Arcade

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare – Debut Trailer

I was pretty ecstatic to learn of Alan Wake’s American Nightmare during the VGAs due partly to the fact i played Alan Wake to death. Alan Wake in my opinion is an underrated true Xbox 360 exclusive.  It was also one hell of an action thriller game. I even beaten Alan Wake on Nightmare difficulty so how is that for love? As far as Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is concerned Mr.Scratch looks like he will be a worthy advisory to Mr. Wake.

Remedy Entertainment are making American Nightmare a arcade downloadable title for the Xbox 360 for Xbox Live Arcade.  The enemies look as demented and crazy as the ones in Alan Wake. If your into thick atmospheric thriller games with suspense that have a Stephan King tone about it. Check out Alan Wake’s American Nightmare when it releases Q1 next year. Thanks GamerSpawn.

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition – Demo Impressions

Zeno Clash is a game i heard about a couple of years ago mostly for its melee and weird visuals. Today i played some of the Xbox Live Arcade’s Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition which apparently comes with a new multiplayer mode that isn’t found in the PC version. Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition was developed by ACE Team and published by Atlus Co for XBLA. It released May 10, 2010.

The menu section showed sub-menus of  New Game (Main Adventure-”Prologue” and “Fugitive”). Zeno Rush and Tower Challenge. Other main sub-menus included Cooperative Challenge, Leaderboards, Achievements, Help & Options, Extras, Unlock Full Game and Return to game Library. The only worthwhile menu is New Game and the two levels you can play in this particular demo are Prologue and Fugitive.

I decided to give the Prologue a go first. The tutorial was servicable as is taught me the combat and shooting basics of Zeno Clash. You wake up in a haze to see your father teaching you. I learned how to lock-on, block, dodge, throw kicks, throw punches, grabbing, aiming and shoot guns, throw Skull Bones and more. I did like the melee first-person brawling in Zeno Clash. Its visceral enough although not perfect. Its fun enough and reminded me of Condemned’s bum fighting. I was kinda shocked how much i enjoyed the actual gameplay most notably the fighting in this game.

There are clear quality issues with Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition’s presentation. The art direction is interesting but lacked good texture work and animations. I understand this game is just over a year old. I also know games much older like Gears of War look much better. Maybe the Source Engine had to do with its sub-par visuals. The music wasn’t the best and the voice acting seemed less than stellar. The artstyle is that of a fantasy tribal world where animals and humans are intertwined genetically. I will say the world does seem interesting even though its presentation is rough around the edges.

After completing the Prologue level i was immediately thrusted into the story level from the campaign titled Fugitive. The protagonist is named Gat if i heard right. He is running away from apparently slaughtering his parents. A girl is trying to help him escape a bridge but not before getting cornered by a group of three enemies. You do some hand to hand combat (which was fun). After taking the trio out the girl gets the gate lifted at which time your told to grab some fruit to replenish health (A button). Next, another tutorial scene with dad ensues. You do some gun training. After the training your now back to fighting and escaping except this time you have a gun and start shooting the enemies. Shooting is wonky in Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition. The demo pretty much ends after that.

The full game of Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition has Co-op gameplay and challenges to complete online or in split screen. I can take away knowing the melee combat is fun but most other aspects seemed rough around the edges regarding this Xbox Live Arcade Game. Thanks for reading.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Demo Impressions

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was originally a Playstation game that released back in 1987. The version i played is the updated version found on Xbox Live Arcade. Besides of the semi upgraded 32 bit visuals you can play the XBLA version in optional widescreen. Many sites raved and considered Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as the best Castlevania game ever back in 1997. Digital Eclipse along with Konami brought Castlevania in all its 32-bit glory to Xbox Live Mar 21, 2007.

The menus selection featured Single Player, Leaderboards, Achievements, Help & Options, Unlock Full Game and Return to Arcade. The controls via Xbox 360 gamepad: LS/D-pad-move/crouch, A-jump, X-attack/use, Y-back dash, X and B-same. The controls were almost flawless in the short amount of time with Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The controls were super tight with very minimal lag. Popping Dracula with my jump whip attacks reminded gave me an immediate feeling of nostalgia. Very solid controls overall. I was surprised actually.

