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XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) News, Announcements, Reviews, and Impressions Thread
- Thread starter Vert boil
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Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Some demos...
Puzzle Chronicles: This is a puzzle-RPG (like Puzzle Quest) made by the creators of Puzzle Quest. Like Puzzle Quest, it has a pretty awful UI. The core RPG gameplay loop this time is built around a block-dropper like Tetris or Columns or Puzzle Fighter, but a little different. I did not enjoy the demo at all, because the block dropper is horizontal and I basically think that's a terrible decision which reflects on the whole game. I just didn't enjoy it. And the character art seemed pretty crummy.
Pinball Arcade: On the other hand, I enjoyed this a lot. I don't really like Pinball mostly because I was never any good at it and I felt like you really needed to quarter-feed to get a hang of all the convoluted rules of each individual table. In addition, I never felt like I had full control of what was happening. But I really liked this. First and foremost the game has pretty extensive information about each table (I especially liked stats on the number of each table that were sold in real life), but also the way the semi-interactive tutorial walked you through the "point" of the table seemed pretty great to me.
Of the four tables included with the demo, I enjoyed Black Hole and Ripley's Believe It or Not, but didn't really like Tales of the Arabian Nights or Theatre of Magic. Black Hole especially seemed like a great table. It is pretty clean and open, very easy to track the ball visually, and it has a second playfield--sometimes the ball goes down a hole to a pinball table below the main pinball table with a secondary set of flippers. Really really neat idea.
Scarygirl: I played this before, but I figured I'd give it another try. I think I liked it a little more this time but not enough to buy it. The combat is a little ho-hum and more well suited to a beat-em-up than a platformer, the jumping doesn't feel great (there are a number of jumps where you're going from one platform to another platform above you, and you only have the exact vertical momentum required to get there, so you end up sort of clipping the corner). The art style isn't really for me either, it's kinda like Emily the Strange or whatever meets vinyl claymation look. The demo is longer than I remember it though, you get four stages and a teaser for a boss.
Puzzle Chronicles: This is a puzzle-RPG (like Puzzle Quest) made by the creators of Puzzle Quest. Like Puzzle Quest, it has a pretty awful UI. The core RPG gameplay loop this time is built around a block-dropper like Tetris or Columns or Puzzle Fighter, but a little different. I did not enjoy the demo at all, because the block dropper is horizontal and I basically think that's a terrible decision which reflects on the whole game. I just didn't enjoy it. And the character art seemed pretty crummy.
Pinball Arcade: On the other hand, I enjoyed this a lot. I don't really like Pinball mostly because I was never any good at it and I felt like you really needed to quarter-feed to get a hang of all the convoluted rules of each individual table. In addition, I never felt like I had full control of what was happening. But I really liked this. First and foremost the game has pretty extensive information about each table (I especially liked stats on the number of each table that were sold in real life), but also the way the semi-interactive tutorial walked you through the "point" of the table seemed pretty great to me.
Of the four tables included with the demo, I enjoyed Black Hole and Ripley's Believe It or Not, but didn't really like Tales of the Arabian Nights or Theatre of Magic. Black Hole especially seemed like a great table. It is pretty clean and open, very easy to track the ball visually, and it has a second playfield--sometimes the ball goes down a hole to a pinball table below the main pinball table with a secondary set of flippers. Really really neat idea.
Scarygirl: I played this before, but I figured I'd give it another try. I think I liked it a little more this time but not enough to buy it. The combat is a little ho-hum and more well suited to a beat-em-up than a platformer, the jumping doesn't feel great (there are a number of jumps where you're going from one platform to another platform above you, and you only have the exact vertical momentum required to get there, so you end up sort of clipping the corner). The art style isn't really for me either, it's kinda like Emily the Strange or whatever meets vinyl claymation look. The demo is longer than I remember it though, you get four stages and a teaser for a boss.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Also @ Stump - you you need the 3 months of gold I have for you?
Holy shit man if you actually have 3 months of gold kicking around I'd really, really appreciate that, that's awesome. I'm slumming it on silver right now, it's heartbreaking!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Some demos...
Encleverment Experiment: I almost bought this when it first came out. It's a Big Brain Academy clone released a little too late to take advantage of the craze. First things first, it is significantly better in presentation and activity design than Mensa Academy or Brain Challenge, no doubt there. So if you're looking for a Big Brain Academy/Brain Training-style game, this is the one to get. It's got a really cute presentation. It's more gamey than Brain Training, so don't expect IQ measures or anything. toythatkills is #3 in the world in one of the leaderboards. Unfortunately a lot of the game is built around enjoying it in multiplayer, and so it's not the sort of game you buy years later. I don't think I'd get my money's worth, but I again think that this is a pretty good game.
