Well, the Humble Indie Bundle team has done it again and managed to put together an absolute killer lineup for all of you. Jamestown, Bit.Trip Runner, Super Meat Boy, Shank and Night Sky HD are all on the docket, with the bonus of Gratuitous Space Battles and Cave Story+ if you beat the average buy in which is sitting at $5.09 at the time of writing.
There are times in this job where objectivity is needed, and this is not one of those times. If you are a PC gamer, there is absolutely no excuse to not buy into this. Super Meat Boy alone sells for $14.99 and was contender for Game Of The Year last year. Moreso, if you haven’t had the pleasure of playing Cave Story+, this is a perfect chance to rectify this and earn back some geek cred. As always, every game is cross-platform and will work natively in OS X, Linux or Windows. Each one is 100% DRM free, with the the ability to redeem them on Steam.
- Super Meat Boy from Team Meat is as close to Stockholm Syndrome as I ever hope you come. It’s hard. No, wait. Sorry, that didn’t carry enough weight; let me try again. Super Meat Boy is HARD. Think back to when you were just a kid and you needed to have your friend finish a level for you because you couldn’t do it. That will happen in the first world of Super Meat Boyand it just gets progressively diabolical from there. However, this game hurts you because it loves you, and every single death is your fault. Just when you think you’ve gotten the hang of it, you’ll have unlocked a new guest character with new abilities and faults forcing a complete rethink of your entire game plan. For those of you who are into speed running, this one will be your undoing, I suggest you inform your loved ones that you won’t be making it home for the holidays.Super Meat Boy retails for $14.99.
- Jamestown by Final Form Games is an incredible shmup that adds a special flair to the game with it’s co-op. While the game is fully playable (and enjoyable) on its own, the co-op introduces a new mechanic involving a respawn timer. Every time you or your buddy dies (it will happen), a short timer comes up increasing with every death. If you survive until the timer hits zero, then you’re back in the game. If not, it’s game over. Jamestownworks with mouse, keyboard and gamepad so gather some friends up and dive in.Jamestownretails for $9.99 and includes its soundtrack, which is an additional $4.99 value.
- Bit.Trip Runner from Gaijin Gamesis a game that’s impossible to not like. While it’s a very simplistic platformer at its core, it’s the soundtrack integration that makes this a standout. Every level is a music video with your jumps and dives resulting in something unlike any other game on the market. What starts out as a game to kill 10 minutes while you’re waiting for the postman, turns into an hour long colorful marathon of “just one more time”Bit.Trip Runnernormally goes for $9.99.
- Shank from Klei Entertainment is a throwback to the “beat-em ups” of old, drawing heavily from graphic novels and Quentin Tarantino films. I would go into detail, but Joystiq.com beat me to the punch stating everything that needs to me said: “Shank is a lot of fun because it lets you murder a lot of different people in a lot of different ways, and I think you should buy it.” Journalism brilliance. All kidding aside, Justin puts it out there perfectly, and this could easily be a favorite of a lot of our readers.Shankretails for $14.99.
- Night Sky HD: I’ll admit it’s the game I know the least about. However, Nicalis is as close as you get to an automatic buy from an indie developer, so I had high expectations and they were met. A very tranquil and ambient puzzle game with tight physics and polished controls, Night Sky was recoginized by the Independent Games Festival of 2011, and it’s easy to see why.Night Sky HDretails for $9.99.
- Gratuitous Space Battles from Positech Games is exactly what I hoped E.V.E.would have been before I realized it was essentially “Accounting: The Game”. The best aspect of this game has to be the multiplayer section, which plays out more like a snail mail chess game. Players can build up their fleets, leaving them as a “challenge” for you to set up your own armada against. The feeling of smug satisfaction that comes with outsmarting someone you’ve never met is the reason the internet was created in the first place.Gratuitous Space Battlesgoes for $19.99.
- That leaves us with Cave Story+. Truth be told, I was planning on buying Studio Pixel’s latest update with my next paycheck. However, the Humble Indie Bundle has once again informed me that I need to stop pretending to have self-control and enjoy these games now. Cave Story is simply a must play for gamers. While it may not look like a lot by today’s standards, this game would have been considered one of the greatest of all time had it come out 20 years ago. This is one of those titles that you can go back and play again and again, and is well worth it’s price tag of $9.99.
This bundle is worth every penny of its retail price; however that’s not how these work. If you’re the sad game collector like myself, you already had a majority of these and might not be willing to fork over that Benjamin. Luckily, The Humble Indie Bundle works off a pay whatever you want theory that (surprisingly) is working. Choose your price, choose how your money is split between the developers, charities and the Humble Team and then it’s all yours. So, you could get everything minus Cave Story+ and Gratuitous Space Battles for a penny. However, you have to be the one to make the call of who gets that penny.
Do yourself a favor, spend a couple of bucks to get these killer titles and help out some great causes at the same time. You’ve got two weeks to jump in, so do not miss this. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch the list of top donations to see if Minecraft creator Notch decides to beat current top donor “Humble Brony Bundle.”
Do they not have the best commercials though?
Published: Dec 14, 2011 12:19 am