Best Of Indie Games: Robots, Xoldiers and Rock Boshers

[Every week, IndieGames.com: The Weblog editor Tim W. will be summing up some of the top free-to-download and commercial indie games from the last seven days, as well as any notable features 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 an IGF Grand Prize winner arriving on Mac, a new game from cactus, two remakes, a browser game, and a full-length adventure game which has been in development for nearly three years. Game Pick: 'Xoldiers' (distractionware, freeware) "A new collaborative project by cactus and Terry Cavanagh (Self Destruct), where players assume control over a squadron of soldiers on a mission to destroy as many enemy installations as they can. Comes with an online high score submission feature and a level editor." Game Pick: 'Rock Boshers' (Dugan, freeware) "A ZX Spectrum-style remake of Volition's Red Faction, Rock Boshers is a late Bootleg Demakes entry created using Mark Overmars' Game Maker engine. The story is about a gentleman who was lured to work at a distant red planet in our solar system with promises of untold riches, only to end up being enslaved by the evil empire which offered the jobs in the first place. With the help of other miners caught in the same fate, he sets out to overthrow his captors and free the others from a life of servitude and injustice." Game Pick: 'Life of D. Duck II' (Audunsoft, freeware) "A full-length AGS adventure game which has taken nearly three years to develop, featuring a wacky cast of characters to interact with, numerous screens to explore, multiple GUIs, and more than twenty chiptunes for your listening pleasure. The unusual art style and meticulously-animated sprites are the contribution of Bjørnar B., an artist who happens to have an unhealthy obsession with drawing popular Disney characters." Game Pick: 'Stack'Em' (Knox, browser) "A remake of Columns originally developed by Arnauld Chevallier for the Intellivision, but then ported to a more accessible JavaScript code base four years after its initial release. The game comes with three difficulty settings with different starting levels, playable online or can be downloaded for offline play, and will work on most (if not all) versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and even Google's new internet browser Chrome." Game Pick: 'Robo-Evolution' (SKT, browser) "A short action game created by the developer of the Moai series, where players undertake the task of building a robot by rolling up items and spare parts scattered on the ground. The attributes of your robot are determined by the objects it acquires, with some items adding bulk and changing the appearance of the robot as well." Game Pick: 'Aquaria' (Bit Blot, commercial indie) "This award-winning exploration action game is now available on the Mac. Customers who purchase the Mac release will find a new world map system with progress recording, wide screen support, an auto updater, user-created markers, location names, changes to the cooking system, a built-in help feature, additional graphics and easier puzzles."