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XBLA (and PSN?) is on a good roll...
 
Awesome thread is back!!

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11/18/10, 23:13    Edited: 04/12/12, 06:15
 
   
 
@PandareusI wasn't "thinking" you'd forgotten about that. More like I was "hoping" you'd forgotten about that... :p


I, too, intend on picking up PixelJunk Shooter 2 tonight.


To the original post, I would say XBLA and PSN have been on a good roll for years now. Personal favourites:
PixelJunk Monsters
PixelJunk Shooter
Costume Quest
Braid
Limbo
Pacman Championship Edition
Pacman CE DX
Castle Crashers
Flower
Savage Moon
Marvel Pinball
03/02/11, 02:46   
Edited: 03/02/11, 02:47
I notice there has been no talk whatsoever about Hard Corps Uprising from the 360 people on the board... and there hasn't been much talk elsewhere either.

Is it a dud?
03/02/11, 17:46   
@Pandareus

I tried the demo and was left unimpressed.

I didn't like the art direction or sound design. The gameplay felt slow with cheap deaths resulting in a lot of backtracking.
03/02/11, 18:17   
Haven't tried the demo yet. Overwhelmed.

Mostly with Okami. But I am looking forward to trying it out.

I basically don't buy any XBLA games unless they're on sale anymore. I have enough games to wait.
03/02/11, 19:09   
Edited: 03/02/11, 19:10
So I gave PixelJunk Shooter 2 a bit of time last night.

I played the first three levels in single-player mode last night and I will say this: it is much more challenging than the first game (at least, the early levels of the first game). Having said that, the fact that you can die and restart the area without losing much progress means that the game is still really easy to push though. You have no fear of running out of lives. I completed all three levels saving all the miners and collecting all of the gems on my first playthrough.

I have to say, so far I'm not enjoying the new stuff as much as the old. That green crap that expands is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome shooting it over and over. And the hungry suit feels out of place and inferior to the other mechanics in the game. Why is it grid-based 4-directional movement? If they made it free moving like the rest of the game, I'd enjoy it a lot more, I think.

You know what is hard as hell though? Online ranked matches (although, that obviously depends on the competition). I got to 98% on Asteroid and just needed one more win to get the trophy last night and then I hit a long patch of freakishly good players (seriously, why am I [ranked rookie] being paired up with people ranked legend and with the best weapons unlocked???) and it took me over an hour to get that last win. I was so pissed every time victory was snatched from me by a crazy good come-back. I haven't been frustrated enought to swear at my TV in a long time.

Generally, I don't like the changed control mechanics introduced to the online mode such as shooting causing you to be pushed backwards. Took me several matches to even realize that was what was happening. At first I just thought my opponent has some method of repelling me when I was trying to get close, because every time I'd get near them I'd start shooting and I'd be pushed away by my shots while they made their escape. Or when you're giving chase and firing a shot causes you to come to a halt.

I can see the online mode being fun to play with friends (and even more fun if ther was an option to play with more than 2 players - team based - which there isn't), but I don't think I ever want to go back to ranked matches now that I've got the 3 trophies.
03/04/11, 22:07   
Hmm.

03/16/11, 03:07   
That game looks really cool but there's just way too much other stuff right now to play.
03/16/11, 03:12   
Hmm, have you tried the demo?

I did after posting that video last night, and as expected, playing alone against the AI is not nearly as exciting as I am sure the multiplayer is. But the $15 seems steep, though, and I don't think the game would be much fun against strangers online. If one of you guys gets it, tell me, I guess.

Also, it's a little overwhelming. The fact that it wants to use every button on the controller definitely works against it, IMO. It's as if the designers kept adding more mechanics to their game and didn't know when to stop.

You control a floating construction worker with the analog stick. He can drop the blocks he's holding (press circle) on the playing field to create squares, which become weapons that attack the enemy. He gets blocks by defeating flying monsters, and there are combos (the square and X buttons are attacks). He can also attack the other player. He blocks attacks when you press L1. L2 and R2 rotate the blocks, the mushiness of those triggers is an inconvenience. R1 switches the active block.

Maybe I'm getting old but I feel this is too much. There is something to be said for simplicity and a streamlined control scheme. The one they settled for does not feel intuitive at all (though I'm sure you get used to it).

