alrighty. good to know. i should check out the demo then.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) News, Announcements, Reviews, and Impressions Thread
- Thread starter Vert boil
- Start date
alrighty. good to know. i should check out the demo then.
HadesGigas
Member
Well, on PSN there will be a bundle of all three for 1500 yen (probably $20 in America). XBL doesn't do bundles, unfortunately.
toythatkills
Member
LQX
Member
I just loved the rescue aspect as well the vehicle upgrades. I even liked the Zombie storyline. I think fans of games like Jungle Strike will love it. I completed the whole game and was hoping this version would turn out good...then again I have not played yet.
At least wait a few missions and upgrade your car before passing final judgement.
holy fuck, if that trailer is to be believed, theyre all arcade ports too, 2012, SEGA FINALLY gets it?
yeah if the ports come out good i might actually have to buy these packs.
Wibblewozzer
Member
Absolutely. I bought the game new and have played all the episodes on the disc about around 15 of the 40 available for download. It'll take you a good long time. It's best if you have at least one more person to play with but I honestly don't find it necessary if you enjoy trivia. The humor stays solid throughout, as well, which is always important for the You Don't Know Jack games.
Everyone should be buying it at that price.
Clay Davis
Member
I wish they would focus on their other games. I would do unspeakable things for a shenmue 1 and dynamite cop hd.
As far as ports go, I'd say their focus has been spread just fine. We have these almost random dev teams porting older console games like JSR and Sonic Adventure 2, we have M2 porting old 2D stuff, and we have that internal arcade team that has been porting arcade games like Daytona, Afterburner, VF5FS, and presumably these packs. I'd love for them to strictly focus on unported arcade games.
This Model 2 lineup might not be the best, but I can only hope it leads to more well-done arcade ports. And if each port in this pack is on the level of Daytona? That's a pretty big deal.
This Model 2 lineup might not be the best, but I can only hope it leads to more well-done arcade ports. And if each port in this pack is on the level of Daytona? That's a pretty big deal.
Sega keeps working to put every single Sonic game ever on XBLA, I see. Can't wait for Sonic F1 Racing, Sonic Soccer and Sonic Mahjong.
I'm not in love with the gameplay though. It starts out amazingly fun with the tight city maps and great shootouts, but it starts to get kinda dull once you're out in the open desert and running back and forth to collect stupid artifacts to open stupid doors so you can backtrack some more. Some of the enemies are, unfortunately, extremely fucking irritating and the developers didn't consider easing up on the annoying ones here and there and instead throw them at you constantly throughout the game. Most enemies are pretty fun, though, it's mostly that bullshit skeleton and the weird scorpion (the little one, the big one is cool).
Edit: Oh, I forgot one of the things I miss the most in this game... Some score pop-ups, combo multipliers and all that stuff! If any FPS should have points popping up on screen, fireworks going off for crazy chains, silly names and bonus points for moves you can do and all that, it's this game. It feels kinda bare and old without any of it.
I bought it now, and it generally hovers around 40fps when not much is going on. Drops to 25-30 when there's a lot of enemies and even down to 15 when everything's blowing up. It's not 15 for any prolonged periods of time, though, just seconds at a time. Not the best framerate ever, but I find it fine as long as it doesn't break the gameplay and SS3 plays fine.
I'm not in love with the gameplay though. It starts out amazingly fun with the tight city maps and great shootouts, but it starts to get kinda dull once you're out in the open desert and running back and forth to collect stupid artifacts to open stupid doors so you can backtrack some more. Some of the enemies are, unfortunately, extremely fucking irritating and the developers didn't consider easing up on the annoying ones here and there and instead throw them at you constantly throughout the game. Most enemies are pretty fun, though, it's mostly that bullshit skeleton and the weird scorpion (the little one, the big one is cool).
Edit: Oh, I forgot one of the things I miss the most in this game... Some score pop-ups, combo multipliers and all that stuff! If any FPS should have points popping up on screen, fireworks going off for crazy chains, silly names and bonus points for moves you can do and all that, it's this game. It feels kinda bare and old without any of it.
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
Home Run Stars - October 26th - http://playxbla.com/?p=23734
On Friday, October 26th be ready to step up to the plate and swing for the fence in Home Run Stars, featuring Avatarfame Stars ! Progress through the League mode through all three unique stadiums! Each one features a vast number of spectacular targets to aim for and earn big points. Compete with your friends in multi-player for the highest score. Use your device supported by SmartGlass to compete in a Duel with a friend!
