Featured Reviews

Choplifter HD is developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Konami. It was released on January 10, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Choplifter HD is the revival of a franchise first seen in 1982 on the Apple II. The game sees the player take the flight stick of a helicopter pilot traversing foreign lands ravaged by war, saving refugees. Now, inXile Entertainment brings the series into the current generation as an XBLA title with hi-def graphics, achievements and the whole shebang. Each level sees you traverse across a two-dimensional plane to rescue the refugees while avoiding (or blowing away) generic terrorists. Some levels are just that straightforward, while others toss in additional obstacles, like necessitating refuel stops or throwing an injured refugee with a timer into the mix.
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AMY was developed by VectorCell and published by Lexis Numérique. It was released on January 11, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

AMY is a survival horror game much along the lines of the original Resident Evil or Silent Hill–at least that’s the plan. Unfortunately about the only things AMY and those games have in common are a good idea and some clunky controls. Apparently there’s some unwritten rule that to be a member of the survival-horror genre, your game must play like it was made in the mid to late 90’s. You are Lana, a seemingly big-hearted woman who has been infected. The task is simple, figure out what the hell is going on and keep Amy alive. Along the way you will meet several infected, a couple intriguing characters and few shady ones. Not much more to explain then that, now for the guts of this thing . . .

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All Zombies Must Die! was developed Doublesix and published by Square Enix. It was released on December 28, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Zombies, zombies, zombies. Much like orcs, robots, and other generic villains they need to die. Many a game has tossed some weapons to many a player and let them loose into the zombie apocalypse, and All Zombies Must Die! sets up in just such a fashion. While RPG elements have found their way into undead-ocide before, what about in a top down twin stick shooter? Probably happened before, actually. Looks like this game has much to prove if it intends to stand out from the rotting, vomiting, mindless crowd of lookalikes.

All Zombies Must Die! controls like most twin stick shooters and gives players a choice of four different characters to play with. Co-op partners (of which there can be up to three total locally) can pick from any remaining unlocked characters as they progress through the story, or use a basic soldier character until the characters are unlocked. Each character has a special ability which applies an effect to most unaffected zombies, a main weapon which can be upgraded via the in-game crafting system, and a secondary weapon which changes as weapons are picked up in the field. This arena style zombie shooter also incorporates RPG mechanics including leveling up stats and a simple (almost invisible) preferred weapon system. A main story arch holds the game together along with side quests and mini-quests, adding up to a decent amount of game to experience.

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NFL Blitz was developed by EA Tiburon and published by EA Sports. It was released on January 4, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

One of the most beloved video game franchises of all-time is back. Although EA now has the right to the license, it means it’s being developed by a studio that knows how to make football games. EA Tiburon has tried to make a full-featured product, packed with several online game modes. This does not mean the newest NFL Blitz in the series is perfect. While it’s not riddled with bugs or glitches, it seems like a much more laid back NFL Blitz experience. Which is unlike the crazy atmosphere that usually surrounded past games in the franchise.

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The Marvel: Vengeance and Virtue expansion pack for Pinball FX 2 was developed by Zen Studios and published by Microsoft Studios in conjunction with Marvel Comics. It was released December 14, 2011 and retails for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for retail purposes.

The Marvel: Vengeance and Virtue pack is the latest addition to the Pinball FX 2 family. This time we are treated to a four pack of Marvel superheroes, some familiar, others less so. Moon Knight is clearly the most obscure character but also manages to be the most intriguing table on offer here. Thor is rather straight forward but alsoinstantly playable and fun. The X-Men table is nice because it actually focuses on the X-men as a team and not just Wolverine. Finally the Ghost Rider table adds a dark theme to the collection and some overall interesting mechanics. It is a solid collection overall, but none of the tables truly stand out as being amazing.

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Trine 2 was developed Frozenbyte and published by Atlus. It was released on December 21, 2011 for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Back in 2009, Finnish developer Frozenbyte launched their physics based puzzle-platformer, Trine. The game caught the eye of many gamers and now two years later, Trine 2 has launched looking to build on the first game’s success. Leaning on its familiar blend of beautiful backdrops, character switching, and physics based puzzles, Trine 2 brings our heroes from the first game back and sets them off on a new quest to save the game’s mystical universe. But just who are these heroes and why are they important? Each character brings something unique to the game. Pontius, the knight is the warrior of the group who spends most of his time doing what he does best; fighting. Amadeus, the wizard spends his time using magic manipulating the environment. Finally, there’s Zora, a thief who excels at moving from place to place quickly and efficiently and also happens to wield a bow. Three completely different characters with completely different skill sets. If you’ve ever wondered what throwing three playable characters, physics, platforming, a gorgeous and mesmerizing fantasy world, and lots of puzzles into a blender yields, the answer is Trine 2. For better or worse, the answer is Trine 2.

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Sonic CD was developed and published by Sega. It was released December 16, 2011 for 400 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

While we’re sure some of you were raised on Sonic the Hedgehog and all his incarnations on the original Genesis, not a lot of you probably had the Sega CD. It was an addon to the Genesis that let you played CD-ROM games, something all the rage in the 90s. Not a lot of great memorable games were made for it (Hello, Night Trap) but one game that made a huge impact on the system was Sonic CD. Now almost 20 years after its release, Sonic’s classic adventure is brought back to XBLA with all new features for a smooth port.

Sonic has to save a planet chained to the world called Little Planet. Robotnik (aka Eggman) has stolen all the time stones that control time itself and it’s up to the blue hedgehog to save the day and time itself. After the recent tepid response to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, playing a classic Sonic game that a lot of people missed out on proves the character is still timeless and those who missed out on this game won’t need a $300 USD peripheral in 1993 to play it.

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Apples to Apples was developed by ImaginEngine and published by THQ. It was released December 7, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

When the word practical is in question, which comes to mind first: video games or card games? It all depends on the context, doesn’t it? Not in Apples to Apples, where silliness abounds and players can make as little or as much sense as possible. This party game is roughly a million years old and has been played roughly forty bajillion times, and it’s finally found its way to Xbox Live Arcade.

Apples to Apples is a very simple game where a variable amount of players take turns choosing green apple cards with adjectives on them such as “explosive”, “repulsive” or “loud”. All the other players then choose from a hand of seven red apple cards with all sorts of words which endeavor to be like that green card, ranging from actions such as “running” to people like “Leonardo DeVinci”. The goal is to match the green card with a red card as best as possible, but Apples to Apples has always been a party game and party games love house rules, so some players may not play by the book. The XBLA version introduces a single player feature as well as a different variant to the game’s multiplayer, but at its core this is a game of silly comparisons.

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Scene It? Movie Night was developed by Sarbarkan Games and published by Screenlife LLC. It was released November 30, 2011 in the US only, for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Scene It? Movie Night is the latest iteration in the Scene It? movie trivia franchise. The ultimate party game and just in time for the holiday season too. Previously a board game, DVD game and Xbox retail game (complete with buzzer style controllers), but this is their first crack at the XBLA market. Fans of the series will recognize and be right at home with the tried and tested format which remains much the same across all formats: watch a clip then answer the following multiple choice questions. But how will it fair as budget XBLA release?

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