15 years ago
Renegade Ops review (XBLA)
Renegade Ops was developed by Avalanche Studios and published by SEGA. It was released on September 14, 2011 and retails for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Avalanche Studios have quickly become known for over the top action, the Just Cause games allowing players to perform the craziest action movie stunts. Who hasn’t wanted to ride a motorbike off a cliff, open a parachute and glide to safety? No one, exactly. With Renegade Ops Avalanche have brought their brand of over the top action to Xbox Live Arcade in the form of a twin stick shooter. Admittedly it’s not quite as extreme as Just Cause but it easily manages to be just as fun.
You play one of four members of the Renegade Squad, a group setup by the disillusioned General Bryant to bring down the maniacal supervillian Inferno. Each character has a unique special ability to go with their personal vehicle, all of which are equipped with a roof mounted machine gun. Armand has an APC with a shield ability which brings down tough armor plating making him impervious to enemy fire. Diz drives an armored truck which comes with an EMP that can disable enemy weapons. Roxy rides in an especially bouncy buggy and can call down a devastating air strike. Gunnar jumps around in a jeep which has a heavy gun that inflicts way more damage than his regular machine gun, he can’t move while using it though.
15 years ago
Red Bull X-Fighters review (XBLA)
Red Bull X-Fighters was developed by Xendex and published by Konami Digital Entertainment, it was released on September 14, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Red Bull X-Fighters is the game iteration of an international freestyle Motocross competition. This action packed release comes with high flying action, spread across several major world events. Each stop on the tour is a new location. Pitted against time and score you must pull off jaw dropping stunts in order to stand out and be number one. Immediately reminding you of Trials HD when you first see it, and having a very similar feel, is it enough to set this highly overlooked genre back on the radar?
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15 years ago
Leedmees review (XBLA)
Leedmees was developed and published by Konami. It was released on September 7, 2011 and retails for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Leedmees is the third game in a string of Xbox Live Arcade releases to utilize the Kinect sensor and given the lack of quality Kinect titles warranting a full release, this looks to be a good move by Microsoft. Developed by Konami, Leedmees is a puzzle game in which you take on the role of a giant who must help tiny creatures called Leedmees on to safety by using your body to form a bridge and avoiding deadly obstacles such as spikes, ghosts and beach balls.
15 years ago
Cute Things Dying Violently review (XBLIG)
Cute Things Dying Violently was developed by ApathyWorks. It was released on August 24, 2011 for 80 Microsoft Points. A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.
Despite its bloodthirsty title, Cute Things Dying Violently doesn’t require the death of walking smiley faces–Well, not exactly. Instead, it requires the sacrifice of some of these nameless optimists so that the others may live and have baby smiley faces of their own. Of course, you’re always welcome to dismiss the goal of the game and kill all of them but then you must welcome us dubbing you a genocidal maniac.
The goal of the game is to fling (let’s call them the walkers) the walkers into a black door that for all we know sends them into an inferno of fire and spinning spikes. You use the left thumbstick to control the cursor which you place on the walkers and the right thumbstick to flick them in any direction you please. The more you pull back on the right thumbstick, the more powerful the fling. But any number of killer obstacles will try and prevent this from being a smooth transition.
15 years ago
Train Frontier Express review (XBLIG)
Train Frontier Express was developed by Team Train Frontier and released on August 30, 2011 and retails for 240 MSP. A copy was provided by the developer for review purposes.
So many of us have a childhood love of toy trains. We let our imaginations run wild with our train sets. As the train moved along the tracks we would make choo choo noises with our voice. Sometimes we created fictional disasters that would throw the train off track and have it burst into imaginary flames, but hey, it was all good fun. If you were one of those kids (including the bout of destruction) then boy is there a video game for you!
Train Frontier Express is one of the titles in the Indie Games Summer Uprising promotion and deservedly so. Although there really is no “game” here or set of definable goals, it is the closest thing you’ll ever have to a model train simulator on the Xbox 360, and the freedom to share your creations with friends on Xbox Live places this into the top tier category of XBLIG.
