Command & Conquer - Red Alert 3: Commanders Challenge (Electronic Arts, XBLA / PSN)
Over the past decade companies have been trying to find a way of making real-time strategy games on consoles weve seen Halo Wars, Lord Of The Rings and Command & Conquer take a jab at it, but there is still a lot of insecurity about whether it works on a console and not a PC.
Many people think the genre doesn't work on consoles just by looking at it. The high tier PC players will talk about their short-cut keys and elaborate strategies and already theyve lost you.
In comes Commanders Challenge, an XBLA and PSN version of Red Alert 3s expansion pack. This was a set of missions that let new players slowly understand and unlock new weapons, while also ramping up the difficulty over 50 missions. For a measly ten dollars it has a lot of content 50 missions is not a light amount, the game took me a good 10 hours or more to get through, and then I went back to try and compete old levels with my unlocked weaponry.
Its the perfect setup for anyone whos been afraid of trying a console RTS, but it seems like it was still ignored. Having not played an RTS since Warcraft 2, I was able to jump in and enjoy the hell out of this game, and now Im looking to go back and grabbing Red Alert 3 and C&C3 on the Xbox 360.
The biggest thing holding it back is the file size 2GB is a large chunk for anyone who still has a 20GB hard drive on the Xbox 360, but for anyone else if youve even thought of trying a console RTS at some point, download the demo of Commanders Challenge.
Lode Runner (Tozai Games, XBLA)
Lode Runner XBLA is a great revitalization of the series its has a ton of levels to complete, numerous modes to play, online cooperative play and you can create your own levels. Its got everything youd want in a Lode Runner game.
Unfortunately its release was a troubled one the game was announced at being a $15 title, a little expensive but it had a lot of content to back it up. But due to a screw up on Microsofts behalf it was accidentally released at $10 for the first 10 hours of release, and was then hiked back up to $15 once the problem was fixed.
This caused an instant backlash on the developer and Microsoft, and basically made a lot of people not want to pick up the game, and wait for a price drop at a later date. Its sad to see a mistake like this causing such a problem. There was a price drop later on, but few people picked it up as the newer titles got top billing.
Definitely give the demo a go though, it's still tons of fun and perfect for some coop play with the missus.
Rocket Riot (Codeglue / THQ, XBLA)
A twin stick shooter of sorts, Rocket Riot is a game with a funny premise, cute character designs and is a lot of fun to play. So what happened?
Basically, Rocket Riot just took an awful long time to come out. With a lack of promotion of THQs behalf (alongside the Major Nelson blog not announcing it for its week of release), few people knew it came out. The only thing it had was buzz from some website editors who had been playing it on a development system, and absolutely loved it.
The game had been done for an awful long time, it just had to come out, and in a week that included several other high profile titles , it got thrown under the bus.
It's still quite fun to play, you may not find much of an on-line audience anymore, but grab a few friends around an Xbox 360 and you'll have a blast. Download the demo here.
Axel & Pixel (Silver Wish Games / 2K Play, XBLA)
With the event of Secret Of Monkey Island: Special Edition on XBLA, youd think that more point-and-click adventures might be viable on the platform, but it seems there might be a ways to go before that happens. Case in point Axel & Pixel.
The journey of a nonsensical artist and his dog companion, Axel & Pixel is a mixture of point-and-click adventure and a hidden object game, wrapped in a bizarre and fascinating art style. The game is filled with character and was plenty of fun to play through.
Its problem was getting out just what it was. The game didnt have a trailer until about a week before it came out, and the 2K Play label never really had much dealings with the gaming press either with their previous titles being Dora The Explorer or Carnival Games.
But for a simple point-and-click adventure it was great, and I had fun playing it. I hope Silver Wish Studios continue on this trend, or release a PC version onto Steam. For now, download the demo.