Game:

In nearly every RPG out there you are piecing the world together; moving from locale to locale, leveling up to an extent where you can eventually punch through a building, collecting everything from the dirt like a deranged kleptomaniac, until you’ve seen everything. Bastion takes this concept more literally than any other – pieces of the world literally materialise in front of your eyes, brick by brick, with every step you make in the post apocalyptic world of Caelondia.

You explore isometric environments as a nameless mute hero, known simply as “the kid,” finding himself awoken to a devastated world literally blown to bits by the ‘Calamity’, and with apparently no survivors other than a mysterious and dusty old narrator, commentating on every action you take.

You find hope for mankind in Bastion – a central hub that, with each upgrade found in the scorched badlands, marks up humanity’s chances of getting back on their feet, and thus give them the chance to screw everything up all over again… they are only human afterall.

As the fair-haired protagonist scavenges for energy sources for Bastion, you’ll be doing a lot of fighting. In many respects this game is largely reminiscent of the Baldur’s Gate series; that means you’ll be battling armies of critters baying for your blood the majority of the time.

As you’ll be hitting things an awful lot, it’s reassuring the find that the combat system is more than capable – utilising your shield, deftly avoiding attacks and counter-attacking works so effectively, as every single element of the fluid combat gels together to form a satisfying whole.

The 2D environments are lavish with vibrant artwork. There are many gorgeous incidental details that truly give Caelondia an otherworldly, enigmatic vibe. Supergiant Games have gone the extra mile to give every stage its own identity and, for the most part, avoid cliché. The only minor issue with the visual makeup of the game, is that things can often get cluttered; the abundance of enemies and destructible furniture make the action confusing to follow at times.

The world of Bastion is a beautiful place

Your foes do a commendable job of giving every gameplay mechanic a good workout, never leaving a single technique or weapon redundant. The combat is certainly from the Zelda school of game design – i.e. suss out the monster’s weakness and exploit it, and then exploit it some more, until you start to feel a little dirty.

The AI has more of a mob mentality than AI seen in other titles nowadays. The designers have chosen to challenge the player with varying combinations, frequency and environmental conditions to keep you on your toes. Old-school influences, mainly from the SNES era, are hard to miss.

Weapons carry a great deal of heft and physicality; you can really feel the weight of the weapon impacting on your victims, and the omnipresent destructible scenery. Remarkably, they all manage to be tightly balanced, from hammer to rocket launcher. Considering the sheer variety at your disposal this is an exceptional feat.

The amount of scope for customisation is similarly impressive. You can upgrade your weaponry in branching directions, buff your character with a plethora of booze (the only way of course,) and in a thoughtful approach, alter every facet of Bastion’s difficulty to snag bonuses.

The sheer number of destructible objects can be distracting at times.

While Bastion could have easily been a by-the-numbers RPG with solid mechanics, there is a  charisma that resonates, like very few games on the market have achieved. The narration is a spellbinding touch; everything you do is read aloud by Rucks, with a voice of melancholy grit that springs to mind an ageing drifter from a spaghetti western flick – basically he’s a badass.

Not a single line is repeated, and there is something poignant about what he has to say: “Words cannot express what happened, but they’re all I got,” he confides at one point. He’s more like a companion than a guide, and as well as being startlingly unique narration, his soulful asides make you care more than you normally would about the world you’re trying to save. It’s got that human touch.

Bastion is an extremely playable game, but its strongest asset is the atmosphere. The believability of your surroundings, made even more tangible by the disillusioned words from your observer. Answers are kept schtum even at the end of the game, to an extent. Bastion keeps you curious and intrigued and even bewildered; but importantly, it’s a game you want to talk about, debate about at length, and from a single-player experience, I don’t think you can ask for much more.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Breathtaking artwork, that gives you the impression that every frame is being hand-painted on the fly rather than rendered. Spotty animation knocks this visually rich game down a peg.

Sound: 5/5 – The wizened commentary as you progress is not only top-tier voice work, it actually transforms the experience. The soundtrack is simply magnificent and lifts from a smorgasbord of genres and cultures in an inspired way. Lyrical work is particularly a highlight.

Gameplay: 4/5 – Meaty combat and a wide-reaching arsenal of weapons go a long way to make Bastion rarely repetitive. There could have been more to do outside of all the fighting, but the beautifully articulated story is more than enough to keep you engaged in itself.

Longevity: 4/5 – You get a rather generous twelve hours of gameplay for your money, with little fat along the edges. And with two endings, moreish challenges, and an expansive scope for difficulty and character growth – new game plus will be a given for many players.

Overall 4 out of 5

 Bastion has a great story to tell, and it tells it in a way only a videogame can. Affecting and thought provoking, and also a damn well executed action RPG. Bastion is a standout first effort from Supergiant Games, and we look forward to hearing about their future plans.

-Jason Borlase

Game:

Over the years Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion has become synonymous with some truly memorable games. Braid, Shadow Complex, and Limbo are just handful of brilliance that have all been released through Microsoft’s summer extravaganza.

Joining the Summer of Arcade’s stellar line-up of games is From Dust, the much anticipated project from Ubisoft and Eric Chahi (the man who brought us Another World) who features as lead designer on the game.

Lauded as the ‘spiritual heir’ to Populous (Peter Molyneux’s cult hit god game before he swaned off and made the Fable franchise) and being mentioned in the same breath as Black & White (another of Molyneux’s creations) and the Lemmings series (an influence which isn’t getting as much coverage as others but one influence that I find to be one of From Dust’s biggest inspirations) is a testament to just how good From Dust is.

However, From Dust isn’t just a game you can compare to other games willy nilly, to do so would be to do it a disservice because it’s so much better than that. Despite its obvious ties to other games, From Dust stands out amongst their shadows and legacies, offering one of the most unique and distinctive gaming experiences to come out on Sony and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network platforms to date.

From the outset, From Dust is nothing short of mesmerizing. How the game looks, sounds and feels is totally unique, almost alien-like, and an experience most will likely never forget… for all the right reasons.

Assuming the role of God, players are given a variety of beautiful barren deserts, epic oceanic shores, fiery molten volcanoes, and lush vegetated jungle terrains in which to essentially play God in. Of course you are not alone because, let’s face it, having a tribe of people who you can help out or toy with at you own discretion is part of what being a God is all about, so naturally From Dust is centred around a nomadic tribe, steeped in their lore, with the games campaign mode focusing on their journey from habitat to habitat.

As God you can manipulate earth, water, and lava

What From Dust boils down to is simple objective based gameplay. Players are required to help the tribe achieve certain objectives in order to advance to the next habitat. It is pretty basic and quite simplistic at times, but that’s not to say its boring or uninspired simply becuase these objectives range from protecting the tribe from GIGANTIC tsunamis and volcanic eruptions, to the simplest of tasks such as creating a path for the tribe to access inaccessible settlements. Simply put, there’s never a dull moment.

But what really defines From Dust and is the key to what makes it such a brilliant game is the way in which players achieve the in games objectives.

The magic of From Dust resides in its core gameplay mechanic, the power to manipulate the vivid and incredibly well designed landscapes Eric Chahi has lovingly created. Every level is its own sandbox, made up of a variety of different elements for you to harness. Players can literally pick up and drop water from the vast oceans, earth from the barren land and molten lava from bubbling volcanoes. Through advanced physics (so impressive, I literally spent an hour just playing around with water) players use these powers to overcome all obstacles in interesting and creative ways.