15 years ago
SkyDrift review (XBLA)
SkyDrift was developed by Digital Reality and published by Namco Bandai. It was released September 7, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Any fan of arcade racing games loves the Mario Kart series, and any fan of Mario Kart knows and loves Diddy Kong Racing as well. It introduces planes into the racing combat genre, something that more experienced players fell in love with. Others tried to take plane combat to new levels: in 1998 Inner Workings released Plane Crazy, a visually realistic take on the genre. Unfortunately nothing ever met with DKR‘s level of success–that is until now. SkyDrift is the perfect combination of Diddy Kong Racing‘s combat system, Plane Crazy‘s realistic art style and visuals on par with Hydro Thunder Hurricane. It’s beautiful, action packed, and frankly a complete blast.
15 years ago
BloodRayne Betrayal review (XBLA)
BloodRayne Betrayal was developed by Wayforward Technologies and published by Majesco Entertainment. It was released on September 7, 2011 and retails for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
You may not have heard of BloodRayne before so let us fill you in. The BloodRayne series consisted of a pair of fairly average action games on the last generation of consoles. There were also a pair of incredibly bad movies, helmed by noted video game movie-murderer Uwe Boll. BloodRayne gained at least a little attention for it’s somewhat unique premise of a sexy half vampire fighting nazis using her arm mounted blades. As the name implies, there was also a lot of blood.
So it came as a surprise when it was announced WayForward were working on a new BloodRayne game for Xbox Live Arcade. BloodRayne was known for it’s over the top violence and scantily clad protagonist Rayne. WayForward’s last notable console game was A Boy and His Blob, a game which was downright adorable, to the extent that it had a button just for hugging! It didn’t seem like a particularly good match, but once we saw some trailers of the game and got a glimpse of the art style and animation we were left wondering. Now we’ve played through BloodRayne Betrayal, we are still left wondering…
15 years ago
T.E.C. 3001 review (XBLIG)
T.E.C. 3001 was developed and published by Phoenix Games. It was released on August 24, 2011 and retails for 240 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
T.E.C. (Telsa Energy Collector) 3001 is a fast paced platformer, but unlike most T.E.C. 3001 is not a side-scroller of any sort. It is actually a fast paced, third-person running game where you must traverse different obstacle courses by dodging, sliding, or jumping. With the camera locked in the air behind you as you travel forward into the distance, T.E.C.3001 immediately sets itself up to look and feel different then everything else in its genre. Will this be enough to set it apart and stand out in one of the most crowded genres on any console?
15 years ago
Doom & Destiny review (XBLIG)
Doom & Destiny was developed by Benjamin Ficus and HeartBit. It was released August 25, 2011 and retails for 240 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
Chosen as a finalist in the Indie Games Summer Uprising promotion, Doom & Destiny is a turn-based RPG. It’s the first game created using RPG builder software to be given a commercial release and anyone familiar with Super Nintendo era JRPGs will feel right at home. The story revolves around a group of Dungeons & Dragons nerds up for some good clean role-playing fun only to find themselves transported into a real fantasy realm with magical creatures and bad puns.
15 years ago
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon review (XBLA)
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon was developed by Backbone Entertainment and co-published by 345 Games and Comedy Central. It was released on August 31, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy provided for review purposes.
Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon is based off of the hit series on Comedy Central, Ugly Americans, where they seemingly take every horrific devil spawn, mythical creature and odd ball and let them all coincide in New York City. The game is based around this concept; the idea is that the devils daughter is getting married, which is going to cause the end of days. It’s now your job as a member of the Department of Integration (D.O.I.) to stop this marriage and the impending doom of the world before it’s too late. You will join Mark, Callie, Leonard and Frank in this twin-stick adventure across New York to battle demons, man-birds and the devils daughter herself.