Iji

I came across an indie game called Iji a few weeks back. When I saw the trailer, I thought it looked decent but not great as a video. The game itself is very good (if not great). The story is decent (even though the story-telling might feel slow), the action is great, the music is awesome, and game design encourages replay.

Iji is the name of the main character. She was visiting a military complex when an alien race attacked earth from orbit. She woke up a few months later, after receiving cyborg treatment. She now has a personal nanofield (her armor) and a nanogun. When the game starts, Iji's nanogun is a mere shotgun that is effective on short range. As the game progresses, she picks up more powerful alien weapons.
In addition, there is leveling up involved. Iji can collect nano by killing enemies or collecting from crates. After collecting a certain amount of nano, she can level up. At each level up, we can pick which stat to improve. There are 7 stats to choose from.
Finally, opening certain doors and crates requires "cracking". Cracking is a mini-game that is not too fun on its own; but the main game still progresses as Iji is cracking, so it has a certain strategic factor. What is awesome is that if Iji's cracking stat is high enough, we can also crack an enemy's personal nanofield to create confusion.

For me, the highlights of the game are:

• The boss fights. Later bosses definitely needs some thought the first time we fight them.
  
• The soundtrack. It's awesome! Even more awesome, they just released a high quality soundtrack recently (10 Oct). My favourite tracks are 3 Cans Later (sector 2), Seven Four (sector 5), and Tor. The high quality soundtrack includes a bonus track, Organ Smash, that grows on me. A minor complain from me is that the soundtrack is in mono.
  
• The story. Story-telling can be better; but as the game gets near the ending, the story grows on me. Maybe the in-game voice acting biased me a little :)

All in all, I think Iji is worth playing if you are into 2D platformers. You can download it from Daniel's base.