Before we discuss the two co-op entries for this week, a quick announcement. We've been covering quite a few indie titles these past few weeks, and even a few more starting last summer. It's at this point that we here at Co-Optimus are pleased to announce that we've added a new Xbox Live Indie Games section to our database of co-op games! Now you'll have a quick reference to all of the indie co-op games on XBLIG that the Co-Optimus staff has either personally played or covered in some fashion. There will be more about this new feature and a couple other things for which to keep an eye out later this week, but for now, enjoy!
Wizard’s Keep
Developer: Substance Games
Genre: Role Playing
Available On: XBLIG
Co-Op Mode: Local (2 players)
Price: 80 MS Points ($1)
Demo w/ Co-Op Available: Yes
With the PSN still down over the weekend really in a state right now, I was am unable to get my “Diablo adventure with friends” fix through the recently released Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. With a craving that's steadily growing, I turned to the XBLIG section to see what I might be able to find. Best known for their single-player adventure Miner Dig Deep, Substance Games recently released an action RPG called Wizard’s Keep. Intrigued by the possibility, and craving some more loot hunting, I decided to see what, exactly, this wizard had in his keep.
The game starts off with the hero in his humble hovel pondering over his “To-Do” list, which includes items like “Clear Out Cobwebs from Home” and “Slay Goblin King.” The first step in his adventure is to track down a suitable weapon (a wooden dagger from the local item shop) for clearing out those pesky cobwebs, but right after that is when the real tutorial picks up and Wizard’s Keep begins to show its Diablo roots. Essentially, you will travel from dungeon to dungeon clearing out the goblins and other evil foes that lurk within in order to level up your character and find better equipment; after all, a wooden dagger and wooden shield are only going to protect you for so long. Charmingly, the game does show a good bit of humor as a lot of the initial equipment you’ll find will be things like a bucket with eye holes for a helmet and a wooden barrel for armor.
Wizard’s Keep’s gameplay is about what you’d expect from a hack n’ slash dungeon crawler that follows in the tradition of those that came before. At each level up, you can choose one of four categories (strength, defense, health, and speed) and at every fourth level you can add points to special abilities, such as healing yourself or unleashing a more powerful attack. These special abilities work off of a charge meter that fills as you attack and kill enemies, and are best used when you need that quick little boost or extra bit of damage to overcome the foes. Speaking of combatants, you will encounter bosses and sub-bosses along the way, and, for a good deal of them, rather than just be a straight-forward “keep hacking away until it dies,” you will actually have a little bit of a challenge/puzzle in bringing them down. Defeating one boss, for instance, entails employing the ole “get him to shoot out these conspicuous load-bearing pillars” trick. While the loot isn’t quite as glamorous as it is in other games, Wizard’s Keep does employ an interesting mechanic where anything (within certain levels) can drop at any time from any enemy, so you still get that driven feeling of searching for more and more loot.
If this hero brought a co-op partner along, maybe he wouldn't about to be the victim of a brutal backstab from a goblin...
As with so many of these games, having a partner along for the ride is definitely recommended to increase your overall fun. Despite some of the fun aspects of Wizard’s Keep, like the boss fights and humor, the tedium does start to set in around the second dungeon when you may find yourself in need of backtracking to gain some more experience and better equipment. While co-op is local only, player progress is saved separately so you and your couch co-op partner can feel free to level up and equip yourselves as you see fit. Each player gets experience for killing enemies, with the player doing the actual killing getting a little more. The loot drops, however, are on a “first person to get there” basis, so there may be a little friendly competition and mad dashing to pick up a new piece of equipment. Fortunately, you can drop items so the other person can pick them up. Perhaps the biggest flaw with the co-op is that players can get separated and, when they do, the second player just goes off screen with only an arrow to indicate where he or she has gone. Tethering players together isn’t always a great choice, but it is certainly a better alternative to what is implemented.
