If anything can be said about Rotor’scope: The Secret of the Endless Energy, it’s that its thorough. At its heart, the game is a simple puzzler with a narrative wrapped around it, but developer Nivel21 has managed to combine the wonders of social networking with a solid game to create a user experience quite unlike anything else you’ll find on the 360 today.

The premise for the game is pretty basic; you start the game in a mansion with rooms which need to be explored using a special device known as the rotor’scope. As you solve the puzzles, you’ll learn more about the device from a mysterious man hidden within the mansion.

Since the puzzles are the main focus of the game the narrative really takes a back seat. It’s not going to win any awards for its story telling, and some of the twists and turns are entirely expected, but the puzzling play is second to none.

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Browsing through Xbox Live’s Indie titles has made me realise two things: there are a staggering number of vibration “games”, and people sure love to put those zombies in their titles. We’re rapidly reaching the point of saturation, where developers need to give gamers something more to entice a purchase out of them.

So what makes Twin Blades, a side scrolling brawler/shooter that is also available for iPhone, any different from all the other zombie tinged offerings out there?

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Guess what happens in this game?   Hint: the title is pretty descriptive.

From the creators of the trippy Pong update Revenge of the Ball comes a 2D-shooter where every level is a boss level.  And you will die.  A lot.  By lasers.

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No, it’s not about crossing the Rio Grande while avoiding patrols.  Border Wars is basically a hand-drawn R-type with a highly customizable ship.  By highly, I mean completely.  As in, the whole game is hand-drawn, and you can completely erase the default ship and drawn your own.  You don’t even have to draw a ship.  You can draw a panda, or a shoe, or a leper.  I didn’t fly around in a doodled penis and shoot green sperm shots at aliens, honest!  That would be immature.

But does my penis ship make this a unique and worthy update of a classic side-scrolling shooter?  Or is it bound to be ignored, just like in real life?

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[Every week, Gamer Limit scours the underbelly of the internet to bring you the finest releases from the indie scene. Check back each week to see what we recommend. Feel free to check out our full schedule right here!]

“Atmosphere” is one of those intangible qualities that every game strives to achieve, yet few manage to convey successfully.  Sometimes, the problem is just that the game attempts too much.

This is where many of the Xbox Live Indie Games derive their strength – simplicity.  Do one thing, and do it well.

Today, we look at Dark, a pure puzzle platformer with atmosphere in spades.

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[Every week, Gamer Limit scours the underbelly of the internet to bring you the finest releases from the indie scene. Check back each week to see what we recommend. Feel free to check out our full schedule right here!]

The Xbox Live Indie Games service is full of clones of more popular titles.  “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” so they say.  Sadly, the imitator is rarely as good as the original.

Beat Hazard is, in essence, a Geometry Wars clone.  However, it is one of those rare titles that not only meets the expectations set by its predecessor, but exceeds them.  It is perhaps the single finest Indie Game on the entire service.

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[Every Wednesday Gamer Limit scours the underbelly of the internet to bring you the finest releases from the indie scene, check back each week to see what we recommend. Feel free to check out our full schedule right here!]

Indie games don’t have multi-million dollar budgets.  They don’t have bleeding-edge technology and cutscenes rivaling the processed beauty of Pixar movies.  They don’t try to mash five different genres together in a tired attempt to be innovative just for the sake of innovation.

The best indie games, however, have focus.  They do one thing, and they do it well.  Machiavelli’s Ascent on Xbox Live Indie Games is one such example.

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[Every Wednesday Gamer Limit will highlight an indie title: from the iPhone to the Xbox Live Arcade!]

Ever play Pong?

Imagine Pong on crack – with lasers – and an unrelenting barrage of enemies ready to smash their balls into your face.

Intrigued?  Read on.

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[Indie Spotlight is a series that takes you right into the heart of the indie gaming scene, and lets you know if a particular title is worth trying out]

A dual-stick shooter on XBLA?  No way!  Oh, this one has zombies in it?  And it’s an Indie Game, so it’s only $3?  How could I say no?

Well, first you could download the free trial.  Then I can tell you, once you’re done with that, you’ve seen everything there is to see.  Oh, joy.

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