Water and lava flows in true to life ways, and more importantly they behave in the way you would expect, for instance you can use water to cool down and solidify the lava. Picking up earth and dropping it elsewhere can block off water sources or create paths to uncharted land but it will also have adverse effects, raising water levels and diverting water flows elsewhere. Even fire is present, spreading quickly to burn down jungles and evaporating nearby water sources. Mastering the way in which each element behaves and reacts with other elements is integral to achieving your objectives, yet allows you to achieve them in fun and interesting ways that you perhaps haven’t seen in a game before.

What really accentuates this is just how well designed each level is. Levels have been created in ways that allow the player to approach from different angles, allowing them to be solved in multiple ways. For example you may need to help the tribe reach a particular island, picking up earth from the land and joining up the two parts of land by dropping the soil in the ocean may seem fairly straight forward. But if you had lava at your disposal, you could create a lava bridge by dropping the lava in the water to solidify it, therefore avoiding reduction of your vegetation spread, which occurs when you take earth from the land. You could even use one of the few spells the tribe learn throughout the campaign mode, ‘Jellify Water’ and carve a path into the ocean, parting the sea like Moses.

Such detailed level design encourages players to think before they act, inspiring creativity and unveiling a deeper, more intelligent way in which to play the game.

Thankfully with such a complex physics system and cleverly crafted level design, balance has been achieved with how the game controls. Simple, yet affective is the order of the day with the entire control scheme being comprised of three buttons (one for picking up things, one for dropping the things you’ve picked up, and one for zooming in and out of the map) and two analogue sticks, which control movement around the map and the camera angle. Such a control system is very minimalistic, without compromising on any features, allowing for the game to be accessible and intuitive without having to dumb any of its superb gameplay down.

The challenge mode demands you take decisive action quickly

The strategic, decision making and problem solving skills developed through the game’s campaign mode are put under more intense scrutiny in the games other mode, challenge mode. Scaling down the vast levels featured in the games campaign, challenge mode is made up of various different score based objectives which are designed to test your speed in map navigation and creative and lateral thinking, which is in contrast to the relaxing tones of the games brilliantly orchestrated soundtrack.

With online leaderboard support and sporting the same core gameplay as campaign mode, challenge mode is a frustrating yet compelling experience akin to that of Geometry Wars or Trails HD. It encourages hours and hours of gameplay as not only are its challenges challenging, but it is also compounded by the fact that like campaign mode, every problem can be solved in multiple ways, opening itself up to replaying challenges in an attempt to experiment, searching for faster times, higher scores and short cuts in order to shoot you up the rankings.

Sporting just two modes, From Dust offers some replay value, but it could, should and might offer a lengthier experience. Whilst its campaign is an enjoyable experience, its also short and lacks a true story that would turn what is a very VERY good game into a masterpiece. The gorgeous and moody cut scenes (or should I say scene?) is recycled time and time again after every level is complete and I can’t help but feel that this time could’ve been better used as a way of giving the tribe more personality, allowing players to become emotionally invested in the tribe they are looking after through the use of a variety of story driven cutscenes. Clocking in at 13 levels, it won’t be long before your moving on to the game’s challenge mode which, at times is perhaps a little too difficult for less advanced From Dust players and might turn some off.

That said, there are murmurs from both Ubisoft and Eric Chahi that plans for a new multiplayer mode and level editor are in the pipeline, depending on sales, which would help extend the game’s overall game time. However, until those ideas come to fruition the game’s lack of real replay value is one of the only drawbacks.

Review Round-up

Graphics 5/5: Graphically, the game is totally unique. It’s vivid, vibrant and utterly mesmerizing. Some of Chahi’s best work.

Sound 4/5: The game’s sound isn’t THAT noticeable, which isn’t actually a bad thing. The relaxing, calm tones make for the natural sounded accompaniment, even if it becomes a little jarring when it comes to playing the often frantic, challenge mode. The dialogue, delivered in the tribe’s own language, also helps add to the games odd, otherworldly atmosphere.

Gameplay 5/5: From Dust offers a unique gameplay experience you won’t find anywhere else. Its accessible, promotes creativity and is actually deeper, and more intelligent than it might first seem due to its advanced physics and clever level design, which is the game’s biggest strength.

Longevity 3/5: Campaign mode is enjoyable whilst it lasts, but there’s very little to keep you interested once you’ve beaten all of the levels and challenges. Hopefully future expansions will provide an effective solution.

Overall 4.5 out of 5

One of the best downloadable titles to come to consoles, From Dust offers a gameplay experience like no other. Its look is unique, fresh, distinctive and beautiful. Its sound is relaxing and serene. But most importantly it boasts some brilliantly crafted, intelligent gameplay that is like no other. An essential purchase, even if it doesn’t quite deliver ‘bang for your buck’….yet.

-Kieran Roycroft

Game:

It’s no secret that download only titles on the likes of Xbox Live Arcade and the Playstation Network are a consistently expanding market, with growing ambitions and production values. For instance, games like Shadow Complex, Flower and WiiWare’s LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias are a huge leap forward from the arguably primitive earlier games released digitally e.g. Cloning Clyde and Pain.

This year a new crop of digitally released games continue the market’s evolution. ThatGamesCompany’s successor to the aforementioned, ever popular and beautiful, Flower, entitled Journey, is being released. The long awaited Ubisoft project, From Dust, is finally seeing the light of day. Even Nintendo are getting in on the action with the release of Interplay’s RPG, Descent, on WiiWare. Who said digital releases were all reboots, remakes and ports?

Alongside these games is Ms Splosion Man, the sequel to the popular ‘Splosion Man, developed by Twisted Pixel Games. The evolution of Twisted Pixel Games moves in tandem with the advancements of the digital games market as you can clearly see the improvements made from their early game The Maw, to the far more sophisticated Comic Jumper. Now Ms Splosion Man marks yet another stage in the studio’s continuing development.

Ms Splosion Man truly is the next step for Twisted Pixel

Twisted Pixel’s previous release, Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley (reviewed here) was a huge turning point for the company. It featured production values far exceeding anything the studio had put out before, becoming the most polished product they had released at the time. However, Ms Splosion Man takes the studio to even dizzier heights. Building on the success, gameplay and humour of the original game, Ms Splosion Man attempts to address the bug bears which put a dampener on the experience that was ‘Splosion Man, whilst also bringing the production values featured in Comic Jumper to the ‘Splosion Man series.

From the start, the game is a huge step up, and it’s not long after you are greeted with an hilarious promo for the BEARD engine, which all of Twisted Pixel’s games run on, that you are immediately ‘Sploded into action.

Featuring a 50 level singleplayer, Ms Splosion Man is not only longer than its predecessor, but thankfully it also goes some way to address the monotonous nature that crept into the original after a time. Whilst the key gameplay mechanic (and for that there really only is one), remains very much the same, Ms Splosion Man is more than just a pretty face, adding brand new locales including beautiful paradise beaches, through its new Super Mario-esque world system (players are now no longer stuck to the confines of the Big Science lab! YAY!). You’ll also find a whole host of brand new characters, with epic Boss battles and brand new enemy types joining the familiar faces of the original, and perhaps, the most crucial improvement… overall gameplay.

