Posts By John Carson

Not much is said on the matter, but PlayXBLA got the okay from the Microsoft legal team to announce the trademark renewal for the long-absent fighting game franchise, Killer …
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Sometimes there are games we have to let you know about even if it isn’t quite clear whether XBLA will be home to it upon eventual release. This especially includes indie darlings, such as 2010 IGF Excellence in Design and Seumas McNally Grand Prize winning, Monaco.

XBLA Fans’ PAX East discussions with Andy Schatz, Founder of Pocketwatch Games and designer of Monaco, have revealed extended plans for multiplayer in the over-head, co-op heist game that make a turn for the competitive.

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Complete deck customization is what makes collectable card games so personal and fun. Every deck is different and can be suited to the style of play the owner is comfortable with. It’s one of the reasons why Magic the Gathering has had such a long and legendary life. When Wizards of the Coast released Magic: the Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers back in 2009–as well as its updated 2012 edition–it felt like something was missing. While the player was provided with decks by progressing in the campaign not much could be done to make that deck feel different and special from person to person. Cards earned could be substituted while not compromising the theme of a given deck, yet full deck building has not yet been a part of the Duels series. That is not set to change anytime soon, either.

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Real Steel was developed and published by Yuke’s Co., Ltd. It was released on December 14, 2011 for 800 MSP. A code was provided for review purposes.

Like its big-screen brother, one would have a fair amount of skepticism going into the game adaptation of Real Steel. However, unlike the film you will most likely find frustration rather than dumb fun. That’s a shame, really. There actually is ample potential within Real Steel, but issues that seem small at first end up ruining everything in the long run.

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Coming hot off the heels of the recent board ratings for the long awaited Fez and Trials Evolution, we’ve come across quite a few more XBLA ratings as we …
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Following in the long and proud (?) tradition set by classics such as Cool Spot, Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest, and most recently the XBLA Doritos duo: Crash Course …
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Burnout Crash was developed by Criterion Games and published by EA. It was released September 21, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Crashing cars has always been the appeal and the overall point of the Burnout series. Up until the last installment in the series, Burnout Paradise, Crash mode had been a staple that rivaled the the core racing game in popularity. Believe it or not, six years have passed since Criterion’s puzzle-like mode has seen a release of any kind. The wait has been far too long.

In Burnout Crash, the series is taken to new levels of absurdity as players wreak havoc in Crash City; a city with locations as diverse as those at a movie studio and more natural disasters than a town in Sim City. The game consists of 18 intersections ready to be deconstructed in 3 game modes. Each revolves around the concept of driving a car into a busy intersection and using a recharging explosive blast, known as a Crashbreaker, to how much damage can be done under a given mode’s conditions. How does Crash hold up in it’s solo debut?
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Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition was co-developed by Capcom and Iron Galaxy Studios and published by Capcom. It was released August 24, 2011 and retails for 1200 MSP.

The 1999 arcade release of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike couldn’t have come at a worse time. Fighting games had begun their decline in popularity along with the disappearance of local arcades in which to play them in. As a result, many gamers had to get their SF3 fix on the less than perfect iterations of Third Strike for Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, but now that the fighting genre is experiencing it’s biggest boom in over a decade, Capcom saw the chance to reintroduce Street Fighter 3 to the masses. Is it still as relevant as they had hoped, or better yet, does it stand the test of time as one of the great brawlers?

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One of the most obscene issues with fighting games these days is the near unapproachable learning curve to high level play. Jumping into a match against a player who is proficient with both an arcade stick and precise button presses can spell instant doom to your roster of choice as well as your ego. Reverge Labs is taking matters into their own hands with their game Skullgirls to move the bar forward in the art of teaching someone how to brawl effectively.

Street Fighter 4, for example, has a set list of moves for a player to learn in which they later bring into combos. The hardest part of these lessons are how to bring what you’ve learned in training mode and use them against an opponent. It’s never really made clear when certain combos should be used and in what situation, which begs the question: What good is a weapon if you don’t know how to use it? Read More

With only two weeks until release it looks like Trenched still has a few tricks up its sleeve. The hybrid mech combat/tower defense game has some very promising systems …
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