Microsoft Game Studios

It’s no secret that we loved Double Fine’s hybrid action/tower defense title Trenched. After E3, we sold all our stock in Mayo producing companies and went all in on …
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Long gone are the days of the original Dungeons & Dragons, long gone are the arcade antics of Gauntlet, but verily they are not forgotten! Crimson Alliance brings us back to the old days of having only a fighter, a wizard and a rogue (well, an assassin, but close enough!), an isometric camera, and four buddies ripping up baddies. However, Certain Affinity knows what assumptions come with that isometric camera and that fantasy theme and strives to take the gameplay above and beyond the genre’s conventions. In our interview with Mike McCarthy, game designer for Crimson Alliance, he called their game “The thinking man’s pick-up-and-play hack ‘n’ slash”—and we would most definitely agree.

Crimson Alliance is very heavy on the action and very focused on providing a balanced experience for all three characters. Better still, gameplay doesn’t require much setup time so players can get straight to the action. A wizard, fighter and assassin will be playable in the full game, but the Comic Con demo only had the wizard and fighter; we chose the wizard to test how well he would do solo. As it turned out, the wizard felt incredibly capable: very offensive and full of awesome multitasking greatness rather than simply a robed supporter.

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One part Metroid, one part Limbo, one part 60 frames per second and everything dark and mysterious… that’s what makes Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (henceforth ITSP), fourth in the lineup for this year’s Summer of Arcade promotion. Until Comic Con it was assumed that ITSP was to be a single-player-only experience, one that earned “Best of Show” at E3 from us here at XBLAFans for its bold visuals, inquisitive gameplay and multiple approaches to progressing through levels. But the single-player-only assumption was just that: an assumption. ITSP will feature a four-player cooperative (couch, online and any combination of the two) game type called Lantern Run.

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The following Iron Brigade Guide is a culmination of the efforts of Ben Fisher, John Laster, Steve Melton, Todd Schlickbernd, and Zac Lace.  Special thanks goes to Double Fine for their advice and guidance.

Update: We have changed only the title of this guide to Iron Brigade. The rest of it still uses the game’s original name, “Trenched”. We have added the Rise of the Martian Bear DLC to the guide at the bottom.

Trenched released on Xbox Live Arcade on June 22, 2011, featuring a hybrid action tower defense style of gameplay and Double Fine’s unique blend of humor. If you haven’t purchased the game yet, we highly recommend checking out our Trenched review. Make sure to bookmark this page once you have downloaded the game for your go to source for all things related to Trenched.

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Prince of Persia Classic was developed by Gameloft SA and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released June 13, 2007 for 800MSP.

Children of the early 1990’s know the original Prince of Persia well. Released in 1989 on the Apple II it was later ported to over a dozen other platforms. The premise is simple: the Sultan’s advisor Jaffar (sound familiar?) locks the princess in a room in the tallest tower, while he boyfriend prince is sent to the dungeons. Jaffar gives the princess one hour to choose to either marry him or be executed, and our nameless hero must reach the top of the tower and defeat the villain to save the day. At its heart it’s a simple platform action game, and it doesn’t try to be anything more.

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Tetris Splash was developed by Tetris Online, Inc and published by Microsoft Game Studios and retails for 800 MSP.  It was released on October 3, 2007.

Tetris fans must be exhausted over choosing which version of the classic to spend their time with, having dozens of iterations on dozens of different platforms to choose from. Tetris Splash, the first time the game has graced Xbox Live Arcade, will certainly be a low priority for Tetris purists, but for everyone else, is it worth picking up — ahem, downloading?

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That crazy gang over at Twisted Pixel is letting yet another dangerous character loose. Ms. Splosion Man will be making her Xbox Live Arcade debut on July  13, 2011. …
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The Maw was developed by Twisted Pixel Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on January 21, 2009 for 800 Microsoft Points.

For fans of Xbox Live Arcade games Twisted Pixel Games is a household name. With titles like ‘Splosion Man, Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley and the forthcoming Ms. Splosion Man they’re a huge success story. But there was one title that started it all. One that was ridiculously cute with simple but fun puzzle elements: The Maw. In the game players take control of Frank, a cute bipedal alien who has been captured by bounty hunters. Shortly after being thrown into a cell on the bounty hunters’ vessel the craft crash lands on a strange planet. Frank and another escapee, The Maw, must find their way to freedom from the surviving bounty hunters bent on recapturing them.

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I’m convinced that shortly after ‘Splosion Man was released there was a surge of controller sales. Why? Because as fun as it was it was also one of those games that caused a lot of controllers to be thrown in fits of rage. But still we came back over and over again. It drew us in with its humor, its gameplay that was deceptively difficult, and its bargain price. As of year-end 2010 sales for the game were over 390,000 units. Clearly this was a game that, no matter how difficult, appealed to the masses.

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Geometry Wars was developed by Bizarre Creations and was released on October 3, 2005 for 800 Microsoft Points.  The price has since been permanently reduced to 400MS points.

Developer Bizarre Creations, which closed its doors in 2010, was always known for its Project Gotham Racing series until it ventured into downloadable territory during the Xbox 360’s inception with Geometry Wars. Although it’s a simple twin-stick shooter, it’s flashy visuals and addictive score-based gameplay were enough for some gamers to purchase its inevitable sequel and even its cousin on the Nintendo Wii. Now, more than five years since its release on XBLA, it deserves a chance to get recognized by those who may have overlooked it.

To the uninitiated, you control a blocky spaceship with the left analog stick and shoot projectiles (which are upgradable through the game) with the right analog stick. You are confined to a large grid set on the backdrop of space, with enemies that drastically get stronger as the game progresses as well as advance in numbers. Some enemies are easy to take down, while others dodge your fire like a rat avoiding pest control. If you become overwhelmed you can hit the right trigger to activate a bomb that wipes out everything on screen — that is until they return in full force. If you’re looking for a challenge, try earning the excruciatingly difficult achievement unlocked by earning 1 million points in the game.

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