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XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) News, Announcements, Reviews, and Impressions Thread

L

Lowlander2

Banned
Just asked my editor for a review copy of Way of the Dogg. Will it be Tha Shiznit or just Shiznit? Should you grab it while it's hot or Drop It Like It's Hot? Should you look out for this game or will Snoop be in your house looking out instead?

And so on.
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
Lowlander2 said:
Just asked my editor for a review copy of Way of the Dogg. Will it be Tha Shiznit or just Shiznit? Should you grab it while it's hot or Drop It Like It's Hot? Should you look out for this game or will Snoop be in your house looking out instead?

And so on.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry but you're unqualified for this review. It's "shizzle," everyone who follows the way of the dogg knows that.
 
S

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
canIhasAnAccount said:
I'll update throughout the day.

DOTW

All Zombies Must Die! - 400msp (was 800)
Zombie Apocalypse - 400msp (was 800)
Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone - 400msp (was 800)
--Pure Pwnage Pack - 200msp (was 400)
Zombie Driver HD - 400msp (was 800)
Zombie Wranglers - 200msp (was 400)

Dead Rising 2
--Skill Pack Ninja - 80msp (was 160)

Some tat as well (avatar/gamerpics)

-----

Tempest - 240msp (was 400)

Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
--Character Roster Pass - 200msp (was 560)

NBA 2K13 - 2400msp/30$ (was 4800/60$) US price, check your region
--All-Star Add-On - 200msp (was 400)
--Blue Diamond Jewelry Collection - 1000msp (was 2000)
--Gold Jewelry Collection - 200msp (was 400)
--Platinum Jewelry Collection - 400msp (was 800)
seinfeldiyurz.gif

--Spanish Commentary Add-On - 200msp (was 400)

Spec Ops: The Line - 2400msp/30$ (was 3200/40$) US price, check your region

-----
Sales & specials+ app

Limbo - 480msp (was 1200)
N+ - 320msp (was 800)
Spelunky - 480msp (was 1200)
Click to expand...
Did I miss this already?
 
C

CrunchinJelly

formerly cjelly
Crash Course 2 is F2P:

http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/P...Course-2/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d8025841124f
Crash Course 2 is the free to play sequel to the XBLA smash hit Doritos Crash Course. Run, jump, slide and wall jump your Avatar through 5 new worlds of irreverent obstacles, traps and pitfalls. In this 2.5 platformer, compete for medals and find stars to progress. If you get stuck, buy coins to unlock new courses, power-ups and vanity items. Compare your best time against up to 3 asynchronous game clips of your friends.
Click to expand...
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds:
>>Official Trailer (JPN Version)<<
>>Official Trailer (ENG Version)<<

Anyone think a Hype theread / OT is fitting for this game? I know it's not the kind of HUGE game that usually gets such a thing here, but Mages / Division2 / 5pb have really been putting their all into supporting / promoting this product, and I think it's deserving of at least that much, at this point...

... Not to mention it's probably the first second XBLA (especially exclusive) game that's really been exciting this year... (Skulls of the Shogun being the first, actually...)
(Ok,

Via Lifelower:
8475001101_e18b32faaf.jpg
 
M

Montresor

Member
What a huge shame that the game is Free To Play. Screw off. I would pay 800 points for a competent sequel to Doritos Crash Course. It was a fine platforming game. But Free To Play rustles my jimmies considerably... more like Pay To Win. =/ It just changes your entire approach as a gamer. Will the game be balanced to favour those who purchase microtransactions? Free To Play always feels this way.

The game should just be free, period, especially given that it's still one big advertisement for Doritos.

I have some questions for the fellas in this thread:

1) Do you guys recommend Warped, Spelunky, and Cave? How good are these titles as puzzle games?

2) When do you think the AC Revelations DLC will be on sale again? It was on sale recently but the game was not even on my radar back then. Right now I'm addicted to the game and lamenting that I missed out on the DLC.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Montresor said:
What a huge shame that the game is Free To Play. Screw off. I would pay 800 points for a competent sequel to Doritos Crash Course. It was a fine platforming game. But Free To Play rustles my jimmies considerably... more like Pay To Win.
Click to expand...

It's a bit early to write it off. The way I read it, there's no actual performance upgrade, you can just pay to unlock levels you can't legitimately unlock or something. Maybe the section skip will cost coins now, or something. It implies that the IAP will be to help people finish levels rather than set faster times.

Montresor said:
1) Do you guys recommend Warped, Spelunky, and Cave? How good are these titles as puzzle games?
Click to expand...

Spelunky is A-class, and is only 480pts in Sales and Specials if you buy before Tuesday. Purchasing it is listed next to "no-brainer" in the dictionary.

