XBLA games

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XBLA games

Postby Wynn on Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:10 pm

I'll be trying out a bunch of Xbox Live Arcade games over the next several weeks. If I find anything particularly good or particularly bad, I'll let you know.

First recommendation: N+
If you like stick figure jumping platformers, this is pretty sweet. You play the role of a ninja who dodges robots and lasers. The goal is to collect gold coins, flip switches to open doors, and get to the exit. Like a true ninja, you can do wall jumps to achieve great heights. There is a level editor! There is even multiplayer co-op! I first checked out this game because I saw some of the Rock Band developers had this in their recent games.
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Postby Monster on Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:19 am

It's a pretty cool game, but I played the original (free) PC version quite a while ago. Still, it's cool that it has co-op.

What about Puzzle Quest, did you ever get around to playing that? I recently bought it on XBLA after playing the DS and PC versions, because they're going to release an expansion for it.
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Postby Wynn on Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:53 pm

Puzzle Quest is one I hear a lot of good stuff about, but I have to pay full price for it. Is it worth it?
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Postby Wynn on Thu Mar 27, 2008 10:52 am

Catan: If you love Settlers of Catan, this is a pretty solid port of the board game. The AI is really stupid on Easy mode, and somewhat challenging on Hard. I'm sure the real fun is in multiplayer. If you don't love SoC, then skip this one, as it's nothing amazing.

Uno: This game out about a year ago. It's actually pretty good, inasmuch as it is basically a kids card game. One of the sucky parts of playing Uno is shuffling the gigantic deck, so a computer version is convenient. There are lots of optional rule variants, so you can most likely play any home rules you are used to. Downloadable theme decks sometimes have new cards in them. For example, I played one game online with someone who had a PGR deck. There was a new type of Wild card that let you look at one player's hand before selecting a color. Nifty. Uno is a bargain at 400 points, if you like this genre of game.

Uno was in the gaming news because of the in-game camera support. Apparently a lot of people enjoyed playing Uno in the nude, and it caused quite a fiasco. The default setting in the 360 dash is now to show video feeds only from your friends, so that is no longer a problem.
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Postby Monster on Thu Mar 27, 2008 7:27 pm

Yeah, Puzzle Quest is worth it. It's one of the more expensive ones, but considering it costs even more for other platforms and the 360 version is the most balanced one (and is also getting an expansion), it's worth the price. Just beware that it's a long game (it has multiplayer though) and can suck a lot of your time if you let it, because there's a lot to do in the game. Also keep in mind that the base gameplay is like Bejwelled (only more complex), but I never really like Bejewelled and I love Puzzle Quest.

I'd like to play Catan with you some time. I haven't played online yet. I actually own the real life 3D collector's edition that looks a lot like the XBLA game. I wish they'd release the Cities and Knights expansion because that's so much better than the basic game.
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Postby Wynn on Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:17 am

EVERY EXTEND EXTRA EXTREME (E4): I prefer to call this Every Extend EPILEPSY Extreme. It's basically a colorful, simplistic space shooter along the lines of Geometry Wars. There are a few different game types. The primary game is a race against the clock to self destruct your "ship" in time with the music in order to create massive chain reactions. When you respawn, you have 3 seconds to snatch up powerups. Another game type is more of a traditional shooter, although a pretty basic strategy of just spinning in a tight circle can get you through every non-boss stage. Overall, it's okay. The music tie-in is clever, but it's not as intense or strategic as Geometry Wars.
Recommendation: Get Geometry Wars instead.
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Postby Wynn on Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:58 am

Cloning Clyde: One of the original XBLA titles. I played the demo way back when, and thought it was cutsie but simplistic. I decided to play the full game, and it was entertaining. It didn't blow me away, but it's a solid platformer. The idea of transforming into a chicken that can fly, a frog that can swim, a barrel that can explode, or other forms with different powers is the fun part. The down side is that the game is pretty easy. I think I spent 2 days and got every single achievement. There are no achievements for playing on higher difficulties, so that diminishes the replayability (for me). In the end, it's exactly like you expect from the demo. Cutsie but simplistic.

Poker Smash: This is a surprisingly fun twist on a traditional match-three puzzle game. You can also match rows or columns of poker hands. So you can form a full house, straight, 5 of a kind, or even a 9-card flush. You shift a card horizontally and when you stop moving, it will drop down with gravity. Meanwhile, new rows appear at the bottom to shift up the board. Naturally, the game speeds up as you keep playing, but you have a few additional weapons at your disposal. Holding the right trigger warps time and slows the game down significantly. This can help you line up the perfect combo or just catch up after falling behind. You also have a pool of 5 bombs, which you can use to blow up any single card. Both the bombs and your time power regenerate as you earn points, and it seems like you almost never run out. Eventually you are making poker hands as fast as you can see them in an effort to keep up. Overall, this is quite fun. If you like puzzle type games, this is a good one.
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Postby Monster on Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:45 pm

I played the Poker Smash trial. It was fun, but didn't warrant a purchase.
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Postby Wynn on Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:53 am

Rocky & Bullwinkle: This is a series of tiny minigames, similar to Wario Ware, but isn't quite as fun. It uses the Rocky and Bullwinkle characters, which has potential to be cool and nostalgic. However, there are almost no audio or video clips that remind you of the cartoons, so I don't understand why they bothered to get the R&B license. Don't even bother with this game. It kinda sucks.

