Grand Class Melee – 80 – Marketplace

Short review: Thinking is for the weak, just buy this for a dollar already. You’re a fool if you don’t. 

Your first thought with Grand Class Melee might be how it shares a striking resemblance to the original NES/SNES Final Fantasy titles, I know it was sure mine, and to have your title associated with what’s believed to be one of the best titles of all time is not a bad first impression by any means. I was really surprised with Grand Class Melee, with what first seemed to be a simple top-down 2D figher turning out to be an incredibly in-depth, immersive, and competitive experience. 

I’d like to note before getting too in-depth with the gameplay that for best results I’d have four actual, real life people playing with you. That noted, to start off the game you’re introduced to a simple tutorial outlining your choices in the game from the five starting classes of Squire, Neophyte, Apprentice, Page, and Savant each bearing their own specific strengths and weaknesses. As you progress from the first round onward you’ll be granted access to a new ability with a new class (the title gave it away) forcing you to abandon your primary one currently, to swap it out for a different (and possibly more effective) one, but with that you’re granted the ability to choose one of your previous abilities to use as a backup. As you go through the various rounds you’ll go through a good variety of classes with a grand total of sixty different options in all to choose from, which kept me going back for more and more to test out the different abilities and how well they work with each other.

Besides the abilities you’re granted with, you’ll be given a simple melee weapon (tying in the melee part of the game) depending on what class you chose that all basically act that same with different skins, and are modified depending on what abilities you posses. Despite the simple swing and lunge attacks and the two ability options at your disposal at any given time I’ve found the combat to be beautifully simple, adding in enough depth to have me playing for hours on end but simple enough that I could have anyone pick up and start playing the game with me (and potentially kick my ass, I know the bots have more than once).  All in all, the gameplay is a delight, as I can easily see myself going back time and time again to see what kind of damage I can do with all of the setups, swinging and stabbing my way to the top. 

As I tend to do a lot these days, I’ve mentioned a good point up two paragraphs above about how the graphical style of this title reminded me of the original Final Fantasy titles, giving the game a nice retro charm to those that can appreciate it. That same charm paired with some masterfully done sprite work on the varied landscapes, characters, and abilities themselves leaves a very good impression of how a game emulating the classic style should be done, with everything oozing with beautiful 16-bit glory.  Another thing I liked was the menu layout, while it may be simple it stayed consistent with the theme and used more than some plain text to spice things up. Paired with the awesome medieval-styled soundtrack you get flawless execution of a consistent theme, and for that I am thankful, and happy to see and listen to this game. That said, the music in this title really is fantastic, with a pounding, epic menu title to get you pumped up to go slaughter some innocent bots, to the frantic battle themes. All around fantastic music, it’s hard to give it justice without you hearing it for yourselves, so go listen to that right this second. Right now, the rest of the review will be waiting when you get back. 

Alright, glad to see you back, but if you didn’t leave for shame. But as you may have been able to tell, I really like this title, from the simple-yet-compelling gameplay, to the nostalgic visuals, even down to the pumping soundtrack always there by your side from start to end of the game. If you’re a person who enjoys competitive gameplay, hopefully has a few friends around with that same love, and a burning desire to decimate said friends (or bots) this game will keep you entertained time and time again, all for the ridiculous price of 80 where I would easily pay 400 for the same amount of fun and content packed into this little indie title. I don’t say this too often with indie games, which is a shame, but you should go purchase this title right now, right this second. And I’ll give you my promise if the bots can’t hand your ass to you at least once on one of the difficulties I will refund you the dollar you paid, from me to you. 

Millie & Telly – 80 – Marketplace

No, no, this game sadly has nothing to do with Millie Vanilli regardless of the similar names of the star and main character. I was as disappointed as you might be, but the actual game itself makes up for the lack of horrible pop stars. The game revolves around Millie and her sentient robotic jet-bike, Telly that she simply rides around and uses the weapons outfitted on to shoot down a near endless supply of both red and manila colored robots.

I’ll start off on the gameplay saying the opening of this title is hard, very, very hard. I had a tough time with any of the selection of four levels from the start constantly getting shot down time and time again. Besides the immense difficulty, gameplay is solid and smooth with simple controls using the left stick to move, the right stick to shoot, and the left and right triggers to absorb either bullets or energy using the two different shields and utilizing two different color bullets for the two different color enemies, simple as that. With the shields in mind, at the start your shield will last maybe 2-3 seconds making it near-impossible to utilize, jacking up the difficulty level making it hard to use one of the simple features of the game, but this does improve with upgrades as you further progress. Besides the shields at the start, the game is a brutal, masochistic scrolling shooter with excellent, well-working controls with a decently long campaign (seeing as it’s one dollar) and various other extra modes to complete once you finish the campaign. One real complaint I have with the game is the lack of checkpoints which wouldn’t be much of a problem but the levels are incredibly long, and dying near the end is incredibly frustrating. 

Visuals in Millie & Telly really pop out, being vibrant, colorful, varied and eye-drawing in an interesting cartoony pop art style bringing some much needed variety to the usually bland graphical style shown in a good bit of other XBLIG’s. That all taken into account, the characters, enemies and environments look sharp and unique with a good bit of variety, although you’ll notice some striking similarities in the backgrounds for the levels, and you may even get tired of seeing pretty much the same thing through the long levels besides a few elements or two. I wouldn’t call the graphics bad, but scenery could use something to draw my eye, even if I’m focusing more on killing everything that pops onto the screen. Good gameplay and graphics will lead you to believe the music in the title would be decent, maybe even good, right? Well you’d be right there, following the trend Millie & Telly mixes in some interesting tracks to go along with the fast-paced levels, with upbeat energetic music tacking on to the gameplay. While the music is good, you might notice the songs being reused, much like some of the graphics showing little variety, yet the track being re-used is a fairly decent track, after the long levels you’re bound to be tired of it after a while. 

All that accounted for, Millie & Telly is a decent one dollar title, but could be better  if more time and effort was used to show some more variety both musically and graphically. Despite the shortfalls, gameplay will keep you engaged for a few hours earning its worth, if you can withstand the brutal series of levels presented to you without quitting the game. 