Warp and The Cave are less good. Probably "okay" is about as far as I'd go. Spelunky's not really a puzzle game though, so if puzzles are an absolute must then you want one of these. Or rather you want one of the better puzzle games on XBLA.
 
M

Montresor

Member
toythatkills said:
It's a bit early to write it off. The way I read it, there's no actual performance upgrade, you can just pay to unlock levels you can't legitimately unlock or something. Maybe the section skip will cost coins now, or something. It implies that the IAP will be to help people finish levels rather than set faster times.



Spelunky is A-class, and is only 480pts in Sales and Specials if you buy before Tuesday. Purchasing it is listed next to "no-brainer" in the dictionary.

Warp and The Cave are less good. Probably "okay" is about as far as I'd go. Spelunky's not really a puzzle game though, so if puzzles are an absolute must then you want one of these. Or rather you want one of the better puzzle games on XBLA.
Click to expand...

Re: Doritos Crash Course 2 - you're right, too early to write the game off.

Re: Spelunky. Sounds good. I looked up the game and apparently it's really long. I'll try the demo but I won't buy it just yet (even on sale) unless the demo blows me away. I'm trying to work through a considerable backlog.

edit:

The thing I'm worried about the most with Crash Course 2 is, how hard are they going to make those levels, and will they be balanced in such a way to almost force you to buy the unlocks. I would much prefer to pay for new levels as DLC, even on the first day of release, than to make purchasable anything that is unlockable through normal play.
 
R

RadarScope1

Member
Montresor said:
Re: Doritos Crash Course 2 - you're right, too early to write the game off.

Re: Spelunky. Sounds good. I looked up the game and apparently it's really long. I'll try the demo but I won't buy it just yet (even on sale) unless the demo blows me away. I'm trying to work through a considerable backlog.

edit:

The thing I'm worried about the most with Crash Course 2 is, how hard are they going to make those levels, and will they be balanced in such a way to almost force you to buy the unlocks. I would much prefer to pay for new levels as DLC, even on the first day of release, than to make purchasable anything that is unlockable through normal play.
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Spelunky is 16 levels. But man, it will take you a while to get through them. Been playing for weeks and I've only reached level 9 (3-1). Keeps me coming back over and over. Very tight and appealing old-school gameplay with a modern flavor (randomized generation).

It's an everlasting gobstopper of a platformer. I love it.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Special Forces Team-X is, like, much less terrible than I thought it would be. It's a multiplayer-only third person shooter. It feels like a competent Gears of War clone with a Borderlands style presentation and CoD style loadout stuff. It felt pretty decent, there seemed like lots of missions to go through, and I had no trouble finding a full game. The demo gives you 45 minutes of in-game time. There are a bunch of pretty standard modes. I liked that one of your loadout items could be an attack dog, which give the whole game a sort of slightly off-kilter feel.

In between rounds you vote for the next map, but it's kind of cool. The map is divided into three zones, and you vote for each zone... so every map feels like a mash-up of multiple other maps, but it all fits together well. I thought that was pretty neat.

I don't think I'd ever buy it because I don't play multiplayer shooters really, but, like, given the name and lack of information before release, I assumed this was going to be terrible.


I also played demos of a bunch of old games. I'm trying to work my way through playing basically every game on XBLA before the end of the generation. Tonight's batch:

3-on-3 NHL Arcade: Big heads are cute and powerups are funny, but it didn't really feel like a good hockey game. Definitely do not recommend.

Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team: Seemed like a decent enough twin stick + hack and slash. I don't like the Warhammer universe, it's so cheesy. Demo was a little on the short side and cut me off before really giving me a big oomph moment. Would consider buying for 200 msp or so

Interpol: This is a low-end hidden object game. I played it when I had an SDTV and found it hard to make out anything. On an HDTV it works, but not well. Using the analog sticks as an imitation mouse cursor is kind of lame, and the backgrounds are pretty low resolution. The Carmen Sandiego-esque story is kind of neat. I might be willing to pay 400 msp for this at some point. Demo is only a few minutes of gameplay, so hard to tell if there's any variety or just hidden objects straight through.
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Special Forces Team-X is, like, much less terrible than I thought it would be. It's a multiplayer-only third person shooter. It feels like a competent Gears of War clone with a Borderlands style presentation and CoD style loadout stuff. It felt pretty decent, there seemed like lots of missions to go through, and I had no trouble finding a full game. The demo gives you 45 minutes of in-game time. There are a bunch of pretty standard modes. I liked that one of your loadout items could be an attack dog, which give the whole game a sort of slightly off-kilter feel.

