After Burner Climax hitting XBLA and PSN in April
Now, I haven’t played the arcade version of this. Yes, it was a full sit down arcade cabinet in 2006. But from what I’ve read about this, it’s basically the same old After Burner just with a new coat of paint. Fly through the air, dodge things and blow things up.
That being said, the 1987 arcade version of the game and the ports of it (yeah, even that Sega Genesis port of the game that wasn’t all that great) are some of my favorite games.
I’ll definitely be checking it out when it hits, and if it’s priced right I may just get it. Here’s hoping they release the original eventually though. Hell, I’d even buy the old arcade version on the Wii if they released it. Sure, it won’t have quite the same appeal as a full cabinet. There’s just something lost when you sit there with a controller rather than popping in your money and sitting down at this HUGE arcade cab. But I’ll take what I can get. The screenshots are from the arcade version, and are pretty damn awesome looking.
via Destructoid
Pac-Man : Championship Edition for the iPhone/iPod Touch is on sale
Ah how I love this game on the 360. Despite the fact that I’m probably the WORST Pac-Man player on the face of the Earth. I don’t care. I still have fun with it, and now I can play it anywhere because it’s in my jacket pocket.
It came out recently on the iTunes Marketplace for $2.99 and initially comes with 5 championship maps and 20 mission maps. Which will probably be enough for me for quite a while. But there is DLC for $3.99 that adds 10 championship maps, 15 challenge maps and 100 mission maps that I do plan on eventually getting.
In any case, the game itself is on sale right now for $0.99 and if you have an iPhone or (like me) an iPod Touch you owe it to yourself to get this. From what little I’ve played so far it plays beautifully and matches the 360 version in every detail. Well worth the money, and still very much worth the $2.99 starting price. More after the jump.
First footage of Matt Hazzard : Blood Bath & Beyond for XBLA and PSN
I actually like the first game that came out on the 360 called Eat Lead (even though the sniper parts of the game are infuriating and there’s some weird issues with the control). But I love the overall story and the made up back story for the character. So I can’t wait to play this. The sense of humor behind the two games are great and one of the reasons I put up with the crap sniper levels in Eat Lead.
Control F12 episode 89 - Giggles
Go get it here, apparently they had someone a little different this week in that they finally had a female voice on the show. :P Alternatively, you can also get it from the iTunes Music Store (which is what I'm doing right now to listen to in the car tonight).
And they're also running a contest where you can pick up Time Pilot and Frogger for the Xbox 360 along with a 48 hour Xbox Live Trial. You can get more info about that here.
So yeah. Go and listen.
Old arcade games I’d like to see on XBLA
This isn't a very REALISTIC list mind you, but these are some games (or good clones) I would LOVE to see arrive on Xbox Live Arcade. And you could count the Wii's Virtual Console and PSN as well I suppose. :) And they aren't in any particular order. All the images are courtesy of KLOV.
The Xbox Live Indie Game Sol Survivor is here, but …
The game looks damned impressive, even though I wasn't really feelin' the trial. But that's mostly because I'm new to tower defense games PERIOD and the Indie Games are unfortunately limited to 8 minutes.
The game came out, obviously, and obviously I downloaded the trial. Unfortunately ... there are a few marks against it, which have nothing to do with the game itself. It's a victim of unfortunate timing since Defense Grid came out on XBLA recently ... everyone and their mother who's into these games has heard of Defense Grid and has probably been salivating over the impending XBLA release, which is from what I understand cheaper than it's PC counterpart that's been out for at least a year. And ... who's really heard of Sol Survivor?
It's also 800 points. The exact same price as Defense Grid. So at that price point it's in DIRECT competition with it. And the trial for Defense Grid, though limited, can be played as long as you want within those limits. Sol Survivor is, unfortunately, locked down with that 8 minute trial time limit.
I was really looking forward to it, and had it been 400 points, even with me not really feelin' the trial due to my "newness" I was going to snag it anyway. Because 8 minutes is definitely not enough time to really get the feel for a game like this. But at 800 points it's a tough sell. Especially since I haven't even finished Defense Grid yet.
And for people who don't have Defense Grid ... they're going to see two 800 point 3D AAA tower defense games with a hell of a lot of production value and tons of polish ... but more than likely they're going to be put off by the 800 point entry fee (like me) of Sol Survivor, or they're going to go with Defense Grid that has a proven record instead of the brand new Indie Game.
Invincible Tiger : The Legend of Han Tao - First Impressions
It's that first impression that makes or breaks a game for me. If I can't get into within about half an hour or so, I'm probably not going to like it. And so far this game fails miserably on most accounts for that first impression. The graphics are good, except the character models themselves look like something from a first generation PS2 game. The stages that I've been through so far are impressive though. And there is "film grain" constantly to make it look like an old movie. The music is awesome, anyone who's seen Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon will recognize it immediately, and it really helps to give that over the top kung fu flick feel to it. The sound effects are pretty generic, but work well enough. There's certain times where the camera just goes nuts zooming in and out and that becomes irritating real quick.
Xbox Live Arcade Review - Wolfenstein 3D
You see that kickass trailer? Are you like me and think it’s the coolest trailer ever? Do you still wanna shell out 5 bucks on Wolfenstein 3D?
Bricks4Ever - Xbox Live Indie game review
Now let's not kid ourselves, there is a LOT of crap in the Indie Games section of Xbox Live. Everyone knows it. It is rare that you find a game in there that is even worth LOOKING at let alone downloading. bricks4ever by Running Pixel on the other hand breaks that mold delivering a great game. I've been a Breakout fan since the Atari 2600 days (I still play it with my Atari 2600 TV game paddle thing from time to time), but a lot of the recent attempts at remaking this classic game go WAY overboard graphically. Or they botch the gamplay to almost an unplayable state. Or they just have boring unimaginative levels. bricks4ever on the other hand keeps the simplicity of the game in tact. Yeah, it's got the powerups (and the "screw you" stuff along with it. The things that drop down and shrink your paddle for instance. Or make the ball go faster at just the wrong time), which are a welcome sight when done right. This game delivers.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles : Turtles in Time Re-Shelled game review
Aaah the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. None of the new games come close to the old school arcade games no matter how hard they try, and this remake is proof of that. If it works, don't fix it. That's what this comes down to.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Trutles : Turtles in Time graced the arcades in 1991, 2 years after the original 4 player game. And is a MUCH better game. When I first heard they were doing a remake with completely re-worked visuals, I was a little put off by it simply because I stand by the old mantra "If it works, don't fix it". Plain and simple. I saw the first gameplay footage of someone playing the game who wasn't worth anything at it, and I honestly wasn't all that impressed. I can't say that I'm all that much better mind you. Then I saw the in game screenshots, and while they looked great, they just didn't have the bright, colorful pixelated visuals of the original arcade.