But again, I'm sure it's a fun time in multiplayer. I just don't have anyone to play it with.
03/16/11, 20:24   
I downloaded but haven't tried out the demo yet. I've been busy with the same two games for weeks now... PixelJunk Shooter 2 (AWESOME by the way) and Radiant Historia. If I buy this game, it'll probably be whenever it hits a sale.
03/16/11, 23:44   
Tried out the demo for Slam Bolt Scrappers and yeah, it wasn't that fun really. Maybe the full game is better and it is a fun concept but it just feels like a bunch of stuff that actually don't work that well together. There are other games I'll buy before this one, that's for sure. And with Parasite Eve having just released on PSN, I think I might just get that for my next purchase.

Also Outland, from the same people that brought us Super Stardust HD and Dead Nation, looks pretty good. I remember seeing this a while back and got a Shadow of the Colossus vibe from it. Hopefully it turns out great!
03/18/11, 15:23   
THAT sounds kind of like Rampart, except that's more like Tetris meets Missile Command. Which is AWESOME.

I was thinking about making an XBLI-specific thread, to contain all the craziness therein. What do you guys think?
03/18/11, 16:25   
So Moon Diver which came out last week is apparently pretty good. The demo didn't do much for me, but if one of you guys gets it, I could probably be persuaded to play co-op with you. Plus, anand will probably bug me to get it so that he can try it out, given that it's from the dude who made Strider.

I agree with the guys at 1up, the Japanese know nothing when it comes to marketing downloadable games.
04/05/11, 06:44   
I wasn't originally interested in this game after seeing it on the PS Blog but upon a quick glance, I saw Critter Crunch mentioned and that it's made by Capybara Games!

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

This looks pretty fun actually. It was released on the DS originally? Looking good though and reminds me of the kind of game genre mashup, ala Puzzle Quest, that could prove to be just as addicting. The 15$ price tag seems a bit much but at least there'll be a demo!
04/05/11, 14:17   
@Pandareus
Omigod!! You have to get it and bring it to New York!! Don't make me buy a PS3, man. That would be fiscally irresponsible.

I just picked up Afterburner Climax and DOOM II on XBLA. You have to do your part, too! Plus, you buy every downloadable game available, anyway. If you didn't buy this, it would be like you were doing it just to spite me.
04/05/11, 17:54   
Edited: 04/05/11, 17:55
@anandxxx

I love Doom 1 & 2 on XBLA.

It's one of those games like Super Mario Bros. (NES/SNES) that is just timeless and never feels dated or stale in spite of its age.

Doom just scratches that itch when I don't want to play a "heavy" current-gen game, but instead just want to turn off my brain and shoot stuff real good.

Be sure to check out the Doom 2 XBLA-exclusive bonus campaign, No Rest for the Living (9 levels). The maps are fantastic and complex as hell.
04/05/11, 18:49   
Edited: 04/05/11, 18:53
@VofEscaflowne I have it on DS, playing it right now actually... well, in between other games. I think the way your troops line up is confusing to people looking at screenshots, I mean, it really doesn't have much to do with falling block puzzle games. I'm not saying it has no elements of falling block puzzle games, but really it's more an SRPG. You have a bunch of unit types, you need to move them around to create attack and defense formations, yada yada, and everything works on turns... you take a turn, the enemy takes a turn, etc. so none of the real-time elements of falling block puzzle games. It's pretty fun and fairly unique and probably well worth the $15 (which is what I paid for it on DS, I think.)
04/05/11, 19:45   
@Simbabbad
Obviously not.

@New Forms
Yeah, I tried the demo first to make sure it wasn't just a nostalgia buy (like X-Men Arcade for $2 would have been). It was fun! I have to say, I like the crazy, maze-y FPS games of yore much better than the shitty, linear movie wanna-bes. The action was still surprisingly visceral, too. I mean, there was viscera, and everything!

And the extra levels helped to seal the deal, along with four-player splitscreen. Let's DOOM it up in NYC!
04/05/11, 22:08   
It's true. We always despise that with which we are most familiar. Including, for the more self-aware among us... ourselves.
04/06/11, 05:19   
Edited: 04/06/11, 05:19
Well I bought Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes yesterday and I must say this game is pretty fun! It's a bit hard at first but once you get the hang of things and how to coordinate attacks between units/colors, it becomes quite satisfying to unleash a huge attack at the last possible moment to annihilate your enemies Reminds me of a chess game more than anything else. And the game looks pretty good in HD too. I've yet to touch the online portion but I'm sure this could be quite addicting.
04/14/11, 03:21   
Some deals for you XBLAers

Limbo, Shadow Complex, Trials HD, all half price today only.
04/15/11, 17:41   
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