FEATURES:
> 2 player Online multiplayer
> Content downloads
> Leaderboards
>Kinect
As someone who owns a Kinect and an iPhone, I will be interested to see how the SmartGlass stuff works. If it seems like its implemented well, I may get this game just to try this out.
Clay Davis
Member
does anyone have any thoughts on metro 2033? it's available for 690 points on the uk store and I'm thinking of buying it but I'm wary of spending the points.
its a great game, there is a section in the last (?) level that really sucks and pissed me off. besides that: get it.
Awesome game if you ask me. Iffy shooting and doesn't feel as tight as a bigger budget game but has a bunch of nice ideas that add to the really great atmosphere (lamp that needs to be charged, gas mask, etc). Great creepy post apocalyptic feel and the game also offers some nice options in terms of trying to play stealthily vs going in guns blazing. Can get hard in some spots but nothing too taxing.
Clay Davis
Member
thank you both, that's all I needed to hear. all games tend to have a low point or two, so that won't put me off, I was wary of if the game was good or not, so thanks again for the replies.
690 points is a really good price for some of the older titles, it's a shame microsoft don't reduce the price as much on other titles.
Vert boil
Member
Vert boil
Member
Endless things haven't been mentioned on the nelson blog but they still come out, most recently Happy Wars. The date was from previews written by a few sites/mags.
They've been so poor with friday releases that we can't be sure until tomorrow morning unless the publisher or MS comment on it.
Fox Mulder
Member
All Sega really has is their back catalog, and they wasted most of the gen with bullshit Backbone genesis ports. Like where the fuck is Chu Chu Rocket, it even got an iOS/android release. I like seeing Sega did deep, even if I won't buy them all.
toythatkills
Member
Wow, Zombie Driver HD seems to have the dumbest progress system in gaming. Each level has a primary objective to complete, and a secondary objective which is optional but will usually result in a decent cash bonus. You can go through the entire game ignoring the secondary objectives, which means you'll suddenly find yourself with basically no money at all with which to buy upgrades. There are also loads of cash pick-ups around each level, again, don't pick them up first time through and you could end up totally screwed later.
So you'll go into the replay mission menu to replay some older levels and complete some secondary objectives, only as soon as you go back into "continue story" it hasn't counted any of the extra money you earned so you're literally no better off. The money's still there if you replay another old mission, of course, because the game is utterly dumb.
tl;dr - If you don't do every secondary objective on every level the first time through, the game will happily fuck you later.
So you'll go into the replay mission menu to replay some older levels and complete some secondary objectives, only as soon as you go back into "continue story" it hasn't counted any of the extra money you earned so you're literally no better off. The money's still there if you replay another old mission, of course, because the game is utterly dumb.
tl;dr - If you don't do every secondary objective on every level the first time through, the game will happily fuck you later.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
So I installed Windows 8.
Windows 8 Xbox Games (IE games with achievements and Xbox Branding)
1. 4 Elements II - $5 Casual game that's one part adventure-light hidden object, but mostly plays as a sort of bizarro match-3. You can see the gameplay on the Steam Greenlight page. The presentation is really lame, like a free online web portal puzzle game. I can't say I saw anything in the demo that merited a purchase.
2. Adera - Free. Killer App This is a great, really well-presented casual adventure game with a wide variety of puzzles, a nice and interesting plot and characters. It's going to be an episodic game, but I understand that new episodes will be released inside this same application. I got about an hour and a half or two hours out of this game. There are a bunch of collectibles, a bunch of different kinds of puzzles. It's pretty self-contained (most inventory puzzles play out within 1-2 screens of the place where you find the items, item usage is pretty much elementary and doesn't involve any fancy combinations or unintuitive usages). It's got a good hint system. It's got a female lead and is definitely designed to attract a wide variety of audiences, male and female. I really, really liked this. One note--the game's default camera is swipe to look around (I think there's an accelerometer option as well), so again this is an example of a game being built for tablets. It's mostly okay using a mouse but it's clearly a sort of afterthought.
