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It’s a madcap episode this week, in which everyone on the show forgets how to speak English at least once. I’m once again joined by Perry and Todd jumps on to talk some Crimson Alliance. In case you were wondering, he rather likes it as you can read in his review.

We quickly run through the news, as there isn’t too much worth talking about and then there’s even less to talk about game wise as we haven’t played too much of the recent releases. Thankfully Todd saves us with Crimson Alliance talk and we slip in a little (slightly related) iOS game discussion.

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[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp29.mp3[/podcast]

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Crimson Alliance was developed by Certain Affinity and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on September 7, 2011. The game is a free download, but characters must be purchased. One character costs 800 MSP, while all three can be purchased for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Isometric cameras come with a whole myriad of expectations and memories for many gamers. Most jump straight to Gauntlet, the quintessential isometric beat stuff up game. Well Crimson Alliance is no Gauntlet. Granted, those enjoying the first minutes of their virgin voyage into this game will call blasphemy, but by the end of the first level the differences will be very clear. Crimson Alliance can, however, play like Gauntlet if allowed to, but it would take a lot of effort to ignore the awesome aspects of Crimson Alliance that make it such a different game.

Crimson Alliance has a slight flair for the retro in that it is very, very much about score. There is a story, and there are characters, but the real meat is in the mechanics; Crimson Alliance thrives on good gameplay. The game has three classes, Direwolf the Wizard, Moonshade the Assassin, and Gnox the Mercenary. Each class has its role, especially when it comes to co-op, but each has its offensive and defensive capabilities, none of them rely on each other necessarily, though they can assist each other. Each class’s ability to deal with the decent variety of enemies in Crimson Alliance varies greatly, so the game will play very differently based on which class is being used, and which skills of the class are being focused on. While it’s an action-RPG, Crimson Alliance isn’t so RPG-heavy, the stats are simple and easy to manage as they’re based off of the equipment and there aren’t too many permutations of skills. It’s easy to jump into, it’s easy to understand, but mastery is a different story. Living through a level of Crimson Alliance is pretty easy for the most part, but the multiplier mechanic used to get awesome scores is what really sends this game above and beyond. Every kill, every combo, every streak adds to the multiplier, but one hit, just one, will send the multiplier down one whole notch (it maxes out at 8). That whole mechanic is what Crimson Alliance hinges on and is why people that love to top leaderboards will be all over this game.

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According to Major Nelson, Fuelcell Games’ Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet will be getting downloadable content next Wednesday, Septemer 13th. While the official details have not yet been …
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Penny Arcade: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 and Episode 2 were developed by Hothead Games. They originally retailed for 1600 MSP and 1200 MSP respectively. They now both have been permanently reduced to 800 MSP each.

The Penny Arcade games are both fairly traditional RPG’s put together in an episodic format. With the third episode finally having been announced this is the perfect time to revisit these titles. Episode 2 makes some improvements over the first but they are largely similar except as far as story is concerned. With that in mind this will be a joint review for both episodes. The theme of the games is difficult to define. Seemingly set in the past it also contains a great deal of futuristic technology. But those up for an interesting mix of themes will be in for a treat.
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Digital Reality have posted the final two parts to their SkyDrift developer Q&A series on Facebook. Part 5 discusses music, power-ups and a secret of which will only be …
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http://youtu.be/h25fQNtmGks While we were bummed to hear about Major Nelson’s mistake, we now finally have a release date for long-awaited Sega Saturn classic Guardian Heroes. The new date is now …
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Battle High: San Bruno was developed by Mattrified Games and retails for 80 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Battle High: San Bruno is a one-on-one fighting game akin to classics such as Street Fighter 2 and The King of Fighters. It was originally released in February 2011 but has since undergone a revision and has been named one of the finalists of the Indie Summer Uprising. Battle High is the sum of years of fighting game tropes put together. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in playability. It even benefits from the classic story of competing high school students ripped straight from Rival Schools. The inspirations for this game are many. In fact Battle High really reminds us of classic Neo-Geo fighting game Rage of the Dragons. But does this game have enough to excite fighting game fans?

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Orc Warrior – Single-minded brute who heads for the rift: These guys are easily dispatched and distracted, if you stay close they will focus on you and not the rift.

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These tips were submitted Evan Lieske, a tester on Orcs Must Die!

• Brimstone will always hit Kobolds and Knolls (if it is not resetting), and it is the …
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