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Search Results for: Another World

Warlords returns this summer on XBLA

By  •  March 30, 2011

Atari has teamed up with Griptonite Games to resurrect one of its 2600 title, Warlords, for Xbox Live Arcade. At its heart the game is a sort of tower defense meets Breakout, another classic Atari title. It features multiplayer for up to four players, both online and off. Warlords is due to release this summer. Hit the jump to see the full press release.

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Dungeon Fighter coming to XBLA

By  •  March 24, 2011

Nexon Games has just announced that their brawler/MMO combo game Dungeon Fighter Online will be making it’s way to Xbox Live Arcade. The press release was light on the details, but you can visit the game’s original website and play it through your browser in the meantime. See the press release (translated from Japanese) after the jump. Thanks to @lifelower for the tip.

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XBLAFancast – Episode 5

By  •  March 23, 2011

Another four man show this week, for no reason other than we felt like it! Myself and John Carson join Andrew and John Laster to discuss the upcoming XBLA releases and some of the cooler looking games on the horizon.

None of us bought Torchlight but that doesn’t stop us talking about it some, check out our review if you want some more informed information on the game. John Laster reviewed Full House Poker and Andrew tried it out, so they talk about that for a while. Then I talk for way too long about Battle: LA (review forthcoming) and Andrew chimes in with his thoughts too. Spoiler alert: we weren’t overly impressed.

Before we say goodbye John Carson talks about his experience watching the Game Informer guys break a world record and Andrew asks us what we think about how aesthetic changes are spread throughout games.

As mentioned before we’ve changed hosts for the podcasts, as a result the iTunes feed isn’t updating properly at the moment. We’re trying to get this fixed but in the meantime you can download the MP3 below or add the new RSS feed straight into iTunes or your favourite reader software.

RSS | MP3 | iTunes

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/XBLAFanCastEp5.mp3[/podcast] Read More

Bastion: Dynamic Narration Can Replace Cutscenes

By  •  March 21, 2011

The AAA titles are continuing to look for ways to make the player feel that they have an effect on the game world. We have seen the continued success of games that feature choice, as well as multiple endings. The only issue is that many games still contiue to tell the story through in-game movies, to help move along the narrative, as well as captivate the player. Most players do not like the feeling of losing control. They hold a controller for a reason. With Bastion, it is not the cutscenes or trailers that are capturing people’s attention, it’s the narration. This isn’t just some voice walking your through a tutorial. The dynamic narration in Bastion is telling the story that you are creating. The narration in this game is designed to react tho the actions of the player, and tell the story the player is creating. Having only seen a demo at PAX, I cannot say how well this is implemented throughout, but the experience certainly stuck with me.

I reached out to Greg Kasavin, Creative Director at  SuperGiant Games to delve a little deeper into the concept of dynamic narration; from how it came to be, to how it’s turning out. Read More

XBLA’s Most Wanted: Rampage Total Destruction

By  •  March 12, 2011

Some franchises will never have enough depth to be full retail titles on current consoles.  Pac-Man will never be a 10+ hour action adventure, Burger Time will never be an MMORPG, and Tetris will always be a simple puzzle game at its core. The Rampage franchise is one of those; as addictive as the gameplay may be it’s still very simple on so many levels.  There are no adventure quests, there’s no need to “level up”, and it will never need big name Hollywood voice actors.  But that doesn’t mean the franchise needs to be buried six feet under.  Xbox Live Arcade has become a hotbed for smaller-scale titles.  Whether the game is a trip back in time in the form of a remake a new IP it provides the perfect platform for smaller scale, smaller price games.  That’s where Rampage Total Destruction comes in.

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Rewind Review: OutRun Online Arcade (XBLA)

By  •  March 6, 2011

OutRun Online Arcade was developed by Sumo Digital in conjunction with Sega and published by Sega.  It was released April 15, 2009 for 800MSP.  It is available for a limited time, and will be removed from Xbox Live at the end of 2011.