In between rounds you vote for the next map, but it's kind of cool. The map is divided into three zones, and you vote for each zone... so every map feels like a mash-up of multiple other maps, but it all fits together well. I thought that was pretty neat.

I don't think I'd ever buy it because I don't play multiplayer shooters really, but, like, given the name and lack of information before release, I assumed this was going to be terrible.
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I have the full version and I have to disagree. In fact, I hate it. First and foremost, the game is a laggy mess with netcode from 1998, where the host is an unstoppable god and your success in the match is based solely on how well you ping to him, and wether he's on your team or not. The team he's on will win, with zero doubt, and if you're pinging on the high side you'll just be everyone's punching bag. Lag is a fact in online play, of course, but I haven't seen a game this bad in a long time. The fact that they chose to not include any sort of ping indication, neither in the lobby search nor the match itself, doesn't exactly make things better, and neither does the fact that the netcode is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes you'll kill a guy in the required 5 bullets, 20 seconds later that same guy will sponge every bullet you fire at him and just turn around and instakill you.

On top of that, there are countless glitches and sloppy design choices, like the fact that you can't move from knee-high cover to a connected full-body cover smoothly, spawning on teammates works like one time out of ten, some challenges/achievements are broken, throwing grenades from cover usually means you throw them at yourself and sometimes the grenade button just doesn't work at all, dogs are insanely stupid and can't attack enemies right in front of them, and so on. You'll run into at least 5 irritating glitches per match once you start noticing them. I really miss the lack of a Gears-style roll move, as well, as there's nothing you can really do to try to dodge an unexpected opponent's gunfire, and just laying down to die without being able to attempt anything doesn't feel very satisfying. Actually, there is one thing you can do and it's pretty stupid too; if you manage to dance around a surprise attacker and spam the knife button, you can do the execution kill move with some help from the lag. That's just stupid, you should only be able to execute if the enemy hasn't seen you!

STX is one of those games I regret buying, even though I buy everything on XBLA. I could deal with lag if it wasn't so glitchy, or vice versa, but heaps of bugs on top of frustrating lag equals me just fucking hating the game. It's really disappointing for me, as I'm a big fan of Blacklight and consider that to be the most competent CoD clone ever made. This game, not so much.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
CrunchinJelly said:
Doritos Crash Course 2. Thanks, Lifelower.

8473983671_33e975b6ca_h.jpg
Click to expand...

This is unexpected news. I thought the first game was very well done. Will this one also be free as well?

On a related note, are they running the Unlock Xbox competition again or is this just a one off? I really liked the idea of the competition, sad to see it didn't become a yearly event.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Today's demos:

Arkadian Warriors: A really crummy, low-impact hack-and-slash with N64-era graphics and stock sound effects. I played as a warrior and just button-mashed. The demo sucked.

Battle LA: Terrible, terrible looking FPS bad shooting dumb enemies

Dead Block: This is a sort of weird thing. It's a third person sort of tower defence crafting type game. It's got cute graphics and a weird style. You fight off hordes of zombies. I didn't actually like it because it was a bit too slow for my liking, but it was kind of original.

Gyruss: This is like Space Invaders, only it takes place in the Sonic 2 rotating bonus level. Weird. I've never played the original arcade game. I liked the background image. The demo only lasted maybe 2 minutes, so hard to say if I'd buy.

Island of Wakfu. Pretty. *waits through lengthy introduction crap* *moves character* god this is slow and boring *exits game before any gameplay happens* I think it's a mana-style ARPG???

Microbot: 2d twin-stick shmup where you're a robot that is infiltrating someone's blood-stream which is infected by evil robots. You can collect resources and upgrade your weapons. I got a lance arm that I could ram people with booooya. Demo was fairly long, seemed like there were lots of upgrades. Looked really nice but simple, loved the fluid graphics. Loved lancing red blood cells. Would definitely consider buying if the full game is good.

NBA Jam On Fire: Definitely has a modern look version of NBA Jam. Most of the cool tricks from NBA Jam seem to still be in it. I couldn't get the hang of the controls in the demo, to be honest.

Nights: The last time I played Nights was about 15 years ago. They cleaned up the image. I didn't really get the hang of the scoring system and mostly got Cs. It was neat, I would buy this for 400 msp

Omega Five: A terrible, slow, heavy, horizontal shooter. Really messy, too much going on on the screen without neat bullet patterns. Demo cut off before anything interesting happened.

Renegade Ops: Very slick, reminded me of Desert Strike or Jungle Strike meets Blast Corps meets Just Cause. Will definitely buy on the next 75% off PC sale. Seemed like the content repeated a bit, but controlled well, looked nice, and kept my attention.
 
