Go retro with monsters of rock

Published Apr 23, 2012

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London - Indie games made by tiny studios, not the vast teams of big gaming firms, have blown the cobwebs out of the industry in recent years.

Gaming’s usual diet has been spiced up with a dash of the home-made, the low-budget and the just plain weird.

Compared to blockbusters such as Call Of Duty, indie game Legend Of Grimrock (PC) HHHH is like surprise black-and-white Oscar winner The Artist.

Grimrock is as indie as they come, an acquired taste to be adored by middle-aged gamers who should know better and to puzzle younger ones reared on pacier fare.

It’s wilfully retro, using a 3D view where you move around turn by turn as if you were on a chess board. This was cutting edge back in the Eighties.

You spend most of your time throwing rocks on to pressure pads, and battling monsters by clicking, waiting ten seconds, then clicking again.

Grimrock is daft but it’s perfectly paced. It’s more like a board game than an over-thetop guns-blazing modern game.

For those who remember the Eighties, but still have the faculties to memorise the series of symbols to cast spells, it’s absolute bliss.

And, like most indie games, it’s got a price that reflects the fact Grimrock doesn’t have to support a tottering commercial edifice of marketing guys, PR executives and poster designers it’s yours for about a tenner (about R120). - Mail on Sunday

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