To Celebrate the new year right I was lucky enough to be able to play the newest Indie Game "Creed Arena" on the Xbox Live Arcade. The games basic premise is that you are a gladiator; There are creatures and other people that want to kill you. It's a basic premise that every single game, big or small, usually follows to some extent. The entire game revolves around fighting in arenas through a regular deathmatch or capturing kegs. So with this basic scheme that has been done before is it really worth it?

Something that makes this a little difficult to handle is the fact this game was created by merely two people, two brothers, in their spare time over a span of a few months. So for two people using most all of their free time to make this is it worth it? Well I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The game has a few modes that include Solo Tournament (Playing through the game normally alone), Co-op Tournament (Playing through with a friend using an extra controller), and Online Multiplayer. The single player, surprisingly, had a storyline which caught me off guard. While the story isn't in depth or ground breaking it's there and I was not expecting much of one. Your goal of the game is to work your way up in popularity using the arena as a way to gain supporters. When you get to the top you'll change the way everything runs just like how the people there now changed it all.

You start out leaning the controls, which rival 'Splosion Man' in simplicity (It would beat 'Splosion Man' if every button didn't do the same thing). It's nothing too difficult too learn. Move, Shoot, Jump, and switch camera. Simple controls are what games need, it allows people to pick it up and play it without any major issues. When the brief tutorial ends you get sent to your first level to fight, what else?, Dinosaurs. At least raptors. You eventually move on to some form of ogre-like creatures with clubs as well as other teams much like you (androids, kremlins, some robot-ish things that I never really caught the name of while playing).

Possibly the coolest feature within the game is your one and only power-up. If you do well enough from rapid-kills or otherwise you'll eventually go into a form of "rage mode" which will make you faster and stronger for a limited time. The limited time can be pushed even longer the more enemies you kill(Faster is better) The main issue with this being, once you get it and don't mess up too bad you are unstoppable and can win the match in a ridiculously short amount of time.

I never actually found myself finding the gameplay getting stale while playing the tournament for one simple reason. The matches were always different. One match may be a straight-up deathmatch. The next may have you running around trying to get three kegs in your teams circle first. Maybe a deathmatch involving rocket-launchers with a huge pyramid in the middle which you'll fight for the high point on to better hit your enemies. The different map layouts help this out as well. With all these good things, it's a wonder this game wasn't bigger than an indie game, but it's not all light at the end of the tunnel.

Let's start with the graphics. The graphics are actually pretty impressive if you don't look too hard at it. The main concern is the animation and movement of the characters. A lot of the times it seems awkward and just not quite right. I've occasionally seen raptors hopping up and down aimlessly. Although this is more of an AI problem. The weapons are rather creative and while small in number you won't need any of them except for the launcher. The games form of a sniper rifle is almost un-usable (but that won't stop the NPC's from being perfectly accurate with it 95% of the time) as well as any other weapon just taking far too long or requiring you to get too close to the enemies to use it effectively.

The games 'story' can be finished about around half way through the single player tournament. Considering the games story requires you to hit the top spot of supporters once you hit that you, technically speaking, win. To achieve this point it took me roughly 30-40 minutes of play time. Leaving much of the tournament left but from a gamer standpoint making me wonder what the point was. "I already can control the peoples actions. I got the goal my character came here to accomplish. Why would I risk my life to keep going?" This was my thought upon completing that checkpoint. This leads the game with a major flaw. It's short. Although pointing out a game is short isn't always a bad thing to state.

In the end is it worth your time? I suppose. It's not a game for hardcore players that like a game they can play for a few days. Creed Arena is wonderful if you want to waste some time before going somewhere or otherwise. If you have another game that you like to waste time with, then personally I would stick to that. Don't be afraid to give this one a shot though. To the two creators of this, I salute you.

6 out of 10