Castle of Pixel Skulls – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Ellis Spice

Welcome to a world where castles are made from skulls which are in turn made by pixels, and where you have to get everywhere within a minute…. OR ELSE! According to the developer, this game is both a ‘fun retro-styled platformer’ and the ‘craziest and most addictive platformer game ever’. Well, is it?

To put it bluntly… no. For a start, the game’s soundtrack is as basic as you’ll get, with the music playing over and over in the background. Sure, it makes a noise when you beat a level, or pause, but that’s just the same track restarting. Great. At least the graphics fit the style they were aiming for, with the 8-bit like stylings and zoomed out perspective definitely giving this game the retro feel they were aiming for, with the various obstacles in your path very clear to see against the dark background.

The gameplay was always where this game was going to win or lose, and having played the game for a while now, I’m still not really sure what side it falls on. The controls are at a bare minimum, but that’s not what I’d describe as a bad thing as this means the game itself is fairly easy to pick up and understand. The game only requires 3 things from you; to move using the left stick or directional buttons, to jump with A and to attack every so often with X. See, simple!

Of course, the game also has a simple premise to go with it’s simple controls. All you have to do is reach the goal before the time runs out, and the timer always starts with 60 seconds. Sounds easy enough… Except, very quickly, it isn’t. If… Sorry, WHEN you die (because, believe me, you WILL die!) you get taken back to the last checkpoint, and seeing as the game never tells you when these are, you better bloody well hope you passed one. The clock keeps running, so reaching that goal in time is vital, because if you don’t, it’s game over for you.

And when I say game over, I mean it. This game doesn’t have any save functions at all, so it’s back to the beginning with you. I know they were going for a retro feel, but that’s just plain evil! As a result (and this may just show how crappy of a gamer I am) I never got past level 4. The amount of times I reached that level, got past all the previous obstacles, only to then just kept dying until time ran out on the final one in level 4 would have been funny if it wasn’t so annoying. However, it might not have all been my rubbish skills. I’d believe it was also the result of poor level design and that they simply made it too damn difficult, as there never seemed to be enough time to complete the level with time allowed for human error.

In the end, this game is seems to fit slap-bang in the middle of good and bad, with all of the positives outweighing the negatives evenly. It somehow manages to be neither amazing or rubbish. Really, for the small price of 80MSP, it wouldn’t be a complete waste of your money, but if you actually want a ‘fun retro-styled platformer’ for the same price, go buy Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes. Trust me on this one.

Being a heavy metal and rock fan myself, I will instantly like this game for reason that a track by The Offspring is included. I was rather surprised to find that the game is actually quite enjoyable. The idea is simple, you use a bundled microphone and sing along to the tracks. If you sing too out of time or out of tune, you get a bad score. Hit them dead on and you’ll get great results. It’s pretty standard stuff, but throw in some cool tracks, grab some friends and it’s a good laugh.

The tracks on offer are generally decent. There’s around 40 to choose from and should cater for most of the genre, although I was disappointed by a lack of killer bands such as Marilyn Manson, QOTSA, System of a Down and Rammstein. The developers have gone for a classic approach with the “Eye of the tiger” and “Ace of Spades” of this world, and at the other end of the spectrum…Sheryl Crow???? Thankfully you can pick and choose at will. My guess is that the songs are supposed to be enjoyed by different family members. The old man will love singing to Elvis, whilst the young daughter can headbang to Paramore…

The single player is decent enough. It has a training mode to help anyone who is THAT bad. The four player mode is particularly cool, if you have 4 microphones, as you must work as a team to get the perfect scores. There is a rap test mode which records you rapping skills. You are scored on the amount of correct words you say, which gives budding MCs a chance to test their might, as it were. In fact, it’s a shame there weren’t a couple of more rap type songs, although it may defeat the game’s purpose. Still, Aerosmith and Run DMC would have been awesome. Also there is no downloadable content option, which means no new tracks… a shame as that would have given a higher score.

Graphically, the game is pretty simple. The music videos of the songs play, with the timeline overlaid on top. That’s pretty much it. The video quality is obviously not as crisp as an Xbox title would be, but they work. The sound quality is excellent which makes up for it.

We Sing Rock may not win any new fans to the genre. Essentially done hundreds of times before, this time though, it is tailored for rock fans. Grab some beers, get some mates or family around and it’s a great laugh. A decent range of tracks for the budget price, you could do worse.

Before we get on to the reviews, GameMarx are running a competition to where the grand prize is not one, but fifty Xbox Indie Games! Get yourself over to giveaway.gamemarx.com for all the details. You can also watch a trailer here.

SteamSunk – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Matthieu

SteamSunk developed by Snape (no not that one) is a SteamPunk  themed shoot-em-up where players take control of a steam powered boat equipped with a cannon as well as some other weapons/power ups with the purpose of surviving the onslaught of baddies in a circular lake arena. SteamSunk’s design which is pretty lackluster doesn’t do any justice to the genre, and all it brings  to the table is a generic shoot-em-up that has you wondering when it will end.

To start off, the controls in SteamSunk are awkward and they  obstruct the flow of what should  be a smooth as well as intense gaming experience. You move with the left stick and aim with the right stick. However, shooting is mapped to the right trigger which encourages cramps especially when, holding down the trigger will be the main action for your pointer finger.The left trigger is for a temporary speed boost  and Y is for the super mortar which most of the time is useless to due to the fact that it has a huge delay between when players target where they want to strike and the actual strike.

There is only one map which is a medium sized lake arena. The only think that changes are the randomly generated positions of some of the obstacles or environment props like oil rigs. So, looking at the same blue and brown environment not only grows old but constantly reminds  me of lazy level design. I would of been happier even if it had one or two more maps and alternated between them.

Now game play is where the most problems occur. Each time I have played through SteamSunk I ran into issues where my bullets have to hit enemies at a certain angle or they will just clip right through vice-versa. Also, frame-rate was a huge problem when multiple enemies are on-screen, which happened frequently during any wave after wave three, and especially  during bosses waves because,  bosses usually spawned  with multiple minions beside them. SteamSunk stuttered and spouted like an old station-wagon that needed a choke which was very frustrating. SteamSunk like every other shoot-em-up has the usual power ups like the missile launcher,Gatling gun, and flamethrower. But, in my personal opinion the gatling gun was the only useful power up in the game as the others usually clipped through or missed due to the A.I.’s unpredictable behavior.