W

Wibblewozzer

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Today's demos:

Arkadian Warriors: A really crummy, low-impact hack-and-slash with N64-era graphics and stock sound effects. I played as a warrior and just button-mashed. The demo sucked.

Battle LA: Terrible, terrible looking FPS bad shooting dumb enemies

Dead Block: This is a sort of weird thing. It's a third person sort of tower defence crafting type game. It's got cute graphics and a weird style. You fight off hordes of zombies. I didn't actually like it because it was a bit too slow for my liking, but it was kind of original.

Gyruss: This is like Space Invaders, only it takes place in the Sonic 2 rotating bonus level. Weird. I've never played the original arcade game. I liked the background image. The demo only lasted maybe 2 minutes, so hard to say if I'd buy.

Island of Wakfu. Pretty. *waits through lengthy introduction crap* *moves character* god this is slow and boring *exits game before any gameplay happens* I think it's a mana-style ARPG???

Microbot: 2d twin-stick shmup where you're a robot that is infiltrating someone's blood-stream which is infected by evil robots. You can collect resources and upgrade your weapons. I got a lance arm that I could ram people with booooya. Demo was fairly long, seemed like there were lots of upgrades. Looked really nice but simple, loved the fluid graphics. Loved lancing red blood cells. Would definitely consider buying if the full game is good.

NBA Jam On Fire: Definitely has a modern look version of NBA Jam. Most of the cool tricks from NBA Jam seem to still be in it. I couldn't get the hang of the controls in the demo, to be honest.

Nights: The last time I played Nights was about 15 years ago. They cleaned up the image. I didn't really get the hang of the scoring system and mostly got Cs. It was neat, I would buy this for 400 msp

Omega Five: A terrible, slow, heavy, horizontal shooter. Really messy, too much going on on the screen without neat bullet patterns. Demo cut off before anything interesting happened.

Renegade Ops: Very slick, reminded me of Desert Strike or Jungle Strike meets Blast Corps meets Just Cause. Will definitely buy on the next 75% off PC sale. Seemed like the content repeated a bit, but controlled well, looked nice, and kept my attention.
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I'm in the minority here but I think Renegade Ops wears out its welcome very quickly and is extremely tedious and repetitive. I pushed myself to beat it but I had a frustrating time with it and was really just cleaning up the achievements that I was already working my way towards.

Omega Five is not great but it was one of the first arcade games I got all 200 points in. If you're into achievements it's fairly quick to get them all. I think I did it in about three hours or something like that.

And NBA Jam On Fire Edition is great. Controls were awkward when I first started but I quickly learned them all again and was able to play quite well.

Oh, and Arkadian Warriors was my reply in a thread from a few weeks ago about the worst game I completed. It was my pick for one of the worst from this generation.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Stumpokapow said:
Today's demos:

Arkadian Warriors: A really crummy, low-impact hack-and-slash with N64-era graphics and stock sound effects. I played as a warrior and just button-mashed. The demo sucked.

Dead Block: This is a sort of weird thing. It's a third person sort of tower defence crafting type game. It's got cute graphics and a weird style. You fight off hordes of zombies. I didn't actually like it because it was a bit too slow for my liking, but it was kind of original.

Island of Wakfu. Pretty. *waits through lengthy introduction crap* *moves character* god this is slow and boring *exits game before any gameplay happens* I think it's a mana-style ARPG???

NBA Jam On Fire: Definitely has a modern look version of NBA Jam. Most of the cool tricks from NBA Jam seem to still be in it. I couldn't get the hang of the controls in the demo, to be honest.

Omega Five: A terrible, slow, heavy, horizontal shooter. Really messy, too much going on on the screen without neat bullet patterns. Demo cut off before anything interesting happened.
Click to expand...

I'd agree on Arkadian Warriors. It's just designed in a boring, unfocused way. It's a testement to why the "cheap" XBLA games of the past were not the "glory days"; I'm glad arcade games of now feel much more richly developed.

Dead Block: I enjoy it's unique personality. There is a Glitch that'll freeze up the game when the "stage clear" music plays at times; It freezes for a LONG TIME sometimes (10 min or more), and THAT error makes it a chore to play, when it occurs. Love the varied characters, powers, and stage designs, though.

Island of Wakfu: I still have to play more of it myself, but I think the game deserves much more love than it got. it's got SYSTEMS to play around with (very Universe specific stuff all over), actual combos to learn and use, the 2 playable characters are vastly different gameplay experiences (local co-op only, I believe), and it's art and music are very well-produced. For a first outing, it feels great, and I really would have loved a sequel, as they seemed to have much more of the right ideas in place, than most start-up games of this type.

