If you take a quick glance at Alien Breed Evolution, you might write it off as a shameless Dead Space knock-off: space marines fighting off bug-like aliens in a derelict space station, blah blah blahhh...
...In reality, the Xbox Live Arcade revival of Team 17's Alien Breed series is a highly entertaining corridor shooter with intuitive twin-stick control mechanics. The satisfying production values (gorgeous graphics, moody soundtrack, great sound effects) are like a cherry on top of a massive alien ice cream cone. It isn't original, but it's definitely fun – but is it worth purchasing the full version?
Hit the jump and read our full review of Alien Breed Evolution, but try not to jump too high – you need to focus to blast these aliens!
Like an automatic pitching machine gone haywire, Xbox Live Arcade is tossing out entertaining titles at a very rapid pace. Since the turn of the new year, games like Serious Sam HD, Darwinia+, and Toy Soldiers have joined the ranks of the extensive Arcade library. If you judge a book by its cover (or its title), it would be easy to skip over The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom.
That would be incredibly unfortunate, however – this charming little title by The Odd Gentlemen is one of the most entertaining Arcade games I've played in a while. Replace Braid's time-reversing mechanic with the ability to clone copies of the game's anti-hero, and you've got an idea of what to expect in Winterbottom. The unique black-and-white style, silly poetic writing, and whimsical music put a strong emphasis on the artistic presentation.
Hush up now, Mario, you shouldn't talk – Winterbottom's 'stach is the best on the block. So, my friends, without further adieu – hit the jump and read our review!
Risen is an action RPG that fails in the action department while excelling as an RPG. The problem is that the two are so intertwined that the overall experience comes out a bit mixed. Waking up shipwrecked on an island beach, character generation is completely forgone in favor of dumping you straight into the story, which has an immediately immersive effect. The graphics themselves aren’t initially impressive, nor is the combat, but at the start of a journey with such promise these things are momentarily forgiven.
What stands out more, and makes the sixty-hour journey ahead of you seem so promising, is the richly detailed world you find yourself a part of. Combing the beach for some sort of weapon and anything else washed ashore, you take the role of escorting a female survivor through the slightly hostile jungle. In seeking help you’ll come across your first ruin, one of many that have suddenly risen out of the ground as the gods were recently driven from the world.
Nearing civilization introduces you to the game’s two primary factions: The Order, led by the newly arrived Inquisitor (whose ship you stowed away upon), and a troop of rebels led by the recently deposed leader Don Esteban. Of course, whether you consider the Don’s men bandits or freedom fighters will depend entirely on your perceptions, and your subsequent decision on which political faction you will support will likely be a difficult one, given all the grey areas that exist between the two controlling powers.
So where and when does Risen go wrong? Only time (and the rest of the review) will tell after the jump…
Madden NFL Arcade is the antithesis of the realistic, complex Madden NFL series. EA Sports' latest effort is more like a throwback to the glory days of arcade-style football games.
Madden Arcade brings back the wild touchdown passes, spine-crushing tackles, and high-speed gameplay of NFL Blitz and NFL Street in glorious HD. Unfortunately, the game's lack of depth and slim selection of game modes are issues to consider before laying down the download price of $15/1200 Microsoft Points.
Is Madden Arcade's revival of Blitz-style football worth its spot on the EA Sports bench?
How important is the setting to your game? It sets the tone of the experience, really drawing you into the general feeling and tempo of the game. Fantasy games are optimistic and a bit flighty, sci-fi games have a sense of wonder and cleanliness, and modern games seem intent on making you feel that your life sucks, and we’re all doomed. Which gets turned up to eleven in Army of Two: The 40th Day, in which the sense of impeding dread you have is brought to life as you have to sit through hours of the most horrifying terror incident you’ve ever seen.
Luckily, your avatars are heavily armed, badass, and just got back from their weeklong teamwork retreat. And they’re more than willing to stomp on the face of evil, while quipping wittily. It almost make the absolute horror around you standable. That and the pretty endearing gameplay attached. Read on about this fairly decent sequel.