The story in the trial demo didn’t really explain much. I looked all over even in the Help & Options menus. The protagonist of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is called Richter. He is on a mission exploring the depths of the castle trying to get stronger by fighting monsters. The latter is all i got. However you do fight Dracula in the demo which says alote more then just “searching the depths of a castle” bit. As far as the game goes it lasts 15 minutes and your only able to power up your character to level 5. Saves are also disavbled for the trial demo.

When i first started playing the game it totally reminded of the first Castlevania i played back in “87″. Immediately i started jumping and whipping candles some dropped potions and crosses. The 32-bit visuals looked stunning. I just love retro graphics. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night looks good, plays good and sounds good. Too bad i missed this gem years ago. I have to buy this game and beat it someday.

The demo lasts 15 minutes. The gameplay is centered around a boss fight level with Dracula called Final Stage “Bloodlines”. You start out walking up stairs in 2D glory whipping candles which dropped hearts, crosses and potions as you make your way into Dracula’s thrown room. A voiced dialog cuscene ensues between Richter and Dracula that was pretty fail. The battle starts and right out the gate Dracula is apperaing and reappearing shooting fireballs at me. I whipped him two times everytime he appeared till his energy bar was fully depleted.

Dracula then goes into a second form (just like in “87″) and turns into a monster. I used a special magical ability (didn’t know what i was doing) and knocked some of his energy off. By now my energy bar was almost zero. Dracula hit me, i died. But wait, a little girl comes on screen and gives me a second life in which time i starting whipping the second form Dracula then the game cut-off as i had one hit left to kill him. It was intense fun and i wanted to keep playing.

Castlevaina: Symphony of the Night has the winners formula for 2D adventure games. I really enjoyed the trial demo on Xbox Live Arcade. Thanks for reading.

Xotic – Demo Impressions

Xotic is a sci-fi first person shooter action game were scoring points are just as important as shooting enemies. Developed by Tik Games, LLC and published by Valcon Games for the PC and Xbox 360 as a arcade downloadable title. For this article i played Xotic on my Xbox 360. The release date for this arcade shooter is TBA.

My immediate impressions of Xotic were that of a sci-fi game. The menu screen broke down into sub menus of Play Game,  Leaderboards, Achievements, Help & Options, Unlock Full Game and Exit Game. The menu screens all looked really good which unfortunately i can’t say for the actual game. Before starting the Tutorial i went into the Help & Options section to check out the buttons layout. Xbox 360 gamepad: LS-move, D-pad-change secondary weapon, LB-jump/wingflap, RS-look/play hologram, X-switch to left hand, A-crouch/stand, B-switch to righthand, Y-toggle snap direction, RB-snap, RT-shoot, LT-fire secondary weapon. The button layout and the controls as far as navigating and shooting aren’t any good. Every movement you make whether jumping, aiming,  snapping its all slow with lag. Its like the protagonist was dipped in molasses.

The story of Xotic revolves around a mystical mysterious orb who transcends its body, goes mad and starts destroying worlds across multiple galaxies. The protagonist is the host (natural source)  of the insane Orb and its job is to track down the insane Orb and capture it. Asides from the story the presentation regarding gameplay is that of scoring points on levels. Its true Xotic is a first person shooter (your equipped with an alien gun even). You do shoot aliens on occasion in the demo but its not your focus.

Xotic’s gameplay is mostly about shooting plants that trigger a domino like effect of multiplier and bonus points. The plants you shoot are called Red Scab Plants. Shooting Vases on occasion can drop Orb Brains. Shooting Orb Brains triggers huge points. Collecting Batteries powers up your Hard Hologram Generator. The Tutorial level points out the basics which consisted of the stuff above. You can also play a few levels asides from the Tutorial. One is called The Underhome Level which has the same concept as the Tutorial and that is to score points within a time limit.

