Xbox Live

Trials Evolution – Gameplay Trailer

One misconception about owning an xbox 360 is that people think there are no true exclusives being developed regularly. Take a look at Trials Evolution below. To me games like these (Xbox Live Arcade and Xbox Live Indie Games) are what owning and Xbox 360 is all about. Trials Evolution is the sequal to the ultra popular XBLAG Trials HD which is a motorcross driving game. After watching the trailer of Trials Evolution it not only looks to one up its predecessor but blow its doors off. How about doing stunts with a skier? Or maybe control a giant ball via Super Monkey Ball style? Try your hand at multiplayer over XBL or locally at home.

The biggest and possibly best edition is the level editor. Just take a look at some of the level designs made possible in the trailer below. You can change enviroments and place buildings anywhere. You can share your newly created tracks or just play other people’s work. Its limitless as far as replay value is concerned. Near the end of the trailer you can see a top down racing game. Many games are possible as the trailer shows a physics based game, fuzzball type game, old school shooter type game and last but not least a first person shooter. I’m impressed i admit it. Glad to own an Xbox 360 and have XBL. Trials Evolution is a driving game developed by Red Lynx and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Trials Evolution releases sometime this spring. Thanks ign.

Sine Mora – Trailer

Believe it or not shoot’em up games like Sine Mora were very popular back in the day. I grew up playing 2D and top down shoot’em ups years ago so Sine Mora isn’t anything new from a genre perspective in my case. What i liked most about the trailer below besides the visuals was the comparison between Normal and Insane gameplay difficulties. The video below shows off some nice visual backdrops, bosses you’ll encounter and blazing action.

Shoot’Em Ups were the First-Person Shooter back in the 80′s and early 90′s. These types of  games were designed to challenge your hand /eye coordination like no other. Sine Mora was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox Live Arcade. There is no release date yet but i have a TBA 2012 for ya, Thanks ign.

Homeless – Demo Impressions

Homeless is a Xbox Live Indie Game (XBLIG) that tries to put the gamer in the shoes of a homeless man. Developed and published by Silver Dollar Games (who else would make a game like this right?). Homeless released December 18, 2011. “Do you know what it is like to always be wet?” The hobo asks you this at the beginning of the game.

The main menu screen of Homeless featured Play, Silver Dollar Games, Music and Unlock Full Game. This game is another “simple” type game where you press one button to play. That button being “A” when begging for money via the Xbox 360 gamepad. At first the concept of Homeless was odd to me. Why would anybody want to be a hobo? Then i thought, is it any more weird to want to shoot everything with a carbine on screen? Its all fantasy in the end and Silver Dollar Games are just trying to bring a different “fantasy” or market to gamers which is being a hobo.

The Homeless demo is really short in nature. You only get to play one stage. However i did learn about the gameplay from the time i did have. The goal of Homeless is to meet your goal (money) in a certain amount of time and before you run out of energy. I didn’t know being a hobo was so strenuous till i played Homeless<—-sarcasm. The screen is 2D with the hobo standing still in the center. People walk by left to right, right to left. Pressing A when a group of people are in your zone nets you more money when begging. People wearing Redties nets you more money then people without.

The on screen HUD located on the top left portion of the screen shows the Day, Energy Bar, Time, Goal and Money you have. As you can imagine now the gameplay is simple in nature. The draw of Homeless (if there is one) is that your a hobo begging. While playing Homeless you listen to the hobo talk about being a hobo. The voice actor is average at best. He goes on about what its like being a hobo, how he became one etc. When you press A and collect money he stops and says something regarding how much money pedestrians gave him.

The visuals are more art than technical. The screen is in 2D with a city background featuring buildings in a run down part of town. There is mostly black, grey and white with colors with a few different colors sprinkled in designed to stand out. You can see how the hobo protagonist looks somewhat. The pedestrians are all black silhouettes which slide back and forth across the screen looking quite lifeless. I guess normal working people appear to be lifeless to a hobo? Hey, i’m trying to put my soul into the protagonist of Homeless here lol. The music is good in Homeless. Its dramatic and helps the mediocre voice actor create a believable tale. The sound design is decent as well.

