Okay. So we weren't around last month. Can you blame us? Indie games got swallowed whole by the huge rush of AAA titles, it can be easy to miss when you've got some top-notch games to go through. Such is the live of an Indie Developer. But this time, we're back, and letting you in on some of the best and brightest spots on the XBOX Live Indie Platform, all for a buck again this month.

YOU WILL DIE - DERRICK HOPKINS

Now that I've got your attention, let's talk about this game. It plays like your standard 2D shooter, only every level is a straight-up boss fight. Against the same monster. But after defeating it, it throws a standard taunt and gains a few new weapons for you to avoid. Think of it as a Bullet Hell-type shoot 'em up, where you have to plan your movement carefully while getting in enough shots to take down the snarking alien robot...thing.

2D Shooters are already a niche genre within the Indie Games platform, but You Will Die does have a certain charm to it, even if it can get very difficult later on. And just like any other Bullet Hell type game, it's rewarding to finally get to the next level.

OVERALL: Buy

Rubble Muddle - John Steele

As a rip-off of some puzzle game of which I forget its title because it never realy caught on, I don't expect Rubble Muddle to come near that splash. You click on groups of two or more matching blocks to make them explode, and then let gravity take its role. Pretty simple, but the game tries to make things difficult by giving you items to get rid of certain blocks: bags for gems, TNT for rocks. This would be interesting if you had a low amount, but this never really happens until you're deep into the game. Also, you have to find a door that unlocks after you've cleared enough pieces, but the visuals are difficult to make this clear and can ruin a game if you've done well enough.

I know it's hard to start off with game design, but there's got to be more creativity involved if you want to get noticed.

OVERALL: Skip

Jake's Discount Video Game - Jacob Aaronson

Like a demented mix up between Tic Tac Toe and the original Mario Bros. arcade game, Jake takes a few concepts and really pushes the term "Discount." The UI is barebones at best and the choice of colors will not push the 360 to any limits whatsoever. In fact, I think getting the Red Ring of Death while playing this game should give you 10,000 Gamerscore.

Anyway, the object is to own five spots on the board in a row, like in tic-tac-toe. You own a spot on the board by winning a round similar to Mario Bros., hit enemies from below to paralyze them, touch them to knock them out. The player with the most knock outs wins the spot on the board, so timing and position is crucial in this game, especially when one false move can change the game completely.

Though the game isn't easy on the eyes and there's not a whole lot to do, it does invite some competitive 4-player action to the platform. I can think of worse ways to kill a night with three friends, so give this one a try.

OVERALL: Try Before You Buy

Solar - Murudai

Solar is a game that is like a mix of Katamari Damacy and Fl0w, it takes the concept of starting small and growing into a larger ball, but it has an ambient feel to it. You're just a star trying to make its way in the crazy big universe, trying to start up your own solar system and get bigger as you go along. You can get planets to orbit you, give them their own moons, and swallow them whole in order to get bigger. With some chilling music in the background, it's a relaxing experience.

However--in a fashion that I'm sure is going to give me some bad rep among the Indie Gamers--I'm going against the general consensus of this game's quality...I just couldn't get into it. The gravity seems to be a little strong and ruins the relaxing feel for a game like this, and it's tough to tell you're going to be big enough to get to the next size, especially when you take a few hits. I can't get a good recommendation in here for something like this when there are better Indie games out there that accomplish this. But it's popular for a reason, so maybe I'm just in the minority here.

OVERALL: Try Before You Buy

Home Run Challenge - Barker's Crest Studio

From the people who brought you Avatar Golf, here's Avatar Baseball! Sort of! I'm not sure why they couldn't just keep the "Avatar" trademark fro this one, but this is a pretty fun Baseball title to have in your Indie collection, albeit simple. Hit A with the correct timing to crush the baseball into the stands, collect Home Run Combos, hit the targets. It doesn't get much easier than this, but it's fun to get some friends around to see how can last longest. With so many $60 titles trying to be the next Madden of Baseball, sometimes just spending a buck is all you need to get your video game Baseball fix in.

On a side note, having so many Avatars on the screen at once, all moving around and giving off different facial expressions, make good use of the 360's processing power, even if the rest of the environment seems static. There are multiple settings to mess around with this, as well as game settings. Barker's Crest knows how to make 'em.

OVERALL: Buy

You Can't Win! - Undercutter's Softworks

In another twist of music and puzzle games, You Can't Win! works in the same reign as You Will Die, because at some point, well, you're going to lose. In this game, a row of five blocks will shift from left to right to the tune of the beat. It's your goal to stop the row, and then stop the next row perfectly on the one previously placed. If you're off, it takes the number of blocks minus how many blocks you were off by and starts a new line. It's pretty basic, but the killer part here is that the blocks don't move in sync with the music...which the game actively promotes in the beginning. So it's kind of a bust.

Again, on a side note, the music is well done, courtesy of independent artist DJ Nakail. Give his stuff a listen, because there is some solid work done here in the game. It's just a shame that a game has to rely on this to be good when it's not that complicated of a music game.

OVERALL: Skip

Soul - Kydos Studio

Prepare to be freaked, because Soul is the scariest thing to hit the XBOX Live Indie Game platform.

You'll shiver, squirm, and maybe even consider turning down the lights and raising the TV's volume for the extra experience. Like a cross between a horror film and the classic game Operation, your goal is to get through each level without touching anything, ultimately avoiding monsters and traps and the occassional full-screen freak out to mess you up. If you can get through this without as much as a twitch, then you're more of a man than I'll ever be.

The thing that seperates Soul from everything else is the amount of world building and art form the game takes. Everything from the scenery to the monsters is well done, never missing a beat with the feel of the game. Even the sketchy text screams horror in this game makes it perfect.

Sure, it's a short game, but considering the high amount of polish involved and feel for the game in general, there was just no competition. Soul is the best title for the month of January, and worth every penny.

When reached for comment, developer Christophe Panattoni had this to say: "We hope every player that tries Soul will be able to reach heaven, we wouldn't want them to end in hell because of us." A noble goal, think you can handle that?

That does it for January, we've got a short month ahead of us, so let's find out if the Indie Developers can fill it with some quality stuff.