The best things about SteamSunk’s presentation were its main menu design and music. The main menu  was a 3D model of the inside of the ship model players control. While it doesn’t make up for the many problems the game has, I did feel it was one of the most unique things I have seen that many games in this current generation don’t have. Even for $1 (80 ) I don’t think I would have spent it to buy this Indie title as I feel as though it was still or should still be in production. Snape has great potential but more time is needed as well as patience.

Avatar Street Basketball 2 – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

I’d like to open up this review with the developers description of the game, as follows: “Shoot hoops with your avatar to be the best scorer in the world! Six courts and six different game modes are waiting for you in the firts “basketball” game with zombies on it!” Yes, that’s a straight excerpt from the games page on xbox.com, which should give you enough warning to steer clear of this title from the get-go. If you’re feeling adventurous then be my guest and read on, as it can only get better from here right? 

To start out, I’ll say that the title performs the functions as promised in the title of the game, allowing you to take your avatar on six different street courses to shoot hoops and rack up points, except it’s not actually competitive basketball, instead you’re presented with six different game modes where you play alone and shoot basketballs into one hoop (sounds fun already, right?). Despite the game playing out more like a basketball practice game, without anyone but yourself and the leader-boards to go against the game plays “well”. I say well in quotes because the way you control the distance the ball will travel from your avatars hands is by holding down either the A or X button for a specific amount of time, the longer you do it the farther the ball will travel with the measurement being visible from a ring that extends outward from your avatar dependent on how long the button is held. Seems like a simple control scheme that might be simple to master? You’d be wrong, as I found out the only way to really get “good” at sinking baskets is through trial and error, a whole lot of it too since there’s no precise way to tell how far you’ve launched a ball besides a little halo around your character. With the actual throwing controls being incredibly imprecise it makes  experience pretty frustrating as I went through the various modes (on the easiest difficulty mind you) trying them all out hardly being able to get one basket in. Along with the shoddy button controls, the camera control isn’t too great either with an incredibly constrained angle of view that would sometimes get stuck forcing me to reset by moving my character back from the court. 

So far on the list we’ve got both description, and gameplay that are less than mediocre. Good news, is that the graphics and soundtrack slightly make up for that. Graphics in the game aren’t incredibly bad, with some catchy eye candy here and there, as well as some creative basketballs shown here and there (Baby dolls for the hospital level, Heads for the cemetery level) yet, there’s not much to be seen with the basic vector design besides a few random avatars or props in the scenery. Besides some basic vector designs, and what I found to be a hard to read font on menus it’s a straightforward basketball arena with little frills on the six stages. 

The soundtrack for the game is well, out of place. With upbeat electronic tracks on the levels, besides the one mellow track for the cemetery they make the game feel as if it’s going to be fast-paced and energetic like the electronic songs representing them. Instead you get a slow, easy going game where you’re trying to shoot some basketballs with a blaring chiptune track that sounds like it was taken straight out of a keygen. While the music is great if you’re a fan of electronic, or chiptune music you’re probably going to fall into the same boat with me here, seeing the music as simply out of place where I believe a more easy-going soundtrack would have been more appropriate. 

All in all, Avatar Street Basketball 2 is a game I wouldn’t recommend to anyone even for the price of 80 because of the faulty controls, poor camera, cookie-cutter visuals, and an inappropriate soundtrack. Unless you have your heart set on this basketball game, I’d research others in the genre, or just a different game altogether as it’s unlikely you’re going to get much fun out of the game. To tack onto everything above, the intro cinematic for the game was the developer holding a camera to his TV in order to get some gameplay footage. Really, download the demo and see for yourself. 

Asphalt Jungle 2 – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

Now I know what you may be thinking, with a title like Asphalt Jungle this game has to be some quick-paced action-adventure racing title, right? Maybe it’s a take on the movie of the same title? Well, I’m sad to say it’s neither in this case. What you have instead is an interesting take on the modern puzzle game, as you play god with tracks of street and rotate them to keep your car on the right path while it’s in motion. The concept for a puzzle game is pretty interesting, but Asphalt Jungle is far from groundbreaking. 

As is the case with most games in the puzzle genre, the control scheme for the game is rather simple: point your cursor with the left stick / dpad to select a track of road to rotate, and the A button to rotate the selected piece of road, simple as that. While the controls might be simple, the gameplay can be pretty challenging trying to select the right tracks, and change them appropriately to secure the vehicle’s pathway to stay within the point limit, and even on easy I got my ass handed to me. With all that accounted for, despite simple gameplay (and one game mode) I can easily see myself wasting a good bit of time on this if I’m looking to just kill time as I would with any puzzle game, however the lack of variety in level design might steer me away from doing so. 

What Asphalt Jungle 2 lacks in gameplay, it doesn’t make up for in graphic design. I’d be hard-pressed to say the visuals in the game are bad, but they’re very basic in every way, from the very small variation in tracks as you progress through levels, to the bare-bones text menu layout I get the feeling the developer was getting a little lazy with the sequel to his original game. That’s that as far as the graphical end goes, as there’s really very little variation or anything that pops out on your screen, despite the game being simple in design I would have liked to see something that shows the developer put a lot of time into this, not basic text menus and simple textures for everything. The only element that stood out to me was the choice of soundtrack for the title, where an appropriate soft guitar plays through all the levels, yet I didn’t hear much variation as I progressed through the levels so you may get tired of hearing the same loop over and over again. However. a calm soundtrack for a calm game goes together perfectly, which was a nice touch to an overall lacking game.

In the end Asphalt Jungle 2 is another pass in the book, with boring uninspired visuals, a non-varied soundtrack and basic gameplay that’ll only keep you entranced for so long before you start reaching for something else. While at the price of 80 I still wouldn’t reach for the title, even if you’re looking for a decent puzzle game I’m sure you could find one with much more polish out there for the same price on the wild, untamed XBLIG marketplace. Feel free to try the demo though, as always, you might enjoy steering around your little car with your almighty hands of god for a few hours. 

Blocky – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Kyle S.