Sequels can go many different ways, being a quick cash in on a popular brand name, a simple graphical facelift, an update that brings a few new mechanics to a tried and true formula, a groundbreaking endeavor that seeks to trump its progenitor in every way possible, or any combination of those and other characteristics. Where it is that Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 stands in that spectrum is naturally a subjective thing, just as with any game, and has been the source of quite a bit of pre-release controversy. But now that we’ve all had ample time to spend with the game, where is it you personally feel the chips fell?
One thing all sides surely agree on is that when the original Left 4 Dead came out, Valve set a new standard for cooperative shooters. Nearly every aspect of that earlier release worked flawlessly, and apart from adding a melee timer to keep things balanced, or rooting certain pieces of scenery to the ground to keep versus matches as the developer intended, there wasn’t a lot on the surface that warranted fixing. Overall, the balancing and mechanics of the game felt very tight, and in listening to the developer’s commentary track that is exactly the thing they were trying to achieve.
Just shy of one year later we have the sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, which sees the addition of weapons, common and special “infected,” five new campaign/versus maps and a new mode of play called Scavenge. But for all these additions, a few of the problems plaguing the original game not only remain but have become exacerbated. Though the characters and narrative here are more flushed out and the lighting, graphics and zombies themselves all look better, server problems, balancing issues and nearly broken AI detract greatly from the overall experience.
Hit the jump for the review and voice your opinion on how this compares to the original.
It doesn’t take long to see that Diner Dash for the Xbox Live Arcade at its worst is a below average game. Part fantasy, part reality and part offensive social satire, this game places you in the role of Flo, a woman dissatisfied with her 9 to 5 and seeking to make a name for herself in the restaurant industry.
Trading the hectic life of paper pushing for the no less hectic life of trying to please everyone all of the time, what Diner Dash does right is convey the sense of urgency and stress every waitress surely feels when trying to juggle multiple tasks at once. (In fact, the only way to communicate said urgency any faster or as effectively would have been to title the game, “Diner Dash: I only have two hands [expletive deleted]!”)
But as well as the game conveys both diners and dashing, the actual mechanics of the game will eventually thwart your efforts, ultimately forcing you to put the game aside in favor of less frustrating titles such as “Herd My Catz” or “Get My Duckz In A Row” (both of which I believe you can pre-order now for the DSi).
Still, before continuing it bears repeating that Diner Dash at its worst is a below average game. Though there are problems in the execution, a quick peek at the trial version will reveal whether or not Flo can work her magic on you and keep you happy long enough to enjoy your meal. Yes, hard core fans of the waiting tables genre will likely enjoy this gem, regardless of its flaws. But even if you aren’t interested in Diner Dash, no one can deny that the source material is a veritable comedic goldmine (whose depths we all shall shortly plumb).
So grab your pickaxe and canary, because we’re about to strike it rich after the jump…
For years “BioWare” has been synonymous with “great RPG,” and for many the mere announcement of Dragon Age: Origins was enough to ensure a sale. With critically acclaimed titles like Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect serving as Dragon Age’s pedigree it’s easy to understand why many RPG gamers had been anticipating this latest release. But of course, it takes more than past laurels to make a game great. So the real question then is, now that Dragon Age has released, does it live up to our expectations?
The simple answer to that question is: yes, and no. Dragon Age succeeds in presenting an engaging story line that, through the use of excellent voice acting and intricate background texts (known as Codex entries) creates a living, breathing world known as Ferelden. Playing through one of six unique origin stories (determined by which of three races and classes you initially choose) immediately hooks you into the main plot of the game when your character’s life is disrupted by the Blight and evil Darkspawn come knocking at your door. You soon volunteer (or are pressed into service) with the Grey Wardens to combat this growing darkness, and events quickly escalate from there.
