Coming Attractions: Indie & Esoterica

Star Attraction

MadWorld
On: Wii / Developer: PlatinumGames / Publisher: SEGA / Release: Spring

If you ever played the PS2's gloriously deranged brawler God Hand, your first thought won't have been: "hmm, this needs to be more insane and in-your-face." Fortunately, the developers at PlatinumGames - the studio formed from the ashes of Clover, creators of God Hand and Okami - don't think like the rest of us. And they're certainly not planning on being more conservative this time around.

MadWorld dials down the surreal non-sequiturs - this is a fairly standard gladiatorial-gameshow setup, Running Man-style - but dials up everything else. It's one of the most visually exciting games of the year, all stark Sin City monochrome daubed with splashes of crimson gore. The comically extreme violence pokes Manhunt in the eye, and the deadpan, dunderhead voices could almost be a parody of the latest testosterone-buster from the US.

Like No More Heroes (whose sequel we don't expect to see this year, or it would be here), MadWorld marries style and flips substance the finger, and does so on the Wii of all things. But it's the thought of Platinum making its debut, under SEGA's wing, that has us most excited. Clover, the king of esoterica, is dead; long live the king.

Supporting Cast (in alphabetical order)

House of the Dead: OVERKILL
On: Wii / Developer: Headstrong / Publisher: SEGA / Release: February

The bizarre lack of top-drawer lightgun games on the Wii - the only console that can do them out of the box - could be answered by SEGA with this sterling splatterhouse mash-up of zombie arcade game and Tarantino genre chic. A quality co-op mode and nifty score mechanics could make all the difference.

Noby Noby Boy
On: PS3 / Developer: Namco Bandai / Publisher: Namco Bandai / Release: "Early 2009"

Yours for a pittance as a PSN download, this is an adorably barmy non-game toy-thing from playful game artist Keita Takahashi - creator of Katamari, and thus hero of esoterica. Steer the two ends of your stretchy, rubbery "boy" with the two sticks. Interact with farmyard animals. We've played it, and we still have no idea what it is, but we do know it will be joyful.

Portal 2
On: PC and 360, at a guess / Developer: Valve / Release: We think so

It hasn't been officially announced - and certainly hasn't been dated - but we're prepared to bet that the sequel to our 2007 game of the year will be Valve's big 2009 release, Left 4 Dead-style (not quite confident enough to give it top billing, though). We do know that Kim Swift and her fellow warpniks are bending their heads around multiplayer, which can only tie this Gordian knot of puzzle, maze, shooter and 2001-inspired antiseptic AI nightmare into even more twisted shapes.

Sin and Punishment 2
On: Wii / Developer: Treasure / Publisher: Nintendo / Release: 2009

Anything from Treasure, the master artificers of the mind-bending shmup, automatically qualifies for this list. Sin and Punishment 2, sequel to the brilliant but obscure Japanese N64 on-rails shooter, has hardcore credentials like no other game - and as if to prove a point, Nintendo's publishing it. Along with MadWorld, Overkill and Muramasa, this proves that the supposedly mainstream Wii is the format of choice for stylish score-attack craziness in 2009.

Other Players

Online dragon-smashing arrives on Wii with Monster Hunter Tri (Japan only so far); so does gorgeous 2D hackandslash Muramasa: The Demon Blade; Jeff Minter revives his classic shmup in Gridrunner++ on Xbox Live Arcade; LittleBigPlanet comes to PSP, maybe; Nintendo reworks Pikmin, Mario Tennis, Metroid Prime and the brilliant Donkey Kong Jungle Beat for Wii in the New Play Control! series.

Star Attraction

Flower
On: PS3 / Developer: thatgamecompany / Publisher: Sony / Release: February

Pretension is an occupational hazard for indie game developers - when you're trying to expand videogaming's horizons single-handed and on a shoestring budget, it's excusable. thatgamecompany, creators of the beautiful chill-out game flOw (available on PSN, as this will be), really takes the biscuit though. It describes Flower thus:

"Our video game version of a poem, exploiting the tension between urban bustle and natural serenity. Player enters various flower's dreams to transform the world. And hopefully by the end of the journey, you change a little as well..."

We'll just leave that hanging, and concentrate on what we know: controlling a flower petal tumbling on the wind, you fly at speed around lush landscapes, accumulating swarms of petals, solving puzzles, and swinging the environment between pastoral and chaotic extremes as you go. An apt-for-once Sixaxis tilt control scheme and the glorious goal of starting a tidal wave of colour (see also: Okami, de Blob) tipped this to the top of our list. That, and the fact - unique in this selection - that we can be sure it will be commercially available soon.

Supporting Cast (in alphabetical order)

Feist
On: PC, Mac / Developer: Filthy Grip / Release: "In the coming months" / Website

One of indie games' most important contributions to gaming culture is in finding ways to engineer beautiful visuals without access to huge budgets, high-end technology and massive art teams. Feist is the belle of this year's ball: a 2D platformer rendered in haunting, hand-painted sihouette, seemingly starring one of those soot-things out of Spirited Away. The trailer is a must-see.

Machinarium
On: TBC / Developer: Amanita Design / Release: first half of 2009 / Website

Czech riddlers Amanita are masters of surreal, hand-painted, point-and-click puzzle adventures full of Heath Robinson contraptions to get lost in: you might be have stumbled across its Flash masterpieces, Samorost 1 and 2. Machinarium is its stab at a "full-scale adventure game", and its tale of a junked robot struggling against oppression looks stunning.

Retro/Grade
On: TBC / Developer: 24 Caret Games / Release: let's hope so / Website

How's this for high-concept: a 2D scrolling shmup you play backwards, swallowing your bullets as enemies appear out of nowhere and spit them out. Half Gradius, half Guitar Hero, it's difficult to know how much substance Retro/Grade will have - but it's the funniest game concept of 2009, hands down.

The Unfinished Swan
On: TBC / Developer: Ian Dallas / Release: late 2009 at best / Website

This could be the next Narbacular Drop (Portal's predecessor): an idea so strong we had to include it, even if its release this year is in doubt, and its title is awful. A "first-person painting game" set in a featureless white world, you have to reveal and navigate your environment by splattering paint on it. Watch and be amazed. It's being prototyped in XNA, which makes an Xbox 360 version a distinct possibility.

Other Players

Introversion (Darwinia) procedurally generates something or other in Subversion; Mario Galaxy meets Every Extend Extra in Plain Sight; Osmos, a hypnotic absorb-em-up; acrobatic platforming in CarneyVale Showtime; photo-navigation platforming in Snapshot (click the link, you'll see what we mean); sketch-generated content in Mightier; Dali-esque first-person fetish brawler, Zeno Clash; and the magnificent ibb and obb, although a 2009 release is just wishful thinking really, and this is no more than an excuse to mention it again.