XBLA Reviews

A little over 3 years ago, Poker Smash was released on Xbox Live Arcade. At first glance, one might write it off as just another generic match-three game. Sure, the game can be played by simply matching 3-of-a-kind, but the depth that Poker Smash brings to the action/puzzle genre is unlike any other game on the marketplace.  Inspired by the SNES cult hit; Tetris Attack, Poker Smash is truly one of the hardest puzzle games to master.  But the true beauty of the game is that any gamer of any skill level can find an enjoyable experience in Poker Smash. Read More

Stacking was developed by Double Fine and published by THQ. It was released on XBLA on February 9th for 1200MS points.

Stacking is an adventure/puzzle game that places you in control of Charlie Blackmore, who is the smallest member in a family of Russian stacking dolls. The Blackmore family is being forced to work for a rich industrialists know as “The Baron” and it is up to Charlie to free them. Charlie must stack inside other dolls and use their special abilities in order to make his way through 4 areas and defeat the evil Baron.

Riding high on their October release of Costume Quest, Double Fine has found room for success on the XBLA platform. With that said, expectations for Stacking were extremely high considering it was from the minds of Tim Schafer and the team of hit-makers at Double Fine.  Luckily, Stacking surpassed most expectations and stands out as an early favorite for 2011 XBLA Game of the Year. Read More

In May 1998 Luxoflux and Activision teamed up to create a major competitor to the Twisted Metal games;  Vigilante 8.  Set in an alternate 1970’s during an oil crisis, the game pitted the criminal Coyotes against the Vigilantes, a team of civilians who take the law into their own hands.  The game was a commercial success and sprouted a sequel, Vigilante 8: Second Offense.  The series sat dormant for eight years until Isopod Labs, a group of developers consisting of three members of the Vigilante 8 team, brought the series back to the forefront with Vigilante 8 Arcade.  But could this revival to the series live up to the fond memories players have of the original games?  Found out in today’s Rewind Review.

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Microbot was developed by Naked Sky Entertainment and published by EA.  It was released on XBLA on December 29th for 800MS points ($10).

Microbot is a dual-stick shooter, which is fairly common genre on the XBLA platform.  With games like Geometry Wars and Assault Heroes already on the marketplace, it’s tough for a newcomer to stand out.  Microbot offers the same dual-stick gameplay gamers have become accustomed to with a few new additions.  Even though some of the new additions are a welcomed change among the dual-stick audience, there are simply too many issues with Microbot to make it an enjoyable experience. Read More

With Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 just around the corner we at XBLA Fans thought it was a good time to revisit the first XBLA game in the series. Itself a remake of the fondly remembered NES game the original Rearmed was hotly anticipated upon it’s announcement in January 08. Since XBLAFans was not around to review it at the time we take a look back for our first Rewind Review.

Bionic Commando Rearmed was released August 13, 2008 for 800MSP.  It was developed by the now-defunct GRIN, which would later have many of its employees transfer to Fatshark, who developed Rearmed 2.  It follows Nathan Spencer, an operative for the Federation who is equipped with a bionic left arm.  His mission: To rescue Federation hero Super Joe from the clutches of the evil Empire and assist him with destroying their experimental superweapon known as Albatros.

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Breach is a first person shooter developed by Atomic Games. It’s available on the XBLA for 1200 Microsoft points. The publisher provided us with a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.

There’s a moment ever-so-often in any shooter experience when know your enemy is behind a wall, and you’re at that wall, and there’s just one entrance. Death lies in the doorway, but victory lies beyond it, so what do you do? Well, if you’re playing Breach, you just blow up the whole darn wall! Breach brings total brick-by-brick destruction, active cover and authentic tactics all being played in 16 player team modes to the Xbox LIVE Arcade in a powerful way. Read More

Spare Parts was developed by EA Bright Light and published by EA.  It was released on XBLA on January 19th for 800MS Points ($10).

Spare Parts is a casual action adventure game with minor puzzle elements that mostly surround the co-op aspects of the game.  You play as a robot, Mar-T, who is searching for stranded robotic allies and missing ship parts in order to escape the hostile environment where he’s shipwrecked.  It’s a basic concept that’s been done many times before.  Sadly, Spare Parts brings nothing new to the table and the gameplay is as generic as the title of the game. Read More

Zeit² is a sidescrolling Shoot ‘em Up developed by Brightside Games and published by Ubisoft. It’s available on the XBLA for 800 microsoft points.

XBLA games are frequently prone to being viewed as “casual” because of their price point, and as such it’s easy to assume any XBLA title will have a casual playing style to it; Zeit² does not. The game has a tutorial where they explain how the game works and how to play, along with supplementary tips throughout the Arcade experience, but the handholding quickly ends and Zeit² shows itself to be a top shelf challenge worthy of any sidescrolling shoot ‘em up lover.

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ilomilo was developed by SouthEnd Interactive and published by Microsoft.  It was secretly released on XBLA last week and is scheduled for an official release on January 5th.  It will be a part of the “Games for the Holidays” promotion starting on December 22nd.  If you want to get the game early, you can read how to get it in the XBLA Fans preview post. Read More

Dead Rising 2: Case West was developed by Blue Castle Games Inc. and published by Capcom.  It was released on XBLA on December 27th.

Dead Rising 2: Case West is the second helping of small stand-alone games based off Capcom’s popular Dead Rising franchise.  With Dead Rising 2: Case Zero setting record numbers in sales, the idea of a second bite-sized game left gamers begging for more.  As a first of it’s kind, Case Zero showed that small downloadable versions of full retail titles can be a serious force in the XBLA world.  Dead Rising 2: Case West promised a better experience than Case Zero by adding Frank West and co-op play to the formula.  Case West may have added a few extra features, but describing it as a better experience is a bit of a stretch. Read More