Like i alluded to earlier Homeless is a very short demo and will last a few minutes depending on how good you’re at begging. I can’t say Homeless wasn’t a fun game to play. It was sorta but its even more interesting in my opinion. If you were ever interested in playing an indie game based on being homeless i think i found one for you. Thanks for reading.

Explosionade – Demo Impressions

Exolosionade is a 2D action indie game featuring mechs, nice visuals and explosions galore. Developed and published by Mommy’s Best Games as an Xbox Live Indie Game or (XBLIG). Explosionade originally released back on October 7, 2010.

The main menu screen featured sub menus of Start Game, High Scores, Awards, Options and Help, Exit Game and Buy Game. I immediately went into the help section to check out the button layout. Xbox 360 gamepad: X-machine gun, Rt-grenades, A-jump, LT-shield, RB-zoom, RS-shoots at and LB-lock movement. The controls had a floaty feel which i’m thinking was designed for gameplay as a technique like Shield Bouncing requires you to float etc. Otherwise, the controls in Explosionade felt fine and wasn’t complicated to learn.

Explosionade’s story has to do with First Lietenant Terry Atticus and his boredom issues while standing watch at a base. One thing leads to another and he finds a mech. At which time he enters the sewers so he can relieve his boredom by blowing stuff up. I did play through the tutorial level in Explosionade’s demo which was enlightening. I learned how to do basic stuff like shoot at enemies with the gun as well use bombs to blow up walls. I also learned the importance of collecting gold for points and armor reinforcement. You get points (1,000 and 5,000) respectfully for Gold and MBG. Ten piles of gold grants you one Meganade.

The main goal in Explosionade is to shoot the Powercore. I personally didn’t encounter any Powercores that i know of during my time in the demo. There are many enemies in the demo some fly and others are on foot or stuck to the ceiling. All enemies grant you various points. Enemies include Snake Bat, Flip Bat, Sneaker, Clinger, Horranym Soldier etc. Every enemy has his or its own unique detailed design and attacks. You can turn valves by shooting them (which i didn’t do in the demo). I looked at the “How To” section so i know more then what the demo gave me.  After the tutorial which did a good  job of explaining things i played the Single Player.

The first thing i noticed when i started playing Explosionade was its gorgeous visuals and high production values. I played enough XBLIGs to notice quality when i see it. It stands out to be frank. Gameplay revolves around getting to the bottom of each map and dropping into the next one. I used the twin-stick appraoch which took care of the simple gatling gun shooting and aiming. Using sticky bombs on the 2D walls gies you access into areas that ultimately leads to the way out. Sheild Bouncing is used to reach high places on the map. You jump then as you hit the ground you activate your sheild which bounces you up high. You can also zoom out to see the entire map which really helps sometimes.

Explosionade has the old school Challenge Room gameplay written all over it. Its about beating rooms and progressing by performing light puzzles, shooting baddies while collecting loot for your mech. Using your shields was important for me in the demo not only to Sheild Bounce but also for normal protection. You can unlock awards in-game i got the “Low Ceiling” award (i think that was its name?). Explosionade is a solid overall. However, i didn’t like the sound design in this game. The music wasn’t that good in my opinion and didn’t create any atmosphere or immersion. The HUD on screen shows your Meganades Count, Player Score and Name, Shield Heat Meter and Mech Armor level.

Explosionade is quality and trust me i don’t use the word quality alote with Xbox Live Indie Games. The mech shooting, fun gameplay and great visuals really makes this demo a good one. Its 80 MSP on Xbox Live. Thanks for reading.

Xbox Live Indie Trial Game – Bird Assassin

Bird Assassin is a 2D shooter were shooting birds in the name of “Pa” is paramount. Developed and published by Social Loner Studios for the Xbox 360 via XBLIG. Your probably wondering who Pa is. Well Pa is the reason you become a bird assassin in Bird Assassin (pun clearly intended). Birds killed your Pa and you must avenge his last dieing wish. This game has a clear comedic vibe to it so don’t take non of the latter seriously.