Twisted Pixel have put a lot of time and effort into bringing much more variety to the game

At its core, Ms Splosion Man is a tremendous hark back to the retro, platform gaming days, showing more than a few shades of influence from legendary series such as Super Mario and Sonic (the platforming gameplay within Ms Splosion Man’s Boss fights are particularly Robotnik-esque). Players are still required to run around, ‘sploding through obstacles and challenges in order to get to the end of the level, just as they were in the first game.

Brand new items and physics based challenges are injected into the formula, showcasing the strides the studio keep taking in terms of improved level design, as well as challenging players to think a little bit more about overcoming obstacles and avoiding hazards. This presents a nice change of pace from the frantic platforming sections that are a staple of the series. Zip-lines, trampolines and cannons are just a taste of what’s in store, adding a much needed shake-up to proceedings, as well as showing the continued development of Twisted Pixel’s BEARD game engine.

The previously mentioned Boss battles boast some QTE (Quick Time Event), almost God-of-War-style gameplay elements, along with cutscenes (which are far more prevalent in Ms Splosion Man, yet another sign of the developer’s increasing production values), becoming a new addition to the overall gameplay. Serving as a much needed respite from the frantic pace of Ms Splosion Man, boss encounters are tied up together nicely with some platforming sections too.

Boss battles have been ramped up to even more epic encounters

The opportunity to increase the game’s cast of characters has also had an impact on gameplay. Ms Splosion Man takes ideas from its predecessor and builds on it with an increased roster of brand new gameplay affecting characters. The fat scientist which protects from turret fire returns, this time in the form of a fat, female scientist, lovably named Mandy. But joining her is Wilford, the crazy wheelchair bound scientist, named after a member of the Twisted Pixel team, who clears the path of just about… well everything… once you give his wheelchair a bit of a boost with a ‘splode.

Ms Splosion Man isn’t exactly a huge leap forward in terms of overall graphics, with high end graphics being sacrificed once again for character, personality and style. What this has allowed Twisted Pixel to do is flex their character and sound design muscles, and pack every character with as much personality as possible through their look and sound. All of this helps make the hilarious moments (which come with Twisted Pixel’s trademark brand of humour) that much funnier, and helps fill the void left by a fully fleshed out story, which is perhaps the only thing the game is actually missing.

Although Ms Splosion Man doesn't display any improved graphics, character designs have been packed with even more personality and zaney-ness

Ms Splosion Man’s overall presentation is wrapped up beautifully with its use of sound. As mentioned, the ‘voice acting’ (if you could call it that) helps make the laugh out loud moments even funnier. The game’s soundtrack also takes the ‘more is better’ approach displayed within all aspects of the game. The more memorable moments of the original Splosion Man were the musical moments, its soundtrack was apt for your misadventures in the Big Science lab, the doughnut song playing whenever you picked up the fat scientist was a particular fan favourite, and who can forget the amazing song at the end?!

Thankfully, Ms Splosion Man is full of more of those moments. Not only does the soundtrack serve as the perfect accompaniment to your antics, but fans will get a kick out of all new songs recorded by the minds behind ‘The Doughnut Song’; an artist who is becoming synonymous with Twisted Pixel’s output.

I could go into more detail, but I suggest you just pick Ms Splosion Man up, especially if you were left wanting more after finishing the original. Barely touching the tip of the iceberg, I haven’t even mentioned the revamped unlock system, which boasts a vast array of unlocks from avatar awards, to concept art, videos and outtakes. There’s even a new mode and cleverly titled, 2 Girls 1 Controller mode; essentially local co-op, multiplayer on one controller. Nor have I mentioned the lag free (HOORAY!) online and local multiplayer which features its own ending and 50 brand new levels, entirely different from the singleplayer.

Once again, multiplayer goes some way to adding plenty of hours of game time. However, thanks to the beta earlier this year, it's much more stable

Simply put, Ms Splosion Man is an astounding achievement for Twisted Pixel. It’s just as brilliant, and at times frustrating, as the original game, yet builds on its success by adding tons of new gameplay mechanics and features, offering more than enough incentive to keep on playing for hours. At 800 Microsoft Points on the time of its release, Ms Splosion Man offers value for money. Its almost certainly one of the best games out on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) and perhaps a platformer to rival the classics of old. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough!

Review Round Up

Graphics 3.5/5 – No drastic changes from the original Splosion Man means that Ms Splosion Man isn’t exactly the most stunning of games. But it’s bright, vibrant, zany and reeks of personality and fun.

Sound 5/5 - Twisted Pixel prides itself on their memorable music and Ms Splosion Man doesn’t disappoint. Voice acting heightens the games funnier moments, and you will literally be singing “Mandy’s Song” long after you’ve played the game. Sterling work chaps and chapettes!

Gameplay 5/5 – The biggest improvement over the original. Ms Splosion Man delivers a signature, frantic platform experience, with added Boss fights, physics based challenges and brand new characters, shaking up the formula to keep you interested and on your toes.

Longevity 4.5/5 – With 3 modes, made up of 50 levels each, different endings and a fairly expansive unlock system, there is plenty incentive to plough hours into Ms Splosion Man. In fact such a decision is easily made because the game is SOOOOOOO GOOD!

Overall 4.5 out of 5

Ms Splosion Man is the next step in Twisted Pixel’s constant evolution. It builds on the success and the basis set by ‘Splosion Man and quite simply, knocks it out of the ball park. If you are a fan of the original, a fan of Twisted Pixel, or have a single funny bone in your body, Ms Splosion Man is an essential purchase.

Next up, Splosion Man Jr PLEASE, with even more polish and vast amounts of money behind it. In the mean time Ms Splosion Man will keep me more than satisfied.

Brilliant.

- Kieran Roycroft

Lara Croft and the Guardian of light is the final game to be released in Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade 2010. While featuring Lara Croft, this is not a Tomb Raider game. Instead, Guardian of Light has more in common with top down twin stick shooters such as the recently released Alien Breed.

The game opens with a short cut scene filling in the back story; over two thousand years ago a battle between the forces of light and the darkness took place, with the darkness decimating the light. Armed with the Mirror of Smoke, the lord of darkness, Xolotl, summoned an army of demons to do his bidding. However, one lone survivor of the forces of light, Totec, fought against the darkness, eventually trapping them inside the aforementioned Mirror. Cut to the present day and archaeologist extraordinaire Lara Croft is on the hunt for the Mirror of Smoke.

As you would expect, something goes wrong, and the forces of darkness are unleashed leaving Lara to clean up the mess she had a hand in creating. Fortunately she is not alone in her mission, as Totec, who had been watching the Mirror for 2,000 years, returns to put an end of Xolotl once and for all. Forsaking the Tomb Raider name makes it clear that this is a very different type of game. Sure, you still solve puzzles and collect treasure, but this game could not be any more different from previous games in the series. In terms of controls, you use the left stick to move, and the right stick to aim, pulling the right trigger to fire your weapons.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light has a nice blend of top down shooting and puzzles

Holding the left trigger brings up a menu which allows you to switch between your secondary weapons. Secondary weapons range from duel wielded machine guns to bazookas, and everything inbetween. These weapons can only be used so long as your secondary weapon metre has enough energy in it; the energy does not refill over time, you have to collect ammo packs, which are dropped by defeated enemies.