PAC-MAN Championship Edition: This is an excellent PAC-MAN remake, with all new time-limited game modes. You are placed into a simple PAC-MAN board with a few dots, and after eating all the dots on either the right or left half of the board, a fruit will appear on the opposing half. Eating that fruit will reset that half of the board into a new configuration, potentially with new wall layout and different pellet placement. There are 5 minute games and 10 minute games. If you make it through the full time then you win. Replayability comes from trying to beat your score. This is a very cool take on the traditional game, and finally brings the arcade classic to the modern era. Although playing purely for achievements makes it a fairly short game, I think it has potential to be really fun for friendly competition. Definitely check it out.
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Postby Monster on Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:59 am

I got PAC-MAN CE last year. I was never big into the original PAC-MAN, so I actually think this is better than the original. I love the changing maze, and the fact that there's a point to eating fruit besides... well, points. Also, since it's on Xbox, you can play whatever you like as the soundtrack, which makes it even better.
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Re: XBLA games

Postby Wynn on Tue Jun 17, 2008 12:10 pm

Penny Arcade Adventures: This is cute cell-shaded RPG based on the Penny Arcade comics. The humor is there, as the game pits you against clowns, mimes, and robot Fruit Fuckers. You set off to investigate why a giant robot stomped on your home and destroyed it, and you join up with Gabe and Tycho on the way. Combat is time-based turns, where you abilities recharge at time intervals. When enemies attack, you can push your trigger at the right time to block it, or if you get it exactly right, automatically counterattack. Overall, it's a fun adventure. Since they call it "episode 1", I assume more will be coming in the future.
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Re: XBLA games

Postby Wynn on Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:39 pm

TiQal: Skip it. This is a puzzle game, similar to tetris with dropping random shapes of colored boxes in an effort to form groups. The unique aspect here is that blocks don't disappear immediately, so you can continuously add more adjoining pieces of the same color to generate a big explosion. There are random powerups that do stuff like removing blocks. The game is realllllly long. So long that it's no longer fun. You get a certain number of lives, which are easy to come by in the first half of the game. Then after playing for hours and hours, you get to higher levels where you burn through lives pretty quickly. After such a long time investment, you realize that it's quite unlikely that you can actually finish the game. LAME. You also have no control over which powerups you get. They are random, so that eliminates a lot of strategy. Don't bother!

Geometry Wars 2: If you liked Geometry Wars, this is a true sequel that definitely adds enough to make it worth a purchase. There are 6 different game modes, each of which requires a different skill set. They added some new concepts like little green dots that you can collect after killing enemies, which contribute to your score multiplier. The achievements are the kind of achievements I like... they give you incentive to play the same levels in a different way, which adds to the replayability. They also added local (no online) coop, which is a step in the right direction. Overall, this is a great game and well worth your $10. Definitely get the trial at least.
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Re: XBLA games

Postby Monster on Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:58 am

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Re: XBLA games

Postby Wynn on Fri Aug 08, 2008 2:04 pm

Braid: Whoa, this game is great! It's a 2D platformer with puzzle elements. The unique twist is time manipulation. You can hold X to rewind, which lets you subtly adjust timing of jumps and easily recover from death. The tricky part is that some elements are not affected by your time adjustment, so you can move a platform, rewind and appear on the platform. There are some other surprising elements that made me go "ooh", but I'll leave them for you to discover. The graphic style is very artistic, so it's visually appealing as well. Download the demo today! I think you'll find that it's worth a purchase.
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Re: XBLA games

Postby Wynn on Thu Aug 14, 2008 5:33 pm

Fable II Pub Games: Meh. The only reason this title is interesting is that it lets you play the pub gambling games before Fable II comes out. You can unlock items and import gold earned into Fable 2 when it is released. Apparently if you preorder Fable II you can download this arcade game for free. There are 3 gambling games. One is a card game where rows of cards are dealt one at a time, in a pyramid shape, and you bet whether the next row will contain a touching duplicate on the row above. Another is a mindless slot machine, where you can only ever push one button to spin. The last one is a lot like craps. The games themselves are not particularly strategic or challenging. You shouldn't pay money to get this game, but it's an interesting diversion if you're getting Fable 2 anyway.
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