3. Microsoft Mahjong - Free. It's Mahjong Solitaire. Several different variations, plenty of visual themes, achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
4. Microsoft Minesweeper - Free. Minesweeper, but with lots of different visual themes and a cool new mode they're calling adventure mode. Adventure mode is basically a dungeon crawler that takes place on a dungeon/Indiana Jones-themed Minesweeper board. I can't really convey this fully, but it's pretty neat. The game features achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), and daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
5. Microsoft Solitaire - Free. Klondike, Spider, Freecell, TriPeaks, Pyramid. Includes lots of different visual themes, achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
6. Hydro Thunder Hurricane - $10. No demo, didn't play.
7. Reckless Ultimate Racing - $10. Didn't play, looked like a crummy racing game.
8. Rocket Riot 3D - $5. It's an updated version of Rocket Riot, a great XBLA game that works like a real-time jetpack powered version of Worms with cool pixel art and a great sense of humour. This revised version features extra levels, characters, and modes, and more involved game stats, which is a great improvement. Unfortunately, the game was designed to be played with twin sticks, and it doesn't work half as well with the default WASD+Mouse aiming. It's not the aiming that's the problem, it's the firing--the XBLA version makes you flick the right stick to fire, and the duration of the flick affects the power of the shot. The PC version has you hold down the left mouse button to power up your shot and it doesn't translate very well. I highly recommend the XBLA original, not so much this one.
9. Taptiles - Free. Square tiles are arranged in 3D space--unlike Mahjong, the tiles can free-float wherever. You can rotate the space by 90 degrees using the keyboard. You click any pair of tiles, like Mahjong, to remove them. You can only remove tiles with a free edge. There are a variety of modes including a time attack type mode and specific challenges. I like the visuals, really great Popcap-ish presentation as you play. It's a bit repetitive. One of the modes allows you to get extra time on your clock by watching paid Ads. Features medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), and daily challenges, which are pretty cool.
10. Wordament - Free. Faithful port of WP7 game. Basically, it's Boggle. There's a 4x4 grid of letters that you use to spell out words. You get points for longer words, higher value letters, etc. You play for 60-90 seconds, simultaneous to everyone else on earth at the same time. At the end of the round, you see your comparative rank. You can play in multiple languages. It's a really great game with a great presentation. One drawback: it's less enjoyable to play with a mouse to highlight the letters than using a touch-screen.
There's also a Fruit Ninja demo which points out it's going to be updated with Xbox Live support soon. There's also Pinball FX2, but I'm pretty sure it's a 1:1 port of the XBLA version.
Windows 8 Xbox Games (IE games with achievements and Xbox Branding)
1. 4 Elements II - $5 Casual game that's one part adventure-light hidden object, but mostly plays as a sort of bizarro match-3. You can see the gameplay on the Steam Greenlight page. The presentation is really lame, like a free online web portal puzzle game. I can't say I saw anything in the demo that merited a purchase.
2. Adera - Free. Killer App This is a great, really well-presented casual adventure game with a wide variety of puzzles, a nice and interesting plot and characters. It's going to be an episodic game, but I understand that new episodes will be released inside this same application. I got about an hour and a half or two hours out of this game. There are a bunch of collectibles, a bunch of different kinds of puzzles. It's pretty self-contained (most inventory puzzles play out within 1-2 screens of the place where you find the items, item usage is pretty much elementary and doesn't involve any fancy combinations or unintuitive usages). It's got a good hint system. It's got a female lead and is definitely designed to attract a wide variety of audiences, male and female. I really, really liked this. One note--the game's default camera is swipe to look around (I think there's an accelerometer option as well), so again this is an example of a game being built for tablets. It's mostly okay using a mouse but it's clearly a sort of afterthought.
3. Microsoft Mahjong - Free. It's Mahjong Solitaire. Several different variations, plenty of visual themes, achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
4. Microsoft Minesweeper - Free. Minesweeper, but with lots of different visual themes and a cool new mode they're calling adventure mode. Adventure mode is basically a dungeon crawler that takes place on a dungeon/Indiana Jones-themed Minesweeper board. I can't really convey this fully, but it's pretty neat. The game features achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), and daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
5. Microsoft Solitaire - Free. Klondike, Spider, Freecell, TriPeaks, Pyramid. Includes lots of different visual themes, achievements, medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), daily challenges. Every few games you play, you're forced to watch a 30 second ad.
