It's difficult to sum up SYNSO. First appearing as a PC freeware title, the low price is bound to be the main selling point, and the game is a typical arcade throwaway treat- unlikely to command your attention for days on end, but on balance probably offering enough to justify the download if you're an arcade fan.
Whether you'll play it again after the initial download is another thing; if you have a copy of Geometry Wars gathering virtual dust in your games library, it would probably be worth saving those 80 points to put towards something more substantial.
Eurogamer.it: Xbox Live channel dedicated to so-called "Indie Games" or the titles created by independent developers, has now passed its first year and currently includes over 700 titles of all kinds and types, but although we would like to talk about absolute masterpieces 700 the reality is that the situation is somewhat wavering.
Eurogamer writes: "The Xbox Live Indie Games channel is now over a year old, and more than 700 games have made their nests amongst its nurturing branches. While it would be nice to say that the service has blossomed over time, that wouldn't be entirely accurate. The good stuff is arguably better than ever, but there's still an awful lot of pointless dross clogging up the shop window with joypad massages and other daft widgets.
There's still a lack of the sort of truly innovative games that sum up the homebrew ethos - the Canabalts, Darwinias and Samorosts - with most indie devs still preferring to trial their wares as Flash games on websites rather than making use of Mr Microsoft's indoor market hall. Of course, when even the best-selling Indie Games are apparently only shifting a thousand copies or less, you can hardly blame them."
TVGB writes: "Created by Robert D Fearon and brought to Xbox 360 by Andy Noble, Squid Yes! Not So Octopus! is an arena shooter, a one-screen enemy blitzkrieg that draws on almost 30 years of frantic laser blasting. Named after a lyric from 80's rockers Half Man Half Biscuit, its lineage can be traced from 1982's Robotron, through the neon pschedelixplosions of Jeff Minter, all the way to the form's most recent incarnation, Geometry Wars. It's an interesting little game; at once a reverential homage, a knowing parody and a creation all of its own."