NBA Jam: I hated the demo, but bought the game on sale due to it's promise. I've played only a little, but the "story" mode looked kinda bloated to me. Maybe this'll change as I play more, and the content quality seems to be there, but looking at that world map, and the kind of objectives they suggest you go after, I couldn't help but feel "this game would be more appealing to me if it were streamlined some."

Omega FIVE: AWWW HELLL NAA- *ahem* Seriously, I love this game. When every other shooter is ANOTHER bullet hell or ANOTHER boring minimalistic graphic twin stick that tried to cash in on GeoWars, Omega Five appeared, with large characters (with small hurtboxes), rather great graphics for it's time, memorable music, depth through proper power-up useage, characters that played surprisingly differently, and all the bells and whistles that I expect from "full" games, such as useful, meaningful voice work, and fun unlockables (Retro Music and Graphic filters, unique characters that change the gameplay up strongly, etc).

Must have played the Demo about 10 times before I was actually able to buy it, and the way the music / game just paused right when things felt they were about to get even better, had me hooked. It's character and difficulty specific leaderboards were some of the most fun I had playing on XBLA (I'd come back months later, just to fight with the weekly boards some), downloadable replays were great to watch, and it was just surprisingly well put together for it's time. I'd rebuy it if it ever showed up on other platforms, and am still sad the 3DS version disappeared, along with Hudson :( :(

If Arkadian warriors is an example of where the limits of size and cost of XBLA held the games back, Omega Five is an example to how talented developers can make a fully fleshed out game, on any budget, if they have the proper talent and ability for it.
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
SAB CA said:
Omega FIVE: AWWW HELLL NAA- *ahem* Seriously, I love this game. When every other shooter is ANOTHER bullet hell or ANOTHER boring minimalistic graphic twin stick that tried to cash in on GeoWars, Omega Five appeared, with large characters (with small hurtboxes), rather great graphics for it's time, memorable music, depth through proper power-up useage, characters that played surprisingly differently, and all the bells and whistles that I expect from "full" games, such as useful, meaningful voice work, and fun unlockables (Retro Music and Graphic filters, unique characters that change the gameplay up strongly, etc).
Click to expand...
Oh, thanks for breaking the combo. Two Omega Five haters in a row, I was like WHAT IS THIS WHAT

Loved the game myself. It's like a beautiful, modern-day Forgotten Worlds, except not frustrating and unfair.

I'm playing Dungeon Fighter Live myself. This game really should've been free. It's just an extremely bare-bones advertisement for DFO.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Today's demos:

Deep Black episode 1: Gears of War underwater. No, wait, that sounds kind of neat. Dark Sector underwater. It's a terrible third person shooter with lots of awful insta-death design, more checkpoints, weapons with no kick, bullet sponge brain-dead enemies, terrible writing and presentation. Checked leaderboards, unfortunately there's no single player leaderboards but there are only 340 people on the multiplayer leaderboards. $10 to buy the first episode, and by the way the subsequent episodes will never be released. Destructoid gave the PC version a 1/10. Oh yeah and the main character is a total copy of Dead Space's, right down to the life meter crawling up the spine of his suit... but unlike Isaac, this life meter isn't functional, so basically you spend the game staring at a blue line that does nothing LOL. Also I searched NeoGAF for mentions of this game, and since release it looks like there have been exactly two posts; one person in this thread asking if it is any good and one person in this thread replying that it's terrible, even worse than Hydrophobia.

Duke Nukem Manhattan Project: I played this probably 15 years ago, but didn't remember much about it. It's an early 3D game made vaguely in the style of the first two Duke Nukems. It's pretty ugly, with ugly backgrounds. It's a platformer but the platforming doesn't quite work. Level design is fairly simplistic and the secrets are anything but. But it's got a good amount of content, you move pretty quickly, and I had a surprisingly good time with the demo. I would probably be willing to buy this for 800 msp but I'm going to check its sale history to see if a sale is likely.

