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XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) News, Announcements, Reviews, and Impressions Thread

Vert boil

Vert boil

Member
Released today,

boxartlg.jpg


Darkstalkers Resurrection - 1200msp, 371MB.
(Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge and Darkstalkers 3.)

Also,

Guardians of Middle-earth
--Saruman - 160msp

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds
--Kurisu Pack - 400msp

Scott Pilgrim
--Online MP and Wallace pack - 400msp
 
D

Daigoro

Member
that WSOP game looks exactly like Full House poker. same devs?

supposed to be f2p with some reward system though if I'm remembering correctly, so I'm down.
 
F

Feindflug

Member
Crimson Dragon still lives - and is not far from completion

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-13-crimson-dragon-still-lives-and-is-not-far-off

Microsoft assured Eurogamer that development was still going ahead last December, and an old press demo mysteriously appeared on Xbox Live in Japan earlier this year before quickly being pulled.

"Well, the game has been delayed and I know people are waiting for it, but it is definitely moving ahead," Yukio Futatsugi told Eurogamer at last week's Bitsummit meeting in Kyoto. "Microsoft will announce it when they're ready."

And how far is it away from completion? "I can't say," said Futatsugi. "But it's really not far off."
Click to expand...

MS is probably keeping back the title for a Summer of Arcade release or a Durango launch Kinect 2.0 showcase title.

Also what I get from the interview is that it's highly unlikely to see the game supporting traditional controls, it will be interesting to see how the game will sell if it's a Kinect only title.
 
R

Rlan

Member
Daigoro said:
that WSOP game looks exactly like Full House poker. same devs?

supposed to be f2p with some reward system though if I'm remembering correctly, so I'm down.
Click to expand...

Pipeworks Software is making this one, the previous title was made by Krome and internal Microsoft team. I don't think it's the same codebase, just a facsimile. As much as Avatar-based games can get at least.
 
Valkyria

Valkyria

Banned
Feindflug said:
Crimson Dragon still lives - and is not far from completion

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-13-crimson-dragon-still-lives-and-is-not-far-off



MS is probably keeping back the title for a Summer of Arcade release or a Durango launch Kinect 2.0 showcase title.

Also what I get from the interview is that it's highly unlikely to see the game supporting traditional controls, it will be interesting to see how the game will sell if it's a Kinect only title.
Click to expand...

Bad. The people who actually know about this game will pass if they don't own a kinect.
 
A

aku:jiki

Member
I like the look of all of those new games, especially Monaco, Gunslinger and Giana Sisters. The only one that bores me is WSOP, but only because I own all the previous poker games and am fatigued by them. No more poker pls.

Ascend is looking way, way better than when they showed it off at E3. They really should've held off on revealing it.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Haha, just played Mensa and figured first off I'd give the test a go. The first question was total gibberish :lol

Managed about half right in the end. It was not easy
 
P

pswii60

Member
BigMack said:
Whoa!! That game is lovely!! At first, I thought this was that one game with a black & white world where you have to color it in (Tink, I believe it was called?)

To steal Brad Shoemaker's line about Trine 2 "This game is pure saccharin for your eyes!"
Click to expand...

Giana is one seriously beautiful game, but I didn't care at all for the PC version. Clunky controls and nothing like Giana Sisters (ie nothing like Mario!). I loved the Amiga game back in the day, even if it was a poor man's Mario. And it was a lot more fun than this game.

Still, it's great to see just how much life there still is in XBLA. For all the FUD that gets spread about the service and how MS treats developers etc - it sure still seems to get all the support.
 
S

SAB CA

Sketchbook Picasso
Phonomezer said:
Giana Sisters reminds me of Astal but in 3D.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I keep thinking "this is what 3D Astal HD would have looked like, eh?!" Whenever I see it...

I guess we'll have to wait some time before more 2D goodness comes out on XBLA... Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds and Darkstalkers have me spoil'd, I looked at those screens and intitally just signed at ugly 3D, lol. Even if most of them actually DO look pretty good...
 
Vert boil

Vert boil

Member
jon bones said:
oh SHITTT monaco and motocross madness look so good. any idea on release dates?
Click to expand...

Monaco is in the cert process at the moment. They've been selling pre-orders for the PC so I'd highly doubt they'd hold it back for a SoA place. Probably the next few months.

Nothing solid on MM. The dev twitter says the release date is "up in the air".


And Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams will be coming out next wednesday alongside Alien Spidy.
 