You go around and shoot a few aliens on the normal levels but mostly plants and other objects trying to score big points fast. In other-words Xotic is like a first person shooter and a arcade pinball game where your goal is to just score points without dieing. I personally don’t like the gameplay. Its not fun, intresting or addicting. Its not difficult either. After you complete a level your shown a Results page detailing gameplay like Time, Level Status, Accuracy, Terraform, Best Chain etc.

Xotic’s visuals are marred by fuzzy low rez textures that its pleasant artstyle couldn’t even save. The sound design adds some character to Xotic. The objects and aliens all make interesting sounds and the music at times was calming. Xotic isn’t my type of game by a long shot. It took less than a minute of actually playing it to figure that out. However, i do think the idea of its hybrid style of gameplay is something many gamers will enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone – Demo Impressions

Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone is the sequel to the 2009 Zombie Apocalypse. I admit i never played Zombie Apocalypse but i have played Dead Nation which is also a twin-stick zombie shooter. Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone was developed and published by Konami as a downloadable arcade title for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It released October 25, 2011.

Its true this game has all of the co-op features you could ask for in a twin-stick zombie shooter. However what surprised me was the class system. Each player not only looks different with a different personality but has his or her own specific up-gradable class. You have Jeremy: assault class, Alma: Engineer, Father Bill: Healer and Def Money: Brawler. There is one thing i hated about every character which was the voice acting and writing. Its just horrible and cheesy and not in a good cheesy way but a fail way. The latter is easily hands-down the worst aspect of Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone.

Button layout via Xbox 360 gamepad: D-pad- cycle gun, LS-move, LB-cycle characters, LT-activate Pawnage, RT-zombie bait, RB-cycle characters,B-melee/chainsaw, A- context actions, RS-aim/fire. The controls are good. I like the ability to switch between the 4 different characters on screen. Shooting aiming throwing zombie bait and activating the hilarious Pawnage ability was seamless from a controls standpoint. Pawnage activates the characters berzerk whether he or she is a healer, engineer or brawler. Each character has his or her unique Pawnage. Saving survivor’s by pressing A near them rewards you with points. There are multipliers bonuses when you go on a killing spree.

The graphics are ok, nothing special. The sound design was good, i liked the music. The settings were like most of these type of twin-stick zombie games. You’re in a destroyed city surrounded by zombies and you must survive bla bla. The opening cutscene which was comicbook hand drawn told each character’s story. The voice acting was horrible in the cutscenes as usual with this game. The positive aspect has to be with simply playing Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone was that its pretty fun. The demo was short lasted maybe ten minutes if your lucky. If you’re intrested in zombie games give it a try on PSN or Xbox Live. Thanks Machinima.Thanks for reading.

BurgerTime: World Tour – Demo Impressions

I’m clearly going to show my age when i say i that i remember playing BurgerTime in the arcades. As a kid, i thought it was simply cool to drop burger buns on pickles and weiners. That didn’t come out right. Point being, as a kid i enjoyed playing BurgerTime due to its food presentation. After playing through the three levels offered in the new reinvented version of BurgerTime, BurgerTime: World Tour i learned that i haven’t changed much over the years. BurgerTime: World Tour is a 2D platformer arcade downloadable game developed and published by MonkeyPaw Games for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. It released last week Nov 2, 2011.

Although most of the menus were locked in the demo there were  Single Player, Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer, Help & Options Leaderboards, Achievements, Unlock Full Game and Exit Game. For this article i spent all of my time in the Single Player which was the only real playable option. Button layout Xbox 360: d-pad/LS- move, X-pepper, Y-pick up/throw, B-power-up, A – jump. the controls were good. Responsive, tight, not much lag. You could time your jumps and pepper sprays no problem. This game came a long way from the old school version and the controls are no different.