One of the immediate things I noticed about Bird Assassin was its clearly polished artstyle. Its true this game has gore and blood with a comedic atmosphere. I played the tutorial level first. The tutorial level was pretty good. It teaches you how to aim and shoot at flying birds and walking birds of various kinds. You learn about Golden Birds as well. The controls via Xbox 360 gamepad: A-jump, RS-aim/shoot and LT-jump. The controls were awkward in the beginning but as the minutes went by they became more natural. Light platforming was involved such as jumping over dangerous objects. It also teaches you how to avoid ground vines, bear traps and thorned bushes. The tutorial further explores mushrooms and your health jug which are used to refill your health meter that is tucked in the top left of the screen.

When you reach the end of each 2D level you see the protagonist’s pick-up truck. The pick-up signals the end of the level once you touch it. Bird Assassin features a world map of the area and level path you must travel. Among other things is the Gun Mart at the top of the map. At the Gun Mart you can spend all those goid coins the birds dropped when you killed them. You can buy more powerful guns such as the Mimigun $20,000, Shotgun $2,000 and Assault Rifle 4,000. I purchased a Heavy Rifle $500 which was better than the default Rifle you start the trial with.

Bird Assassin is about killing birds and there are plenty to assassinate such as hens, turkeys, chickens, ostriches and owls. Some birds take more shots such as the flying ducks but drop more coins as a bonus. You can access bonus stages in Bird Assassin when you touch special objects on levels. One bonus stage armed you with a mini-gun and thousands of birds to kill on screen (with a set time limit). The other bonus stages i played had hundreds of gold coins on screen, some big some small. At the end of the second stage (not tutorial level) a bird steals your pick-up in which a 2D side scrolling “run for life” gameplay scene ensues. At the end the bird ran me over with my own truck and the demo ends.

At the end of each level your scored on your performance. You’re scored on Money Earned, Bonus Money, Total Money and Birds Assassinated. When you actually start shooting birds and playing this good-looking 2D shooter you realize its a decent indie game. The cutscenes flesh out the funny story and the sound design featured funny dialog. I enjoyed my time with Bird Assassin. Give it a whirl if you own a Xbox 360.

Xbox Live Indie Trial Game – Firing Range

Firing Range is an indie videogame about well, a Firing Range. This indie first-person shooter was developed and published by Milkstone Studios SL for Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace or XBLIGM for short. Firing Range released today November 11, 2011. I played hundreds of videogames over the years but don’t recall ever playing one that is just about shooting at a firing range. Sure Call of Duty always had firing ranges in their tutorials but thats different.

The main menu screen featured sub menus of Start Game, Upgrade to Full Game, How to Play, Shop, Extras and Exit. The only menu i really had to bother with was Start Game. I admit i did spend a minute in the How to Play section to see if there was possibly anything else besides shooting targets in a firing range, there wasn’t. As far as gameplay goes its what you expect. You shoot moving and still targets that are scored by how many targets you hit and how fast. Bullseyes also nets you multiplier bonus points.

The guns you use are a pistol, SMG (Small Machine Gun) and assault rifle. The guns are rotated with the pistol first then SMG then assault rifle. You can use ironsights which helps accuracy for far targets. From a “feel” standpoint this game isn’t comparable to Call of Duty or Battlefield (obviously). However, for an indie game the controls, aiming, shooting and kickback do feel decent. If Milkstone Studios made a first-person shooter with the  engine used in Firing Range i would be interested.

After using all of the guns in the rotation the trial ends and your scored on a few gameplay aspects. Total Score, Accuracy, Shots Fired, Reload, Bullseye Accuracy, Max Combo, Targets Hit, Targets Missed, World Rank and Friends Rank. If nothing else Firing Range makes good FPS practice. It may not be the most fun or interesting game but does what it sets out to do. As far as the visuals go they are pretty good. The texture work on the guns were good. The color  palette was decent and some effects were present.