P

Phonomezer

Banned
SAB CA said:
Yeah, I keep thinking "this is what 3D Astal HD would have looked like, eh?!" Whenever I see it...

I guess we'll have to wait some time before more 2D goodness comes out on XBLA... Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds and Darkstalkers have me spoil'd, I looked at those screens and intitally just signed at ugly 3D, lol. Even if most of them actually DO look pretty good...
Click to expand...

I hear ya. Though PBB looks great, I don't think we've had a truly impressive 2D, HD title since Dust: An Elysian Tail, or at least imo.

Time for Guardian Heroes 2!
 
C

Criminal Upper

Banned
Man, there's no better way to deflate my enthusiasm for anything when Avatars are shoved into it.

I can't believe that Asgard Battle of Generic God Shit thing is still coming out, an absolute embarrasment at MS's E3 conference last year.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
CrunchinJelly said:
9 minutes of Alien Spidy speed run gameplay.

http://youtu.be/nDY64CnV-VA
Click to expand...

I think the game looks good, moving around looks fun, etc, but I'm not sure how this is a speed run--the player didn't seem to really use any particular techniques to get through the levels more quickly, he still got 80%+ of the collectible items so it's not like it's a tradeoff between collecting or getting through the level, and most of the time he didn't get a ***** rating on the level, so the game doesn't seem to be rewarding quick playthroughs.
 
L

LorDjidane

Member
Stumpokapow said:
I think the game looks good, moving around looks fun, etc, but I'm not sure how this is a speed run--the player didn't seem to really use any particular techniques to get through the levels more quickly, he still got 80%+ of the collectible items so it's not like it's a tradeoff between collecting or getting through the level, and most of the time he didn't get a ***** rating on the level, so the game doesn't seem to be rewarding quick playthroughs.
Click to expand...

I agree with that after having watched two levels (don't wanna spoil myself the game).

Game looks nice and fun though. I wonder about the difficulty of the hardcore side of it (getting everything, under a certain par time, etc.)
 
S

snacknuts

we all knew her
Does Motocross Madness have anything to do with Midtown Madness? That was probably my favorite multiplayer game from the original Xbox.
 
S

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Some more XBLA demos...

Hardwood Hearts: I have Hardwood Backgammon off the XBLA compilation disc. Hardwood Hearts uses the same theme, sound effects, and basically everything, except that it's hearts. I don't think I'd buy it these days because games like this you get value out of by playing every so often over a long period of time.

Karateka: I love this. I bought the full game during the sale and I'm here with a glowing review. Karateka is a very simple game. You run along a completely linear path (you can only move forward, not back, up, down, etc). You eventually meet a dude to fight. He attacks you--you have to time your block to a musical cue and to his animation. After you have successfully blocked, you can land a number of hits against him, generally 3-5. This repeats until you defeat him. Enemies attack with different numbers of attacks and you need to time-block every hit. The game is about 20-30 minutes long, and you eventually reach a big boss, kill him, and rescue the princess. It's got a Chinese mythological kind of theme, temples, cherry blossoms, monks, etc. You start by playing as a "true love". He has little HP, no health regeneration, and does low damage. If you die as true love, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a monk climbing up. You start at the point you died as a monk, who has more HP, some health regeneration, and does more damage. If he dies, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a Brute climbing up. The brute has tons of hp, tons of hp regeneration, and hits like a brick wall. So the worse you do, the easier the game gets. But there's incentive to finish it as the True Love--you should think of this game like a shoot-em-up in that anyone can get to the ending, and very quickly, but that's not the point of the game. The achievements are fair but challenging. I still haven't managed to finish it as True Love, I can get to the last boss but can't quite beat him. Very, very challenging. I'm in the top 100 in the world, which reflects both the poor sales of the game and the difficulty of finishing it without losing. Anyway, very fun, and I've been trying to put in a playthrough every day or so to really improve my skills.

Mutant Storm Reloaded: I liked this better than Mutant Storm Empires. Empires is a top-down exploration twin-stick shooter with a risk-reward gimmick involving killing enemies in a certain order, while Reloaded is a single-screen level-based one. This was pretty fun. Somehow I have a copy of it on PC (I think it must have been in a bundle some time) so I'll be playing it there.

Shotest Shogi: I'm not sure I'm fit to evaluate this, because I've never played Shogi before. It seems like a much more complicated version of chess. I appreciated that the pieces themselves had their available moves listed on them, which helped learn them, but it seemed very complex (computationally and just in terms of mastering the rules and movements and options). There was an extremely thorough tutorial as well. I think Path of Go had a slightly better presentation. I suspect if you like Shogi, you'll like this. Really, though, I feel like if I was going to learn Shogi, I'd want a human holding my hand.