Block, blocky, blocky. Where to start on this odd title? Well, you play as a standard gray block, with a big happy smile on its face as you go around a free-floating 2D landscape eating enemies, collecting points, powerups and killing bosses as you progress through the waves upon waves presented to you. Sounds interesting, playing as an overly happy block with one soul purpose, to survive and collect as many hats as you possibly can as you level up, no? I sure thought it did mainly because how random it feels to just get thrown into the world of a nameless gray block on a quest to level up, collect currency called moneky, and occasionally turn into a indestructible hammer. Yes, all of the above listed happens, and more.

As mentioned, in Blocky you’re thrown into the middle of a square 2D arena to float around and complete whatever objective is presented to you in the ‘wave’ mode which can range from destroying enemies, collecting points, or simply staying alive for a minute or two. Each time you complete one of these objectives you’re awarded a set amount of experience points that goes towards leveling up to increase blocky’s overall speed, the range of blocky’s “hammer time”  which will be explained in just a moment, increase the range of blocky’s internal point grabbing magnet, or increase the spawning rate of power-ups and value of moneky all through the amount of blocks assigned to each category. To explain, blocky’s hammer time is an ability you can buy from the in-game shop for twenty five moneky that will turn blocky into a giant hammer you can use to smash enemies using the left and right triggers. In addition to hammer time, you can also buy a protective shield for blocky, the ability to place two sets of portals on a level, or an ability that’ll reduce the speed of all enemies on the level you activate it on. With all of those buy-able items listed, I personally found them to be pretty useless as you can easily get through all of the levels off of the power-ups hat drop based on the challenge you’re on.

All in all, the wave mode of the game is the more interesting one, with a slew of worlds and challenges to complete with a simple easy to pick-up-and-play style of game play that will last you a decent amount of time, provided you don’t get bored of the stale visuals after a while. On the other hand, you have Blocky’s other game mode, entitled simply ‘retro’ mode. In Retro mode things are a lot simpler, where you start off with no goal except to survive as long as you can against a horde of enemies with only one life. I found retro mode to be entertaining for a while, but as you’d expect it gets pretty stale after the fourth or fifth time going around, starting from the beginning having to regain my ground again. 

While the gameplay in Blocky is pretty solid, with everything working (and dare I say it’s even fun for a while) as you might have seen above this game has one massive downfall: the graphics. Hear me out here, I’m not expecting AAA style graphics from these small developers but a series of plain gray menus, the apparently badly-cropped Blocky himself, bland enemies, and the various little things that show a lack of polish really brought this title down. Again, gameplay is fine here but the odd layout for the title with some really odd choices for sprites and backgrounds make this title really visually unappealing. Hopefully the developer learns he needs a new graphic artist for his next title, because I believe he could make a really spectacular game if all the elements come together unlike the mess that was Blocky. 

On that sad note, I’m glad to say that there’s one really great part to this game: the soundtrack. Yes, I didn’t expect much from the soundtrack of a simple casual game like this either but I must hand it to the developer for choosing the musical stylings of the “Assam Tea Junkies”. Really, the soundtrack goes with the gameplay very well, and is pretty widely varied giving the game a nice atmosphere despite the not so spectacular graphics so there’s a glimmer of hope yet for this title. 

When it all boils down, I wouldn’t say Blocky is terrible but it’s a victim of some really poor graphic design overall that really makes it hard to recommend. But hey, if you can see past the graphics and to the decent gameplay and spectacular soundtrack you may find yourself spending an hour or two beating the wave campaign. As with all indie games I find hard to recommend you’re best bet is to try out the demo first and see if it’s worth your time, if not I’d just give it a pass or consider the fact that the game features a variety of hats and give it a second chance (I’m looking at you TF2 players). 

The four tables are taken from Marvels catalogue of heroes, most you will recognise and one will maybe leave you scratching your head wondering who it is.  Below are my impressions of each table.

Moon Knight
Who is Moon Knight some may be asking? I had no idea, my comic book knowledge comes from films and Pinball FX2!, so I done some reading up. Moon Knight (Marc Spector) has the power of Khonshu and fights crime in New York on behalf of an Egyptian God. His enemies include the Bushman, Black Spectre and Morpheus. ZEN Studios were allowed to create a brand new weapon for Moon Knight called the Moon Crossbow and you get to see and use it for the first time in a minigame.

The table features a short introduction to the character and a few cut scenes to tell the story, it was a nice touch and helped gain some knowledge of the character if you are not familiar with him. I enjoyed the level a lot, with plenty of easily accessible missions to complete on the smart looking table. I especially liked the multiball mode which has a moon shining on the balls to make them glow bright white. There is also a minigame where you get to fight opponents on a dot matrix screen.

X-Men
Fans of the comic will be happy to know that the table is inspired by episode 147 of the New X-Men series. Xavier’s team includes Jean Grey, Cyclops and Storm versus Magneto’s team including Mystique, Juggernaut and the Blob. The ultimate aim of the game is to gather the team and stop Magneto from destroying the Brooklyn bridge.

Missions include modes where you must hit certain ramps to rescue characters and fight opponents such as Juggernaut. This was probably my least favourite of the four tables, while still good, it just did not have the fun or accessibility of the other three.

Thor
The Thor table comes with all the characters and themes you would expect to find. There are four bosses to fight; Loki, Destroyer, Ymir and Surtur as you defend Asgard and the Nine Realms with your trusty hammer Mjolnir. The Rainbow Bridge acts as the mission select and battles play a huge part of the game.

The action is near non-stop and the pace is kept up by the great to listen to Rock music, it is one of the best tracks in Pinball FX2. As mentioned there are a lot of battles which are animated with the characters and fun to watch if you take your eyes off the ball. The table is designed well and allows you to get straight into the action instead of slowly building up towards a mission.

Ghost Rider
The Ghost Rider table takes inspiration from the comics of recent years with Johnny Blaze up against Lucifer, Orb, Scarecrow and Zadkiel. The tables design represents a stunt track complete with tilting jumps and plenty of ramps. The Hellfire shotgun can be activated and used to fire the pinball at areas on the table to complete or unlock modes.

