Best of Indie Games: From The Cat that Got the Milk to Hack, Slash, Loot

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor-in-chief Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days on his sister 'state of indie' weblog.] This week on "Best Of Indie Games," we take a look at some of the top independent PC Flash/downloadable titles released over this last week. The delights in this edition include a racing game for the Xbox Live Indie Games service, a 2010 IGF Student Showcase winner, a horizontally scrolling 'RPG shooter', plus a unique action-oriented roguelike that should be of interest to fans of the genre. Here's some recent highlights from IndieGames.com: Game Pick: 'Ocean Drive Challenge' (need1D, commercial indie) "While the Xbox Live Indie Games service has no shortage of racing games, need1D's Ocean Drive Challenge tackles a rarely-explored niche, citing inspiration from Sega's OutRun and other classic arcade titles." Game Pick: 'Quarrel' (Denki, commercial indie) "After having wowed mobile gamers on iOS, and impressing BAFTA Scotland enough for them to award it their best game of 2011 award, Denki's linguistic strategy game Quarrel has made the leap from mobile to console, receiving an XBLA release last week." Game Pick: 'Puddle' (ENJMIN, commercial indie) "In Puddle, players tilt the playfield to guide a puddle of fluid through various themed environments, including a garden, a foundry, and the human body. Each level features a number of obstacles that must be overcome using friction, gravity, and the unique physical properties of the fluid." Game Pick: 'MegaUP: Upload' (Distopia Studios, commercial indie) "MegaUP: Upload if you can! is a simplistic autoscrolling platformer in which players outrun a SWAT team and jump over SOPA barricades in a bid to upload as much data as possible to the Internet." Game Pick: 'The Cat that Got the Milk' (Ollie Clark, Helana Santos, Chris Randle, and Jon Mann, freeware) "The Cat that Got the Milk is an exciting two-button game for Windows and Mac. Players use two keys to guide a forward-moving, tiny rectangle through 18 gorgeous, increasingly abstract levels." Game Pick: 'Oil Rush' (Unigine Corp, commercial indie) "Unigine describes Oil Rush as 'a real-time naval strategy game that combines the strategic challenge of a classic RTS with the sheer fun of Tower Defence.' It's also quite pretty -- the game's detailed visuals are powered by Unigine's own graphics engine." Game Pick: 'Mutant Mudds' (Renegade Kid, commercial indie) "In Mutant Mudds players assume the role of Max, armed with a heavy-duty water cannon, a water-powered jet pack, and the intention to clean up the invading Mutant Mudd army." Game Pick: 'Arcadia' (Jonas Kyratzes, browser) "Arcadia is a simple, text-based game constructed in Twine that is centered around a shepherd, his sheep and his journey home." Game Pick: 'Starwish' (xdanond, browser) "Developer xdanond successfully merges two disparate genres in Starwish, a horizontally scrolling 'RPG shooter' playable for free at Kongregate. Starwish's power-up mechanics and level design exude a strong Gradius vibe, while the RPG elements put a fun spin on the formula." Game Pick: 'The Several Journeys of Reemus: Beastly Blackhole of Bureaucracy' (Jay Ziebarth, browser) "Beastly Blackhole of Bureaucracy is a cheeky, facepalm-inducing point & click adventure that will have you taking on Reemus and Liam's most formidable foe: The Danricus Department of Heroes." Game Pick: 'Hack, Slash, Loot' (David Williamson, commercial indie) "Hack, Slash, Loot (pictured) is unique in that the action-oriented roguelike is fully playable with mouse movement and left-clicks; the design boils down roguelike mechanics so that gameplay focuses on combat, though players can also expect lots of exploration and equipment juggling between battles."