Spyglass Board Games: I think this must be a product of its time. It's a 4-in-1 boardgame pack for XBLA with a clean but simple presentation. Reminded me of a circa-2003-2005 PC chess game. The AI in the default match was pretty crummy, as I'm a dreadful chess player but held my own here. It supports Xbox Live Vision, which is kind of hilariously quaint.
 
M

MightyHedgehog

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Karateka: I love this. I bought the full game during the sale and I'm here with a glowing review. Karateka is a very simple game. You run along a completely linear path (you can only move forward, not back, up, down, etc). You eventually meet a dude to fight. He attacks you--you have to time your block to a musical cue and to his animation. After you have successfully blocked, you can land a number of hits against him, generally 3-5. This repeats until you defeat him. Enemies attack with different numbers of attacks and you need to time-block every hit. The game is about 20-30 minutes long, and you eventually reach a big boss, kill him, and rescue the princess. It's got a Chinese mythological kind of theme, temples, cherry blossoms, monks, etc. You start by playing as a "true love". He has little HP, no health regeneration, and does low damage. If you die as true love, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a monk climbing up. You start at the point you died as a monk, who has more HP, some health regeneration, and does more damage. If he dies, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a Brute climbing up. The brute has tons of hp, tons of hp regeneration, and hits like a brick wall. So the worse you do, the easier the game gets. But there's incentive to finish it as the True Love--you should think of this game like a shoot-em-up in that anyone can get to the ending, and very quickly, but that's not the point of the game. The achievements are fair but challenging. I still haven't managed to finish it as True Love, I can get to the last boss but can't quite beat him. Very, very challenging. I'm in the top 100 in the world, which reflects both the poor sales of the game and the difficulty of finishing it without losing. Anyway, very fun, and I've been trying to put in a playthrough every day or so to really improve my skills.
Click to expand...
Another person who sees this game's brilliance. Sure, it could stand to gain a lot from including some dynamic elements to keep it from being quite so patterned for repeat playthroughs, but I really think it's the best way to really nail what the original was all about. Perhaps, it's just a game out of time and hearkens a bit too far back to primordial values for the current audience to agree with its approach, but it is as true to the spirit of the original as anything I could imagine. An excellent arcade game, IMO, and one that probably should have launched at the 400 MSP level to begin with.
 
T

toythatkills

Member
Stumpokapow said:
Karateka: I love this. I bought the full game during the sale and I'm here with a glowing review. Karateka is a very simple game. You run along a completely linear path (you can only move forward, not back, up, down, etc). You eventually meet a dude to fight. He attacks you--you have to time your block to a musical cue and to his animation. After you have successfully blocked, you can land a number of hits against him, generally 3-5. This repeats until you defeat him. Enemies attack with different numbers of attacks and you need to time-block every hit. The game is about 20-30 minutes long, and you eventually reach a big boss, kill him, and rescue the princess. It's got a Chinese mythological kind of theme, temples, cherry blossoms, monks, etc. You start by playing as a "true love". He has little HP, no health regeneration, and does low damage. If you die as true love, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a monk climbing up. You start at the point you died as a monk, who has more HP, some health regeneration, and does more damage. If he dies, you see him being thrown off a cliff and a Brute climbing up. The brute has tons of hp, tons of hp regeneration, and hits like a brick wall. So the worse you do, the easier the game gets. But there's incentive to finish it as the True Love--you should think of this game like a shoot-em-up in that anyone can get to the ending, and very quickly, but that's not the point of the game. The achievements are fair but challenging. I still haven't managed to finish it as True Love, I can get to the last boss but can't quite beat him. Very, very challenging. I'm in the top 100 in the world, which reflects both the poor sales of the game and the difficulty of finishing it without losing. Anyway, very fun, and I've been trying to put in a playthrough every day or so to really improve my skills.
Click to expand...

That sounds great, and completely not like how I thought it was. I'd have bought this on sale if you'd have posted a few days ago :(
 
D

daevv

Member
Any suggestions for a half decent 400 MS point game on XBLA? I have 450 left from those daily sales other other week. Preferably a easy 200 or 400 gamerscore game. I'm leaning towards Dead Rising Case Zero as I liked the demo of it. Outland is 400 next week but I already own it.
 
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