This strong facade is what BioWare is best known for, and the company’s experience in executing a story is great enough that gamers unaware of the industry’s history will likely gloss over, or be unable to pinpoint exactly what it is that’s not quite right about Dragon Age. To put it simply, and answer why Dragon Age can’t satisfy all our RPG hopes and dreams, BioWare is still experimenting and attempting to create their own underlying rules and framework to use in their RPGs. Consequently Dragon Age, underneath its wonderful and compelling drama, is supported by a yet wobbly, nascent system of points, skills and combat abilities that can’t completely satisfy the old school, hardcore RPG gamer.
Hit the jump for more on why casting “Arcane Bolt” instead of “Magic Missile” is Dragon Age’s greatest shortcoming.
First-person shooters are released at a very rapid pace these days, so new titles must be original and innovative to avoid the “clone” status and have a shot at making a name for themselves. Darkest of Days, a time-traveling first-person shooter that takes you through several historic conflicts, has that innovative spark that gives it a chance to stretch its legs and show you its stuff.
Unfortunately, 8monkey Labs needed to quarter Darkest of Days for a little longer before it was really ready to stand on its own. Darkest of Days' time-travel concept is interesting because it eventually gives you a chance to use futuristic weaponry in time periods like the Civil War and World War I, but it falls short. Why, you ask?
What could possibly go wrong in a game that rewards you an Achievement and 100 Gamerpoints for killing a horse with a Chuck Norris-like punch to the face? Hit the jump and read our review like a history textbook to learn all about Darkest of Days.
Thanks to Guitar Hero and later on Rock Band, the music genre exploded onto the gaming scene and has produced some of the highest grossing video game titles to date. but a funny thing has happened in the past couple of years, the music genre started to become over saturated with sequel after sequel and nothing truly innovative coming on the scene until Activation finally decided to add hip hop to its ever growing music game lineup with a brand new title called DJ Hero. I am a fan of hip hop, its a form of music that started with my generation and has grown and expanded to obtain a global appeal. When I first heard about DJ Hero I was skeptical, how was this going to work? Do I really want to buy another peripheral? The answers are out there and they will change the way we approach music games for a long time to come.
DJ Hero combines over 100 songs (more than any Guitar Hero game to date) into 93 original mixes from artists such as: Jay-Z, Eminem, Daft Punk, The Killers, Gwen Stefani, Beastie Boys, Queen, 2Pac, and many more. The game brings into play a new turntable peripheral, it is well built and to my surprise works very well. So are you tired of playing the guitar or beating on a drum? Then read the review and find out why DJ Hero is the best music game of 2009.
Ah, Borderlands, the latest post-apocalyptic style wasteland shooter. Shall I compare thee to Fallout 3? Thou art is more lovely, and loot far from temperate. Rough difficulty shakes the beginning moments of play, and your story’s lease has all too short a date. But five minutes into the game, any player will realize these two titles bear almost nothing in common. Gearbox’s RPS (Role-playing-shooter) is, if anything, much more akin to the Diablo franchise, where the main goal is treasure hunting and the greatest hook is multiplayer.
The story of Borderlands places you, one of four characters, fresh off the bus and looking for, what else, a mythical Vault. Why it is mythical and what exactly it holds is left entirely up to your imagination, which can run wild all it wants as little plot points are teased throughout the course of the 20-30 hour campaign. The one thing that is certain, however, is that when you first start playing the game, no matter which of the four characters you are, you’ll feel underpowered and pushed around by the planet Pandora’s exotic and psychotic inhabitants. Then, just as assuredly, you’ll reach that tipping point where you open the right random chest and suddenly become a badass, making heads explode and limbs pop off like you were shooting at piñatas.
It’s hard to nail down exactly what genre Borderlands fits into, as such talk only reveals what sound like flaws in the game: it isn’t really an RPG, because there’s little voice work and the characters themselves have less of a story than the four survivors of Left 4 Dead. It isn’t really a straight action shooter, because you are inevitably going to have to stop and stare at the statistics of the guns in your inventory and assign character points -- if you think you can power your way through the game otherwise, you’ll never get past the Arid Badlands. So then who exactly does Borderlands please, and why has fifty percent of your Friends list been playing this game until the wee hours of the morning?
