Best Of Indie Games: It's Hot, But Don't Sweat It

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog co-editor 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 Flash collaboration between cactus and Mark Johns, a student project from the ENJMIN university, a new release from Nitrome, a dual-stick shooter by XBLIG developer Luke Schneider, and a RPGMaker game about games journalism. Here's the highlights from the last seven days: Game Pick: 'Hot Throttle' (cactus and Mark Johns, browser) "In Hot Throttle, you play as a semi-naked guy who thinks he is a car, and you race other guys around the city. From the second race onwards, it's pretty enjoyable, although the cutscenes remain creepy as hell." Game Pick: 'Island Survival' (styxtwo, browser) "Trapped upon a series of rapidly disintegrating islands, the objective in Island Survival is a rather simple one: survive. As the protagonist, a blocky-looking character who looks rather like a shipwrecked businessman, you have very little at your disposal outside of your dexterity and the snowflakes drifting down from the skies." Game Pick: 'Antimatiere' (Team Antimatter, browser) "Created by a group of students from the ENJMIN university, Antimatiere is a 3D puzzle game that features flat 2D objects everywhere you look. A failed experiment had turned all objects and people in the world into wall textures, and you're the only person who can still move around and save the day somehow." Game Pick: 'Canary' (Nitrome, browser) "Canary puts you in control of a blue feathered miner, equipped with a jetpack and laser drilling gun. There are some strange goings-on down in the mines, and you're tasked with investigating and removing the threats." Game Pick: 'Ballistic' (Radiangames, commercial indie) "Luke Schneider, the king of XBLIG dual-stick shooters, has come full circle with his seventh and final release on the service. Ballistic returns back to the simple yet deep blasting action that JoyJoy provided, and it is more polished than your dad's bald head." Game Pick: 'Games Journo Story' (Brendan Caldwell, freeware) "You've played Game Dev Story - now find out what it feels like to write about the games instead. Games Journo Story is the nearly true story of Arthur McStension on his way to a games expo in 'The London' to play games and meet other journalists."