Burgertime: World Tour gives you the option to play through the demo with your XBL (Xbox Live) avatar. I choose my avatar and got started playing some single player. The level i was about to play was called Big Apple Street and yes it had a deep New York presentation to go along with it. The chapter featured ten sections/levels. The demo like i alluded to earlier lets you play three different levels from Big Apple Street. What’s this? An opening cutscene for BurgerTime! I’m old i didn’t expect that. The cutscene featured the chef (not your avatar) getting dressed and walking outside to catch a taxi. The taxi ignores the protagonist chef and then the game starts.

The music immediately brought back memories. The old school catchy BurgerTime song now has a contemporary flare/beat included into its old school tune. I enjoyed it. Before you start the level you are shown the main enemy. Frank Furter was up first followed by Sonny (egg) and last was Ruthless Dill (the pickle). Gameplay is remarkedly just like its old school predecessor. Obviously the visuals have a contemporary look with a nice art design.

The gameplay is simple, you make burgers by walking over the ingredients. You are being chased by evil ingredients and to counter that you can spray pepper at them or activate a power-up. However, what i did was drop the burger ingredients on them from below. Afterall, BugerTime: World Tour is a platforming game. You climb ladders, jump and make burgers. As levels in the demo become more difficult since you have to make multiple burgers and deal with many enemies on screen. One hit, you die.  Just like back in the day.

After completing each level you are scored on Par Time, Best Time, Top Score and Least Deaths. My final thoughts on the demo are that i liked BurgerTime: World Tour. Its a  nicely re-imagined classic. It doesn’t deviate too much from what i enjoyed about BurgerTime when when i was a kid. Thanks ign. Thanks for reading.

Burn Zombie Burn – Review

Published By: Pinnacle, Developed By: Doublesix, Genre: Horror Shooter, Release Date: March 26, 2009, Rating: Mature, Systems: PC, Playstation 3.

Presentation – Burn Zombie Burn is downloadable arcade style top down zombie shooter that features a unique risk/reward style of gameplay. Burning zombies is the name of the game. What makes it interesting is when you do choose to burn zombies not only do they move faster but your multiplier score decreases. Not is all lost since you do get better item drops when you burn them. Burn Zombie Burn’s atmosphere is decent enough. It definitely gave me a zombie vibe from its music score and decent artstyle. No glitches, bugs or anything of that nature to report. Then again the game is a few years old and probably been patched to hell by now. For this particular article i played Burn Zombie Burn on my Playstation 3.

Story – Bruce is the star of Burn Zombie Burn. He likes to comb his hair and wear his cool flames shirt when he dishes out death to zombies. If i can be serious for a minute i couldn’t find a reason for Bruce to kill zombies. They didn’t eat his family. They didn’t kidnapped his GF. The story is basically non-existent. As i played and looked through the menus all i could find was Character Bios you can unlock. Otherwise no story in Burn Zombie Burn.

Visuals – The game does show clear signs of age. The textures are washed out looking. The color scheme looked pedantic. What Burn Zombie Burn graphically excels at even after a few years of age is its artstyle. Bruce along with the various hordes of zombies have a really nice look to them. The settings were varied. There are forest levels, cemetary levels, lab levels and more. Each setting looked average and only made Bruce and the zombies stand out more.

Sound Design – The music was catchy and changed along with gameplay and different levels. The sound effects of the guns as well zombies were crisp and didn’t sound distorted. The sound of the Trumpet attack made the zombies dance to disco music. The latter weapon reminded me of the Groovitron from Ratchet & Clank: Future Tools of Destruction.

Gameplay – Burn Zombie Burn at its essence is a top down zombie shooter featuring wild weapons and crazy weapon combos. Its also a wave game. Or should i say zombie wave game. As far as weapons go there are plenty. Some more outrageous than others. You have the default pistol and the ability to light zombies on fire. Weapon spawns includes a bat that you can literally knock zombies out of the screen with. Gatling gun, shotgun, SMG, Chainsaw (my favorite) and a sword. There are also wacky weapons like i alluded to above. You can use a Trumpet looking device to make zombies dance so you can kill them where they stand.

