A few games appeared on this new section of XBLA this week. I downloaded them all and played each for a bit this evening. Culture:Simple minigame with two WTF minigames. Jellycar:Good idea, far too hard to control. Little Gamers:Looks nice, plays like crap. ProximityHD:Decent multiplayer puzzley strategy game. Rocketball:Awful. The Dishwasher:Excellent, although loading after every screen? WHAT TriLinea:Meh.
Another week, another dull soldier game. This one tries to be different by having the concept of a “front line” (hence the name), which you push forward by taking ground, and lose by, well, having ground taken back. Sadly, this doesn’t really mean a lot, as you still have your (yawn) same types of unit – sniper, gunner, etc. – as every other dull and boring soldier game, and it plays much the same as the others. It looks OK, …
On one hand, it’s Metal Slug 3. On the other had, it has this horrific graphics filter on and slowdown. But it’s Metal Slug 3. Decisions, decisions…
And today’s 360 demos? This pair of thingies: Kane and Lynch: Dead MenHmm. It’s a squad-based shooter (which I don’t like), but you play as the bad guys (which I do like), but it’s a bit clunky and they didn’t really choose the best location to show off the graphics (dull grey interiors). Nice that you can shoot chunks out of the walls though. Overall? Not my bag (baby). Burnout ParadiseIt’s Test Drive Unlimited crossed with Burnout. The map looks …
After a false start earlier in the week, it finally made it onto XBLA in (seemingly) full working order today. And I think I may just have to buy it, as it’s exactly how I remembered. Well, not exactly. It plays the same, of course, but there’s now “pitch damage”, where mud shows through from tackles and stuff. And the spinning replay “R” is a different font. But they don’t matter! It’s SWOS! Amazing!
Tried out today’s Arcade offerings… Gripshift:Um. Am I missing something, or is this just some crap collectathon? In a car? Arkadian Warriors:Like Gauntlet. Sort of. With RPG elements. Seemed quite good, actually. Reminded me of Angband for some reason.
Did a bit of catching up with the last few weeks’ XBLA releases. Screwjumper:NO. Shrek ‘n’ Roll:NO. Undertow:NO. Asteriods:Not bad, but it just doesn’t feel right in these days of twin-stick shooters like Geometry Wars.
Namely, Switchball and Word Puzzle. Switchball:Well, it’s no Marble Blast. Seems competent enough, but suffers from three things: 1) screen tearing, 2) it’s slooooow, and 3) CRATE PUZZLES. The latter of these is unforgivable, so I won’t be buying it. Word Puzzle:Timed wordsearches? NO.
Four game demos tested today. Three were new on the downloads and the other has been there a while but I haven’t played it until now. Anyway – the games! Battlestar Galactica:Crap. It’s basically the same game as Wing Commander Arena, which was also crap (and by the same people) with slightly different graphics. Rubbish. Guitar Hero III:AMAZING. But then, that was obvious, yes? Exit:Would be great if it ran at least three times faster than it does. What idiot …
I always loved Speedball 2. Sadly, I do not love this. I don’t know why, as it seems to be pretty much the same game. It plays faster than I recall, and it’s harder to punch the other team members to the ground, but I can’t see how I’ve gone from liking it so much to not really ever wanting to play it ever again. Oh well.
I really enjoyed Puzzle Quest on the DS, but part of what made it so great was the DS itself. It was portable, easy to turn on for just a quest or two, and had touch control which makes a lot of sense with this game. The XBLA version isn’t bad. It can’t be – it’s almost exactly the same game – but it isn’t right. I can’t bring myself to buy a game I already have in a form …
It’s Project Gotham, only with better graphics and BIKES. I don’t know what else to say, really. It’s great, of course, and the bikes add something a little different to it, but I’m slightly concerned by the intro. It shows slips from each city in the game, and loads of them are the same cities as in previous games. In fact, some of the tracks even appear to be the same. As a result, yes – I’m going to buy …