspx
I'm as excited as everyone else to see xbox live indie games producing something other than bile, but let's not forget to have standards. Turning this game into an indie darling and suggesting we must fork over our dollars will just encourage behavior that turns xbox live indie games into another app store. Do we really need two different ways to live 3 years behind the flash market? Or can we finally have a breeding ground for independent game ingenuity that lets us vote with dollars?
Posted by: YAYitsAndrew | August 25, 2009 7:59 PM
I'm not saying it's the greatest game ever or that every game should aspire to be what it is.
I AM saying it's definitely worth a dollar and claiming it isn't worth it because of its lack of epic scale is hogwash.
As far as your point about it possibly being one of the highest grossing XBL Indies ever, that was MY point. Nobody is making jack.
Posted by: 9572AD | August 25, 2009 10:53 PM
Boxhead: The Zombie Wars doesn't have four player single screen play. That's a pretty big point for me, as I wouldn't buy IMAGWZ if it were single player. IMAGWZ isn't a long lived game, but having a quick blast with friends is a major selling point to me.
B:TZW doesn't have the theme song of IMAGWZ, which is just entertaining enough to put people over the edge for a quick-click impulse $1 buy.
B:TZW is not available on the Xbox 360. This is one of the crippling details. Even if there are "better" games available on a PC, IMAGWZ is primarily competing against what is available on the 360.
For a dollar, it competes pretty well even as a short-lived experience. Maybe someone else will take note and put a similar but better game on XBLIG for the same price to compete with it.
Posted by: Baines | August 26, 2009 12:44 AM
You can just play the demo, and get pretty much everything from it. The full version drags on for a bit longer, adds one or two more things after a while, and then just ends with a whimper.
Posted by: Mister Bile | August 26, 2009 11:01 AM
@benedict:
Does it have zombies in it?
Posted by: Radiance | August 26, 2009 8:02 PM
That Gamerbytes article is missing tons of info. $4000 would not put a game anywhere near the top 6 grossing games so far.
Posted by: Adam | August 26, 2009 11:52 PM
@Radiance:
It does.
Posted by: Benedict | August 27, 2009 10:35 AM
Wow... Are people really that cheap that it's even worth their time to kvetch about a $1 game? Geez, you can spend $1 for *one* play on a lot of 'real' arcade games now. $1 to buy a game outright and there's a value debate? Amazing.
Posted by: havok1919 | August 28, 2009 5:29 PM
Tried it and it wasn't bad, but I won't download it myself though. It'd sit there collecting dust anyways, only played once. Smash TV it ain't.
Novelty wears thin, even at a low, low price.
Hell, I won't download most indie games for free. "CMONNNN IT'S ONLY ONE DOLLA," doesn't entice me.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 17, 2009 12:10 AM
This is a rip off from the PC Game Crimsonland by 10Tons and Reflexive, shame on you...
Posted by: R. Rankine | September 17, 2009 5:28 AM
I bought it, I like it - well worth the money, it's not making anyone any real money and it would take a professional way more than one week! I mean, just to get the song written, the music written, all of it recorded and put onto the game would probably take most of a 5 day working week - $4000...that's nothing! I pay contractors $750 a day to do basic Access development! Get in the real world. This is fun, if it's fun for an hour it's well worth it!
Posted by: Si | October 29, 2009 5:49 PM
My friend just got this game and it's a lot of fun!!! Question what is the lighting thing for? We go over it a lot of times but doesn't seem to do anything. HELP!!
Posted by: Dan | January 1, 2010 6:43 AM