Welcome to the first Indie Game Highlight feature. Here I will comb the galaxy (or my local town) to bring an awesome indie game to your attention. Our first subject is the frenetic side-scrolling platformer and more: Noitu Love 2 for the PC.
Noitu Love 2 is a game much in the vein of Gunstar Heroes. Only it’s better. It’s a 2D platformer, beat-’em-up, and shooter all in one. The major difference here is that the game is controlled almost exclusively by the mouse.
During gameplay you will control your character with the arrow keys (or WASD if you’re right-handed) and control a targeting reticle with the mouse. When you click anywhere on the screen, your character will attack.
You use the keyboard to move your character, dodge attacks, and jump but you will you use the mouse to attack your foes. The beauty in this is the ability to string together a bunch of combo attacks since you also have the ability to perform special moves using the keyboard. When you get a rythm going and you’re busting out all kinds of crazy attacks, that is when Noitu Love 2 really shines.
That of course is its strength and the main gameplay brings everything you’d expect from the genre. It’s fast-paced, heart-pounding, and it’s just a blast. You are constantly being bombarded by tons of wacky enemies and the action almost never stops. The exception? Along the way you’ll encounter puzzles from time to time. Usually these puzzles are quite clever and make full use of your character’s abilities. The bosses are huge, imposing and most will require a unique approach in order to defeat them.
One of the best parts of the game, though, is the absolutely beautiful sprite-based graphics. This isn’t something you’d expect from an indie developer. It looks better than some of the best 2D graphics consoles have to offer. Tons of explosions, special effects, and huge enemies and the game never skips a beat. Truly astonishing especially when you consider the developer used Multimedia Fusion 2 to develop the game.
Honestly, I can’t gush enough about Noitu Love 2. It has everything that appeals to hardcore gamers. The only caveat is that the game will set you back twenty bucks. I paid for the game and I feel it was worth every penny, but some of you may not want to pay money for an indie game. If you’re on the fence, you can download a demo (as well as buy the game) at the developer’s website.
Final word: Awesome!
Final advice: Try it and buy it!