Zombies ranged from regular grunts to exploding zombies, giant brute zombies who blow flame farts and others. For the most part i would just lock-on and circle the map killing zombies. The more you play the better you will learn where all of the weapon spawns are. I typed this earliar but i want to repeat it here. The uniqueness of Burn Zombie Burn’s gameplay stems from using fire. If you choose to use it its a double edge sword of sorts. The bad is that your multiplier score will suffer from burned zombies but killing them will result in better item drops like TNT, Health and Speed-Out.

This game does get intense and chaotic. Its fun and can get addicting. Fun and addicting almost always go hand in hand. As you earn medals on levels through the story/arcade single player you can unlock more levels and multiplayer. The latter is a good system and ramps up the difficulty at a good pace so you won’t get overwhelmed by zombies. There is a Challenges section that pits you in an arena style battle. In the center is a bomb device. Enemies vary and waves get increasingly tene. Its a typical hone your skills gamemode.

Replayability – 6 story maps and 10 Challenges. Yea, that is about it. Not much content to keep me coming back. Its a fun game but fun needs a companion and that is content and replayability.

Final Verdict – Burn Zombie Burn is a good top down zombie shooter featuring a double-edge sword style of gameplay. Its also fun and addictive. The problem however is the lack of content and replayability. Thanks gameboyuk.

7/10

Hydrophobia Prophecy – Early Impressions

Hydrophobia Prophecy was available on PSN+ for free so i really had no excuse not to download it. The extent of my Hydrophobia experience before this came from a demo on Xbox Live many months ago. Hydrophobia Prophecy supposedly has better graphics and supports Move motion controls. Its suppose to be the definitive version of the game. Hydrophobia Prophecy is a horror action adventure game developed and published by Dark Energy Digital.  It released as a PSN arcade downloadable title November 1, 2011.

The main menu screen featured sub-menus of New Game, Load Game, Challenge Room and Leaderboards. The default button via Duel Shock 3: LS-move, D-pad-flashlight, waypoint, open MAVI, ammo select, tools menu, L1-zoom, L2-hydro kinetic power, RS-camera, Square-reload, stealth takedown, use/interact, X-jump/climb, Triangle-roll, R1-fire weapon, R2-detonate remote device. The controls are average. Hydrophobia Prophecy seems as if it has too many controls that aren’t used. At least early on that is the case.

Kate Wilson is the protagonist and a graduate with an engineering degree from Oxford University. She is an avid mountain climber who has anxiety induced nightmares. Hydrophobia takes place on a massive cyber punk city ship called the Queen of the World. The ship’s purpose is to help humanity succeed, in what i have no idea. The game does have a rich sci-fi setting with some cyber punk art mixed in. Early in the game the Queen of the World is attacked by a fanatic terrorist group hell bent on genocide. A huge explosion rocks the ship. As one of the chief engineers on ship, Kate Wilson gets involved right in the thick of things. Early in the game you learn of a woman named Mila and her role in the bombing.

Hydrophobia Prophecy is a third person action adventure game. The gameplay is composed of hacking using the LS+RS to line up waves that unlock security hubs. After you perform your first hack successfully the Tinker trophy unlocks. There is also platforming that is pretty decent. You have a holographic ipad called MAVI that you can use to decipher invisible messages with. Collectibles include replicas of the Queen of the World.

There are also documents and journals to collect that helps you learn more about the in-game story. 72 collectibles in all that you can find in the game. There is gunplay as well. However the star of Hydrophobia is the water. The atmosphere and much of the presentation revolves around water. Wether your swimming or trying not to drown from a flood. The water effects are easily the most impressive visual aspect of Hydrophobia Prophecy.

Now for the some negatives. Hydrophobia prophecy screams low quality. From the visuals, animations and especially the voice actors. The controls at times feels awkward while climbing and swimming. The terrorists are dressed like clowns practically which makes me not to what to take them serious. What offsets the latter is the atmosphere and gameplay. I always say gameplay trumps graphics and Hydrophobia Prophecy so far proves that i’m right. Its not a bad game at all, so far. Thanks for reading.