Essentially this game consists of two games; the single player and the two player co-op game. While both games take place in the same locations, the puzzles are completely different, with the co-op puzzles requiring a great deal of communication between players. Lara has her grapple gun, which can be used to swing across large gaps or create a tightrope for Totec, while Totec is armed with spears that he can hurl in to walls, creating makeshift platforms for Lara to climb on. Totec can also use his shield as a platform for Lara to stand on, allowing her to jump up to higher ground that would normally be out of her reach.

Currently the game only supports local co-op, but a patch to add online co-op has been promised to coincide with the release of the PS3 and PC versions of the game on September 28th.

In co-op working together is the only way to progress through the game

If you play the game through in single player then Totec is only present in the cut scenes; rather than having an AI controlled partner, the game simply gives Lara Totec’s spear allowing her to create her own platforms. The puzzles also change to cater towards Lara’s abilities, which is a welcome feature. It may well have been fun to have a computer controlled Totec running around with you, but that may well have run the risk of ruining the experience if the AI was not up to standard.

A lot of the puzzles are fairly simple to solve with tell tale signs on how to solve them – if you see a ledge that is too high up for Lara to reach that means you need to use Totec’s Shield to boost Lara up for instance. Remembering the abilities you possess is the key to success. For what it’s worth, there was only one situation late in the game in which I was stumped as to what to do, and that was down to my own stupidity.

As well as the basic puzzles, each level has a number of side challenges and collectibles that award you with new secondary weapons, relics that boost your performance, and health and ammo upgrades. Each level has 10 red skulls to collect, as well as numerous challenge rooms with specific puzzles that will award unique upgrades.

Lara and Totec, raiding tombs since 2010

To say that there is a tonne of content in the game would be an understatement; at the end of each level there is a summary scoreboard that lets you know which side objectives you have yet to complete. If you miss an objective in any given level you can always return at a later date from the main menu. Any objective that is completed is saved to your profile making it quite easy to go back and focus on incomplete side missions.

As good as the game is, there is one major issue that irks me, and this probably will not bother anyone else; the voice cast. Totec and Xolotl are voiced by Jim Cummings, who has lent his voice to a number of Disney Cartoons including Tigger in the more recent Winnie The Pooh cartoons. This is only my own personal preference here, but I cannot stand his voice – his casting as Thor in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was the biggest black spot on an otherwise great voice cast – and his voice seems a little inappropriate for 2000+ year old Mayan warriors.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 For a downloadable title the game has some very clear graphics with a strong sense of design. On occasion, when playing in co-op and the two players run off in different directions, the camera can zoom out a little bit too far making it hard to make out some of the finer details.

Sound: 3/5 The music and weapon sound effects are exactly what you would expect, and Keeley Hawes does a fine job as Lara Croft. Jim Cummings’ work as Xolotl and Totec is perfectly fine, but I just cannot stand his voice.

Story: 3/5 While being something of a cliché, the story is perfectly acceptable. At the start of the game there is a warlord who seeks the Mirror of Smoke for his own nefarious purposes, but that element of the story is completely dropped once the Mirror is actually used – presumably because the warlord and his men are all killed. It may have made for a bit of variety had Lara and Totec had to team up against the warlord’s soldiers as well as the mystical forces of Xolotl.

Gameplay: 5/5 There is a nice mix of frantic shooting, item collection, and puzzles. Playing the game in two player creates a fun co-op experience. The game currently only has local co-op, but a patch has been scheduled for release to coincide with the release of the PC and PS3 versions of the game.

Longevity: 4/5 Essentially there are two games in this package; the Lara Croft single player, and Lara and Totec co-op. Sure, the locations and level layouts are pretty similar, but the majority of the puzzles are completely different in both modes. There are over a dozen levels, resulting in a good 6 plus hours of gameplay on the first play through.

[starreview tpl=16]

Overall: 4.5 Red Skulls out of 5 – Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a welcome departure form the usual worn out Tomb Raider franchise. With a lengthy single player mode that features different puzzles to the co-op mode it is hard not to recommend .

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is available to download now on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10.30), and will be available for PC and PS3 on the 28^th September.

– Luke Mears

A relatively recent addition to the pool of gaming genres, the tower defence game has become ubiquitous thanks in no small measure to Apple’s iPad. However, it’s so far been a genre with little variation from game to game. Into this monotone landscape steps Monday Night Combat. Monday Night Combat has a big idea for shaking up the genre; namely to bolt on Gears of War.

True to the tower defence formula, the player’s home base must be equipped with a variety of upgradeable turrets and defended from waves of attacking enemies of various speeds and strengths. Money from killing these waves can be used to enhance the turrets or the player character. This is the game’s major innovation: replacing the disembodied cursor with an active player-character, armed to the teeth and dragging the player down into the frenzied heat of the action.

There are six classes available to choose from, covering the expected range from fast-but-weak Assassin to slow-but-powerful Tank. Each of the characters is equipped with two weapons and four upgradeable special abilities. It’s a testament to the skill with which they have been constructed that none of the characters feels underpowered or dissatisfying to play, and that the combat remains enjoyable even when on a losing-streak. Perhaps the only exception to this is the Support class, who is able to hack enemy turrets, reinforce his own, heal his team-mates and also build a devastatingly powerful turret gun all his own. Having one character who excels at attack and defence equally can produce an unstoppable war-beast in the hands of a canny player.

By introducing the player as an active participant in the combat, Monday Night Combat creates an interesting tactical situation; requiring careful balancing of attack and defence, and of the management of upgrades. Focus too much on attacking the enemy and you run the risk of opening your base up to attack. Remain too long on the defensive, however, and your own forces will lose out on vital back-up, making a win much more difficult. Similarly, tactical consideration needs to be given to how you spend your cash: do you upgrade your player-character, enhancing your own combat-effectiveness; or do you spend the money on bigger, better turrets, more robot troops, and activating smart-bombs placed in the centre of the arena?

Six classes are available to the player, covering all levels of speed and strength, attack and defence.

The game is divided into two modes, Blitz and Crossfire. Blitz mode consists of five challenges that pit between one and four players against invading robot armies of varying difficulty. This is an entirely defensive game mode and the only one of the two that can be played offline. This is fairly close to a standard tower defence game in its essentials, lacking as it does any competitive element. As such it’s undemanding fun, despite consisting, at the time of writing, of only one map. Crossfire, however, is something much more interesting.

In Crossfire mode, tower defence is mixed with tower offence, as two teams of six players compete to destroy the opposition’s Moneyball (i.e. their base). While shepherding your own robot army to the opposing base to lower its defensive shields, you must also eliminate the oncoming army and its human bodyguards and take down the turrets the opposing team have constructed to defend their territory.

The game combines turret-defence with GEARS-OF-WAR-style over-the-shoulder combat

Tactical decision making truly comes into its own here. Do you go all out to attack the enemy forces in the hope of taking out six or seven robots before one of your opponents shoots you down, or hide out in a high vantage point and snipe the opposing players as they try to destroy your robot soldiers? One team member may prefer to take a supporting role, repairing and upgrading the turrets as they take damage, or to play as a stealthy Assassin and sneak into the enemy base to stab newly-respawned opponents in the back. This balancing act of factors produces an atmosphere of gleeful carnage, bullets, cash and bits of robot flying around the arena with gay abandon. What had been an interesting experiment in the more conservative Blitz mode soon yields delightful results.

