Nostalgia does not a game make. Nostalgia is the stuff of memories, the stuff of impressions often from a time where taste is unrefined and based on “video games” versus reality (usually video games win, hopefully). Jet Set Radio feels really old. It’s rife with this strange mix of a great gameplay idea, nifty characters and a zany environment but it’s all bogged down with bad level design and flow. By no means is it “bad”, but it’s certainly not up to today’s standards of platforming games, and the proof is in a classic Xbox game: Jet Set Radio Future. There’s a reason they made it the same game but better.

For those of you out of the SEGA-centric loop, Jet Set Radio is an HD remake of the Dreamcast release of Jet Set Radio, a 3D action platformer involving crazy Japanese youth, graffiti and magnetized roller blades. The theme of a group of graffiti-wielding roller blade punks combattin an oppressive, insane private authority muscling in on the town of Tokyo-to (not to be confused with Tokyo) is the setup for Jet Set Radio. Players select from different characters from a group of rudies (the aforementioned punks) called the GGs. Tokyo-to is divided into three major areas each with three sub-areas where players must complete various story challenges to unlock more characters and get to the bottom of the recent craziness in the city. The idea works. It’s just the rest of the game that’s hit and miss.

Read More

Per Team17’s twitter account, Worms Revolution is coming to XBLA on October 10th. The much-anticipated game will feature a new 2D physics engine, as well as many …
Read More

Re-Logic and 505 games has announced their popular PC game Terraria will be coming to XBLA and PSN. Over the course of the last day, the Terraria/Re-Logic’s Facebook and Twitter …
Read More

This week’s deals are brought to us by PopCap, makers of some of the most fun XBLA games over the past few years. Although many of these games have …
Read More

Full disclosure: I’m not a huge fan of or very good at Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA’s). So the thought of playing one based on Lord of the Rings didn’t seem too appealing. But as I walked into Monolith Productions for a studio tour and finally sat down with Guardians of Middle-Earth, I was more impressed than I thought I’d be.

Guardians of Middle-Earth’s sole purpose is bringing the MOBA experience to consoles. Games like League of Legends have propelled the genre to many heights but console MOBA games are few and far between, though Monday Night Combat and Awesomeanuts (the only two I’ve played) are impressive. They’re giving a great focus with its controls and maintaining layers by finding new strategies to take on your foes.

Read More

Come join the discussion!
Read More

Rock Band Blitz looks to infuse the Xbox Live Arcade platform with even more melodies. Pick any of the 3000 plus songs available to play in the Rock Band …
Read More

If you didn’t get enough out of our Hybrid build guide or are simply curious about how the folks at 5th Cell play Hybrid, check out these tips and tricks from the QA team. If you need more, there’s even some level guides available now as well.

Attacking

Jump Jetting

• Dodging: Get used to moving around while you’re attacking to avoid enemy fire. Not only will this tactic make it hard for your enemy to shoot you but the bots won’t be able to hit you if you’re moving in a circular motion.
• Boost Timing: Use boost often, but make sure you have it ready when you need it. Boost right when you take off and a second before you land to get through the landing sequence faster. If you boost too late, you won’t be able to fire for a short time after landing.
• Retreat: Make sure to retreat if you’re low on heath or something unexpected occurs. If you’re low on heath, try not to land at a cover in the enemies view since the landing sequence is slow.
• Scanning: You can use your selection arrow to identify an enemy’s position even if they are obscured from view. Select a cover you think an enemy is hiding and jump jet to it. While jetting to the cover press the vault button (Y) to move your selection arrow to the far side of cover and move it from side to side. If your arrow gets displaced from one of the main 3 positions there is an enemy there. Read More

For those of you out there still fighting the good fight between Variants and Paladins, we’ve got some extra assets for the war effort. 5th Cell was kind enough to send us some full images of each map currently available in Hybrid. They’ve color-coded the maps and we’ve added IDs to each cover (they’re different from the ones in-game because these are easier) for your assistance. Orange cover areas are ground-based, purple ones are below ground/other cover, and green ones are on the walls. We’ve provided some simple tips for you to design map strategies around, but feel free to download the maps and work your own magic on them.

Airfield

• Combat tends to localize over N, N1 and N2, controlling N1 and N2 simultaneously leads to map domination
• There’s a route from R1 – R3 and B1 – B3 which is great for escapes and surprise attacks
• R and B are the most defensible positions on the map, artifact/overlord gameplay will almost always centralize around those two points
• Having people at both R1/R3 and B1/B3 respectively is the key to removing map dominance from N1/N2
• The B2/R2 and B4/R4 spots on the map are great hiding places for catching people off guard, waiting for regeneration or resetting cooldowns

Read More

[springboard type=”youtube” id=”0Tdqhdp89sk” player=”xbla001″ width=”640″ height=”360″ ]

Thunder Wolves is set to come roaring onto XBLA in the first quarter of 2013. The trailer certainly gives the impression that this …
Read More