Five Xbox Live Indie Games For The New Year

For $3 or less, you can get any of these awesome new independent games to usher in 2011.

December brought a happy surprise for fans of the independent games movement. Several of the best developers on the Xbox Live Indie service banded together to create their own Summer of Arcade-style event called the Winter Uprising, which has been rolling out throughout December. In many cases, these games are the second generation of titles for the service from developers, and the experience shows. We checked out all the games that released as part of the Winter Uprising promotion, and they're all impressive, but we’ve selected five that help to show off the breadth of unique genres and game experiences available, and included links to trailers for all five videos so you can check them out.

If one or more of these games looks like fun (trust us, they are), then we’ve also included links to purchase the games directly on Xbox Live Marketplace. Many of the games cost only a dollar, but if you’re feeling really cheap, they all come with free trials to get your feet wet.

Cthulhu Saves the World

The developer behind Breath of Death VII has returned with another old-school RPG with a twist. This time, that villainous spawn from out of time and space, Cthulhu, has emerged once again into the world. Unfortunately for him, he’s been robbed of his powers, and can only get them back by becoming a true hero. Cthulhu Saves the World has an ideal mix of classic JRPG charm and modern humor, with lots of fun references to Lovecraftian mythology thrown into the mix. The Dragon Quest-style battles are fast. The characters are amusing. The gameplay is clever. And the campaign is lenghty; the game takes between 5 and 10 hours to complete, so you’ll definitely get your money’s worth. Also, we couldn’t help but chuckle at this music video trailer. Then again, we're kind of dorks for the whole Cthulhu thing. Buy it

Crossfire 2

The first Crossfire game was a really good time, and its sequel ups the ante and wins big. For those not familiar with the concept, imagine something like Space Invaders, but your ship can teleport back and forth between the top and the bottom of the screen, engaging aliens from either direction. The fast pace, excellent music and visuals, and tightly wound gameplay experience combine to nail a strong arcade dynamic. As you play, you unlock points to upgrade your ship, introducing a customizable leveling system that you can work to maximize score. Your also constantly flipping back and forth across the screen to pick up ammo for your supershot, which can get you into a rhythm that destroys entire enemy waves in mere seconds. Everything about the game works like a charm, and you can’t argue with that zen-like vibe when a game like this gets it so right. Buy it

Up Next: A space shooter, pterodactyls, and the sequel to one of our favorite indie games

Soulcaster II

One of our favorite games on the Xbox Live Indie service since its release has been Soulcaster. The second installment of the series doesn’t change much in the gameplay department, but continues the story of the intrepid magic-user and his three summoned defenders. More importantly, Soulcaster II is lengthier than the first, and the level designs are even more interesting. If you didn’t play the first one, imagine a game with the fantasy styling and monster hordes of old-school Gauntlet games. However, instead of shooting these enemies yourself, you summon one of three unique warriors to do your fighting for you. In practice, it feels like a mobile tower defense game, where you’re constantly moving around the board, redeploying your forces to hold back the tide. It’s an entirely unique gameplay concept, and it’s executed extremely well. If you haven’t played the first game, do that first. And then follow through and enjoy this excellent sequel. Buy it

Break Limit

We loved this intense space shooter from the first few minutes we started playing, thanks to its unique mechanics and intense sense of speed. As you navigate your ship around asteroids and other obstacles, you’re constantly collecting pick-ups to power your break limit, a meter that speeds you up and turns your ship invincible. The best scores emerge when you manage to keep your break limit going for long stretches as you navigate (at insane speeds) around the board, picking up other pick-ups that provide points. Three big levels each include branching paths on any of the game’s multiple difficulty settings, so there’s lots of replayability. Simple to grasp – hard to master. Just what you want out of a game like this. Buy it

ZP2KX

The team that brought us Dishwasher: Dead Samurai and I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1 just released their latest game, ZP2KX, short for Zombies and Pterodactyls 20XX. Great name, right? The online multiplayer-enabled side-scrolling shooter is a ton of fun, thanks in large part to the wealth of great weapons that populate the matches. Several game types nail all the standards, from Deathmatch to Capture the Flag and King of the Hill. However, the games coolest feature is the way you level up as you play, unlocking the ability to create new unique characters, effectively letting you design your own class. Life in ZP2KX is quick, brutal, and deadly, but the action is tight and the weapons are a blast. Anyone looking for some good, old-fashioned online combat won’t be disappointed. Buy it

We decided to highlight these five games because of how different each was from the last, but you shouldn’t miss the other awesome games in the Indie Games Winter Uprising. You can check out all of the titles that are part of the promotion at the Winter Uprising Website, including Chu’s Dynasty, Alpha Squad, Epic Dungeon, Decimation X3, Asteroids Do Concern Me, Hyper Ship out of Control, Aphelion: Episode Two: Wings of Omega, Ubergridder, and Rickenbakcer vs. the Aliens.