Review Round-Up

Graphics – 3/5: Not what anyone would describe as a beautiful game, by any means. Its aesthetic is fairly unusual in multiplayer shooter games, being essentially a rather daft mix of TEAM FORTRESS and SMASH TV. Like those games, it has a pleasant stylisation and a rather goofy satirical take on futuristic corporate bloodsports, like a Saturday morning version of The Running Man.

Sound – 3/5: Pretty much what you’d expect. The commentator has exactly the kind of smarmy parodic American gameshow host kind of voice you probably heard as you read the preceding part of this sentence. Some moderately amusing one-liners relating to a futuristic police-state and the announcer’s own sordid past as a gentleman of dubious virtue are rendered less amusing by the sheer number of times you will hear them repeated.

Gameplay – 4.5/5: A canny mix of tactical planning and Gears of War’s Horde mode produces something that feels fun and fresh. The shooting is responsive and accurate and each player class is sufficiently differentiated to reward experimentation. The act of balancing attack and defence produces something frenzied and enjoyable.

Longevity – 3/5: The basic underpinnings of the game are sufficiently good to keep the game fresh in the long term, and for the obsessive collector there are dozens of player nicknames to be unlocked and purchased. At present, however, the range of maps is quite limited, with Blitz mode having only one and Crossfire four to play with. This may change as and when new DLC is released.

Overall – 4 Defended Towers out 5

[starreview tpl=16]

A clever step forward in tower defence, Monday Night Combat arrives with very little fanfare and delivers a fun, focused team shooter with a twist. Never feeling unfair or overwhelming, it still provides explosive, accessible fun and, with future updates to come, should keep you busy for many a Monday night to come.

– Elliot Mears

Game:

Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade rolls on and the second title in the annual game series is upon us. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the sequel to the popular arcade title released in 1999. This powerboat racer seems to emit fun from its every pore and really evokes a feeling of nostalgia for anyone familiar with the arcades of old.

Arguably the most important aspect of a racing title is the gameplay. Thankfully Hurricane is both instantly accessible and eminently challenging in equal measure. It’s clear that the developers have taken note of the game’s arcade routes, because within thirty seconds of first powering up the game you can be in a race.

Tutorials take the form of a few screens telling you exactly what you need to know; right trigger accelerates, you can gather boost power that is used by pressing ‘A’ and ‘X’ causes your vehicle to jump.

Boost canisters are littered throughout each track

However the simplicity of the controls belies the complexity of mastering this game. Using higher level vehicles in the form of powerboats that sacrifice handling for speed and acceleration, it becomes a real challenge to beat each track and gain the gold trophy. If that’s not enough to keep you busy, the inclusion of online leaderboards might; the time of your next closest rival is displayed in the top right of the screen so that you always have a new challenge to overcome long after you’ve bested the game.

Even when racing the lower level vehicles, the sense of speed is tangible and provides a really immersive experience. There are three difficulty settings, each marked by the quality of the powerboat rather than a menu setting. This helps the game feel more dynamic in that primary gameplay mechanics are drawn into the game itself, rather than placed within a menu.

Each vehicle handles in a vastly different way, with a totally different aesthetic to boot.

To compliment Hurricane’s three difficulty levels, there are four racing modes to choose from. Race sees you compete in a traditional flat-out event against fifteen computer controlled opponents. Ring Master sees you competing against the clock to race through hoops all the way to the finish line, with a miss on any ring resulting in a time penalty and a loss of boost power. Gauntlet sees you race through a solo run through tracks littered with explosive barrels. Finally, Championship provides a mixture of the other events, with points awarded for each win.

Whilst the racing is perhaps traditional at times, the level design is anything but. Somewhat reminiscent of Wave Race on the N64, after each lap of there is a high chance that something will change. A thing to note is that realism was really thrown out of the window with Hurricane; one track in particular sees a giant Norse god reaching over the level and smashing ice cliffs with his axe to create additional obstacles. There are also power-ups dotted around the tracks that will augment things for you; invariably drawing up a ramp that leads to an extra power up or shortcut.

Yes, that's a giant Norse god and he's here to cause a big wave.

Graphically the game is competent without ever blowing you away. When boost is earned, the ships transform to reveal booster engines, providing a nice little aesthetic touch. Water effects are probably the most impressive, with water hitting and running down the screen as you race. There are a few instances of scenery glitches to be found, but these only really occur if you veer way off the track.

Perhaps the weakest aspect of the game is the soundtrack. The music is pretty indiscernible from any other sound in the game. In isolation, the in-game music is also pretty uninspiring. Engine noises are also fairly wonky; at times being a little grating.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 3/5 Competent, but not impressive. The graphics do the job amicably and there are nice little touches like the splashes on the screen as you race.

Sound: 1/5 The music is generic and completely drowned out by the engine sounds. The engines are also hit or miss at times. Commentary during the race is humourous and is probably amongst the best audio in the game.

Story: 0/5 There is no story, this is a pure arcade racer.

Gameplay: 4/5 Each vehicle has distinctive handling and speed. The physics of the game also affects different shaped vehicles in different ways. Level design is outlandish and fun. A Viking Longboat chases you past a giant Norse god as he tries to batter you with his hammer, if that sounds like fun then this is for you.

Longevity: 3/5 There are a lot of events to complete, and once you’ve bested every track with a gold trophy there’s the leaderboards to contend with. There’s definitely enough here to keep you busy. Perhaps a few more tracks would have resulted in a higher score.

[starreview tpl=16]

Overall: 3 Special boosts out of 5 – This game isn’t for everyone, but if jumping powerboats whilst a giant crocodile leaps out of the water next to you sounds like your thing, I’d urge you to download the trial and give it a go.

At 1200 MSP, perhaps Hydro Thunder Hurricane is a little on the expensive side; if it were priced at 800 MSP then it definitely would be a must buy.

- Tom Wallis

To paraphrase a recent conversation with our video editor Alan Parrish ‘When you look out your window and see a topless fat man you know that it is summer time’. As well as topless fat men, there is one other event that lets you know that summer is here; Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade.

Last year we brought you coverage of the Summer of Arcade 2009 by reviewing ‘Splosion Man, Marvel VS Capcom 2, Trials HD, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, and Shadow Complex. This year will be no different.

Microsoft’s annual digital gaming Bonanza, which highlights five of the best downloadable games of the season, kicked off this week with possibly the least summery game ever made, PlayDead’s Limbo. Featuring a unique dark black and white visual style, Limbo is a side scrolling platforming game that would probably best be described by mentioning all of the things that are not in the game.

At this point I would normally say something like ‘to set the scene…’, but that really is not possible in Limbo. Technically there is no actual story, so no cut scenes or dialogue. The description for the game says “Uncertain of his sister’s fate, a boy enters Limbo” and that is it. However, the game’s narrative and back story is played out more subtly as you work your way to potential freedom.

Upon starting the game the boy wakes up lying on the ground of a mysterious dark forest. Immediately you are hit in the face by the game’s art design; the world and the characters within it are beautifully expressionistic, like something from classic German silent cinema. There’s a nice depth of field focal disparity between the distant backgrounds and the foreground, which always makes it clear which parts of the level you are able to interact with.

The game is an expressionistic masterpiece.

