Indie Smarts Pack I

While my WoW Hunter has progressed steadily on to level 80 (out of 85), Steam's holiday sale has seen me buying more games than I'll have a chance to play. The first of those games that I've put any time into are two games in the Indie Smarts Pack...

Lumines is a Tetris-like game of falling blocks where you're simply trying to make squares of the same colour. Although there are only two different colours and it seems really simple, the key is that blocks are only cleared on a timed sweep of the playing field, allowing you to stack large numbers of blocks in one clear.

Lumines Challenge mode

Despite this, the game can be played at a relatively pedestrian pace and so the base game (Challenge mode) takes a really long time to play. But the joy of Lumines for me is the Time Attack mode. Choose 1, 3, 5 or 10 minutes and clear as many blocks as you can. With the added time pressure of trying to get as many blocks within each clearing sweep as possible, the game is exciting and keeps your brain working overtime.

Lumines Time Attack mode

There are also other modes (Puzzle and Mission) that can be interesting diversions, but I really appreciate the opportunity to squeeze in that quick 1 minute game afforded to me by the Time Attack mode.

QuantZ is similar to many puzzle games where you're matching up gems of the same colour, what really defines it is that it is played on a 3D surface, typically a cube. Some pseudo-physics can be used to shift the gems around and onto other faces of the cube, but otherwise the 3D-ness just seems like an excuse to pretty the game up. This actually describes much of the game which seems overly sparkly.

QuantZ early level

The gameplay itself is unchallenging as I'm really in danger of running out of gems to clear the level (except when I mess up due to the 3D interface). It might get harder in later levels, but you have to play through all these easier levels first, and all the sparkles in the world aren't going to get me to invest the time needed to get to the "fun" part of the game.

So one winner and one loser so far, but there are 3 other games in the pack that I still want to have a look at. Meanwhile, maybe I can sneak in a few quick Lumines time attacks before lunch.