This is another quality table with plenty to do, again helped by another great Rock track which keeps the action flowing. You get the chance to play a minigame with Lucifer which involves betting either 500K or 5 million points that you can hit his ball with the flippers, miss the second option and you lose your ball!

Summary
Overall the pack is great with three of the four tables being immense fun to play. That is not to say X-Men is a bad table, it falls a little short of the other very high quality tables in comparison. At 800 or $10 on PSN you get four tables each with three achievements to unlock which should keep you busy for some time. Despite there being over 20 tables released for Pinball FX2, ZEN have still managed to make each table feel different to each other and the Vengeance and Virtue tables are no exception. As always, ZEN Pinball have created tables of a very good standard and should not be missed if you are a Marvel or pinball fan.

Name : Joe Danger Special Edition
Developer : Hello Games
Publisher : Xbox LIVE Arcade
Platform(s) : Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Genre : Racing Action
Release Date : December 14th 2011
Price : 1200
Homepage : www.joe-danger.com
More on Joe Danger Special Edition

For those not familiar with Joe Danger, he is a former star making a comeback in the world of stunt bike racing. A number of tours each consisting of a few events makes up the career mode in which he must complete each event to progress to the next. The aim of the game is to get Joe to the finish line, but nothing is ever as easy as getting from A to B because this is stunt riding and there are many obstacles to overcome.

Some comparisons can be made with games such as Exitebike and Trials HD, and to an extent it is a mix of these games. The events in the Career mode are filled with obstructions and hazards such as death-defying ramps, speed bumps, shark filled tanks, spikes and many more. The tracks have three lanes which you can race on, you can’t change lane at any time and may only do so when there is a lane switcher, usually before a hazard or to offer an alternative route. There are a good mixture of events which keep the game feeling fresh and fun; from speed runs in which you must collect all the coins before the time runs out, racing against your younger rivals called ‘Team Nasty’ and technical events which require a bit more skill and patience. They can vary in difficulty i.e. rival races are generally easy once you learn the optimal routes to take, but the overall difficulty increases as you progress through the career.

Each event have a varying number of challenges which earn you stars that are used to unlock further events. These include collecting items such all the stars and spelling DANGER by finding the letters, a tough challenge as the words can be hidden away in harder to reach places. Skill based challenges come in the form of hitting targets on the race track, completing the event within a time limit and perhaps the trickiest of them all keeping your combo meter at 100% by continuously performing stunt combinations. New to Special Edition are 25 ‘SE Pro Medals’ which are gained by completing all the challenges in certain events. These challenges are what keep you coming back for more after you complete the events and add a lot of replayability to the game.

Also new to Special Edition are ‘The Labs’ set off track in a blueprint design type scenario. This is a new series of events which acts initially as a tutorial to learn the basics and then moves on to advanced tactics and level design. But don’t pass this off as only a tutorial as there are over 20 events which in the later stages are very challenging, more so than the career mode. They are quite tricky and require patience and quick reflexes as the obstacles are placed to cause presses of the Back button to restart much like Trials HD (see trailer at end of the review).

Two more modes are found in the game and while not new to Special Edition they do add value. The first is the Sandbox which allows you to create your own events using the built-in editor. The editor is extremely easy to use with a simple menu listing all the available items such as ramps, traps and scenery that you can place on the track. Once you have built your masterpiece you can play it or share with your friends. Unfortunately there is no central server to download custom levels from, so you will have to do a bit of networking to make friends and get them to send you the levels. The second mode is a local split-screen two player race which has 11 events to compete on. It would have been great to have an online mode and would have added a lot more replayabilty but sadly you will have to stick to local.

A game like this can live or die on its controls and thankfully Joe Danger handles his bike very well. Accelerating and decelerating/reversing use the trigger buttons, and when in the air this changes to moving forwards and backwards. Stunts are easily performed by using a combination of the analogue stick and bumper buttons, this refills your turbo boost as well as increasing your score. Jumping and ducking can be a little tricky in the heat of the moment as they both use the X button. Holding the button will duck and releasing it will perform a jump, whereas tapping it will perform a jump. It can lead to some occasional cheap deaths if mistimed or an accidental slip of the finger.

The cartoon style graphics used throughout the game fit the humorous theme. Nothing is taken too seriously, especially with the many ways to die such as being impaled by spikes or falling into a shark infested tank. The graphics are on par with the PlayStation version and are colourful and almost relax you compared to the grittier graphics style used on Trials HD. There is some customisation provided in the form of playable characters including monkey and chicken suits complete with alternative star icons.  The music is a collection of 60’s style lounge and funk tunes which in my opinion sound great, some people may differ and find it annoying after a while though.

There are a good 12 hours worth of content to get through with over 100 events to play, and don’t forget you can go back to collect all the missing stars which will add a few more hours on top. There is a bit of everything in the game to suit players, whether it be racing, winning every single star and even some simple puzzle solving. Owners of the original game may find there is not enough new content to warrant another purchase, however if you missed it first time round or have been waiting for the XBLA version it is worth 1200 and I highly recommend it!

I was lucky enough to play Mario Kart a long time ago when I worked at Nintendo of Europe. I did like the game although there was a load missing and the game was far too easy. Luckily now I have played the proper version, I can say that it is the best Mario Kart of the series. For those who don’t know the game, shame on you! Mario Kart is a fun racing game featuring Mario and chums, set on crazy tracks with even more absurd weapons. There are the standard Grand Prix modes, as well as battle mode and the online multiplayer. This time however, karts can now race underwater and glide through the sky.

Controlling Mario Kart depends on the player and the character/kart they choose. Lighter characters such as Yoshi are great for speed and handling, but they get knocked all over the shop by Bowser and Donkey Kong. The key to the game is learning how to control the karts as you corner, using the R button to power slide. If perfected, a speed boost is given, which means you can get passed your opposition. I found that after a long play session, my hands did start to ache slightly, which is the fault of the 3DS hardware, so maybe the game is best played in short bursts.

As always, Mario Kart has a wealth of new and old tracks. The new tracks are a decent blend, mixing underwater and flying sections, to show off the new game mechanics. Of course the tracks are littered with power ups and hazards to avoid. For example there is an awesome levels set on a load of instruments, which has you speeding over piano keys whilst avoiding crashing drum cymbals. A new feature is tracks which are much larger, which have 3 sections to them, rather than laps. The Wuhu Island track, from Wii Sports has 3 long sections, which make racing for the finish that bit more desperate. Also included are classic tracks from past games, which means those tracks you spent months memorising are here, with new underwater and flying sections. Though I was sad to see Baby Park was missing.

