XBLA’s Most Wanted

Before mankind faced its epic struggle with the Strogg in the Quake games II, IV, and Enemy Territory, before there was the deathmatch arena of Quake III, players fought against a hellish enemy force in the original Quake. Unlike so many games of its time, Quake was true 3D. Its predecessor, the Doom series did not feature a true Z axis (up/down).

Even games such as Duke Nukem 3D and Star Wars: Dark Forces featured only a psuedo-3D ability. No, if someone wanted true 3D in 1996, they turned to Quake. And nothing would make gamers of yesteryear more happy than to see the game that spawned a new series for Id Software make a return on XBLA.

Read More

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.

Read More

10 years ago in 2001 Volition released a revolutionary game; one with real-time destructible environments. It was something that had never before been seen, let alone running on a console. Sure, a PC version was also released, but this was a game that showcased what the PlayStation 2 could really do. Red Faction is set on Mars and follows the story of a lowly miner known as Parker as he becomes part of the Red Faction, an organization set to overthrow the corrupt Ultor Corporation and their slave-like treatment of their miners.

Read More

Some franchises, regardless of quality, just never become very popular. One such example is the Sam and Max comic and video game series, which most people never heard of but have never played. Sam and Max: Hit the Road was one of LucasArts’ classic adventure games, first released in 1994. The game was based on the late 80’s comic series by Steve Purcell, who worked at LucasArts. It featured the wacky antics of a 6-foot tall dog and a hyperkinetic rabbity-thing, a duo who called themselves the Freelance Police.

The world they inhabit is wacky and unconventional while being chock full of jokes and puzzles. Recently, LucasArts have re-released their classic Monkey Island series in the XBLA in special editions featuring updated art and voices, modernizing it while retaining what made it great. Now would be a perfect time for Telltale Games, who now own the franchise, to re-release the Sam & Max that started it all.

Read More

Some franchises will never have enough depth to be full retail titles on current consoles.  Pac-Man will never be a 10+ hour action adventure, Burger Time will never be an MMORPG, and Tetris will always be a simple puzzle game at its core. The Rampage franchise is one of those; as addictive as the gameplay may be it’s still very simple on so many levels.  There are no adventure quests, there’s no need to “level up”, and it will never need big name Hollywood voice actors.  But that doesn’t mean the franchise needs to be buried six feet under.  Xbox Live Arcade has become a hotbed for smaller-scale titles.  Whether the game is a trip back in time in the form of a remake a new IP it provides the perfect platform for smaller scale, smaller price games.  That’s where Rampage Total Destruction comes in.

Read More

The two console generations previous to this one saw a rather large amount of Star Wars related video games. With this generation however, due to various changes at LucasArts, we have been limited to LEGO Star Wars, Clone Wars and Force Unleashed games. Back in the PlayStation 1 era when Star Wars games were much more prevalent we saw the release of Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles.

The Episode I in the title would suggest this was planned as a series which would follow the prequel films as they were released. Perhaps that was the plan but aside from a Dreamcast port and a GBA version (sans Episode I title) of the PS1 game a sequel was never made.

Jedi Power Battles was essentially a side-scrolling brawler akin to Streets of Rage or Final Fight. Changing the protagonists to Jedi and the enemies from street thugs to droids and various other space menaces makes all the difference. Power Battles was good mindless fun, playing alone or with a friend one could quickly go from level to level tearing down droids and battling bosses. It wasn’t ground breaking by any means but it was a fairly well executed take on the genre with a Star Wars skin.

Read More

During the late 90s and early 2000s, it seemed like Rare could do no wrong on the Nintendo 64. Responsible for massive hits like GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Banjo-Kazooie, they cranked out memorable games dear to many gamers.

Jet Force Gemini might not be remembered in the same way as some of Rare’s other classics, but like many of their other titles, it was ahead of its time and pushed the boundaries of what the system could do.  It’s epic scale, creative weaponry, surprisingly violent combat and emphasis on exploration landed it in the hearts of many, and would make a perfect HD remake for XBLA.

Read More

Last September, Sega taunted Dreamcast fans by saying that enough interest in Chu Chu Rocket! would be enough to bring the beloved puzzle game to Xbox Live Arcade. Given lukewarm critical and fan response to Sega’s latest XBLA offering, we think the company should do just about anything to make its fans happy right now. Read More

Ah Battlefront, a series that fondly remembered on last generation consoles, and perhaps only slightly less fondly on handhelds. The world was crushed when the oft-rumored Star Wars Battlefront III was revealed to be in development via a leaked trailer only to find out via that same trailer the game had been canceled, canned, dropped. To quote Obi-Wan, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.” It’s a fairly safe bet to say that someday we’ll see a Battlefront III, but what are we to do until then? We at XBLAFans submit to you a hybrid title, Star Wars Battlefront Arcade.

Read More

Xbox Live Arcade is fast becoming a platform teeming with not only new and innovative titles, but reincarnations of amazing games from yesteryear. We here at XBLAFans have so many games we love and miss from our childhood days. Each Saturday we’ll feature a game that we feel would be an excellent fit to Xbox Live Arcade.  This is XBLA’s Most Wanted.   In honor of the Super Bowl this weekend in the United States our first title is Mutant League Football on the Sega Genesis.

Read More