Joe Danger was a technical excellence finalist, but it's not in just the technical aspect that Joe Danger shines. Joe Danger is a top notch game in every way, and the developers and judges know it. It's for this that Joe Danger is in the running for the grand prize, and it's sure to give the other games a run for their money. The gist of Joe Danger is this: you play as Joe Danger (big surprise), a stuntman on the down and out. You must revive your flagging career with some sweet tours and tricks, entertaining audiences and bringing yourself back from a mid-life crisis in one stroke. It's a very simple but very addicting premise.

The gameplay of Joe Danger is all about tricks and the environment. You must use the environment to your advantage to wow and dazzle the audience while staying on your bike. Thankfully, the physics simulation is not as strict as it is in a comparable game such as Trials, so you can get by with some pretty crazy stunts. You can do the standards such as flipping and wheelies, as well as environmental tricks such as sticking a landing or landing right on top of a target. Tricks are essential to the game, as they provide you with boost power and points, and mastering the use of tricks while moving through the levels quickly is essential to success. This emphasis of replaying levels to learn them and balancing tricks with speed is what puts Joe Danger ahead of many other IGF games. It's polished in every way, and a definite heavy contender for the grand prize title.

Monaco is our personal favorite game from the competition, as mentioned before. We're glad that it has made an appearance here as a grand prize finalist, as everything about it screams quality and polish. Monaco is a game adaptation of all those crime caper movies you know and love. Movies like Ocean's Eleven, where the ragtag misfits with special talents must work together to make a fortune. Monaco is that exact description, except it adds an extra layer by making the concept into a top-down co-op action game. If you haven't heard anything about Monaco, now's the time where you should start paying attention to the game and when it comes out, as it's an absolute blast, especially with friends.

Monaco's polish is evident throughout the entire game. The design is very well-realized, with an emphasis on co-operation and co-ordination. You have to have a plan to progress, after all, and each member must follow the rough outline of the plan to succeed. The visuals may seem a little strange, but the lo-fi aesthetic has a lot of charm and appeal. It also keeps the game colorful and playable on most systems, which are very important for a game like this. Everything about Monaco, from design to audio to visuals to the technical execution, screams quality. It would be a bad idea to let this one slip by your radar, as it will no doubt be one of the better indie games in the year ahead.

Trauma sees its third and final nomination in the grand prize category. It's still about a woman who has suffered a car accident, and it's still about exploring the woman's dreams thoroughly to find out more about her history and psyche. The fact tat Trauma is so different from everything else is what garnered it the attention in the IGF this year. There's something not quite right about it, but in a good, polished, way. It defies expectations, and merges together differing genres and styles so well that it is definitely a hallmark indie game that people will be talking about for a considerable amount of time to come.

Each level in Trauma has a number of goals. They break down into the level's gimmick, the application of other levels' gimmicks to the current level, and the finding of 9 different photographs that provide both gameplay and story hints. Progression through each level is done at the player's pace and with a point-and-click interface. You can't lose, and there's a gesture system that allows you to do simple tasks such as turning in different directions as well as the performance of the levels gimmicks. This quiet exploration, photographic visuals, ambient music, and excellent gameplay design all coalesce into an absolutely amazing example of the adventure game genre. Some say that arthouse games can't be fun, but Trauma definitely proves this saying wrong.

Next >>