Top 20 Rated US, UK Xbox Live Indie Games: Dec. 29th
It's been a pretty darn interesting year for the Xbox Live Indie Games service. Back in July Xbox Live Community Games took its new 'Indie Games' title, and a whole new pricing and rating system was banged into place. Since then, a number of indie developers working on XBLIG titles have reported seeing rises in sales and the whole service has definitely picked up a bit more steam.
Of course, with the new rating system in place - in which Xbox gamers can rate any game out of 5 stars - it means we now have a pretty picture of which games are actually higher quality right now (as opposed to the Top 20 most-downloaded, which often has much stranger stuff in it.).
With that said, here's the top 20 best rated games on Xbox Live Indie Games in the US and UK. Please note that the list is changing daily, with some titles moving into the top 20 one week and then disappearing again the next, but since it's ranked from lifetime ratings, it's a decent indication of what's quality out there.
[EDIT: It's just been brought to our attention that these charts are region-specific, so we've added a US chart in addition to the original UK chart posted!]
U.S. Top 20
(1) I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
(2) Inside Lacrosse's CL2010
(3) Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL!
(4) Miner Dig Deep
(5) Beat Hazard
(6) ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition
(7) ZP2K9
(8) Groov
(9) Kodu Game Lab
(10) Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP!
(11) CarneyVale Showtime
(12) Platypus
(13) The Impossible Game
(14) Solar
(15) Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight
(16) Square Off
(17) Gerbil Physics
(18) Johnny Platform Saves Xmas!
(19) Avatar Drop
(20) Twin Blades
UK Top 20
(1) I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 - Indie Games Review
(2) Miner Dig Deep
(3) Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL!
(4) Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight
(5) SFG Soccer
(6) ezmuse + Hamst3r edition
(7) Platypus - Indie Games Review
(8) Beat Hazard
(9) Johnny Platform Saves Christmas - Indie Games Review
(10) ZP2K9
(11) Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP!
(12) Kodu Game Lab
(13) Leave Home
(14) Avatar Drop
(15) The Impossible Game
(16) Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp
(17) CarneyVale Showtime
(18) Junkyard Battle
(19) Inside Lacrosse's CL2010
(20) Gerbil Physics
Comments
Cool, another XBLIG article!
I really like the idea of opening up consoles to indies and hobbyists the way XBLIG does. For me just having my game on the xbox is enough, but it would be awesome if it also could become a viable platform for smaller studios and the likes, hopefully it will.
You're one of my favorite news sites, keep up the great work!
Posted by: Gustav | December 29, 2009 2:26 PM
I quite enjoyed Miner dig deep, altho the demo is really dull the full game is really addictive.
Posted by: Self TItled | December 29, 2009 3:00 PM
Here's the US list:
1. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
2. Inside Lacrosse's CL2010
3. Arkedo Series - 03 PIXEL!
4. Miner Dig Deep
5. Beat Hazard
6. ezmuze+ Hamst3r edition
7. ZP2K9
8. Groov
9. Kodu Game Lab
10. Arkedo Series - 01 JUMP!
11. CarneyVale Showtime
12. Platypus
13. The Impossible Game
14. Solar
15. Avatar Wave: Snowball Fight
16. Square Off
17. Gerbil Physics
18. Johnny Platform Saves Xmas!
19. Avatar Drop
20. Twin Blades
And just a heads up, if you want to regularly feature this you can pull this data from any country by going to the Xbox.com site. To change the country that it pulls the list from just click on "International" in the top-left corner and select from the list. From there just go to the Game Marketplace page, then the Indie section and have it sort by Best Rated. Going there will even allow you to see past the Top 20 which the dashboard list won't let you do.
Posted by: Nick Garboden | December 29, 2009 4:29 PM
Thanks, Nick, added, and thanks for the tip on getting it. We may try to update every now and again with movers and shakers, although the chart doesn't change THAT much.
Oh, and you can look past the Top 20 on your Xbox, you just have to go to Indie/All Games and sort by rating, so a different menu.
Posted by: simonc | December 29, 2009 5:06 PM
It's true the lists don't change often. In their next update to Indie Games I'd like them to offer lists based off of maybe best rated for the week, month, all-time, or something similar.
Also, hopefully they eventually add the ability for people to write reviews on top of just giving it stars. User reviews on the iPhone app store has actually helped me on several occasions when deciding if I really want a game or not.
I'd love to see them give just a little more love to the Indie Games on Xbox Live. I try to get people interested in them and even bring them up on occasion to coworkers but nobody really pays much mind. Oh well.
Posted by: Nick Garboden | December 29, 2009 5:26 PM