Fire Pro Wrestling: The game starts and I get a popup asking me to name something. I leave the default ("My Wrestler") and my avatar walks into a ring with another wrestler. Okay, no menus or options, fine, I'm here to wrestle. Okay, I have three buttons. "Grab", "Attack", and "Guard". Attacking does a terribly animated kick. Grabbing does... nothing? Sometimes it randomly does a super move where I grab the guy, jump hundreds of feet, and slam him. Sometimes he grabs me and a totally random set of buttons come up and the buttons I press don't seem to do anything. Guard makes me guard, but doesn't seem to work well. I can leave the ring or get back in. The button prompts are contextual and really ugly. I pin the first guy and win. Again, no transition or menu or anything, I'm magically in training. Okay, now I actually learn what the moves are and how to play the game, and the controls are much more thorough than in that first match. I played the tutorials and changed my guy's outfit a bit, but I don't feel like the controls or animations really work all that well

Gatling Gears: Steampunk-ish themed top down twin-stick kind of shooter with mechs. You can shoot regular or missiles or throw grenades. Actually visually it reminded me of a 3D version of the original Command and Conquer: Red Alert, even though there are no gameplay similarities. There were some Steampunk elements. It was presented well. I did feel like stuff took too many shots to kill, like the game wasn't quite quick enough, but I had a good time. I'd maybe buy this on sale.

Rock Band Blitz: You play a simple, two-button version of Rock Band. You can lane switch like the pre-Rock Band Harmonix games. You need to lane switch and keep all your instrument multipliers as high as possible for each section of the song. The controls are a little weird ("A" for right lane, any dpad button for left lane). I think this probably makes more sense as a $15 Rock Band track pack if you still play, since all the songs are playable in real Rock Band games. It doesn't really feel as zen as Frequency did to me. There's an achievement for playing 300 or more unique songs, so it's pretty clearly targeted for people who are loony about Rock Band. I checked the tracklist, and the only things that popped out to me were: Cult of Personality, Death on Two Legs, Shine, and The Wicker Man... and there's some out-and-out turds in the list too.

Yar's Revenge: It's a rail shooter in the vein of Rez or Panzer Dragoon. That's not really my genre, but I enjoyed the demo well enough here. Sometimes the screen got busy and I couldn't really see what was going on. I could see myself maybe paying 400 msp for this.
 
C

Chiaroscuro

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Yar's Revenge: It's a rail shooter in the vein of Rez or Panzer Dragoon. That's not really my genre, but I enjoyed the demo well enough here. Sometimes the screen got busy and I couldn't really see what was going on. I could see myself maybe paying 400 msp for this.
Click to expand...

So do it right now. It was recentely reduced to 400msp and probably will be gone soon, due to Atari meltdown.
 
W

Wibblewozzer

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Today's demos:
Gatling Gears: Steampunk-ish themed top down twin-stick kind of shooter with mechs. You can shoot regular or missiles or throw grenades. Actually visually it reminded me of a 3D version of the original Command and Conquer: Red Alert, even though there are no gameplay similarities. There were some Steampunk elements. It was presented well. I did feel like stuff took too many shots to kill, like the game wasn't quite quick enough, but I had a good time. I'd maybe buy this on sale.
Click to expand...

My reply about Renegade Ops just before can be pretty much copied and pasted for this game. Was excited for it but ultimately couldn't figure out why people enjoyed. Feels slow, tedious, and frustrating. I pushed myself to beat it but it took me multiple sessions to push myself through it.

I bought Yar's Revenge after it returned to the marketplace following its brief delisting but I haven't tried it yet. I know generally it's not well liked but 400 points is cheap and I've always been interested in it.

And my previous reply about Omega Five was likely a bit too negative. I know I had fun with it and enjoyed my time through it so it's not a bad game. I just didn't think it was particularly great or anything, either. At this point I'd rather hop into Ikaruga, Trouble Witches Neo, or Sine Mora if I'm going to play a shoot-em-up on Live. Or is Akai Katana still $15 on Games on Demand? That's worth buying as well
 
J

Jhoan

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Today's demos:

Arkadian Warriors: A really crummy, low-impact hack-and-slash with N64-era graphics and stock sound effects. I played as a warrior and just button-mashed. The demo sucked.

Battle LA: Terrible, terrible looking FPS bad shooting dumb enemies

Dead Block: This is a sort of weird thing. It's a third person sort of tower defence crafting type game. It's got cute graphics and a weird style. You fight off hordes of zombies. I didn't actually like it because it was a bit too slow for my liking, but it was kind of original.

Gyruss: This is like Space Invaders, only it takes place in the Sonic 2 rotating bonus level. Weird. I've never played the original arcade game. I liked the background image. The demo only lasted maybe 2 minutes, so hard to say if I'd buy.

Island of Wakfu. Pretty. *waits through lengthy introduction crap* *moves character* god this is slow and boring *exits game before any gameplay happens* I think it's a mana-style ARPG???

Microbot: 2d twin-stick shmup where you're a robot that is infiltrating someone's blood-stream which is infected by evil robots. You can collect resources and upgrade your weapons. I got a lance arm that I could ram people with booooya. Demo was fairly long, seemed like there were lots of upgrades. Looked really nice but simple, loved the fluid graphics. Loved lancing red blood cells. Would definitely consider buying if the full game is good.

