Beat’em up

Recently announced ID@Xbox brawler Wulverblade released its first trailer – a look at the premise behind the game’s story and some examples of the main character’s moves. The game …
Read More

More details are surfacing for Double Dragon Neon, the upcoming reboot of old school arcade brawler Double Dragon. In from the new video from G4 we learn that along with …
Read More

Double Dragon means a lot of things to a lot of people. Developed originally for arcades in 1987, a single player version was released for the NES that became one of the defining brawlers of its time. The series eventually went on to span five numbered titles across a variety of platforms up through the Super Nintendo before disappearing into the annals of history – that is, until recently, when 2D powerhouse Wayforward Technologies (A Boy and His Blob Wii, BloodRayne: Betrayal) stepped up to man the helm for a shot back into the ’80s with the upcoming title Double Dragon Neon. We stopped by the Reverb booth at PAX to take a look at what’s on its way.

The first thing you’ll notice is the color. Wayforward didn’t choose the name Neon simply because it sounds cool, they decided to back it up by throwing a rainbow onto the screen and turning the metaphorical color amps to 11. As Assistant Production Manager Pete Rosky told us, it looks a bit garish, but that’s all part of the fun. The ’80s feel carries through to every design aspect of the game, from the ridiculous look of the characters and enemies to the incredible synth rock, which you can hear in the video below. Even the life meters have a bodaciously colorful style, complete with lightning bolts to measure your special power energy.

Read More

After The Dishwasher series, James Silva and gang at Ska Studios have been hard at work on the XBLIG-turned XBLA game Charlie Murder. We finally have our first trailer …
Read More

Shank 2 was developed by Klei Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It was released February 8, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

In 2010, the original Shank was released under a curious industry eye. Side scrolling brawlers are a well-worn genre, but for some reason Klei Entertainment had piqued the interest of the XBLA community. Shank was fairly well received, but stumbled in areas where it counts most, mainly in gameplay. The aptly named main character, Shank, traverses shipyards, jungles, and ancient ruins in search of his enemies, in hopes that killing them will ensure the safety of the people that are important to him. He slices, dices, and shreds enemies to bits with many different types of weapons and kills them in the goriest of ways possible. It seems Klei has upped the ante with this sequel, but does it deliver?
Read More

The Simpsons Arcade was developed by Konami and Backbone Entertainment and published by Konami. It was released February 3, 2012 for 800 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The year was 1991, Bryan Adams’ hit song “(Everything I Do) I Do it for You” was #1 on the charts and The Simpsons were slowly becoming a household name. Only premiering Christmas 1989 and now on Season 23, it shows no stopping in sight. But one of the best parts of when it first came out was the merchandising, and video games were part of that sweet donut. Most of them were NES and SNES games but one game that never came out on any other consoles was The Simpsons Arcade and now, it’s finally upon us on XBLA.

The plot of the game involves Smithers and Mr. Burns stealing a diamond when they run into The Simpsons on the street, causing the diamond to fall out of Smithers’ hand and into Maggie’s mouth. They steal the baby and it’s up to the rest of the Simpson family to get Maggie back. You’ll punch, vacuum, jump rope and skateboard across 8 levels against Burns’s goons. Does it stay true to its yellow roots or is it as bad as a Chutney Squishee?

Read More

From all the ratings and an achievement list, The Simpsons Arcade‘s release is looking more imminent. While we still don’t have a confirmed release date, PSN will …
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)?

Read More