The sound design or should i say music sound like some generic Call of Duty rip-off. The sound design was ok featuring crowd noise in the background between levels. The shop is where you can buy skins for your pistol, SMG and assault rifle. Costs per skin ranges between $20 to $300 in-game credits. You earn money from playing the game naturally. The skins ranged from Pink, Desert Cow, Jungle, Ice, Jungle Digital, Snow Leopard and Rainbow.

Firing Range if nothing else gives you a place to practice your first-person shooter skills all wrapped up in a neat little indie game. If you need practice fork over 80 MSP for Firing Range. Thanks for reading.

Xbox Live Indie Trial Game – Moon Miner

Moon Miner is a mining strategy game that takes place on a moon where mining and survival are paramount. Developed by SOG Software as a XBLIG (Xbox Live Indie Game). If your wondering yes i have played quite of few of these types of mining games before. The last one being Terraria. 2D mining games in my opinion have to be deeply layered with gameplay. From what i played of Moon Miner, it lacks that and its own unique identity.

Moon Miner did give me, albeit a very rough sci-fi atmosphere. Afterall, you are on a moon mining in a little futuristic dig capsule thingy. The gameplay in Moon Miner is like most mining games, you dig and buy/sell materials. The difference between Moon Miner and some of the other mining games is the fact that you have to keep your vehicle dig machine fueled up or you get stuck. Thrusters and drilling uses up fuel. If you get stuck deep with no fuel you can use your back up oxygen unit as fuel to try and get to the surface.

The Base Station is Moon Miner’s hub if you will. It rests at the top of the map and you spawn near it. You can sell materials, buy supplies such as  Drill Bits, Air Tank, Fuel Tank and Cargo Bins. Most importantly though is that you can refuel your drill and thrusters fuel gauges for free. One thing that really set me off about Moon Miner was the fact that not every material have names. When i was digging i saw materials that looked like gold coins, gold crystals, blue crystals. However, you do know what the black circular materials are, they are called Bins.

Materials give you money in which case you can can go back to the Base Station and buy upgrades for your vehicle. Upgrades do play a part in Moon Miner. For instance, as yoiu dig deeper your default drill doesn’t dig as good which burns up more fuel. In other words your losing money and time by not upgrading your drill. As far as the visuals go, Moon Miner is really ugly to look at. Now i understand 2D mining games aren’t suppose to be graphical marvels featuring super high def textures and the latest PC graphics tech. But the game in my opinion is ugly for a 2D mining game. The sound design and music were alittle better than the visuals.

My closing thoughts regarding the XBLIG trial version of Moon Miner isn’t that good. I have the whole “been there done that” feeling. The game didn’t give me the feeling of wanting to explore and mine the moon. The atmosphere was practically non-existent. Moon Miner has no identity other than its a sci-fi setting. Its too bad a “setting” in a videogame can never make gameplay fun and addicting. Moon Miner isn’t for me but might be for you if your heavily interested in 2D mining games. 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.

Saint’s Row: The Third – Initiation Station Review

Saint’s Row: The Third Initiation Station isn’t a game you play. Its a hub, or portal if you will for creating and sharing custom made characters (Saints Row: The Third) and uploading them to http://www.saintsrow.com so other people can use and play with. Its sorta like a social mdeia character hub that members of the official website get to enjoy while they are playing Saints Row: the Third. Initiation Station is on Xbox Live right now for anybody to try out. And if your planning on purchasing Saints Row: The Third i highly recommend you give the Initiation Station a try.

The beginning of Saints Row: The Third Initiation Station shows a real video of two barbie dolls complaining about the status quo balled space marine tribal tattoos look. Your then shown a sign up page to the official Saints Row website. When you sign up not only can you upload your most crazy Saints Row character but you can browse thousands of others in a social media hub meaning you can use their characters while you play Saints Row: The Third. Furthermore, you will receive “community only” deals when you sign up. Your choice, no pressure.

Now i must say as far as the layer of customization in the Initiation Station is concerned, its deep, really deep. There are more options to create your character than any RPG game i ever played. I admit half the time i was laughing mixing and matches ideas up for my character. When it was all said and done my character looked like  male Kabuki killer clown with blood on his face and sunglasses. I know, messed up right. Its all in fun and creating a crazy, wild devious Saints Row character has never been so fun.

