About Todd Schlickbernd

Dead Block, developed by Candygun Games and published by Digital Reality, looks to be another installment in the flourishing genre of trap-based defense strategy games. Surely there’s a more …
Read More

Moon Diver was developed by feelplus and published by Square Enix. It was released on May 4th for 1200 MSP.

In the late 80’s there was a little game known as Strider, the development of which was lead by Koichi Yotsui. Yotsui draws back on that experience to direct Moon Diver, a side-scrolling platformer with enough style, action and frustration to blow up a planet. Ironically, that’s essentially the story to Moon Diver — Earth’s days are numbered and the Moon Divers have to come reclaim it from evil mechanical beings.

Players choose from multiple divers, each with different stat growth patterns. As they progress through the story mode characters gain stat points and MCs, or Moonsault Combinations, which manifest themselves as a variety spells and skills. Four players can jump in together offline or online, but only one player per box can join in the online experience. Read More

In The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile players collect ghost beads that modify their stats or gameplay experience in some way. Four may be equipped at any time. While some beads are easy to find and in fact the game leads you right to them, some of them are in hidden pathways or require backtracking to find. Still some are received as rewards for playing the musical challenges from amps scattered throughout the game.

Thanks to Laorik and an anonymous commenter, the guide is now complete! All 30 beads are accounted for and contained within as well as a guide to the Bleep Bloop! achievement.

If you’re not sure whether or not to purchase The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile check out our review of it.

Read More

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile was developed by Ska Studios and will be released on April 6, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai was an indie success story if ever there was one. The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile is the much awaited sequel to that success story and it’s going far beyond the scope of its predecessor. A story mode, 50 levels of arcade- both single player and co-op, and a never-ended Dish Challenge mode for the masochists of the world that want to fight endless waves of baddies. Standard beat ’em up modes, but the variety of enemies, the two unique characters with their unique weapons and coherent story makes The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile into a fantastic experience. Read More

Small Arms was developed by Gastronaut Studios and released  by Microsoft Game Studios on November 22, 2006. It’s available on the XBLA Marketplace for 400MSP.

When the XBLA service was first introduced to me I felt like there wasn’t enough substance to keep me interested. Geometry Wars was there day one which was fantastic, but other than that most of the games really didn’t look too original or polished. Then I heard about Small Arms. It was released exactly a year after the release of the Xbox 360 and I was very excited to get my hands on it. Despite drawing from experiences like Super Smash Brothers on the various Nintendo consoles, the Small Arms formula feels unique and interesting which, when accompanied by the odd looking cyborg critters you get to play as, gave the game a strong sense of originality which the platform needed at the time. Read More

Wrecked: Revenge Revisited was initially slated for a Summer release, but 505 Games has up-shifted to a Spring release for their follow up to Super Sonic Games’ 2004 car combat hit, Mashed. Wrecked will join the likes of TNT Racers and Scrap Metal in the ever-growing list of XBLA car combat games, bringing with it some features unique to the series.

Players will enjoy plenty of customization options for their vehicles as well as an awesome revenge mechanic allowing wrecked racers to thank their destroyer with an aerial strike- of love. The carnage will take place across a 24-challenge Championship mode divided into four different racing styles. The XBLA racing style has lends itself well to the offline/online four player setup, and Wrecked: Revenge Revisited will take full advantage of that. Read More

Swarm developer Hothead Games will be continuing the XBLA tradition of an awesome article of clothing and an awesome prop to go with your achievements. However, instead of some …
Read More

Hard Corps: Uprising, developed by Arc System Works and published by Konami, is the latest in the Contra series, available now for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Hard Corps Uprising tells a zany tale about a corrupt nation or an evil dictator or both, some other evil bits here and there but truth be told the story is not the reason to buy the game, however there are many others. This latest installment in the Contra series, though not named as such, revamps the visuals with a crisp anime-esque appeal and animations and tops it off with an exciting hard rock soundtrack, as is Arc’s trademark.

Hard Corps epitomizes an action shoot ’em up in every way, for better and for worse. Tons of enemies on screen of which there are decent variety, but not too many you have to learn something new every two seconds, though the same can’t be said for the boss fights. The game starts a bit slow and there’s no formal tutorial so certain elements of the game go unexplained, but once you get the hang of the Action Ships and play some of the more inventive levels, Hard Corps shows itself to be as enjoyable and thrilling as any other Contra title. Read More

This week on XBLA Wednesday the marketplace has a lot of variety. In Stacking (1200MP) from Tim Schafer’s Double Fine Productions you take control of Russian stacking dolls, also known as Matryoshka dolls, in this delightful adventure puzzler. TNT Racers (800MP) shifts to top down view in this simple arcade racer boasting a wide variety of cars, modes, maps and powerups as well as online and on-couch multiplayer. On the DLC front there’s an extra stage for Castlevania Harmony of Despair titled “The Legend of Fuma” (240MP), a retro throwback to Getsu Fuma Den, and a character pack to match it (160MP). Three completely different XBLA experiences, all in one day! Read More

Developer Hothead Games, masterminds behind the Deathspank series and Penny Arcade XBLA titles, is patiently sitting in the waiting room while Microsoft operates on their latest project, Swarm. According to producer Joel DeYoung, their project is in the hands of Microsoft and Sony being taken through the certification process required of all XBLA titles. A release date and price will be announced when the game is out of intensive care. That is to say, they don’t have it yet because Microsoft hasn’t told them and when they find out they’ll tell us! Nice and simple. Read More