Graphically, the game is fantastic. The colours are big and bright, chunky levels and characters. In 3D mode, the game is smooth and crisp with no slowdown. In fact the 3D is some of the best on 3DS, which makes avoiding shells and bananas look cooler as they come out of the screen at you. Speaking of weapons, the usual offenders are here, green shells, red shells, bananas and thunderbolt. New additions to the arsenal are the Tanooki tail, which deflects some attacks and are pretty cool. The best weapon is the rare 7 weapon, which gives you, you guessed it, 7 weapons at once. As in all Mario Kart games, the use of weapons can totally destroy your chances of winning, which seems a little unfair, especially in 150cc mode. It seems that no matter how well you do, or how much you attack your rival, they will always catch up.

The online Multiplayer is the best thing about the game. Single player is good for a few hours, but once completed, offers little replay value other than ghost racing. The online mode is faster, easier and more polished than ever. I spent most of the time since buying the game online, as human players will test you much more than CPU. The speed is pretty much always high and without lag, which means for some amazing racing. You will be playing online for years to come, mark my words.

Mario Kart 7 is another must have 3DS title. Terrific gameplay, great visuals, great sounds, amazing multiplayer. Buy it now!

I am generally very impressed with this Mario game. I used to loathe the old 2D side scrolling games of the Gameboy and NES as I was awful at them. I enjoyed the Galaxy titles on the Wii a lot more, as they were modern and had a unique take on the franchise. 3D Land then, seems to be a step back, of sorts, but it works. There is not much of a storyline, thank god, the usual capture the princess affair is still intact. Despite a very short intro scene, you are straight into the game running, jumping and stomping around. This is perfect for a handheld title. I wish more games did this, without boring 10 minute intro scenes…

Controlling Mario is a joy as ever. I was able to pull off all of the moves almost instantly. When you pick up a power up for example, I felt I knew how they would work and handle, so was able to play like a pro. The only aspect I didn’t really like was the fact that there is now a run button. Surely the control stick could easily handle this? Still, it works OK and doesn’t ruin the game, it just feels a little odd if your used to the Wii games.

The levels are fantastically designed. There are a load of references to older games, such as the flagpole at the end of each level. Real old skool gamers will recognise nods to these games, such as the underwater levels, where you must avoid fish and the like. I really liked the fact the levels were short and sweet. You can explore them to your heart’s content or speed through them for high scores, but they are generally pretty linear, offering a blend of 2D on rails and 3D sections. It works really well, much better than it sounds on paper.

There are the usual Mario secret areas and bonus levels, such as those sweet running sections on the clouds. The new power ups are a mixed bag, which is a shame. The much advertised Tanooki suit, allows for a spin attack and to hover in mid air for a few seconds, not to fly like in Mario Bros 3.  The cube hat is cool as you can fly vertically and hover back down which requires precision control. The boomerang and fireballs are pretty much the same, which kill enemies in front of you.

Graphically, the game is great. The visuals aren’t on the same par as Galaxy, but come close. I think the graphics are more like a crisp version of Mario 64, although the 3D is excellent. Nintendo have included some cool levels where you have to turn on the 3D slider so you can see past optical illusions. When in 3D mode, there is no anti-aliasing, which was evident in Zelda and Starfox. The sounds are also excellent. Mario games always have a decent toe tapping soundtrack, this is no different. Retro heads will love it.

One thing that must be pointed out, is that Mario 3D Land is pretty easy. The first 8 worlds can be completed in around 4 hours of straight play. This would usually cheapen a title but after you beat these levels, another 8 worlds open, which are far more difficult and add longevity to the game.

Super Mario 3D Land was a pleasant surprise. I thought I would hate it, but I came away happy. Perfect for short bursts on the train and a great showcase for the 3DS, this is definitely worth a purchase. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long for the next one…

Dark Delve – 80 – Marketplace – Review by Ellis Spice

Ever wondered what Doom would be like if, instead of running and gunning, you were walking and battling? Then make yourself welcome to the world of Dark Delve, one that is home to all kinds of beasts and ghouls. The aim of this first person, 3D dungeon crawler is to find the queen, trapped in a castle for generations, and get rid of her before she again causes harm to her kingdom. This campaign begins with a set of pictures set to a overly-dramatic voiceover, and my first thought was ‘Oh no, here comes the rubbish’. Dramatic voiceovers don’t tend to be a sign of a quality game, after all.

But what do you know, I was wrong! After this point, your produce your team, and I decided to go with the ideal threesome with the most creative names ever; ‘Me’ the male Warrior, ‘Her’ the female Rouge and ‘Him’ the male Mage. Taking my fully rounded team of nameless no-hopes, I upgraded their weak little bodies and gave them some new and improved weapons. Then, onto the dungeons with me! Along with Her and Him, of course…

The look of the castle, the location of said dungeons in this grand adventure, caught me by surprise somewhat. Looking like something straight out of Doom, if Doom was set in the Middle Ages and didn’t have any guns or enemies, the graphical styling of this game was impressive, even on my now-ancient standard-definition television.

After I finished admiring the look of my soon-to-be battle grounds, my team moved onwards, towards the first door we could find, inside of which was my first outing to the turn-based battle system. The art style of the creatures you faced vary greatly from that of their environment, being 2-D and much more colourful than their surroundings. Some people may be put off by this seemingly random change, but to me they seemed to fit fine with the turn-based system they were to be involved with. Then again, maybe years of playing Pokemon games on the Nintendo handhelds will do that to you…

However, I have less fine things to say about the battle system itself. The system is very limited, with only 2 attacks options available to you, only one of which tends to be helpful in all situations. The amount of attacks that miss, for both you and your enemies, is also frankly amazing, with seemingly every other attack missing at some points. The game also gives the option to defend, which lowers the damage you take for that turn, but also means you can’t attack, making this option mostly useless. You also have the option to flee, which would be very helpful if the game didn’t block your exit most of the time!.