The Undergarden: I played this demo when it came out and thought "cute and harmless". This time I played it and thought "cute and harmless". It's a level based puzzle game where you move a cuddly bear teletubby thing around a screen, cause grass to grow and flowers to bloom, use the flowers fruit to activate weight and anti-gravity switches, which opens corridors, which lets you move through. It's very colourful and very welcoming. In the tutorial level I didn't see anything that could injure you, so I'm guessing there aren't any enemies. It reminded me most of Soul Bubbles in that the levels were kind of tunnel-and-clearing setups and you float around in any direction, although the mechanics are different. I bought this because it was 240 msp and might get delisted soon. The game has co-op but I can't see how that could possibly benefit it--this is definitely intended to be a single player game. Cute and harmless.
Rez HD: I only played Rez once, a long time ago, on PS2, and I didn't have any strong memories of it. The demo was surprisingly pleasant. It's basically a rail shooter where you can't dodge, only attack. Your attacks fire to the beat of the electronic music in the background, so there's a slight delay. It uses the aim-lock-and-fire method of controls (which exist in some form in many rail shooters, but reminded me most obviously of Child of Eden). You fly through cyber-mainframe-wireframe corridors. After killing so many enemies you get experience that adds towards you levelling up. You start at level 1 and can level up to level 3. When you get hit, you lose a level. When you're level 0 and get hit, you die. It apparently has an adaptive difficulty system, which I guess means I'm a poor player because I found it pretty easy. My key question is this--what separates an average Rez player from a good one? I killed everything, I tried to get pretty big chains of enemies and only actually fired when I absolutely had to. I didn't get hit by anything until the boss. How would I replay that level and do better or worse? The presentation is great, with lots of code-server-gibberish being fired off, clean and visually easy to distinguish graphics, and great music which interacts with the gameplay. I found Child of Eden more engaging, but I'd definitely be willing to buy Rez.
Risk Factions: I played this one before and came away from it saying "This is an enormous filesize so you can add a low-quality flash animation story to Risk."... and that's basically what I came away with this time as well. You know what the fundamental problem with electronic versions of board games is? When they use animations, visual effects, menus, prompts, and text to slow down playing the game. Electronic versions of board games should be FASTER than the real thing, not slower. They should at least have the option anyway. The story is stupid and basically internet meme level. I didn't really like the added stuff for the campaign (of which I think I was able to play 1/5th of as a tutorial). Also Risk isn't a particularly good board game, so there's that too.
Encleverment Experiment: I almost bought this when it first came out. It's a Big Brain Academy clone released a little too late to take advantage of the craze. First things first, it is significantly better in presentation and activity design than Mensa Academy or Brain Challenge, no doubt there. So if you're looking for a Big Brain Academy/Brain Training-style game, this is the one to get. It's got a really cute presentation. It's more gamey than Brain Training, so don't expect IQ measures or anything. toythatkills is #3 in the world in one of the leaderboards. Unfortunately a lot of the game is built around enjoying it in multiplayer, and so it's not the sort of game you buy years later. I don't think I'd get my money's worth, but I again think that this is a pretty good game.
The Undergarden: I played this demo when it came out and thought "cute and harmless". This time I played it and thought "cute and harmless". It's a level based puzzle game where you move a cuddly bear teletubby thing around a screen, cause grass to grow and flowers to bloom, use the flowers fruit to activate weight and anti-gravity switches, which opens corridors, which lets you move through. It's very colourful and very welcoming. In the tutorial level I didn't see anything that could injure you, so I'm guessing there aren't any enemies. It reminded me most of Soul Bubbles in that the levels were kind of tunnel-and-clearing setups and you float around in any direction, although the mechanics are different. I bought this because it was 240 msp and might get delisted soon. The game has co-op but I can't see how that could possibly benefit it--this is definitely intended to be a single player game. Cute and harmless.