NBA Jam On Fire: Definitely has a modern look version of NBA Jam. Most of the cool tricks from NBA Jam seem to still be in it. I couldn't get the hang of the controls in the demo, to be honest.

Nights: The last time I played Nights was about 15 years ago. They cleaned up the image. I didn't really get the hang of the scoring system and mostly got Cs. It was neat, I would buy this for 400 msp

Omega Five: A terrible, slow, heavy, horizontal shooter. Really messy, too much going on on the screen without neat bullet patterns. Demo cut off before anything interesting happened.

Renegade Ops: Very slick, reminded me of Desert Strike or Jungle Strike meets Blast Corps meets Just Cause. Will definitely buy on the next 75% off PC sale. Seemed like the content repeated a bit, but controlled well, looked nice, and kept my attention.
Click to expand...

Islands of Wakfu reminded me of Bastion in that they're both isometric ARPG's. They both play similar too. The difference is that the former feels cheaper and the latter has higher production values and is more colorful. I didn't check out the full game myself.

Microbot is a pretty cool game having bought the full game when it was on sale for 400MSP and finished it. It's kind of like Metroid in that you get new abilities that help to traverse the environment. You can also upgrade the various parts that you get. The boss battles are also pretty cool in that they require strategy and not just mindless shooting.

I would definitely say to get Renegade Ops when it's on sale since I got it when it was on sale for XBLA. Unfortunately, I couldn't get more than 2 other players for co-op which sucked. Maybe you'll have better luck on the PC version. The production values are extremely good considering the fact that this game was made in the same engine that powers Just Cause 2. I enjoyed it for what it was despite the fact that I wish the game had more voice acting and it didn't have enough things to differentiate from other twin stick shooters. There's a really good Postmortem article with the developers on Gamasutra.

Gatling Gears is another decent twin stick shooter in a over saturated twin stick shooter market. I bought it when it was on sale, but have yet to beat it because I lost interest in it. It's kind of bullet hell in that there's a lot of bullets to dodge but not as crazy as say Ikaruga. I love the color palette and the robot design but not much else. It's also a big game at 2GB. I'll probably re-download it again one of these days simply to force myself to slog through it.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
AfterBurner Climax: I'm not familiar with the game or really the series. This was really cool. Basically an infinite-scrolling fighter jet game where you go super duper fast and shoot enemies with a gun, targeted missiles, or some sort of super screen-clearing thing. You go super fast. You dodge stuff. Mostly there's no AI or anything, it's just about being badass. Level segments seem to last like 20 seconds or so. The voice-acting reminded me of Ghost Squad, another low budget cheesefest Sega arcade game. I'm surprised at how much more I liked this then I thought I would. It's not really my genre and I don't think I'd pay $10 because the game itself seems pretty short and the demo was only maybe 2 minutes long, but this was cool.

Amy: Puzzle-survival horror featuring a non-verbally autistic companion, whole game is escort mission. There are some neat ideas and the graphics are nice, but the writing is TERRIBLE (and definitely ESL), voice acting suffers as a result, movement is slow and un-fun, performance is weak, and puzzles weren't great in the demo. Based on the demo I haven't seen anything that would have made this a 2/10 game, versus just a 5-6/10, but I' told the game received a major gameplay patch so maybe some of the issues the base game had were fixed in the one I'm playing? One weird thing is that several puzzles involve your player character pushing the child companion through small holes in the wall, but you can very clearly see that the holes are large enough to fit the player character, so the puzzle ends up seeming pretty contrived. Lots of dumb jump-scares in the demo. I don't think I'd buy it for 400msp.

Assault Heroes: Another top-down twin stick shooter with a military theme. This was distinctly more simple than Gatling Gears (because it's older), but I actually liked it a lot. I liked that scrolling only occurred in one direction, I liked that when your buggy got blown up you could run around on foot and survive for a while until a new buggy spawned, I liked that enemies melted like butter but the game still got challenging when things were hectic. At 400 msp I would consider this.

AstroPop: PopCap match four where the primary mechanic is sucking in and spitting out bricks. Critter Crunch is probably the closest mechanical match, but it's still different. Cutesy sci-fi theme. Really early XBLA presentation. I liked it but it wouldn't make my top 10 Popcap time-wasters, so I don't think I'd buy it.

Bubble Bobble Neo: Bubble Bobble with cheap 3d models.
 
J

jgkspsx

Member
Stumpokapow said:
AfterBurner Climax
Click to expand...
is the most goddamned beautiful thing my TV has ever shown me.