However, on the whole this doesn’t ruin the game in the slightest, as battles tend to be a quick affairs, with mashing the A button to just to attack the first enemy doing the trick against many of your foes. The exploration element of this is enjoyable to say the least, and although this also results in a bit of back-tracking when you need to get the hell out of there, at no point did I find myself totally ‘lost’ in the castle, thanks to the handy mini-map on screen at all times. Considering it’s 80 pricetag, if I were you I’d buy that for a dollar. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’ll be off to go slay some more zombies…

Convict Minigames – 240 – Marketplace – Review by Josh “Sm1tty Sm1t” Smith

Convict Minigames is a collection of five events grouped together to provide players with varying challenges, maximum fun, and unique value within the Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace.  That recipe, in theory, would create an indie game that appeals to a rainbow of players.  The execution however, gives players an experience to forget.  The five games included do offer variety, unfortunately that variety ranges from awful to abysmal.

Bop! is a 1 or 2-player “fighter” pitting players in a battle to squash their opponent by jumping on them.  Players can select one of three characters, each possessing different abilities, and fight it out in a landscape that looks as if it was created in MS Paint. 

High Hopes is a fast-paced game of “climb the beanstalk”.  Again, one or two players can compete to race up a beanstalk after a giant.  Jumping from leaf to leaf or cloud to cloud, players must avoid obstacles in order to stay in the lead.  The visuals offered are far better than Bop! and add a cell-shaded feeling to a lackluster game that is essentially mashing you’re A-button.

The aptly titled Jurassic Bar allows players to choose between four different dinosaurs and battle cave men … in a bar.  The objective is to survive wave after wave of cavemen who attack with sticks, stones, and other debris.  As the dinosaur, you can attack the cavemen in order to kill them, or eat them to regain health.  Continuing with the 2nd grade art style, Jurassic Bar does have bright colors, but the lack of changing scenery fails to ignite any excitement.

Cave In is a race against the clock.  As a spelunker you must avoid falling ceilings, tribal spears, spike traps, and collapsing floors in order to race to the end of the level.  Again, a simple bashing of the A-button will find players soaring through levels with limited difficulty.  The retro visuals are akin to the early days of gaming and offer a nice trip down memory lane, but the lack of a backdrop continues the trend of the other minigames which offer no variety. 

The saving grace of the entire collection comes with Triangle Man.  This little, yellow guy must work his way through puzzles of impossible odds.  Visually reminiscent of an early Atari release, the difficulty involved will provide players with hours of fun. To maneuver through levels you must trigger switches, avoid spikes, collect coins, and reach the doorway in one piece.  After a number of deaths players have the option of skipping the level at the cost of five lives, which are tracked at the bottom of the screen.  28 minutes into my own adventure, I was staring at 163 deaths.

Priced at 240 , Convict Minigames doesn’t offer enough gameplay to warrant a purchase.  Granted, five minigames would normally justify this purchase, but unless you have a house full of friends looking for something new, but not necessarily good, stay away.

Sherbet Thieves – 80 – Marketplace

Sherbet Thieves falls in to the category what I am going to call Twin Stick Defense. The game is primarily a twin stick shooter with some defense style gameplay, there are similar style games out there but it is not a crowded market.

Sherbet Thieves takes you on a wacky journey through a dozen levels in which you must ensure that the farmers Sherbet does not get stolen by Aliens. On each level there are a number of sherbet ‘blobs’ on screen, aliens will spawn and try to steal the sherbet and bring it back to their UFO. Your task is to stop them from doing this by shooting and killing them. Enemies come in a variety of guises from hippies that fire smoke rings which block your shots through to enemies that fire back. There is a good variety and use of the various weapons comes in to play for optimal destruction.

You earn money at the end of each level which in turn can be spent on buying new weapons. There are seven in total and you can equip them as primary and secondary firing. Some are more useful than others, the ‘Protoplasmic Blunderbus’ through to the less useful ‘Ion Pitchfork’. Later levels increase the challenge by having two UFO’s, so your initial strategies of hanging around a single UFO will probably not work. You have a Gravity Bomb which can be strategically placed on the screen which draws enemies towards it, useful in a number of ways such as last ditch attempts at killing enemies but also for some sneaky tactics such as grouping the sherbets together when enemies have them for an easier defense.

The presentation is fairly standard, nothing amazing but it works. Graphically the game is mixed, the sprites are average in looks but the explosions and weapons fire look better. Music is what I would call a country/techno mix with banjos and beats, they are pretty good and add to the wacky style of the game.

The game can be completed in around a hour which is quite short. Once completed there is not a great deal of replayability. The game seems to be missing something which would elevate it to a game I would come back to. Saying that, while the game lasts it is good challenging fun and the quirky humour is enjoyable. Well worth further investigation.

Name : The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Developer : Snowblind Studios
Publisher : Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform(s) : PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre : Role-playing game
Release Date : 25th November 2011
Homepage : www.warinthenorth.com
More on The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

I have to admit to being a little bit of a LOTR geek. I have looked forward to this game more than MW3 or Assassins Creed. I really hoped this game would be a huge sprawling adventure, with awesome battles and lots of blood to boot. In some ways this is the case, but in others, it fails. You control a human, female elf or dwarf. They are essentially the same albeit minor magical abilities and long ranged weapons. Controls are pretty standard, using two attack buttons, then the L button for long ranged attacking. The combat is easy, but actually fairly rewarding, it really feels like your giving an orc a good smack although the blocking system is a little pointless.
 
The character swapping/upgrading system is beyond awful. You cannot swap characters on the fly, you must exit your current game to change characters at the main menu. This means that whenever you want to sell items, or buy and equip armour, you must quit the game 3 times and continue from a checkpoint. This is more frustrating when you have to sit through the dull loading screens, which also are annoying. The magic upgrades are fairly standard, having more powerful arrows etc. I found that upgrading your arrow skills was best, as you can just shoot enemies from afar, as the attacks sometimes seem too weak.

