[cross posting from Indie Kombat]

I know, I know, I’m doing this wrong aren’t I? Here’s me with a game I’m actually quite astounded turned out so well, leading in the votes turning round and saying “VOTE FARBS”.

Surely that’s not what Indie Kombat is about? I should cuss him and call him rude names like, I dunno, “pokechops” or something. Maybe I should rap my little guts out, make a swear or be the clear leader in trash talking like Sophie currently is? But I don’t want to.

What I do want to tell you is that despite the fact that Farbs is clearly rubbish, despite the fact he’s chosen to release on the channel commonly known as “the death knell of indie” by ooh, me and probably someone else, Fish Squid Time Machine is the right thinking mans take on SYNSO and having now played it, I can’t think of anyone I could have trusted more with it.

Here’s the problem though. Releasing on XBLIG is a pain in the backside. You’ve got no control over release dates, you’re hidden away on the dash and let’s be honest here – one of the draws of indie games is that they’re pretty darn accessible on the PC and there’s news sites that’ll cover your back in no time whatsoever. Xbox Indies, it’s a hive of lovely games once you duck in and know where to look but most people don’t. And yeah, I’m part of the problem having pretty much given up on my own XBLIG review site since my NXE all but killed itself and made the console experience pretty non-fun.

Yet here’s the thing. Fish Squid Time Machine would be pretty rubbish on the PC. It’s designed to be played on the sofa, perhaps drunk and with friends. Just generally having a laugh. Why else put a 50+ player mode into the thing?

It’s as much single player as it is a full on silly party experience. That’s cool. Your first go will probably be one of complete bafflement. That’s also cool. Your first go will last 30 seconds. It doesn’t matter. You duck back in, you try again and go “ahhh yeah, I see what you’re doing there” and suddenly you’ve gone from this complete “what the hell, dude?” to a “oh, I think I need to be scoring higher here and a bit higher here and BRING IT ON, GAME”.

Fish Squid Time Machine really works as a short form game. Fast paced one switch arena shooting madness. Collect the fish that might not be fish and puke up rainbow lasers onto other fish that might not be other fish and watch out for that pesky donkey too. How many games fit that description? One. Fish Squid Time Machine. Nothing else is that insane, is it?

And really, we should talk about the game over screen. Re-appropriating SYNSO’s ever embigenning text to bombard you with messages to tell you how awesome you are is a genuine great touch. Just ask Nick of Bytejacker. The man speaks words of truth.

Ok, ok, you don’t have to vote Farbs.

I’m honestly grateful if you’ve voted for me, that’s super awesome. If you can though, you really should take a gander over at Fish Squid Time Machine on XBLIG and at the very least have a play. It’s the most properly mental thing on the service, so mental that I doubt even Minter would be quite that unhinged and you know what?

I’m really proud of what Farbs has done with my game and it’d be especially ace if more people did get to play it.

Download Fish Squid Time Machine from the Xbox Live Marketplace and tell your friends to do the same.

Let’s get it on.