Rez HD: I only played Rez once, a long time ago, on PS2, and I didn't have any strong memories of it. The demo was surprisingly pleasant. It's basically a rail shooter where you can't dodge, only attack. Your attacks fire to the beat of the electronic music in the background, so there's a slight delay. It uses the aim-lock-and-fire method of controls (which exist in some form in many rail shooters, but reminded me most obviously of Child of Eden). You fly through cyber-mainframe-wireframe corridors. After killing so many enemies you get experience that adds towards you levelling up. You start at level 1 and can level up to level 3. When you get hit, you lose a level. When you're level 0 and get hit, you die. It apparently has an adaptive difficulty system, which I guess means I'm a poor player because I found it pretty easy. My key question is this--what separates an average Rez player from a good one? I killed everything, I tried to get pretty big chains of enemies and only actually fired when I absolutely had to. I didn't get hit by anything until the boss. How would I replay that level and do better or worse? The presentation is great, with lots of code-server-gibberish being fired off, clean and visually easy to distinguish graphics, and great music which interacts with the gameplay. I found Child of Eden more engaging, but I'd definitely be willing to buy Rez.
Risk Factions: I played this one before and came away from it saying "This is an enormous filesize so you can add a low-quality flash animation story to Risk."... and that's basically what I came away with this time as well. You know what the fundamental problem with electronic versions of board games is? When they use animations, visual effects, menus, prompts, and text to slow down playing the game. Electronic versions of board games should be FASTER than the real thing, not slower. They should at least have the option anyway. The story is stupid and basically internet meme level. I didn't really like the added stuff for the campaign (of which I think I was able to play 1/5th of as a tutorial). Also Risk isn't a particularly good board game, so there's that too.
sweetvar26
Member
Alright. I was just curious because if they aren't compatible and if they would re-release them on the next one, my spending expenditure for the XBLA would be reduced as well.
We will see.
NotMyUsername
Member
Rez really isn't about worrying about dying but instead either trying to get 100% on enemies destroyed and items collected (relates to unlocks, I believe) as well as playing for score. I believe the best score comes from 8x lock-on attacks and possibly releasing it on the beat similar to Child of Eden. When playing the score attack mode it becomes really obvious. I can go from start to finish without dying usually anytime I play it but actually playing well requires more practice and relearning enemy timing.
Also, you can dodge in Rez, unlike Child of Eden. And I want to say there's six forms in total?
Also, you can dodge in Rez, unlike Child of Eden. And I want to say there's six forms in total?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Wait, you can dodge? How? The only thing I saw in the demo was the screen-clearing bomb or obviously shooting down incoming missiles.
Phonomezer
Banned
Are you buying any of these games?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Since reviewing them in the last month or so, I've purchased:
Crystal Quest
The Watchmen: End is Night Pt 1 & 2
Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light
Jet (Set) Grind Radio (purchased on Steam)
The Undergarden
Karateka
RoboBlitz (got a Steam code off a GAFfer)
There's maybe a dozen others I'd be willing to buy on sale, like DR2 Case Zero which I'll be buying next week.
But to some extent the low purchase rate is a function of this experiment. I already have 100-odd XBLA games and countless PC versions thereof, so the games I'm reviewing now is the stuff I never bothered to try or stuff I tried and didn't like enough to buy at the time, so my purchase ratio is comparatively low. My plan is to finish reviewing every last XBLA game I don't own and then start reviewing the ones I do own.
Phonomezer
Banned
I'm too impatient to try anything like this
I also have 100+ XBLA games but I haven't finished many of them, unfortunately. I suspect doing what you're doing would just make my backlog flourish even further!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Yeah. I avoided it because I don't really like top-down isometric, I don't really like co-op stuff all that much, and I don't like Lara Croft or Tomb Raider, but I really liked the demo when I played it and I've played the first 3 or 4 levels so far and still really like it. There's a couple little things I'd complain about (impossible to do the speedrun objective at the same time as any other objective; level design doesn't always allow for backtracking so you can miss stuff frustratingly; combat is just ok; the achievement for triggering all the spike traps on level 3 won't work for me even though I did it 20-odd times and did it through two different paths, death penalty for score sucks), but it's definitely an 8/10 so far for me and I will 100% end up finishing it and probably going back and doing all the level missions.
Phonomezer
Banned
Never tried co-op and never got past the first 20 minutes of GoL, even though I like the game a lot.
I blame Monday Night Combat for coming out round the time of GoL's release.