The design of the boy is bold and striking as he is nothing more than a dark silhouette; the only things you’re able to clearly see are his pure white eyes. It is fantastically creepy, and it only gets more creepy from there on out.

The environments are fantastic looking, even in black and white. You will spend the majority of your time in more natural environments, such as the woods or caves, but as you progress further through the game you start to see more signs of society, including a run down old warehouse.

In terms of controls, you use the left analogue stick to move, press A or Y to jump, and press B or X to interact with objects. Interaction with objects mostly involves pulling or pushing boxes and flipping the odd switch. The game has a decent physics engine, which means items like crates, ropes, and dead bodies behave realistically.

The game quickly turns from Tim Burton-esque fairy tale charm to something more dark and sinister. Upon walking through the woods you soon come across the corpses of other little boys that, presumably, had been trying to work their way through Limbo too. Before too long you come to realise that this creepy forest is in fact a gigantic death trap, complete with Lord of the Flies style savage boys that go out of their way to kill you.

Every other living thing in the environment is hostile

If you fail to make any given jump, the chances are you will fall in to a deep pool of water and drown, or land in a gigantic bush and be impaled on the thorns, which features a truly gruesome death animation.  While you cannot make out any graphic details – seeing as the boy is effectively just a silhouette – they provide just enough detail, leaving your imagination to fill in the blanks.  In some ways you could make the argument that a big part of the game is discovering and witnessing all the horrible ways for the boy to die. I challenge anyone playing not to wince or gasp when they accidentally get the boy caught in a bear trap.

Another thing that may not be obvious from the outset is the game’s audio design; Limbo rarely features any music, instead it focuses on using the sound – or lack there of – to aid you in solving puzzles. One particularly good example of this is during an encounter early on with a gigantic spider; the spider will attempt to hit you, but if you successfully dodge, the spider will stamp on the ground and make a clanking sound, which should give you a hint as to how to defeat it.

The rest of the puzzles are a mix of reaction based jumping sections and pushing/pulling boxes in order to access higher areas. They are all relatively straight forward, without being too obvious. You know the sort I am sure; the kind of puzzles that will have you scratching your head for a few minutes before realising the solution was right in front of you the whole time.

The Puzzles tend to be a mix of reaction based jumps and simple tests of logic

While some may complain about the short length of the game – I completed it in about 4 hours – I am thankful that the team at PlayDead did not artificially lengthen the game by adding in some superfluous multiplayer mode. The real strength of this game is the powerful sense of isolation and of being hounded at every step.

The only real criticism I have is that toward the latter parts of the game you swap the frightening natural world for an industrial, and less charismatic, locale filled with buzz saws and turret guns; but that is only a minor complaint.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 5/5 There is nothing else out there that looks like Limbo. It has a really dark and grim fairytale look to it.

Sound: 5/5 While there is no music to speak of, the game uses what little sound effects there are in such a clever and unique way, aiding you in some of the less obvious puzzles.

Story: 2/5 There is no traditional story, but the back story is alluded to by the debris you come across as you progress further through the game. I personally have grown to like this less traditional take on story telling, but others that have less imagination may disagree.

Gameplay: 5/5 Despite having very simple controls, there are a wide variety of different puzzles present in the game. The basic premise is always the same – push/pull box, jump over gap, flip switch, etc. – but it never feels samey.

Longevity: 3/5 Your first play through will probably take about 5 hours depending on your skill level. However, Limbo is a game that has been designed to be replayed over and over, again and again. The game features online leaderboards, meaning particularly competitive types can compete against friends and strangers by beating the game as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

[starreview tpl=16]

Overall: 5 Floating Corpses out of 5 – Limbo is an extraordinary artistic achievement; what it lacks in story telling it makes up for in beautiful art design, challenging puzzles, and some of the best sound design in a videogame since Dead Space.

Limbo is currently available to download on Xbox Live for 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10).

Stay tuned to The Newb Review for more coverage of this year’s Xbox Live Summer of Arcade.

Game: Marvel Versus Capcom 2
Format: XBox 360
Developer: Backbone
Publisher: Capcom

Hello and welcome to the long overdue, next part of “Summer of Arcade” review series where this time around it is I (Crofterz) giving my view on “Marvel versus Capcom 2”. I have a somewhat strange love, hate relationship with beat-em ups. Whilst I have a large number of them in my games collection (“Marvel vs Capcom 2” of course, “Street Fighter 4”, “Small Arms”, “Soul Calibur”, “Super Street Fighter 2 HD Turbo Remix” and “Mortal Kombat 3” to name but a few) beat-em up games all seem to hate me because well….I’m utterly sh*t at them.

So to say I was massively excited when I heard “Marvel versus Capcom 2” was coming to Xbox 360 would be lying. Even though I am a huge comic book fan and some of Marvels characters are some of my favourite comic book characters, the attraction of getting to play as those characters were not enough to sweeten the sour taste I had left in my mouth thanks to beat-em ups. In fact it took several weeks of people recommending it to me and some spare Microsoft points to tempt me into buying “Marvel versus Capcom 2” but I’m so glad I did.

You see “Marvel versus Capcom 2” is probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing a beat-em up. The game appeals to pretty much everyone, the controls are so easy to pick up that you could just button bash your way to victory and special moves are pulled off with the greatest of ease however that’s not to say the fighting mechanics are all simple because the addition of combos and team combination moves still adds all the depth those combo learning, hardcore beat-em up fans crave for.

Another strength the game has which also helps add to this depth of moves however also makes the game very unique is the fact that it is a team fighter, not a one on one fighter. You pick your team of three characters and then fight another team of three characters, once you’ve successfully beat all three characters or the time has run out and you have more energy than the enemy team you win. I say this is a unique feature because although team modes are in a lot of fighting games, there are very few which are based solely around team fighting (“Tekken Tag Tournament” is the only one that springs to mind at the time I write this) and thus these are the only games which really explore the depths of team battles. In “Marvel versus Capcom 2′s” case this is the inclusion of team combos, the ability to tag in any member of your team at any time and the way you can mix and match different fighter types which really adds more strategy and more variety to the fights you have.

And whilst we’re on the subject of characters, there’s a lot of them. 56 in total actually, 28 from the Capcom side and 28 on the Marvel side. The sheer amount of characters means that there’s so many different combinations of fighters it’s frightening. However I can’t help but feel this is also a bit of a bad choice as there’s no real incentive to play through the arcade mode because you don’t unlock..well anything for doing so. By taking key characters from different series and making them unlockable by playing as different characters in the same series would be a great addition just like they’ve done with some of the achievements in the game. Take for example X-Men, they could’ve made arguably the most famous X-Men, Wolverine locked until you’ve beat arcade mode with any combination of the rest of the X-Men characters, thus adding more of an incentive to actually play arcade mode. And actually whilst we are on the subject of Wolverine, WHY THE P*SS IS HE IN THE GAME TWICE?! I kid you not, Wolverine appears twice on the character select screen, both versions have exactly the same moves and look pretty much identical, spare the fact that one as longer more yellower looking claws which leads me to believe that he is in fact an alcoholic, jaundice suffering version of Wolverine and the makers were so lazy they just stuck him in rather than bring in an entirely new character. I mean think about it, you have the entire Marvel universe to choose from FOR GOD SAKE!

