XBLA Reviews

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

Raskulls was developed and published by Halfbrick Studios for XBLA on December 29, 2010, and retails for 800 Microsoft Points. The publisher provided us with a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.

Raskulls is a unique blend of action-platforming, objective racing and puzzle solving, and is something you won’t really find anywhere else on the XBLA. It is also the type of game to that starts off at almost mind-numbing levels of simplicity before it really begins to grow on you as you spend more time with it.

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Quake Arena Arcade was developed by id Software and published by Bethesda Softworks for XBLA on 12/15/2010 and retails for 1200 ms. The publisher provided a copy of the game for reviewing purposes.

Prepare to experience Quakelike never before, as you fight for ultimate survival on 33 classic maps and in 12 Xbox-exclusive Arenas. The latest from id Software for the Xbox Live Arcade is packed full of many features for all Quake fans to enjoy, as you select from six playable game types to lay waste upon your enemies while using 12 brutal weapons in fighting for the top spot.

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A World of Keflings was developed by NinjaBee and published by Xbox Live Arcade.  It was released on XBLA on December 22nd.

With games like Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs and Ancients of Ooga under their belt, NinjaBee has become one of the most beloved XBLA developers to date.  In 2008, the release of A Kingdom for Keflings solidified their spot as an XBLA powerhouse.   After the success of the first installment, A Kefling sequel was evident.  As one of the most anticipated XBLA games of 2010, A World of Keflings generated high expectations from both the fans and the developers.  With a ton of new additions and upgrades, the difference between A Kingdom for Keflings and A World of Keflings is clear.  The game has improved in nearly every area. Read More

The game was designed originally by Konami and then brought to XBLA by Backbone Entertainment, a division of Foundation 9 Entertainment.  The player chooses one of six X-Men:  Cyclops,  Colossus,  Wolverine,  Storm,  Nightcrawler, or Dazzler. Their objective is to stop the villain Magneto from wreaking havoc on human civilization. They must fight through an army of hundreds of Sentinels and supervillains such as Pyro, Blob, Wendigo, Nimrod, The White Queen, Juggernaut, and Mystique.  Later, Magneto kidnaps Professor X and Kitty Pryde, prompting the heroes to go on a rescue mission. The heroes fight their way to Island M and ultimately to Magneto’s base on Asteroid M where the final battle with the Master of Magnetism takes place.

If you were lucky your arcade had the full on 6-player mode, and if you didn’t have the nice arcade, you had the cheesy 4-player cabinet.   The question is, how well did this classic age?   Is it worth spending the 800 MS Points ($10 US)?

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Harm’s Way was created by Justin Carpenter, developed by BongFish, and published Doritos/Microsoft Game Studios. Doritos Crash Course was developed by Wanako Studios, and published by Doritos/Microsoft Game Studios. They were released 12/8/10 on the XBLA Marketplace for $0.00

Every year we seem to get at least one free XBLA game. First it was Yaris, then Undertow, and then last year Doritos launched a game titled Dash of Destruction. It wasn’t the best game, but it was free and pretty fun. That was about a year ago, this year things have changed. Focusing on releasing quality games we get two titles for the Unlock Xbox contest, and both are definitely above the bar set by their predecessors.

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The highly anticipated DLC for Monday Night Combat has been released at the great price of free.  The question is, is it worth your time to download the 492.8MB update?  Click Read more to find out.

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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

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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