6. Hydro Thunder Hurricane - $10. No demo, didn't play.
7. Reckless Ultimate Racing - $10. Didn't play, looked like a crummy racing game.
8. Rocket Riot 3D - $5. It's an updated version of Rocket Riot, a great XBLA game that works like a real-time jetpack powered version of Worms with cool pixel art and a great sense of humour. This revised version features extra levels, characters, and modes, and more involved game stats, which is a great improvement. Unfortunately, the game was designed to be played with twin sticks, and it doesn't work half as well with the default WASD+Mouse aiming. It's not the aiming that's the problem, it's the firing--the XBLA version makes you flick the right stick to fire, and the duration of the flick affects the power of the shot. The PC version has you hold down the left mouse button to power up your shot and it doesn't translate very well. I highly recommend the XBLA original, not so much this one.
9. Taptiles - Free. Square tiles are arranged in 3D space--unlike Mahjong, the tiles can free-float wherever. You can rotate the space by 90 degrees using the keyboard. You click any pair of tiles, like Mahjong, to remove them. You can only remove tiles with a free edge. There are a variety of modes including a time attack type mode and specific challenges. I like the visuals, really great Popcap-ish presentation as you play. It's a bit repetitive. One of the modes allows you to get extra time on your clock by watching paid Ads. Features medals (a bonus/secondary achievements system besides the Xbox Live achievements), and daily challenges, which are pretty cool.
10. Wordament - Free. Faithful port of WP7 game. Basically, it's Boggle. There's a 4x4 grid of letters that you use to spell out words. You get points for longer words, higher value letters, etc. You play for 60-90 seconds, simultaneous to everyone else on earth at the same time. At the end of the round, you see your comparative rank. You can play in multiple languages. It's a really great game with a great presentation. One drawback: it's less enjoyable to play with a mouse to highlight the letters than using a touch-screen.
There's also a Fruit Ninja demo which points out it's going to be updated with Xbox Live support soon. There's also Pinball FX2, but I'm pretty sure it's a 1:1 port of the XBLA version.
HadesGigas
Member
Wait what? Is there some way to get final Windows 8 now? That stuff isn't in the release preview version of the store.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
The RTM version has been available for a while now, although the general public is not yet able to buy W8. You'd have to have MSDN, Technet, DreamSpark, or other early access to get it. The public launch is the middle of next week.
Vol5
Member
I officially suck at this game. Can't get 5 hours into it without the whole world panicking and killing the game. I try to create enough satellites, but it never works out. I don't get it. Perhaps I'm moving to fast and REALLY need to concentrate on coverage and make it a priority over everything else.
yeah, that Fruit Ninja version should be up soon. We did some fun stuff with it too
The Pinball FX 2 Windows 8 version is actually pretty sweet -- they updated it from the Consumer Preview, and now the menu system has been changed from the XBLA version to be way more Metro-styled, and works pretty damn well.
here is the full list of xbox enabled titles on launch and yeah I agree that Adera is a good one. And I played the hydro thunder game during the release or consumer preview, it was free on the beta. Pretty fun. Works with a Xbox controller.
edit: official link http://www.xbox.com/en-US/windows/games
Chiaroscuro
Member
4 Elements II is US$ 9.99 here (US account). And I could not find Reckless Ultimate Racing.
Agreed that Adera is a really nice hidden-objet/light adventure hybrid. Has full multi-language support (at least for me all voices are in Portuguese). Looking forward to new episodes.
Bought HydroThunder, it is the same game as the XBLA release. A little bit pricely for its age.
Also, Rocket Riot has a bug a few days ago, the trial was the full game (including achievements). So you could have played the full game withoug buying it. It is already updated on store, but if you download it earlier and do not update you can still play it.
Taptiles is great but its achievements are crazy hard. For one you have to play the game for at least 8 months. Another requires you to reach 5 min in dash mode, which is insanely hard (I could not even reach 2 min).
Solitaire, Minesweeper and Mahjong already get their full game updates, but achievements are not update yet.
By the way, we need an Official Windows 8 Games thread.
yn-neko hates a cat
Banned
I find this highly disturbing. Mandatory demos are one of the best things about the MS ecosystems. If this doesn't carry over into the Windows Marketplace then it would be a great loss for consumers
Chiaroscuro
Member
Not sure. Right now Hydro Thunder does not have a demo, but it could change until 26th October.
Well you have two types of games on Windows 8 -- ones that take advantage of Xbox features, and ones that don't. If it's an Xbox for Windows game, it has to have a demo, has achievements, can use leaderboards etc, and probably more stuff.