I blame Monday Night Combat for coming out round the time of GoL's release.
toythatkills
Member
Haha, yeah, clearly I quite like this. I'd disagree about the multiplayer, too. It's really good, but I mainly did it for achievements, and I found the single-player game really fulfilling. It's mostly the presentation and the sense of humour, which really elevates it above other games of its type. It's about a hundred times better than that rubbishy Mensa game I bought the other week. I'd recommend it, obviously, if you're ever looking for one of those more unique, lesser known XBLA games, this is towards the top of the list for sure.
NotMyUsername
Member
Nope! I'm an idiot! Heh, seems it's been too long since I played but I was certain I remember moving around to dodge and thought it odd that Child of Eden took that away.
Sooo...yeah, no idea what game I was thinking of? Perhaps Panzer Dragoon Orta? No idea.
Anyhow, everything else should stand as correct that I wrote about Rez.
Edit: I'm assuming you've looked up guides for the spike trap achievement in Guardian of Light already to verify that you weren't doing anything wrong? I have the achievement so I know it's not bugged. Can't say I recall what I did in particular, though.
Triple Da G.O.D!
Member
With the 25th Anniversary Collectors Set dropping in price every time I look I'd say no. Just wait for it to hit $40-$50 and you'll be getting your money's worth on it because of all you get with it.
I even saw that the AE DLC is going to be 1/2 off and I'm thinking of biting but I could get the disc version for a bit more and the full version as a GoD was on sale a couple of weeks ago for $10 as well. It'll be a wait and see thing.
Vert boil
Member
Round up of the bits that have come out from pax,
Charlie Murder gameplay and dev interview
Duck Tales Remastered trailer, gameplay and commentary from capcom stream 1, 2
Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara trailer, long gameplay vid from the Capcom feed
LocoCycle gameplay and commentary
State of Decay gameplay(cam), IGN impressions
And slightly before pax,
Sactum 2 gameplay/interview, gameplay trailer
Charlie Murder gameplay and dev interview
Duck Tales Remastered trailer, gameplay and commentary from capcom stream 1, 2
Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara trailer, long gameplay vid from the Capcom feed
LocoCycle gameplay and commentary
State of Decay gameplay(cam), IGN impressions
And slightly before pax,
Sactum 2 gameplay/interview, gameplay trailer
Miles Quaritch
Member
Not be overly negative, but Lococycle doesn't look as good as I'd hoped it would. Still rocking that sterile and very basic visual design. It's distracting. Charlie Murder looks decent, a more violent and bloody Castle Crashers, would have preferred a new Dishwasher, but this will do for now.
SpankmasterC
Member
And even worse the camera during the driving-bits makes it hard to judge when you're gonna crash into a car or not, basically the same as OutRun. And the humor is missing (or it's just not that funny), the only reason I've managed to play through Comic Jumper...
I had to go look up what you were talking about and it wasn't even released in Australia
Thanks, Capcom.Phonomezer
Banned
Charlie Murder looks pretty good.
Yeah, the whole thing looks kind of muted. I actually thought "I wonder what a Japanese designer could do with this" while I was watching the trailer - a first.
Yeah, the whole thing looks kind of muted. I actually thought "I wonder what a Japanese designer could do with this" while I was watching the trailer - a first.
Isn't there usually some sort of House Party event in Spring?
Cracked open one of the XBLA games I got during the previous sale - Sonic the Fighters! Man, what a blast of nostalgia...if you hate Virtua Fighter you might have reason to hate this game otherwise it is pretty fun. The battles are over in a blink of an eye...actually, this might be the easiest game to unlock 400 achievements on the entire Xbox Live service now (the Avatar: Last Airbender of XBLA), and actually beating Metal Sonic at the end doesn't give you an achievement...sigh...at least kids would probably enjoy this game a lot, it is colorful and crisp, music is bouncy, etc.
Cracked open one of the XBLA games I got during the previous sale - Sonic the Fighters! Man, what a blast of nostalgia...if you hate Virtua Fighter you might have reason to hate this game otherwise it is pretty fun. The battles are over in a blink of an eye...actually, this might be the easiest game to unlock 400 achievements on the entire Xbox Live service now (the Avatar: Last Airbender of XBLA), and actually beating Metal Sonic at the end doesn't give you an achievement...sigh...at least kids would probably enjoy this game a lot, it is colorful and crisp, music is bouncy, etc.
The achievement for beating Metal Sonic is becoming a man.
...it took me a whole hour
I though Nack was bad enough.
