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Games tied to movies have a history of being terrible. They often have rushed development cycles, and most are so tightly linked to the movie that it’s impossible for the developer to have any sort of real freedom during their creation. Sure, sometimes we get an instant classic, and once or twice we’ve been blessed with a genre changer like Spider-Man 2. But let’s be honest, it’s a rare thing when one actually lives up to player expectations.  Developers like High Moon Studios can’t even take their amazing work on the Transformers: Cybertron games and translate that into a good movie title.

Given all this it’s not surprising that publishers are looking for ways to continue to cash in without breaking their development budget. We’ve seen attempts to bring games to Xbox LIVE Arcade, most with poor results. Games like R.I.P.D. and The Expendables 2 are ho-hum on their best day. But smart movie studios have gone mobile. Android and iOS developing giant Gameloft, who were initially known for their console clones N.O.V.A. (Halo) and Modern Combat (Call of Duty), have struck gaming gold with movie tie-ins. By breaking down gameplay to core ingredients they’ve seen success with both Despicable Me 2: Minion Rush and Iron Man 3: The Official Game. Both may be “just” endless runners, yet somehow both are also en..dless fun. And we think Iron Man 3 could be just as fun on the 360.

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The packaged pair of retro beat-em-up’s, Dungeons and Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara, is currently enjoying a deeply reduced price point this week. The sole Xbox Live Arcade title included …
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Halo: Spartan Assault was developed by Vanguard Games and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released December 22, 2013, on the Xbox One for $14.99. An Xbox One copy was provided for review purposes.

Halo. It’s a name that carries a lot of weight in the gaming world. The series has spawned countless hits and established itself as a legendary franchise that will no doubt be around for another decade. Now, Vanguard Games has stepped up to the plate to deliver a fresh take on the Halo series. Ditching the standard FPS formula, we are instead treated to a top down view of the universe as a twin-stick shooter. With this new style comes new Spartan protagonists, Sarah Palmer and her partner Davis, who you control across various battles against covenant forces throughout the galaxy.

The Halo universe is full of stories to tell and it’s great to see developers able to step away from Master Chief, but still deliver a fast-paced, action-oriented Halo title. With that in mind, Halo: Spartan Assault is fun, and refreshing to play. It features a lengthy campaign, running players through dozens of missions spanning the time between Halo 3 and 4, and with the upgrade from smartphone to console it packs a new multiplayer mode where 2 players fight together against hordes of Flood in a desperate attempt to survive. Unfortunately, alongside everything Halo: Spartan Assault does well, it struggles to overcome its own glaring weaknesses.

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Today is the two month anniversary of the Xbox One console release and if you’re Microsoft you have to be quite pleased with the early returns. The NPD Group data …
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Zoë Mode’s quirky arcade golf title Powerstar Golf is currently on sale for one week only. Originally priced at $19.99, the cost to own has been dropped to $14.99, …
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Last week, Telltale games announced that the eagerly-anticipated second episode of The Wolf Among Us will be coming within the first week of February. Episode 1 released on November 10 …
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Max: The Curse of Brotherhood was developed by Press Play and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on December 20, 2013 for $14.99. An Xbox One copy was provided for review purposes.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a 2.5D puzzle platformer in which players take on the role of Max, a young boy who uses a curse on his annoying brother, Felix, and then has to rescue him when the curse turns out to be real. Players are equipped with a handy marker that can alter the environment, helping them to solve interesting puzzles in their quest to save Felix from the evil Mustachio.

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There has certainly been a lot of “dream IP” talk coming from Telltale Games lately. A few months ago, Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner held a Reddit AMA where the discussion inevitably swung to their top choices for a licensed property. Fans also chimed in with Firefly, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones.

In a recent interview with OXM, Telltale co-founder and president Kevin Bruner expressed his aggravation with James Bond games that misrepresented the super spy as a “mass murderer.” He is a long-time diehard fan and if Telltale were able to play in the Bond universe, it seems Bruner has quite a few ideas.

However, we would slightly disagree with some of Bruner’s take on Bond. The character, even in his quieter moments, has always been fairly ruthless. The early Fleming novels could be very, very cold and the best Bond film portrayals often walked that line between heroically sinister and emotionally empty.

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Marc Whitten, Xbox Chief Product Officer, discussed details about the first large update for the Xbox One with Engadget during CES last week. Whitten stated that the social features …
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Starting today, Xbox Live Gold members can download Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light free of charge, courtesy of Microsoft’s Games with Gold program. Games with Gold serves …
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