The main customization menus are Customize Character, Customize Clothing, Customize Tattoos and Upload Character. Each menu has hundreds and hundreds of options and almost everything you choose can have its own unique color palette. I started with Customize Character which broke down into sub-menus Body, Sex, Race, Build, Skin, Body, Mask, Age, Sex Appeal, Face, Features, Crown, Forehead, Brow, Eyes, Eye Color, Ears, Cheekbones, Nose, Mouth, Chin and Jaw. Each of the latter has a deep layer of customization.

I spent over an half-hour just messing around in the Customize Character menu. For instance, Features was an intresting menu. Here you can give your character a Black Eye (right or left), Freckles, Pock Marks, Large Scar, Small Scar, Multiple Scars and more. The camera automatically zooms in depending on what your changing. You can always rotate the camera to see exactly what your choice looks like. The Hair section was funny featuring The Jersey haircut. The names were hilarious for the haircuts you could choose from. The Hat section lets you try on crazy bobbleheads of all sorts. Saints Row: The Third is a wild game judging from what you can make your character look like.

You can choose from many taunts and change your voice up. There are many aspects in the Personality menu where you can adjust your character making him or her “yours” unless you let others use them. There is a deep Make-Up section where you can wear make-up masks like crazy clowns or kabuki. If you have the imagination Saints Row: Initiation Station will let you create it. If you plan to buy Saints Row: The Third or your just a fan of the series try out the Initiation Station on Xbox Live. Thanks for reading.

Xbox Live Indie Trial Game – Sins of the Flesh

Sins of the Flesh is a a 2D psychological shooter developed by Silver Dollar Games for Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace or XBLIGM for short. I played many Silver Dollar including Office Affairs, Head Shot series, Raid and a bunch of others. I know sorta know what to expect from most games developed/published by the company.

Sins of the Flesh is a psychological themed 2D shooter about a protagonist who recently died and is trapped in some kind of purgatorial realm fighting demons. Matter of fact, you hear the sounds of a car accident during the start up screen which was black. Next, you see a black and white 2D world littered trees and rocks with a dark shadow walking who is coined as a womanizer by some disembodied old man who sounds like Gandolf from Lord of the Rings.

The beginning of Sins of the Flesh you hear a creepy young girl as she gives you tips and helps guides you through the realm and on how to destroy the demons. You use only the Left Thumbstick (black) and Right Thumbstick (white). You use separate thumbsticks to kill black or white demons who look like cybernetic crabs with weird troll faces. As the protagonist fired waves of dark and white energy at the demons the screen fills with bright red blood which stands out against the white foreground.

In essence Sins of the Flesh is a twin-stick shooter set in a 2D setting. It felt kinda weird at first since i grew up (and still) play most twin-stick games with a top down viewpoint. Silver Dollar Games tries to mix up ideas and implement them into they’re games. There is a Boss Fight with a big demon face that shoots outs huge amounts of small demons that you killed leading up to him. I took out the boss pretty easy, his health gauge wasn’t big enough.

The psychological elements deal with following directions and making choices. Early in my play-through the disembodied little girl tells you to not answer a ringing phone. The scene is that of me killing demons then you hear a phone ring. I let it ring. Next i see a big icon on screen saying “Press A” answer phone or something close. I refused to answer listening to the little girl. The screen fades to black and i’m still trying to kill demons. I died game over. Next playthrough i answered the phone and the game continued like nothing never happened.

The visuals are decent. Its more artsy then anything. Sins of the Flesh has that art-deco look. The animations were fluid and the controls simple yet effective. The sound design concerning the music, voice acting and narrating were serviceable and contributed to Sins of the Flesh atmosphere. Gameplay is simple, the entire game seems simple but fun as long you’re are not looking for some super layered deep gameplay.

Sins of the Flesh is a decent 2d psychological shooter. If you’re a fan of Silver Dollar Games you know what to expect. If you like something alittle “different” with your indie games i say try out the trial game on Xbox Live for Sins of the Flesh.