Platform: Xbox Indie Games (Xbox 360)
Price: 400 MSP / $5 USD

This is probably one of the weirdest games on the Xbox Live Indie Games marketplace and if it weren't for some of it's flaws, it could have been quite solid.

Gameplay:
While the game is on the weird side, it actually does have a story behind it and while it's not a masterpiece, it is fairly amusing. You take control of Herman, an office worker who's fed up with his job and pretty much society in general, your decision to leave upsets the entire workplace which results in them becoming your enemies. Apparently Herman worked with a bunch of weirdos though as one of his co-workers for instance, rides a skateboard while being armed with a gun and another apparently has an unlimited supply of bowling balls that he keeps lunging towards you. In the event that you're interested in learning more about these foes, you could check out the "Enemy Bios" in the game's main menu.

As for the core gameplay, the game is basically a side-scrolling platformer with some added elements such as a stat upgrade system and the ability to dig holes to get enemies off your platform. As for special abilities, Herman can only jump, kick while jumping, and "shoot" tangerines if you've acquired some. There are some other abilities but they have to be unlocked via the stat upgrade menu which allows you to redeem tokens (earned after the completion of each level) after the level has been completed. I'd recommend getting the fedora hat as well as the running shoes once you have enough tokens for each.

The main objective of each level is simply to make it across the long platform while either avoiding or taking down enemies to reach a door at the very end found in the bottom platform. Every level contains 4 platforms as well as several ladders that help you navigate from one to the other along with large black office cabinets that serve as obstacles that might help or even screw you over depending on where they're located. While it sounds simple, that's not the case as there are several enemies making this task a nuisance. Unfortunately, this is where the game begins to crumble in terms of fun. The enemy count is rather unbalanced even in the easiest difficulty making the game very frustrating and while a good challenge can be fun, that's not the case in Herman. However, I was able to complete the game in the easiest difficulty after reattempting several levels many times mainly due to the level randomization.

The game tries to keep the experience fresh by randomly generating different ladder, cabinet, and enemy placements each time the level is replayed to help make the second or even 10th attempt, not as dull. Despite it being a good idea in theory, it's poorly executed and often the placements are rather buggy. There are times when several enemies are trapped in between cabinets or certain ladders are inaccessible due to there being a cabinet there. Also, it's common to start the level with a couple of enemies right in front of you without any ammo causing you to lose some health in the struggle. The exit door is always in the same spot though which was nice as at least you had an idea of where to find that.

Another flaw was the hole digging mechanic, at a first glance you'd think that making a hole on the bottom platform would cause enemies to vanish, that wasn't the case. Only the really weak enemies would die after going down there, the rest would land on the top platform and continue to charge at you. That would have been fine if Herman would have had some sort of other attack besides the jump kick but with just that and a limited supply of tangerines, it's not ideal.

Also, while I mentioned the enemy count being a problem before, it was only a brief rant. That was probably the worst annoyance in the game. In the hardest difficulty, it seems that it's nearly impossible to complete the level at times unless I'm doing something horribly wrong. I only got to about the 3rd level in the hardest difficulty and that was out of luck as the randomization caused several enemies to become trapped giving me an advantage. As for power-ups, there are several platters of chicken scattered throughout each level giving you some health restoration as well as platters of tangerines which serve as ammo. Besides that, don't expect any other form of help unless you upgrade your stats.

Speaking of the difficulties, the game has 5 different modes to offer. "Crazy Easy, Slightly Easy, A nice challenge, FUN. A serious challenge, and Stupid hard (painful)." The way it was handled was quite poor, instead of an unreasonable amount of enemies, it should have had less but with more health perhaps to make it more balanced as I was cornered in the game countless times with no way of escape.

As for the ending and story progression, the ending was alright. In terms of story progression, the game tries to story tell by using several background images found in each level that seemed to have been photos from someone's album that had been manipulated to be more "Hermanish". The one cut scene was pretty cool though and the sun glasses that you obtained from that guy were awesome. It made the game slightly more interesting but it wasn't enough to save it altogether. The intro was impressive though, so I'll give the game credit for that.

Graphics & Audio:
The graphics seemed to have been hand-drawn and amateurish. They are bearable though, along with the background images. It looked decent on my HDTV as well which was nice. As for the music, that's probably the best part about the game. It had a good soundtrack, nothing amazing but definitely above average. As for the sound effects, they got the job done and the limited voice acting was often amusing.

Replay value:
While the game had the potential to be replayable, the mediocre difficulty balance prevented this from being the case as I was hardly amused while playing it in the more harder difficulties.

Overall:
At 400 MSP, it's quite hard to recommend this game "as-is". Don't get me wrong, it has the potential to be worth the points and even get a recommendation but that's with some bug fixes and changes to the gameplay mechanics. Luckily, these games can be updated by the developer but unfortunately, it takes a while for the update to be approved and it's up to the developer to decide whether to do so or not. If the developer ever addresses the flaws I mentioned and improves the gameplay, I'll be willing to give it a try again and re-review it but how it stands as of right now, I'd recommend holding onto your points for something else. However, I'll still recommend giving the Herman trial a shot at least if you happen to be one of those individuals who loves extremely frustrating games with weird characters. If that doesn't sound like you, then give it a pass.

Pros:
+Good music
+Good gameplay concepts (sun glasses effect, stat upgrades etc.)
+Amusing storyline
+5 difficulties and ability to change it
+Save support

Cons:
-400 MSP is too much unless the game is "fixed"
-Level randomization was buggy
-Enemy count was unbalanced
-Lacked more attacks/"weapons"
-Each level visually looked a bit different but essentially was the same thing minus new enemies and other small differences
-You couldn't pick what song you wanted to hear in each level
-The game was much more frustrating than fun

Due to all this, Herman gets a 5.25/10 as the foundations for a good game were there but unfortunately, it seems that the end product suffered from some damage...

This game was obtained from the developer rather than purchased, for review purposes.

This game is cool

An indie game for 400MSP?!? Even FortressCraft was only like, 200 and change, seeing an indie title over that is kind of startling...

(07-01-2011 04:03 AM)Lazarus_Grimm Wrote:  An indie game for 400MSP?!? Even FortressCraft was only like, 200 and change, seeing an indie title over that is kind of startling...

There is actually an XBL indie game that costs a whopping 800 points.
Downtown Smash Dodgeball.

It's based off the classic NES game Super Dodgeball.

At one point 400 MSP indie games were a lot more common but since a lot of good 80 MSP games hit the market, the average price tended to shift to 240 and below to remain competitive.

However I do think that most consumers undervalue XBLIG titles as while some games are clearly not worth the asking price, some of the higher priced games do justify the price tag if you take the amount of time it took to develop the game into consideration and the risk the developer is taking putting a lot of their time into developing it as well as money. Some of the playtime you get from games is quite good as well when compared to AAA games which have better resources and much higher prices, the same with XBLA.

There is also the issue of developers releasing weird games that to them might sound like a fantastic idea but will put off most mainstream gamers such as the one discussed in this review which I still think could have been at least average if it weren't for its flaws.