Wizard’s Keep is a pretty good entry in the action-RPG genre, though it’s not without its drawbacks. Still, for those loot-seeking fans who are looking for a way to scratch that itch with a friend on the Xbox, there is a lot of game here to enjoy.
Wrap-Up
Wizard’s Keep is For: All those folks seeking to satisfy the need to traipse through dungeon after dungeon, slaying all foes in your path, and collecting piles of loot
The Co-Op Experience: Each player is free to level up his or her hero as they please in addition to equipping him with all the loot players find. Should the second player stray too far away, though, he or she will be lost off-screen until the first player goes back
Undead Empire
Developer: Big Rook Games
Genre: Shooter
Available On: XBLIG
Co-Op Mode: Local or Online (2-4 players)
Price: 80 MS Points ($1)
Demo w/ Co-Op Available: Yes
Amongst all of the Xbox Live Indie Game offerings, a fair amount of them play off some form of slaying zombies/aliens/monsters in a co-operative fashion. While they do have some degree of co-operative gameplay involved, Undead Empire is one of the first offerings I’ve played where the co-op aspect is readily apparent from just the character selection screen.
Each of the six playable characters, which pretty much cover the spectrum of zomb-ocalypse survivors of nurses/policemen/military personnel/businessmen, bring a special group ability with them, such as everyone doing more damage, or being able to heal party members. This diverse cast of characters means that putting a party together for some good ole undead horror massacring is something of a strategic negotiation. Do you go with more overall health and higher damage over a healer or more cash? There are plenty of combinations to consider and while each wave of enemies is fairly set, the way you approach them with your choice of characters will allow for some re-playability and fun co-op moments.
Once your party’s been set, which can be done as either a local or online group, the actual slaying of zombies comes down a few twin-stick shooter standards; specifically, using one stick to move, another to aim, and the trigger to fire your weapon of choice. You also have a limited supply of grenades to lob at the swarms to help thin them out, though you do restock one at the start of each round so you’ll always have at least one to use when most needed. You start off with an unlimited ammo pistol but can add to your arsenal of weapons in between the waves of foes at your local friendly neighborhood creepy weapons dealer that will gladly accept the piles of cash that are randomly dropped. Additionally, the dealer will restock ammo or upgrade your weapons so you fire quicker or deal more damage. Finally, you can also purchase turrets from the dealer that will help provide an additional gun on the battlefield.
Choose from one of the six characters, each with his or her own group bonus that will help your party last a little longer
Play through the story campaign and you can try your luck at the game’s survival mode. Essentially, you’re given an upgraded weapon with unlimited ammo before having every enemy in the game thrown at you non-stop. This can also be played co-operatively and adds a nice challenge/change of pace from the campaign mode once you’ve cleared it. Despite all this, the game isn’t without its flaws. While graphics aren’t an aspect of a game I particularly care about, in this case the sprites that are used for the characters can get a little lost amidst all of the background/zombie hordes, making it difficult sometimes to know exactly where you are and what’s going on. This becomes especially true when you start getting further away from your co-op partners and the screen zooms out so everyone can see. Finally, the online portion of the game currently has some issues with connectivity and slow down, though Big Rook is aware of this and has already submitted a patch that is pending approval.
Update: Thanks to LadySwans for pointing this out. If your partner dies, they do have a chance at revival in between rounds provided they have the cash to buy a health pack from the store.
Undead Empire could easily be overlooked as just another co-op twin-stick shooter with zombies amidst all the other entries, but it shouldn’t be. It isn’t perfect, but it definitely does a lot of things right and actually left me reminiscing about another great co-op shooter with cash and prizes…
Wrap-Up
Undead Empire is Geared Towards: Gamers that can never kill enough zombies with a friend and also may enjoy big money and big prizes
The Co-Op Experience: Each player chooses from one of six playable characters, each of which brings his or her own special abilities to the group as a whole; slay zombies, earn money, and purchase upgrades as you fight off wave after wave of the shambling undead