The announcement of Louie the Fly: Air Combat took us all by surprise.

Indie studio TikGames has announced its latest project. According to the developer, the creatively spelled Xotic will bring arcade sensibilities to the first person shooter genre. The game will challenge us to blast our way through levels as swiftly as possible, while building high scoring combos. It sounds a little like The Club, a 2008 release from the late great Bizarre Creations. Don’t expect gritty modern environments in this case, however, as Xotic appears to take place in a delirious technicolour future.

This will be the fourth XBLA offering from TikGames but we can’t help but recall the first. Released in 2006, Texas Hold ‘em was a source of great consternation here at The Black Panel. Several times, we amassed small fortunes, only to see them decimated by bugs and crashes. During one particularly painful episode, we scrounged up half a million clams in order to sit at the high rollers table. Before we had placed a single bet, we were booted to the post game lobby, minus our stash. Given that Xotic promises to be a far more ambitious project, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for stable net code.

Xotic is due for release on XBLA in winter 2011.