Stumpokapow said:
Rock Band Blitz: You play a simple, two-button version of Rock Band. You can lane switch like the pre-Rock Band Harmonix games. You need to lane switch and keep all your instrument multipliers as high as possible for each section of the song. The controls are a little weird ("A" for right lane, any dpad button for left lane). I think this probably makes more sense as a $15 Rock Band track pack if you still play, since all the songs are playable in real Rock Band games. It doesn't really feel as zen as Frequency did to me. There's an achievement for playing 300 or more unique songs, so it's pretty clearly targeted for people who are loony about Rock Band. I checked the tracklist, and the only things that popped out to me were: Cult of Personality, Death on Two Legs, Shine, and The Wicker Man... and there's some out-and-out turds in the list too.
Click to expand...

This is a must-have, or at least a must-try, for anyone whose Rock Band DLC collection numbers in the hundreds, who really cares about music, and especially is interested in hearing the original masters of different instruments in the tracks. It really works for me, and unlike Frequency and Amplitude and RBUnplugged, I have total control over the tracklist. I really like it. It's up there with Audiosurf for fun ways to play with my favorite music, and unlike that RBB actually helps me learn more about the music I like.
 
Vert boil

Vert boil

Member
I'll update throughout the day.

DOTW

Skyrim - 3200msp/40$ (was 4800/60$) US price, check your region

Oblivion - 800msp/10$ (was 1200/15$) US price, check your region
--Knights of the Nine - 200msp (was 400)
--Shivering Isles - 600msp (was 1200)

-----

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
--Aircraft skin pack 1 - 480msp (was 960)
--Aircraft skin pack 2 - 360msp (was 720)
--Aircraft skin pack - 480msp (was 960)
--ASF-X Shinden II - 320msp (was 640)
--F-15S/MTD - 240msp (was 480)
--Ka-50 Hokum - 240msp (was 480)
--Online map pack - 600msp (was 1200)
--Su-37 Terminator - 240msp (was 480)
--Tornado GR.4 - 240msp (was 480)
--YF-23 Black Widow II - 240msp (was 480)

Dance Central 2 - 1600msp/20$ (was 2400/30$)

Dead Island - 1600msp/20$ (was 2400/30$)

Just Dance 4
--Katy Perry: Part of Me - 120msp (was 240)

Rage
--Wasteland Sewer Missions - 160msp (was 800)

Two Worlds II - 1600msp/20$ (was 3600/45$)
--Multiplayer Map pack 1 - 400msp (was 1200)
--Pirates of the Flying Fortress - 400msp (was 2400)

-----
Sales & Specials+ app

Lucidity - 400msp (was 800)
Trine 2 - 600msp (was 1200)
 
M

madmackem

Member
canIhasAnAccount said:
Updating at the moment, double check prices before buying. I'll update throughout the day.

DOTW

Skyrim - 3200msp/40$ (was 4800/60$) US price, check your region

Oblivion - 800msp/10$ (was 1200/15$) US price, check your region
--Knights of the Nine - 200msp (was 400)
--Shivering Isles - 600msp (was 1200)

-----

Just Dance 4
--Katy Perry: Part of Me - 120msp (was 240)

-----
Sales & Specials+ app (updates two hours after this post)
**
Click to expand...

We have been coming out of these deals of the week pretty well in uk, nba 2k13 was £8.99 last week skyrim is £14.99 this week.
 
L

Lima

Member
I'm still pissed that the DLC's are not discounted. I was ready to finally jump into Skyrim with all DLC's this week. Yeah not happening.
 
C

CadetMahoney

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Yar's Revenge: It's a rail shooter in the vein of Rez or Panzer Dragoon. That's not really my genre, but I enjoyed the demo well enough here. Sometimes the screen got busy and I couldn't really see what was going on. I could see myself maybe paying 400 msp for this.
Click to expand...

I played the demo and was hoping for some Panzer Dragoon Orta style game - instead I got a poor clone at 30fps with frame drops all over. :(
 
L

Lima

Member
IvanI said:
Wait for GOTY edition. That's what I'm doing. Got loads of other stuff to play.
Click to expand...

Well I already have the game (bought it on release day lol) and bought both Dawnguard and Heathfire when they were discounted. I was just waiting to get Dragonborn too and finally start the game.
 
J

j0hnny_385

Member
Lima said:
Well I already have the game (bought it on release day lol) and bought both Dawnguard and Heathfire when they were discounted. I was just waiting to get Dragonborn too and finally start the game.
Click to expand...
Oh...well in that case I understand your discontent. :/
 
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