cowboyana posts

We here at Big Download love indie games. From telling you about them, playing them, or offering downloads for them, we are all about helping lesser-known developers get their name out into the world. Each week on Saturday, we'll give you the Indie Wrap-up, a collection of all the indie news stories and features during the previous week.

There was no big features this week, unfortunately. Most of our staff was gone at E3, after all! Just Freeware Friday was this week. However, the TOJam 2008 competition recently wrapped up, so there's a ton of games that were released this week! Dwarf Fortress also finally got the first update in the Army Arc, adding battles and wars to the historical records of the game.

Features

Freeware Friday: Off-Road Velociraptor Safari James Murff takes Freeware Friday to a new place: browser games.

messhof has released another of his strange, charming games for consumption by the general public. This time, it's the same-screen multiplayer game Cowboyana. It's a western-themed (you don't say?!) arcade game where you get involved in train shootouts, get hammered by drinking too much, get into a duel with your buddy, and various other activities revolving around you and your partner.

The game itself has a charming feel, capturing the western look with no fancy artwork. The special effects add to it, especially since while the smoke from shooting your gun is realistic, the characters are anything but. The music and sound adds to the experience, making it feel like a western movie condensed into pixel form. It's a lot of fun, even if you can't play the game on your own.