Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds review (XBLA)
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds was developed by Release Universal Network and published by Mages. It was released February 27, 2013 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.
Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is a 2D, retro-styled, side-scrolling beat-em-up in a similar vein to 2010’s popular XBLA brawler, Scott Pilgrim vs The World. In Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds, players take on the role of one of the four colorful starting characters: Mikoto, Waka, Itsuki and Yuzuha, and battle their way through the streets of Tokyo and finally to a Demonsphere universe in order to rescue Waka’s sister Nagi from the clutches of the evil Phantom.
The XBLA game is actually a spinoff of Phantom Breaker, a retail fighting game released in Japan by 5pb, however the presentation ensures no prior knowledge of the characters or story is required. The game is bundled with four modes including Story, Arcade, Co-op, and a PvP Battleground mode. Both multiplayer modes can be played online or offline but do not allow for you to bring your couch buddy into online territory. Read More
XBLAFans’ most anticipated 2013 XBLA games: Staff picks
We spent last week ringing off 40 of the year’s biggest upcoming XBLA games. It was a collaborative process that saw the whole XBLAFans team put together a varied list of many of the top titles headed to Microsoft’s downloadable platform in 2013. Today we’re capping off our look forward with our staff members’ picks for the game each of them is aching to play most in the months ahead. You don’t have to agree with any of us, of course, so make sure you jump into the comments and let us know the game you think should be at the top of everyone’s list.
Weekly Roundup: December 23 – Happy Holidays
Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.
The holidays are officially upon us. It’s been a busy week around these parts, thanks to our own Andrew Crews, who’s diligently orchestrated yet another year of fantastic giveaways. Today marks the end of The 12 Days of XBLA, and your last chance to score the amazing Grand Prize worth $55 in Xbox Live Arcade games. Be sure to check out the final entry of the contest, and toss your hat in the ring. Finally, we want to wish everyone a very Happy Holidays from all of us here at XBLAFans!
Sales and Specials this week on XBLA – December 5
This week’s Deal of the Week gave Xbox Live Gold Members the chance to pick up Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Warrior Legends at 50% off:
- Deadliest Warrior – 400 …
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I shot a unicorn in Charlie Murder just to hear her die
The pesky mythological creatures filled the sky, regularly swooping down to wreak havoc on the undead rock band engaged in a fracas with other, less well-intentioned zombies below. Our group of zombie rockers had been punching, grabbing and throwing its way through the streets towards a cemetery for maybe 15 or 20 minutes at this point, with seemingly everyone but the screaming living trying their darnedest to send us back to hell for good. There was enough chaos being caused by the slow, lumbering zombie baddies and occasional “accidental” punching of each other that the airborne aggressors were being largely left to their own devices.
But there is only so much pushing that a bulky undead drummer is willing to take before he grabs an agitator by her throat and repeatedly smashes her face into the ground. It had fallen to me to make the skies a little friendlier, so that’s what exactly what I did at PAX Prime while playing Ska Studios’ Charlie Murder. Another scream escaped from her throat as she bit the dust, and that was that. However, the magical flying creature impeding our progress had friends. Well, two can play at that game. The other members of the group had continued on their merry little way pummeling the crap out of the enemy zombies, causing various pickups to drop, including guns.
A few pulls of the trigger later and the XBLA Fans crew had achieved complete air superiority. The screams of a unicorn ringing through the headset were music to my ears. On-screen, the tormentors actually took the form of witches on broomsticks, but they were voiced by the studio’s very own one-horn. Ska Studios Art Unicorn Michelle Juett-Silva smiled proudly when explaining that she and her husband, Lead Dishwasher James Silva, had performed nearly all of the voice-over work for their game.
Another stretch of the demo showed off the unicorn’s pipes even more. A quick cut-scene showed some NPCs attempting to escape from the zombies with their lives intact by navigating through the clearly haunted cemetery. They ran right smack into a ghostly little ghost that bore a striking resemblance to the girl from The Ring. (Silva would later admit that they are indeed his homage to Japanese horror films.) The girls can’t attack, but operate more as environmental hazards moving in fixed patterns. Coming into contact with them elicited one of Juett-Silva’s recorded screeches and meant death for the player.
XBLAFancast Episode 76 – Take two
Bit of a slapshot show this week, so much so that rather than put outtakes at the end I just went ahead and left them in the main show. You’re welcome!
Todd provides most of the game talk this week, Perry brings the news cause that’s what he does then we ramble our way toward the end. Fun!
Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. You can do the same on Facebook, and hey while we’re plugging stuff be sure to check us out on YouTube and Twitch.TV. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!
Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.
[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp76.mp3[/podcast]
XBLAFancast Episode 74 – Clearly
To make up for the rather short show last week, we’re back to a more usual length. We brought in our Video Co-ordinator Shawn Saris to help with that. This week Perry tells us all about the final Summer of Arcade game Dust: An Elysian Tail, which he enjoyed quite a bit. We talk a bit about Hybrid, including that metagame, then you can hear me rant about Star Wars for a little bit.
We have actual news this week, then Andrew rounds out the show with the ol community corner.
Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. You can do the same on Facebook, and hey while we’re plugging stuff be sure to check us out on YouTube and Twitch.TV. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!
Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.
[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp74.mp3[/podcast]Weekly Roundup: August 12
Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews, and releases from the week into one handy post on the weekends.
Friday Top Five: Top 5 Cartoon Network shows that need XBLA games
Anyone who has grown up in the last decade or so most likely has an affection for Cartoon Network. We’ve seen some rad old shows show up on their programming line-up from Batman to Bugs Bunny, but they’ve also had a great share of original programming. Things like Ben 10 or Johnny Bravo proved that modern animation could still be as good as the olden days. Here at XBLA Fans we thought some of that original programming could use an XBLA game or two. So here’s our top five shows that need XBLA games:
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Sales & Specials: time to take flight
More sales, you just gotta know where to look.
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