Physics Games and Physics-Based Game Downloads

Thanks to the incessant prodding of my brother, I implemented a WordPress ratings plugin. I hacked it into place to support arbitrary post IDs, too, and went through the pains of updating the master physics games list so you can rate games there as well (that’s a static page still, which is both ugly and sad).

After the rating DB has some time to populate, I’ll add a sidebar widget to list off the most popular games and whatnot. So get rating!

(Rate this game! 136 votes, average: 3.37 out of 5)

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RoboBlitz is a great new FPS-ish physics game by Naked Sky Entertainment. The game plays quite a bit like your standard shooter with a delicious physics coating on everything. The characters are actually physics rigs; they’re “animated” through physics simulation rather than hand-created keyframes. This setup rarely means much in second-to-second gameplay, unfortunately, although the game does employ some clever physics puzzles overall.

The official description is:

RoboBlitzâ„¢ is a humorous, physics-based action game full of inventive gizmos, weapons, characters, and environments. Players take on the role of Blitz, a multi-talented robot who must activate an aging Space Cannon to save his world from a band of maladjusted space pirates.

Physics Puzzles

While the RoboBlitz marketing emphasizes the puzzle aspects of the game, I actually think they could’ve done much more in terms of physics puzzles. There are some neat designs–I particularly enjoyed the laser levels–but on the whole the game makes little use of physics during the standard enemy encounter. You’re usually better off just blasting your enemies, rather than using your grapple/connection beam or utilizing the physics of your environment in some ingenious way.

Because of the weak tactical advantage of using your environment versus simply using your weapons, RoboBlitz plays out much the same as any other shooter or FPS. It’s certainly a challenge to encourage the players to use physics for gameplay, but the designers could’ve done much more (especially with the grappling hook and playing with gravity).

Scrumptious Content

RoboBlitz does a great job delivering plenty of content. The game has 18 levels broken into six groups of three. The third level of each group is a boss fight. I found the boss fights to be somewhat frustrating. I’m perfectly willing to accept that I might be a little daft, but I usually had to wait for the automatic hint before I figured out exactly what the level designer wanted me to do.

The game also employs a user-driven unlock system for new weapons and upgrades, which is a welcome feature. Even though your choice isn’t very significant, since you’ll unlock everything before too long, any level of control makes me feel like I’m more in charge of the experience.

(RoboBlitz Game Screenshots)

Available on Xbox 360 and PC

Overall RoboBlitz is a very polished looking game. The artwork is fantastic, the game makes impressive use of its UE3 engine underpinnings, and the overall production quality is very high. It’s an especially impressive title considering its rather affordable $15 price point.

Download RoboBlitz Game (181 MB)

The full version of the PC game is available on the official RoboBlitz page for $14.95 or on Xbox 360 Live Arcade for 1200 points ($15).

This year’s Game Developer’s Conference will be hosting the first-ever Independent Games Summit, which is loosely co-branded with the Independent Games Festival. The IGS will be two days of lectures, panels, and discussions of indie game development topics (March 5th and 6th). I had a hand in planning it, so I may be a bit biased, but I think it’ll be a very productive two days for indies.

I’ll be giving a talk on physics games on the second day:

Physics Games Go Indie (Matthew Wegner, Flashbang Studios)
Tuesday – 4.15pm – 5.00pm
Wegner, who is both an indie developer and runs the physics game blog Fun-Motion, explains why real-time physics are such a big part of many innovative independent games, with demonstrations and practical tips for developers wanting to use physics to make their games stand out.

So if you’re already planning on attending all five days of the GDC, be sure to check it out. If you aren’t planning on going, you should seriously consider it. CMP is making two IGS-specific passes available at some very reasonable prices: the IGS Expo Pass and the IGS Classic Pass. Hope to see you there!