Demo Man Season 1 Finale-Top 5 best and worst indie games

[Thoughtful_Salt]

After 50 plus episodes I thought I would reflect on the highs and lows of my foray into the Xbox Live Indie Arcade. There have been joyous moments, ones to rival any AAA titles out there, and there have been some horrifyingly awful moments, ones to rival ET and Custer's Revenge. The following games deserve mention in any respective lists of their peers.


Here are the 5 worst games i've played for the series...

and here are the five best...

Agree or disagree? let me know below

 

[Sinoda]

Hey! Great videos, though I have a bit of a complaint/compliment.

I'm a bit conflicted while watching the two above. It's like...Half the time you're respectable and professional, and the other half is pretty silly. I like the style, but my brain can't figure out if I would see you as a guy I'd play games with, or as a professional.

I'm guessing you plan to do a season two? I subscribed! I'm looking forward to seeing more from you. I am completely in love with the indie scene, though I've never dealt much with the XBLIG niche.

 

[Nazulu]

Thanks for sharing that. A quick view of the game play and your general thoughts work well for me.

However, can you please not laugh and yell through it. Or at least lower the volume there. While most of us would probably react to your worst selection in a similar way, you need to keep it more subtle mate. Throw in a joke instead summing up the experience or something.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Hey! Great videos, though I have a bit of a complaint/compliment.

I'm a bit conflicted while watching the two above. It's like...Half the time you're respectable and professional, and the other half is pretty silly. I like the style, but my brain can't figure out if I would see you as a guy I'd play games with, or as a professional.

I'm guessing you plan to do a season two? I subscribed! I'm looking forward to seeing more from you. I am completely in love with the indie scene, though I've never dealt much with the XBLIG niche.

I find a healthy dose of entertainment is always better than a straight up dry review (that most reviews go for anyways). My main influences in this regard are TotalBiscuit, Yahtzee and a few others. Think of things this way, The opinions are still there, take them as you will (for more detailed reviews of said games watch the demo man episodes covering them), if you try the games and like them, so be it.

I mostly review single player experiences (though I did dive into the depths of multiplayer for Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine), so It's understandable for you to be apprehensive about playing multiplayer with moi. But always take my opinions and weigh them with any other info you can find on a game (though often i'm the only one covering them, I swear I was the first guy to cover Path Of King Arthur).

Season 2 will happen after a month or two, i'm still deciding whether to bring back my WHIP series (and the accompanying Experience series) for another season, or whether I should stick with covering independent titles for season 2 of Demo Man. It's up in the air atm.

I would love to hear what you think though.

I seriously would consider picking up some of the titles that I have recommended, as some of them do indeed hold up to any of the PC or main Arcade classics we've all come to know. It's a shame that a sea of crud surrounds the good stuff, but there you go, just look and ye shall find greatness.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Thanks for sharing that. A quick view of the game play and your general thoughts work well for me.

However, can you please not laugh and yell through it. Or at least lower the volume there. While most of us would probably react to your worst selection in a similar way, you need to keep it more subtle mate. Throw in a joke instead summing up the experience or something.

I took a lot of raw footage from my demo man episodes, so there was some loud stuff going on. It's all live reactions to the gameplay, so I thought it would be relevant to show those reactions. I have gotten a bit better with modulating the volume as the series has gone on. Hopefully it becomes less of an issue as time goes on.

TBH the raw reactions sum up the experiences pretty well all by themselves, as the 5 worst games really are that terrible to behold. I would like to hear any possible opinion on what direction the next season should/could take.

 

[Nazulu]

Thanks for sharing that. A quick view of the game play and your general thoughts work well for me.

However, can you please not laugh and yell through it. Or at least lower the volume there. While most of us would probably react to your worst selection in a similar way, you need to keep it more subtle mate. Throw in a joke instead summing up the experience or something.

I took a lot of raw footage from my demo man episodes, so there was some loud stuff going on. It's all live reactions to the gameplay, so I thought it would be relevant to show those reactions. I have gotten a bit better with modulating the volume as the series has gone on. Hopefully it becomes less of an issue as time goes on.

TBH the raw reactions sum up the experiences pretty well all by themselves, as the 5 worst games really are that terrible to behold. I would like to hear any possible opinion on what direction the next season should/could take.

I knew it was raw because I could here the cut in the edit. I still believe you should try something more subtle. It really does feel like an over-reaction when we're not making it and it doesn't always work out well.

 

[Coolshark]

Some constructive criticism: Some of your videos are just a little to 'reaction vid' for what I think you're trying to do. To much laughing and such. That stuff is fine for a let's play or live commentary, but feels odd in a review.

I do like some of your opinions though. Keep at it.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

Some constructive criticism: Some of your videos are just a little to 'reaction vid' for what I think you're trying to do. To much laughing and such. That stuff is fine for a let's play or live commentary, but feels odd in a review.

I do like some of your opinions though. Keep at it.

Well, I guess it all comes down to what approach I need to take. Do I spend a lot of time/effort/money producing slicker and more formal reviews? or do I try and give my honest opinions/reactions in a less formal but still informative manner?

I have done videos with both approaches and tbh I honestly am still debating what approach will work best from this point forward. It's a dilemma not resolved easily. What are your thoughts then? Keep in mind that Demo Man is more of a first impressions than a formal review.