Rocketbirds Revolution is an interesting take on a retro-style formula that hasn't seen action through new game releases in several years. You are Hardboiled Chicken, an intense operative infiltrating the country of Albatropolis to liberate it from its dictator. Along the way you encounter clones, murderous penguins, and criminal cardinals, just to name a few. It's been released already, and thanks to its status as a Flash game, you can go play it in your browser right now. Go on, we'll be happy to wait for a minute while you play the demo.

Rocketbirds Revolution is a game all about the slow, methodical platforming and fighting seen in games like Oddworld and Flashback. You move fairly slowly, and there's a deliberate unresponsiveness of controls. If you want to turn around, it takes what must feel like a considerable amount of time to the average action game player. You always jump at the same height, regardless of how long the jump button has been held. Anything hit with a bullet bounces around like crazy, making it difficult to hit something unless you are crouching, and when crouching, makes it easy to simply finish off enemies then and there. This type of gameplay is often referred to as an "adult" platformer, as it's slower and more thoughtful than a game like Sonic or Mario, and Rocketbirds Revolution is a prime example of the genre.

The reason why Rocketbirds is on the finalists for visuals is the simple fact that the game is absolutely stunning. If you watch nothing else but the intro, you'll still be impressed by how polished the artwork and animation is. The characters are anthropomorphic and highly-stylized varieties of birds, but they don't feel out of place whatsoever. The animations are smooth and pretty to look at. Perhaps the most visually impressive aspect of the game is the environments, which have this incredibly detailed, painted style. This combination of cartoonish characters and painted backgrounds makes Rocketbirds Revolution stand out from its peers.


Owlboy may not have made it into any category besides visual arts, but it's still a great game. It follows the adventures of the titular Owlboy as he performs tasks at the request of various different people. The game starts off extremely cheerful, but gradually gets more and more ominous, until it simply becomes outright dark. The bright visuals, however, are the reason why the game doesn't wear you out, instead keeping your spirits high while the story descends lower and lower into creepy, foreboding territory.

The gameplay of Owlboy is very straightforward and linear, at least at the beginning. It feels a lot like a sidescrolling Zelda game, but not like Zelda 2. It's hard to describe just what the game is like, in fact. You fly around, pick up objects, solve puzzles, and kill monsters. It's an action-puzzler sort of vibe, and we definitely like that. The retro, chiptune-esque music only serves to heighten the enjoyment, since it brings to mind all the cheezy SNES and Genesis games of the mid 90s with clear gameplay and simple, but catchy, music.

The visuals of Owlboy are the most stunning part, and it's interesting in that Owlboy is the only pixel art game to make it to the visual art finalists this year. This might be an indication of a change in the indie world towards more standard art as opposed to just pixel art. It'll be something to watch for in the year to come. Anyway, the animations are incredibly smooth and the detail level of the world is staggering, which is no small feat for a game that uses pixel art as opposed to a different art style such as painting or vector. The zooming and screen transitions are smooth, the movement feels natural, and the whole thing is incredibly polished and entertaining, especially when flying.

Limbo made two finalist categories this year, but the far more impressive of the two is visual arts. Limbo follows a child as he travels through a darkened world, manipulating the environment to keep moving forward. It can be construed as several things, such as the child's journey through the afterlife (reinforced by potential metaphors) to the simple notion that everything to a child is simultaneously sinister and incredible. However you decide to interpret at the events of the game, you'll definitely be impressed by how pretty it is.

The gameplay is a platforming puzzler, where you do things such as drag around crates, hop into boats, and push over logs. It's very peaceful at the start, but it becomes more and more dangerous as time goes on, with things such as bear traps and boulders posing a threat to your well-being. It is a nice change of pace to have only the environment be your enemy, as opposed to both the environment and malevolent creatures, and this peacefulness of purpose helps keep Limbo calm and not frustrating whatsoever. You never feel like you died unfairly, just that you didn't know the solution or you weren't paying enough attention to the environment and you got caught off guard.

Limbo is a visual masterpiece. Everything is rendered in a monochrome shadow style, which could appear boring if not done right. Limbo does it right, and the subtlety in the animations and artwork makes the world feel natural instead of made from cut-out black construction paper. Everything feels like a formless shadow, continually moving and changing, even though just about everything is clearly defined within the game. That's quite a visual accomplishment, and it's why Limbo is one of the visual arts finalists.