If you look really closely you can see the two Wolverines in question

Now great gameplay and a huge roster of characters is all well and good however there are some serious issues which just ruin the game for me. First of all the graphics, why on earth thought the developers thought it was a good idea to update the backgrounds into HD but not the actual fighters is beyond me. The original sprites have ages terribly and an HD update should have been done. The addition of various graphical “filters” in which you can choose from seems like just a cop out to me and does nothing to improve the graphics at all.

I also take issue with the fact that the game doesn’t have that much content. Leaderboards (whoopteedoo!), training, score attack, multiplayer player and ranked matches and an arcade mode isn’t much when you think that the multiplayer modes could be better (more than three people in a lobby? Tournament mode? All are examples of what the game is missing) and an arcade mode that there is little incentive to play. And also on the topic of arcade mode…WTF IS UP WITH THE LAST BOSS?! Whoever came up with the idea of having a team of two irritating little shits and a huge, invincible boss that takes up the entire screen, kills you in pretty much three hits and seemingly attacks at random needs to be shot!!!!!!

Ahhh! That’s better, nice and calm now, anyway let me close by saying “Marvel versus Capcom 2” isn’t a bad game, in fact it as some great gameplay mechanics and features some of your favourite Capcom and Marvel comic characters. However I can’t help but feel that the people who reworked the original (on Dreamcast) for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network got a little too lazy and decided to just release pretty much the original with only a little bit of work to add some modern features which is a shame as it stops the game being as great as it should be.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 2/5 – Backgrounds in HD look nice but no HD character sprites? COME ON! Also graphical “filters” do nothing to enhance the game.

Sound: 3/5 – Nice choice of allowing to choose different soundtracks for those who don’t like the jazzy inspired original soundtrack.

Gameplay: 5/5 – Great controls means games as the depth for button bashers and strategic combo masters can achieve great success. Also the team based gameplay mechanics add tons of variety, you’ll never fight the same match again.

Longevity: 3/5 – Can be fun for a while but fighting people online can get old. Also unless your an achievement whore you wont bother much with arcade mode. P.S. No DLC, a tournament mode would be nice.

Overall: 3/5 – Overall I give the game 3 superhero capes out of 5.

Game: Trials HD
Format: XBox 360
Developer: RedLynx
Publisher: Microsoft

Hello, Crofterz here again with another installment to the series of reviews on the “Summer of Arcade” titles. And before I start let me just say that “Trials HD” isn’t a game that everyone will love, not by a long shot. In fact if you were considering it or you still are considering buying the game I suggest you download the demo first of all as it will give you a taste of what the game is like and then you can decide whether to purchase it or not.

Essentially just like those little flash games on the internet that you might’ve played, “Trials HD” is one of those motorbike games which has you racing across different courses, avoiding various obstacles, testing you speed control and balance control skills to their limits. Now that is obviously not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and at 1200 Microsoft points it does seem a bit pricey but I can still see why some people absolutely love it as well as why others don’t.

You see the actual “Trials HD” game is made up of 6 different stages each comprising of a number of different courses, the beginner stage which you start on which is very easy to pass as it slowly introduces you to the game, the easy stage which is a little bit harder but still relatively easy to pass through, the medium stage which is where I noticed the difficulty really ramp up however if you persevere they are eventually beatable, the hard stage which most of the tracks are seemingly impossible to get through as the difficulty ramps up again, the extreme stage where all the tracks are impossible to complete and a tournament mode which requires you to do multiple tracks back to back to earn the medals which you collect (bronze, silver and gold depending on time it took you to complete the course and how many times you have come off your bike.)

Now the idea of constantly retrying and retrying over again on one course (which you will definitely do when it comes to the hard and extreme stages) may seem merciless and may put you off, which it is and it may well do however I think the reason that there are so many fans of this game is because, much like in the first “Summer of Arcade” game “’Splosion Man”, the immense pride and gratification of actually sticking at it and getting through some of these just twistedly hard courses is immensely addictive. Couple that with the fact that there’s a bar at the top showing you the times of all your friends that have the game and that have done that course means there’s always big internet bragging rights to be had and ultimately makes you go back over and over again to try and beat them.

Just an example of some of the seemingly impossible courses you have to navigate through

“Trials HD” also packs in quite a few little mini games or skill games as the game calls them. These are unlocked as you progress in the actual game just like the many different bikes you can unlock. These skill games are pretty similar in that you have your friends times or in some cases distances at the top of your screen and you have to navigate different courses to get bronze, silver and gold medals. However these mini games require a lot more skill (hence the name skill games) compared to the actual game as they have you trying to go off a ramp and jump the furthest, trying to break as many bones in your riders body, trying to stay in a moving sphere for as long as you can whilst going over an obstacle course and many more. I’ve found that these skill games work in the same way as the normal game in that they are very hard, however when beaten you get an immense sense of pride and pleasure and I ultimately find the skill games more fun to play than the actual game itself.

The last mode is the user content (or level editor you might say) which at first I was incredibly dubious about as I haven’t really used a level editor that works properly (and no before you say it, I haven’t played “Little Big Planet”) however the one in “Trials HD” works rather well. It’s certainly not refined and polished enough to be perfect but it allows for both simple or more advanced and detailed level creation. The idea of being able to upload, share and download each other tracks is a brilliant idea however my point about it not being refined and polished enough comes into play when you find out that you can only share and download tracks built by people on your friends list which is a bit of a downer and something that really should be looked at and updated because surely if you can share and download boxers made by anyone on EA’s “Fight Night Round 4” then it is surely possibly for this game to do it too.

It seems the game tries to cater towards customizable sluts too as it adds a nice little garage feature, enabling you to choose your favourite bike and create your own colours for it and your riders attire which is nowhere detailed but considering the game, it doesn’t have to be.

Before I sign this review off I better also mention the graphical and sound aspects to the game. In my opinion the develops have done a great job in not only making the game look great but also bringing in some of the people involved in MTV’s “Jackass” to do voice overs add a great touch and give the game more of a comedic value. However I will say that with the graphics, because it’s a 2D.5 game sometimes some of the stuff in the foreground blocks your view of your rider and that can get a bit annoying and distracting sometimes.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – Developers have made the game look very pretty, however the annoyance of things in the foreground getting in your way is a little off putting.

Sound: 4/5 – Voice overs are great, soundtrack is OK, maybe could’ve done with some music that is a bit more adrenaline inducing though.

Gameplay: 2/5 – Gameplay for a game like this is fairly limited and you would expect it to be. Why isn’t is 5/5? Because your expecting us to pay 1200 and it isn’t worth that. 400? Yes definitely, 800? Hmm yeah OK I’d say its worth 800 Microsoft points too but 1200 is too much.

Longevity: 4/5 – Game isn’t very long when you look at the number of tracks however by making some of these tracks nigh impossible to actually make it through, you get hours of gaming out of this. Plus the fact that you will also want to gold medal everything and beat all your friends scores, there is a lot of…unintentional longevity in the game.

Overall: 3/5 – Overall I give “Trials HD” 3 broken controllers out of 5. The game is so hard that it will literally have you throwing your controllers at the screen which will put a lot of people off. But it looks great, sounds good and is a solid game even if it isn’t worth it’s price tag.

No I welcome you to the next article in that ongoing series.  Today Luke “Mightyles” Mears continues by reviewing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtles in Time Reshelled.

