Reviews

Agent MOO: Maximum Overdeath (AMMO) is a 2D deathmatch game featuring weapons such as rockets, guns, and the trusty sack of oranges. If that doesn’t suit your fancy, climb in a car to get some vehicular homicide kills! The cast includes Agent MOO, Hippies, Dinosaurs, and members of the video game blogging community such as Mr. Destructoid, Ron Workman and Cheapy D. The game features an original soundtrack by I KILL PXLS.

AMMO is now available on the XBOX Live Indie Games Marketplace for 240 points. It has been developed in Microsoft’s XNA game programming platform.

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Pac-Man Championship Edition DX was developed and published by NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. It was released on XBLA on October 17th.

Over the years, we have seen hundreds of Pac-Man remakes. Most of them have been awful in the opinions of Pac-Man enthusiasts. The only iterations that have been well received have been the ones that stayed very close to the original recipe. Without a doubt, Pac-Man Championship Edition was the clear fan favorite of Pac-Man remakes. At least that was the case, until now. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is everything a Pac-Man fan could have dreamed of, and more. Read More

Hypership out of control is a retro 8bit graphic 2d shooter with a unique twist.   Your spaceship had some serious issues, and now your throttle is stuck, the brakes are broken.  The only things keeping you from sheer disaster are the ships guns, and steering control.   Do you have what it takes to get your speeding ship from becoming a splatter mark on the side of some asteroid, or something bigger and worse, like space bees! Read More

Guwange is a vertical scrolling shooting game, launched in Japanese arcades in 1999.  Set in the Muromachi period of Japanese history, Guwange tells the tale of the “Shikigami users”, hosts to ghostly avatars called Shikigami. Unlike other CAVE shooting games, known for their fighter craft and destructive machinery, the heroes of Guwange walk across the demonic landscape on their quest to rid themselves of the Shikigami curse, cutting a swath through enemies.

You have to click read more to get my thoughts on it now.

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Pinball FX2 was developed and published by Zen Studios for XBLA on October 27th, 2010. Retails for free, individual tables can be purchased. The publisher provided a copy of the game and 8 tables for reviewing purposes.

Pinball FX2 is a pinball game, pure and simple. It never strives to be anything more or less than this, which is one of its greatest strengths. It’s the type of game that someone can get real serious or strategic about, or something that you can just kill time with, like Peggle.

I’m even tempted to say that there ‘s no excuse not to play this game. It is free after all, and only requires players to purchase individual tables for 200 Microsoft Points a piece. Any of the game’s tables can be demoed for free, and anything you may have purchased with the first Pinball FX can be ported and played on FX2 with the game’s improved ball physics. So honestly, what’s not to like? Unless you have a seething, underlying hatred for pinball then you have no reason not to check this game out.

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Inferno was the second release title for Radian Games.  It was released September 1^st, 2010 for the price of 80 Microsoft Points ($1 US).   So how does this game stand up to other XBLA titles, and XBLIG titles?

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Are you afraid of the dark? If you are, grab a candle or light up your cell phone and let’s peak through our eyes at this retro re-made for XBLA. The original on the Atari 2600 consisted of a pair of eyes that traveled through a labyrinth inhabited by “haunted” creatures such as bats, spiders, and ghosts. The object was to find pieces of a mystical urn and bring it to a location in the game. The new version takes that basic concept and adds more gameplay elements to it. While it is more entertaining than the original, it’s still a basic game of unlocking doors.

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Dream Chronicles was developed by KatGames and published by Hudson Soft for XBLA on October 20th, 2010. Retails for 800 Microsoft Points. The publisher provided a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.

You’d be forgiven for having not heard of Dream Chronicles, a port of a 2007 PC game released with little fanfair on the same day as Super Meat Boy and Costume Quest. Dream Chronicles is a hidden object game for the most part with some puzzle and adventure elements thrown in for good measure, with a style very reminiscent of Myst and similar games.

You play as Faye an occupant of the Village of Wish which has had a spell cast over it causing all humans to fall asleep. Faye’s husband (Fidget who we discover is actually a fairy) managed to awaken Faye before being captured by the Fairy Queen of Dreams, Lilith. It is Lilith who is responsible for Wish’s current slumber. You must find your way to Fidget but Lilith uses her magic to slow you down at every opportunity. Read More

Hydro Thunder: Hurricane was developed by Vector Unit and published by Microsoft. The full game retails for 1200 Microsoft Points. The Tempest DLC pack retails for 400 Microsoft points. A copy of the DLC was provided to us for review purposes.

Back in August, we reviewed Hydro Thunder: Hurricane for XBLA and gave it a Try rating. This wasn’t to say the game suffered from significant flaws, but we questioned if the game could hold attention long enough to match its $15 value for the majority of players. Clearly it could, as two months later, the game’s online community is still thriving and Vector Unit has released their first piece of DLC.

The Tempest Pack for Hydro Thunder: Hurricane contains three brand new original maps (Atlantis, Castle Von Boom and Bermuda), two new, original Boats (the super agile Whiplash and the slip-slidery Psyclone), one new skin for every boat in the game, six X-Boats (upgraded to expert versions of current boats) and of course 50 additional Gamerscore.

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Fluid was released on XBLIG on October 22, 2010 for 80 Microsoft Points.

Fluid is a game that boggles the mind, and will keep you occupied for hours.   I call is a 2D puzzle racer, because the object of the game is to find the quickest line around the level without getting killed in the process.  I was calling it a 2D version of Super Meat Boy!  Click read more for everything about the game and what I thought of it.

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