I'm going to be perfectly honest with you all, I haven't played a tower defense game in years and I think I may have forgotten its concept. When South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play! was announced late last spring, I started to puzzle as to what a tower defense was in the first place. Suddenly the light bulb in my head went off and all those memories from elementary school came back to me. I was one of those kids who would watch my fellow classmates play endlessly on my school's slow-as-molasses desktops. The Internet may have been slow back then, but it didn't stop most of my friends from playing tower defense. Too bad I never joined in on the fun.
Well, nostalgia trip over. South Park LGTDP! is here and it hopes to wipe clean the nasty taste of South Park games of the past. As a huge fan of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's award-winning animated sitcom, a proper translation into the world of video games seemed inevitable. What we have is neither a poorly made first person shooter nor an adventure-based kart racer, but simple RTS title. But how does developer Doublesix make a decent South Park game like this without straying too much away from the show's license? Simple: give the player options for rewards, while force-feeding constant references from past episodes until they can't take it anymore. If it's one thing, using the tower defense formula is a great start for a TV show that we haven't heard a peep from in the realm of video games. But, did Doublesix create the right balance between honoring the famed animated sitcom and conjuring up mix of good gameplay?
Hit the jump and come on down to South Park and meet some friends of mine.
Halo 3: ODST has been through one hell of a strange trip in development. What was once planned as a disc-based expansion for Halo 3, to hold the fanboys over until Halo: Reach, is now a full-fledged piece of canon in the battle against the Covenant. If you think this is all but the same, repetitive nature of a first-person shooter with the Halo name slapped on it, be prepared for something completely different.
Now mind you, I too was stupid enough to think this was another adventure with the Chief, but I was proven wrong. ODST is a simple piece in the Halo universe that serves as a perfect example of how a side-story (remember kiddies, this isn’t a sequel) should be done.
Despite how this may be a side-story and not a full-fledged sequel, fans may be disappointed. But, hear me out as Bungie certainly has put forth some effort to tide fans over who were looking for a much bigger campaign. The hero may be different and not the familiar green-clad Spartan we all love, but the non-stop action and the inclusion of an addicting cooperative mode, titled Firefight, is not to be dismissed.
Hit the jump and I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t ignore this entry from Bungie.
(Note: This is the second part of TAG's Halo 3: Mythic Map Pack review. For the first part, click here.)
Six months ago, I got a chance to explore the first three maps in Halo 3's Mythic Map Pack. As a Halo fan, I was happy that Bungie released new content for devoted fans of their blockbuster shooter. Even if it stole some thunder from the launch of Ensemble's Halo Wars, the Mythic Map Pack helped secure Halo 3's spot in the top half of the monthly Xbox Live charts for months to come. Perhaps Bungie felt that Halo 3: ODST – the latest Halo spin-off – would steal some of the limelight from the “old Halo”, or maybe they just wanted to be consistent: the last three maps in the Mythic Map Pack have arrived, bundled inside ODST's bonus “Multiplayer” disc.
Assembly, Orbital, and Sandbox were all great additions to Halo 3's bulky roster of maps. The newest maps – Citadel, Heretic, and Longshore – are just as good, if not better. Bungie has perfected the art of balancing multiplayer maps, and as a result, the latest maps fit comfortably in the game.
Is this latest addition to Halo 3 worth your attention, or should you pass it up and hone your Firefight skills? After the jump, we'll fill you in on all of the information you need to know about each map.
Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade had a great showing for its second straight year. Great new Arcade games like 'Splosion Man and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 rescued gamers from summer boredom, but they served another exciting purpose: the passing of each week during Summer of Arcade brought us closer to exploring Shadow Complex. In case you haven't already discovered it for yourself, the news is accurate: this grand finale is indeed the best of the five Summer of Arcade titles.