Sega’s OutRun series has been a staple in racing games for years.  So many games spun out of the influence of the original, motion chair enabled, arcade game; Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, even several sequels to OutRun itself.  In 2003 Sega released OutRun 2 in arcades around the world.  A fully 3D reimagination of the original game, it featured the original split-stage gameplay combined with new challenges and vehicles.  The success of OutRun 2 prompted a special edition arcade game, OutRun 2 SP, which featured all new courses and music, as well as a port to the original Xbox.  These were all later combined in to the console-exclusive OutRun 2006: Coast to Coast, which featured all the cars, courses and music from both OutRun 2 and its SP counterpart.

In December 2008 Sega announced a new spinoff to the OutRun 2 sub-series, OutRun Online Arcade.  Boasting high-definition (1080p) graphics, Dolby 5.1 surround sound, and online play it was truly an OutRun for today’s consoles.  Unfortunately due to an upcoming expiration of contract with Ferrari the game will be pulled fro XBLA in December of this year.  Are shiny graphics and typical next-gen features do enough to merit the 800MSP price?  Find out in today’s Rewind Review.

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Days of Thunder Arcade Review (XBLA)

By  •  March 5, 2011

Days of Thunder Arcade was developed by Piranha Games and published by Paramount Digital Entertainment. It was released on February 25, 2011 for 800MSP.

Days of Thunder is arguably one of the greatest racing movies ever made.  The story follows rookie Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise) in his rise to victory in the then-Winston Cup championship.  Over 20 years later the franchise has been resurrected in the form of Days of Thunder Arcade.  Continuing some time since the movie ended, the premise again follows a rookie (the player character) in their quest to be champion.

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Beyond Good and Evil: Pearl and Animal Collection Guide

By  •  March 5, 2011

This guide is for all you budding achievement hunters out there to use to get the Moneybags Achievement in Beyond Good & Evil. There is also a list of all the Animals and their locations towards the bottom, as you’ll need to get 48 of them to get some of the Pearls.

Now there is a known glitch with this achievement, where after collecting the required 80/88 it does not unlock. We’ve found a possible work around (below the spoiler warning) but it would be great if anyone can let us know in the comments below whether they are having any other problems.

*SPOILERS AHEAD* Read More

Rewind Review: Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (XBLA)

By  •  March 4, 2011

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is developed by Backbone Entertainment and published by Capcom and was released November 28th, 2008. It retails for 1200 MSP.

This past Wednesday was the 20th birthday of Street Fighter II: World Warrior, the original sequel incarnation that spawned countless variations of the same game. When the Xbox 360 first launched, Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting was released on XBLA in 2006 which was met with favorable reception but had a pretty bad online code from the reviews. But during 2008, while the hype train for Street Fighter IV was in effect before its release, they put out one of the most gorgeous fighting games on XBLA with Super Street Fighter II HD Remix.

SSFIITHR is an updated remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo which originally came out in 1994 on the 3DO, It added in Super Combos, Air Combos, and the dastardly Akuma. With this new remake, Backbone decided to grab UDON Entertainment to do the art and character sprites with beautiful hand-drawn sprites. It also includes new music by the OverClocked ReMix as well as rebalanced gameplay in the fighting engine. Is it as “Down Right Fierce” as you expect Hadouken lovers?

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XBLA’s Most Wanted: Jet Force Gemini

By  •  February 26, 2011

During the late 90s and early 2000s, it seemed like Rare could do no wrong on the Nintendo 64. Responsible for massive hits like GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Banjo-Kazooie, they cranked out memorable games dear to many gamers.

Jet Force Gemini might not be remembered in the same way as some of Rare’s other classics, but like many of their other titles, it was ahead of its time and pushed the boundaries of what the system could do.  It’s epic scale, creative weaponry, surprisingly violent combat and emphasis on exploration landed it in the hearts of many, and would make a perfect HD remake for XBLA.

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