Vert boil
Member
Spartacus Legends stream (starts at 4.45 to 49 mins) - http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/b/381739404
Super Time Force (starts at 1.08.40 to 1.45.45) - http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/b/381739404
Super Time Force still looks badass.
edit,
They streamed Duck Tales and D&D again on the capcom twitch.
Duck Tales - http://www.twitch.tv/capcomunity/b/381741451
and some IGN cam footage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7caJ7UYUwU
D&D: Chronicles of Mystara - http://www.twitch.tv/capcomunity/b/381757284
Super Time Force (starts at 1.08.40 to 1.45.45) - http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/b/381739404
Super Time Force still looks badass.
edit,
They streamed Duck Tales and D&D again on the capcom twitch.
Duck Tales - http://www.twitch.tv/capcomunity/b/381741451
and some IGN cam footage - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7caJ7UYUwU
D&D: Chronicles of Mystara - http://www.twitch.tv/capcomunity/b/381757284
toythatkills
Member
PlayXBLA have streamed it a bunch of times.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Spartacus Legends basically looks like Deadliest Warrior 3.
Vert boil
Member
Had a look and didn't see any vids from pax.
Here's the latest one from the playxbla twitch - http://www.twitch.tv/xboxlivearcade/b/377336640
Also from today,
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood - IGN impressions
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
That guy mentioned floaty controls in Max.
Ugh.
Ugh.
Yeah, was about to say; lots of footage is out there. I haven't played the original but it looks to play pretty well to me, looks similar to JoyRide in look and gameplay.toythatkills said:
That guy also works for IGN, and I'm pretty sure one of their hiring requirements is that you must not understand or know about games in any way, so I don't think we need to worry. I mean, his comparison for a proper platformer was Limbo.
It's not Mario-level controls, but they felt like they fit the game when I played the demo. I never felt like the controls killed me or the character moved strangely.
Thanks! MCM looks fun and fast, but has almost nothing in common with the old games - and Avatars are not the reason.
Syphon Filter
Member
How come the leaked strider didn't get announced at pax?
HadesGigas
Member
Cause there's like 20 conventions/conferences/expos a year to announce things at, I guess.
Why should it have? No real reason, just because it leaked like a million other games that did and got announced whenever they intended anyways.
Plus they have the 30th Anniversary celebration this year, you can bet your ass it'll be there or at E3.
Dash Kappei
Not actually that important
LocoCycle looks average... Playing with the dude off the carena's gonna get old soon
Bought some japanese points yesterday, so I could get the Japan-only Sega games, and man... I understand why they're not bothering with a global release of Virtua Striker. What an absolutely terrible game! It was hilariously bad, though, so I had a pretty amusing 45 minutes while grabbing all the achievements for it. I damn near fell off my couch laughing when Denmark scored an own goal due to AI stupidity.
Due to the weird point values they apparently have in Japan, I had to buy a lot more points than I needed so I nabbed the japanese version of SOTN too (which counts as a separate game in your gamertag even if you already own the EU/US version) and it feels great to play it again. One of my favorite games ever.
Anyway, anyone have any tips for a good online store to buy MSP codes cheaply and get them digitally delivered? Someone in this thread recommended cheapxboxlivecodes to me like 2 years ago and they've been good to me during that time, but in the last 3 months they've started being crap with deliveries according to their Facebook feed and now I'm annoyed with having waited like two days to get my latest code. Seems Amazon UK doesn't do digital delivery like Amazon US does...
Due to the weird point values they apparently have in Japan, I had to buy a lot more points than I needed so I nabbed the japanese version of SOTN too (which counts as a separate game in your gamertag even if you already own the EU/US version) and it feels great to play it again. One of my favorite games ever.
Anyway, anyone have any tips for a good online store to buy MSP codes cheaply and get them digitally delivered? Someone in this thread recommended cheapxboxlivecodes to me like 2 years ago and they've been good to me during that time, but in the last 3 months they've started being crap with deliveries according to their Facebook feed and now I'm annoyed with having waited like two days to get my latest code. Seems Amazon UK doesn't do digital delivery like Amazon US does...
I have a question for you, if you don't mind.
How does it work?
I guess you need a japanese account, in order to purchase japanese XBLAs, am I right? And can you just use your main/regular one for playing the games you bought and also getting the achievements?
Thanks in advance buddy.
toythatkills
Member
That's how it works.
Cool, thank you sir.
Phonomezer
Banned
I think you will have to buy the points elsewhere, I had to get my US points code for my US account from Amazon as I couldn't buy them from the dash (I'm in Australia).