In fact, a lot of factors come to mind; things that put Shadow Complex among the best Xbox Live Arcade titles to date. Although it was blatantly obvious to me during every moment of the game that I was just playing a more-than-just-flattering imitation of Super Metroid and Castlevania...well, honestly, I didn't care. After all, how should I feel about playing a fancy-pants, could-be-the-best-fan-tribute-ever type of game like Shadow Complex? How should I feel about a game that brilliantly mixes the very greatest parts of two of my favorite games? I'd say it's hardly a bad thing.
Hit the jump to read our retrospect review of Shadow Complex and discover all of the reasons why you should be playing it...or even playing it again.
Blur Beta code - biohazard92 - First one who types it in gets into the Blur Beta. JM6T-VEEW-KPFC-Y3X2
Re: Films that would not be made today - deschain - Quote: Star Wars: A New Hope I don't think that a risk like that from an unknown (Lucas) would get the go ahead. Unknown! <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: --> Lucas had just made American...
Re: Films that would not be made today - razur3 - Quote: Quote: Star Wars: A New Hope I don't think that a risk like that from an unknown (Lucas) would get the go ahead. But I don't think it would be viewed as much of a risk today. Sci-fi movies are well established in the modern day, not like they were back then....
Talking About Gamers - Episode 37 - golf rat - This week's show is dominated by news. Join Faitios, Robbiejo, Shayward, Golf Rat and community member Prophet209 as they tackle the latest in...
Risen is an action RPG that fails in the action department while excelling as an RPG. The problem is that the two are so intertwined that the overall experience comes out a bit mixed. Waking up shipwrecked on an island beach, character generation is completely forgone in favor of dumping you straight into the story, which has an immediately immersive effect. The graphics themselves aren’t initially impressive, nor is the combat, but at the start of a journey with such promise these things are momentarily forgiven.
Sequels can go many different ways, being a quick cash in on a popular brand name, a simple graphical facelift, an update that brings a few new mechanics to a tried and true formula, a groundbreaking endeavor that seeks to trump its progenitor in every way possible, or any combination of those and other characteristics. Where it is that Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 stands in that spectrum is naturally a subjective thing, just as with any game, and has been the source of quite a bit of pre-release controversy. But now that we’ve all had ample time to spend with the game, where is it you personally feel the chips fell?
It doesn’t take long to see that Diner Dash for the Xbox Live Arcade at its worst is a below average game. Part fantasy, part reality and part offensive social satire, this game places you in the role of Flo, a woman dissatisfied with her 9 to 5 and seeking to make a name for herself in the restaurant industry.
For years “BioWare” has been synonymous with “great RPG,” and for many the mere announcement of Dragon Age: Origins was enough to ensure a sale. With critically acclaimed titles like Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Mass Effect serving as Dragon Age’s pedigree it’s easy to understand why many RPG gamers had been anticipating this latest release. But of course, it takes more than past laurels to make a game great. So the real question then is, now that Dragon Age has released, does it live up to our expectations?
Ah, Borderlands, the latest post-apocalyptic style wasteland shooter. Shall I compare thee to Fallout 3? Thou art is more lovely, and loot far from temperate. Rough difficulty shakes the beginning moments of play, and your story’s lease has all too short a date. But five minutes into the game, any player will realize these two titles bear almost nothing in common. Gearbox’s RPS (Role-playing-shooter) is, if anything, much more akin to the Diablo franchise, where the main goal is treasure hunting and the greatest hook is multiplayer.
Halo 3: ODST has been through one hell of a strange trip in development. What was once planned as a disc-based expansion for Halo 3, to hold the fanboys over until Halo: Reach, is now a full-fledged piece of canon in the battle against the Covenant. If you think this is all but the same, repetitive nature of a first-person shooter with the Halo name slapped on it, be prepared for something completely different.
(Note: This is the second part of TAG's Halo 3: Mythic Map Pack review. For the first part, 
Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade had a great showing for its second straight year. Great new Arcade games like 'Splosion Man and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 rescued gamers from summer boredom, but they served another exciting purpose: the passing of each week during Summer of Arcade brought us closer to exploring Shadow Complex. In case you haven't already discovered it for yourself, the news is accurate: this grand finale is indeed the best of the five Summer of Arcade titles.