GAME: TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: TURTLES IN TIME RE-SHELLED
PLATFORM: Xbox 360
DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Singapore
PUBLISHER: Ubisoft

For the sake of review space I’m going to refer to this game as TITRS

TITRS is an updated version of the classic arcade side scrolling 4 player beat ‘em up game that was eventually ported over to the Super Nintendo.  This version, it should be pointed out, is an updated version of the Arcade original, not the Super Nintendo version.  The graphics have been overhauled, although they lack any real detail and as such look a little undefined.  Unlike other classic arcade games that have been graphically overhauled, you cannot switch between the new graphics and the original graphics, which is a shame.

Play as any of your favourite Turtles in Various locations throughout time

The game opens with April O’Neil reporting that Krang has stolen the Statue of Liberty, and it is up to the Turtles to get it back. After fighting your way through members of The Foot Clan, and surfboarding through the Sewers, the evil Shredder transports you back in time. From this point onwards you must fight your way through members of The Foot Clan, through various different eras in time, ranging from prehistory to the far future. At the end of each level you will face a boss character, which spices things up a little bit. There in lies the problem with this game, apart from the background, and occasional level specific traps to avoid, the levels feel very samey. The developers have attempted to breaking up the monotony by featuring two surfing based levels, but you’re still doing the same thing as the other levels except you are on a surf board. You’re always fighting the same Foot Clan ninjas, or rock soldiers, and the boss encounters revolve around avoiding the boss while they’re attacking, and hit them when they stop moving.

Once you complete the story mode, which took me about half an hour on the default difficulty, there really is not much else to do. There is a survival mode, in which you are given one life and tasked with getting as far as you can in the game. And that’s it. TITRS does feature online multiplayer, which is a bonus, but still the point remains that there is not a lot to do.

REVIEW ROUND UP

GRAPHICS: 3/5 Nice enough cartoony graphics, but it’s a shame that you cannot switch to the original graphics.

SOUND: 3/5 Fairly generic music, and uninspired sound effects. The voice acting is competent, but there is not a great deal of it.

GAMEPLAY: 3/5 Aside from the story mode, there is only a survival mode available, which is essentially just the story mode, but you only have one life available. The inclusion of 4 player local and online co-op is a nice feature though.

LONGEVITY: 2/5 A fairly brief story mode, and very little else to do. If you want to earn all the achievements then you need to complete story mode with each of the Turtles, and complete Survival mode. If you’re not interested in achievements then there is little other excuse to continue playing once you beat it.

OVERALL: 3 Shells out of 5. The first few times you play through the game will probably be pretty entertaining. However once you complete it, there really is not anything that will keep you playing it.

[starreview tpl=16]

Game: ‘SPLOSION MAN
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Twisted Pixel Games
Publisher: Twisted Pixel Games
Let me be blunt. ‘SPLOSION MAN is a difficult game. ‘SPLOSION MAN should come with a warning saying “WARNING! THIS IS A HARD GAME! IT MAY CAUSE YOU TO RIP THE HAIR FROM YOUR HEAD, SCRATCH OPEN YOUR CHEEKS, AND ROLL AROUND IN THE DIRT”. But my god, is it satisfying when things go right!

“The brightly coloured protagonist, 'Splosion Man

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s get down to the specifics of the game. You control the titular ‘Splosion Man, who has just escaped from confinement in a scientific facility, and must lead him though 50 painstaking levels, to earn his freedom. The story is minimal to say the least. You’re never told if ‘Splosion Man was ever a normal human once, or even if he were just created in a lab. All you’re told is that ‘Splosion Man is a man (thing), and that he explodes. And that is it in terms of story. There’s very little in the way of dialogue; aside from the scientists screaming in terror, you’ll only ever hear Spolosion Man gibbering to himself, or making aeroplane noises as he sprints down the corridors of the facility.

As for the details of the gameplay, it is best described as a 2.5D platformer. Any physicists reading this will doubtlessly be screaming “YOU CAN’T HAVE HALF A DIMENSION! FOOL!” at their monitor, yet this is the only way to describe it. By 2.5D I mean flat levels in which you can only move forwards or backwards, or up and down, with 3D characters. The opening levels are simple enough examples of the platforming genre, requiring you to jump a gap, or hit a specific target, but as you progress deeper in to the game the jumps, puzzles, and traps require you to have more specific timing. When you reach the later levels in the game they require such precise timing that if you are even a millisecond out, then you will fail.

“An example of some of the simpler jumps in 'SPLOSION MAN”

The controls are exceedingly simple. Use the left stick to move Splosion Man either forwards or backwards, and then press A to make him jump… by exploding. The X button also makes him explode, as does the B button, and, quelle surprise, the Y button too. You can string together three explosions in a row, creating a triple jump, before you have to take a rest. Have no fear, exploding will not cause you any harm although if a hapless scientist gets caught in your explosion, he will turn in to a shower of meat based products. If at some point you find yourself stuck and unable to continue, you can hold the right trigger to make him kill himself. It’s fast pace, and reliance on complicated jumps are rather reminiscent of the old Sonic The Hedgehog games on the Mega Drive, except the difficulty has been cranked up to 11.

'Splode through a crowd of Scientists and watch the meat products fly”

The game also includes a co-op mode that supports up to 4 players, as well as time trials, although the multiplayer mode will require a lot of communication, as some of the jumps are fairly precise and require some real co-ordination. If you have not got a working headset then you can hold down the left trigger to initiate a countdown, letting the other players know that you want to perform a jump. Each level in the single player and the multiplayer game features a collectable in the form of a floating cake, which ‘Splosion Man will gobble with glee.

While I have prattled on about how difficult the game can be, it remains compelling because you can usually see why you failed a specific jump – be it down to pressing the button too early/late, or just heading in the wrong direction. I often found myself saying “I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS! ONE MORE TRY!” after each catastrophic failure, even after multiple humiliating failures. That says a lot about the charm and charisma of the game. It is genuinely pleasing to look at, and for the most part, a lot of fun to play.

REVIEW ROUND UP:

GRAPHICS: 4/5 Bright, colourful, expressive graphics, and nice looking levels. Only minor issue is that on occasion the camera will pull out far away causing your character to become minuscule. While ‘Splosion Man does glow, sometimes he gets a bit lost in the bright colours of the background.

SOUND: 5/5 The Team behind the game wrote a number of songs for the game, including the gloriously catchy Donut Song. Voice acting for the characters, while minimal, is entertaining, especially the random noises ‘Splosion Man makes as he bolts down corridors. If you ever beat the game, the song that plays over the end credits will stay with you for a long time.

GAMEPLAY: 4/5 The game can be unforgiving, and frustratingly difficult, but when things go well it is a very satisfying experience. Despite the fact that you are really only ever pressing the same button over and over again, there is enough variety in the types of jumps you are required to perform that is rarely gets boring.

LONGEVITY: 4/5 As well as the 50 Single player levels, which are also playable in time trials mode, there is separate co-op mode that supports up to 4 players. However, it’s best to play this mode with someone you know, as making your way through the game can often be frustrating when you’re on own, and the last thing you need in co-op is some joker that thinks its great fun to jump up and down aimlessly.

OVERALL SCORE: 4 ‘Splosions out of 5. Words that describe this game: Funny, Charismatic, Addictive, and Frustrating.

[starreview tpl=16]