I believe others can do their own thing too, and not be an XBLA game, and not require the demo etc.
Not really sure of the latter. fruit Ninja and Jetpack are both XBLA and use the XBLA freatures well.
yn-neko hates a cat
Banned
New Fruit Ninja Kinect DLC out this week also -- Trick or Treat Bag.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ORJdSbvnA&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1ORJdSbvnA&feature=youtu.be
PopfulMail
Member
OMG... YES!!!! Thank you for this!!!
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
That's not a launch list, that's a launch period list. Most of those won't be up this week. At least I don't think. I'd love to be wrong and have the 26th have a huge bounty of games
You're correct
It's not under "Windows Games", you have to actually search for Reckless on the main store. Weird, I know.
Achievements are working fine for me for all three games. Or do you just mean that they only have 25/50G instead of the full amount?
I think it'll probably depend on whether or not anyone gives a damn. There was an official WP7 games thread, but no one cared and it ended up dying, so I've posted a few WP7 Xbox games posts in here, just because it seems like the most relevant place to do so.
As long as Windows 8 games are mostly casual stuff and ports of WP7 or XBLA games, I can't imagine there being significant interest.
(Of course anyone is still able to make a WP8 Games thread!)
In Hydro Thunder's case, it might just be a pre-release thing that they don't have the demo up yet.
Chiaroscuro
Member
Will look it again tonight. Weird that I also look in the main store but did not see it. I was looking for games with the green top border.
Yes, that is what I mean. They still have the 25G to 40G gamerscore each. Taptiles also had only four achievements (I guess 40G, if I remember well) but was updated to 200G last week, one or two days before the update. I guess the other three games (Minesweeper, Solitaire and Mahjong) will also get the 200G treatment before 26th October, but it is weird that they already updated with the new game modes and the achievements weren't update yet.
Interesting to know, I do feel like they are missing a trick with buy once play on any platform like some PS3/Vita Steam PC/Mac stuff tho.
Especially considering the task they have ahead.
Guess we need a Win8 games thread, still not convinced to update.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
I feel the exact opposite about Rocket Riot. I prefer m/kb for that game. The 3D is also well done. I think I'll double dip.
Chiaroscuro
Member
Anyway you can use your Xbox 360 wireless controller to play Rocket Riot 3D, so no reason to complain.
Gowans, I do agree they should have some sort of cross-play promotion. But again MS did nothing with Windows Phone as well.
They should at least give some sort of discount/rebate if you already have the XBLA version of the same game. It is hard to pay US$ 10 for Hydro Thunder when you already have it on XBLA.
Gowans, I do agree they should have some sort of cross-play promotion. But again MS did nothing with Windows Phone as well.
They should at least give some sort of discount/rebate if you already have the XBLA version of the same game. It is hard to pay US$ 10 for Hydro Thunder when you already have it on XBLA.
Yeah I mean I'd update in a shot, I'd have a ready made library and be prepared to buy other games on the service. For now I can just slick with Xbox and the other PC stores & steam that I already have a library for.
I thought it was shocking they charged almost double for that on game room. No doubt MS are weighing the power of the store being part of windows before they start competing properly.
Vert boil
Member
Probably not. The XBLA release was delayed, one of the guys from 17-bit said mid-November of twitter.
Wow it's been ready for ages! So they are giving it some Win 8 / Win Phone exclusivity time?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Jetpack Joyride W8 is up. It's free. It's a 1:1 port of the original game. The in-app purchases seem to be more expensive (I remember the counterfeit machine being $0.99 in the original game, $1.49 here)--maybe this got rebalanced with the original game went F2P, but I bought the game back when it was $0.99. Graphics seem to be a pretty hasty upres but it still plays excellently.
Also Microsoft's "Add Payment Method" system doesn't seem to be working correctly, at least with respect to adding a Paypal account. Edit: Yeah, I was able to add a CC, just not Paypal. I get redirected to Paypal and go to add the account but when the browser redirects back to the MS servers it doesn't work.
Also Microsoft's "Add Payment Method" system doesn't seem to be working correctly, at least with respect to adding a Paypal account. Edit: Yeah, I was able to add a CC, just not Paypal. I get redirected to Paypal and go to add the account but when the browser redirects back to the MS servers it doesn't work.