Features

Here at XBLAFans, the editors are just as crazy about their games as our readers.  To celebrate Brawler Week, our staff chimes in on their favorite titles from Xbox Live Arcade. Since we have a wide variety of personalities and tastes, we decided to allow each writer to choose one of their favorite brawler, rather than doing a Top 10 list. Read on to see if your favorite was chosen.

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One of the beauties of being an indie studio is the ability to experiment; there is a freedom to development as there are no true limitations. The game can become a total fan service to the developers themselves. Brian Provinciano of VBlank Entertainment took the time to sit down with us recently and discuss this very fact. His title Retro City Rampage is a culmination of various pop culture references and game design mash-ups that merge into a totally unique game. We were given the opportunity to test it out and loved what we saw.

For the uninitiated, Retro City Rampage parodies the open-world action genre combining dozens of game mechanics into an 8-bit game. The game has a beautiful sense of humor, lampooning an entire era of movies, games and pop culture. Players take on the role of THE PLAYER, an anti-hero, who signs up as a henchman for a local crime syndicate. But things go chronically awry and he must soon defeat the EVIL GOOD GUYS, who will stop at nothing to end his RAMPAGE OF DOOM.

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Some folks out there are currently pulling off insane combos and special moves against opponents in the recently released Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. One character in the game hasn’t been his own adventure in over five years; Viewtiful Joe.  His adventures combine the simplicity of a beat-em up with the powers of a superhero that could manipulate time. The story is very Last Action Hero — Joe’s girlfriend has been kidnapped and it’s up to Joe to learn to be a hero and rescue her.  It’s the perfect setting for an Xbox Live Arcade game.  To bring Viewtiful Joe back in HD  would bring in a whole new audience with to enjoy the great gameplay and beautiful, cel-shaded graphics.

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Xbox Live Arcade is truly the premier platform when it comes to digital downloads on consoles. Now I don’t know all the reasons why, I just know that every Wednesday I’m glad I chose a 360 over a PlayStation 3 (not that there’s anything wrong with owning a PS3). Somehow Microsoft and other publishers find ways to bring some of the most enjoyable and innovative games on the market to XBLA, many times exclusively to the 360. But sometimes Xbox Live Arcade scares off developers and publishers. Why? Well, I’ve got opinions — a lot of opinions. I’ll try to trim it down to just a few. . .

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The staff behind XBLA Fans has been working extra hard the past few weeks as we prepared for BRAWLER WEEK! We created this special event to explore everything we love about this bloody beat ’em up genre. The week is chock full of reviews, interviews, features, contests, and prizes. We’re bookending Brawler Week between Rush’N Attack and Dishwasher: Vampire Smile… two games that we encourage you to take for a test run.

Every day we’ll update this post with more awesome content and a new challenge for our readers to complete. Each challenge will be accompanied by a prize we will randomly give out to one or more lucky person that picks up the gauntlet and completes the challenge. At the end of the week, we have a very special prize that just three lucky readers will win. (Hint.) Please see our contest rules for more info and requirements.

This post will remain stickied on top to keep you up-to-date on the latest Brawler Week info. Don’t forget to keep checking for your next opportunity to win game codes and other great prizes!

Today’s features:

• Giveaway Challenge #6: No Hype – win X-Men Arcade

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This is a guide geared towards helping you locate all the Animal Orbs in Castle Crashers. Before you collect every Animal Orb, you will likely need to look at our Items Guide in order to fully understand what is required to collect each Animal Orb. And when you are finished collecting the Animal Orbs, take a look at our Character Guide if you wish to unlock all the characters as well. Read More

This guide is geared towards helping gamers find the items that will allow them to find other secrets and make their way through Castle Crashers. Some of these items are needed to progress through the campaign and others are not. But they are all fairly easy to find and obtain, so you might as well try to collect them all. Read More

This guide is geared towards helping players unlock all 28 playable characters in Castle Crashers. Unlocking these characters takes quite a bit of time, don’t think this will happen overnight. But if you are not phased by the dedication needed for unlocking these characters, then feel free to check out our Animal Orbs Guide for an extra challenge. Read More

With the shear breadth of gaming, it’s hard to play every title that comes out in a year, especially with a limited budget. Historically though, there are …
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Wood Waves by DrittesAuge has one of the best flows we’ve ever seen in a Trials HD course. While there’s something to be said for difficult tracks that make …
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