Many reviewers have said that War in the North is too difficult. It is true, certain boss battles are rather hard, especially when your two companions seem hell bent on suicide. This leaves you in a nasty circle of reviving them, then dying yourself, being revived, repeat. There are some nice additions such as mounted turret sequences, but they happen too often, making the game seem very repetitive. If I wasn’t a fan, I could probably get bored quickly. Occasionally you will find yourself in a hub such as Bree or Rivendell, where you can talk to other characters for side quests. Sadly, Bree for example has about 5 villagers, and is simply a narrow road, so there’s no exploration at all.

The game environments are very well designed. The outdoor areas, such as Rivendell are lovely to look at and do the game some justice. Character models are also pretty impressive, with changes to their equipment happening in real time. The game doesn’t push the Xbox, it just does the job. Many enemies appear on screen at one time, which runs without any slowdown, particularly impressive when there are huge trolls, goblins and evil men thrown together. Another great feature are some of the actual set pieces in the game. Some highlights include the desperate defence of a dwarven refuge, which sees ballistas and siege towers coming at you from all directions.

The single player mode is admittedly quite short,  I completed it in around 8 hours. After completion, you can replay the game again in super hard mode to continue leveling up your characters. There are also co-op campaigns which are pretty cool, but not much different to playing alone. I was quite happy that certain levels were difficult, as it took a long time to overcome them, needing a little more skill than usual. I wish that there were some unlockables to tie in with the films, such as some bonus levels set in Gondor or Isengard. It’s sad to say, but one of the downsides to this game is the fact that the game is set in the North of Middle Earth. No matter how cool it is calling in giant eagles to help defend Mirkwood, it does not compare to defending Minas Tirith or fighting on Pelennor Fields.

War in the North is a good game. The combat is solid, the graphics and sound are excellent. Sadly the game mechanics let it down, with a terrible upgrading system and repetitive level structure. 

Name : Ace Combat: Assault Horizon
Developer : Project Aces
Publisher : Namco Bandai
Platform(s) : Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Genre : Arcade, Flight Action
Release Date : October 11, 2011
Price : $59.99
Homepage : acecombatassaulthorizon.namcobandaigames.eu/
More on Ace Combat: Assault Horizon

For those of you that love this series don’t be afraid of change. It’s not always a bad thing. In this case it’s actually freakin’ sweet. You’ve got the typical arcade-like gameplay at high speed with lots of firepower packed into your plane, and you’ve got the stunning visuals from extreme altitude – we’ve come to expect that much. Heck, it’s even got the online multiplayer (2-3 co-op, 2-16 competitive). You’re wondering what’s new. Chopper pilot missions, chopper gunner missions, AC-130 Gunships, improved visuals, Dogfight Mode (DFM), and an actual military-like story that doesn’t sound like a messed up poem that you can’t understand. There are a few other little tweaks but I’ll keep those secret just to entice you to play.

Dogfight Mode, better known as DFM is the biggest new feature on the plane side of the game. If you close in behind enemy planes you’ll see circular indicators begin to line up, and once they’re aligned and flashing you can tap the triggers and enter DFM. When you’re in DFM your game experience becomes a mostly scripted experience where your plane flies on its own and you can move slightly to the sides and fire your guns and/or missiles. As you’re in this cinematic –like mode you’ll see that you’re very close up and personal with your target, and with enhanced damage from missiles and guns you’re likely to see some fantastic explosions. Watching your enemies get torn apart by your machine guns has never been so satisfying, and in this game… it never gets old. Of course you’re not the only pilot that can initiate DFM – enemy aces can target you just as easily and the person in front whether it’s you or an enemy, has the ability to attempt a switcheroo and flip behind the targeting plane.

As mentioned above, there is much more than just the addition of dogfight mode. Namco Bandai and Project Aces have revitalized the game and added in more gameplay features to grab attention of new players, and keep the classic gameplay intact. There is a small number of chopper –related missions and you’ll be in control of chopper gunships to take out various ground targets as well as enemy HINDs, but you’ll also get a small taste of being the side gunner in other missions. The inclusion of choppers is fantastic, but some people find the screen is just a little clogged when in the 3^rd person view, and while I personally didn’t have an issue I want to point out that you can play in various views including 1^st person. Controls are pretty solid considering it’s a new direction for the series, and you’ll become quite comfortable with flying them in mere seconds. AC-130s were made popular by the Call of Duty franchise, and Ace Combat pulls it off pretty well, but it’s a little tough since you really need to watch carefully… there are no markers telling you where the enemies are.

Previous games in the Ace Combat series always had odd poetic storylines attached to them, and they were never that easy to follow. This time around we get an original story written by a NY Times best-selling military author, Jim DeFelice. You’ll follow Lieutenant Colonel William Bishop who commands Warwolf Squadron in the year 2015, and you’ll see the story play out from various angles, and you can actually interact slightly during story cinematic and this helps to really put you in the shoes of the character.

Sound and graphics have always been a huge part of this series and Assault Horizon stands strong on both accounts. The soundtrack is an epic as you’d expect it and it features some very powerful pieces as well as some intense tracks to get your blood pumping. Radio chatter is stellar, and better than any other military game on the market can offer. Why? It has humor, emotion, intensity, and it sounds believable.

While the visuals have always been spectacular since the PS2 era of Ace Combat, Namco has stepped it up a little more and even the ground visuals are improved when you’re flying at low altitude. Draw distance is quite impressive on the city populated maps and you’ll see what’s coming from miles away. There are some pop-in effects for buildings when you’re far out, but once you reach the congested areas it’s extremely well-detailed and impressive to see. The aircraft available in the game are beautifully rendered in full HD and they’re really quite detailed… sheer beauty.

For Ace Combat fans – this is a game you’re definitely going to love. Its campaign lasts around 5-6 hours if you’re good, but it’s a game you’ll want to play over and over, plus there’s the online component. If you’re a newcomer to the series, I highly recommend you give it a look because it’s a fantastic action game, or at times it’s even more movie-like. I’d like to have seen a slightly longer campaign, but for what’s offered it’s fantastic. DLC aircraft skins are available, but unfortunately it’s mostly overpriced and not worth your money unless you’re a fanatic. All in all, Assault Horizon sales numbers deserve to soar high in the sky and if you look up “AAA Production Value” online, you should see this game listed.

This review is based off a PlayStation 3 version provided by Namco Bandai and 47 Communications.