Platformer

Aaru’s Awakening was developed and published by Lumenox on Xbox One. It was released on April 21, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided by Lumenox for review purposes.

Despite having cleared every level and obtaining all gold medal times in a day, a strange sense of self-doubt looms about my opinions on Aaru’s Awakening. Indeed, this title contains some fantastic features and tries a few things differently from many other games on the market. However, Aaru’s Awakening holds questionable design choices that have left me disgusted and passively angry. After all the trials and tribulations, I’m fed up with this game. As a platforming experience, this title falls somewhere between too difficult for casual play but easy enough for enthusiasts.

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Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, the 2.5D action game coming out later this month, will not be the only entry in the Chronicles series. Ubisoft recently announced two future titles that will take place in India and Russia; these games will feature new protagonists and distinctive settings. Stylistically, the games will stand on their own. The setting in China, for example, is heavily influenced by 16th century China melded with a more modern ink aesthetic, creating what Art Director Glenn Brace calls a “romantic, impressionist vibe.” He goes on to discuss the importance of rich, bright colors in India and how Russia, which takes place in the 20th century, makes use of the advent of “photography, graphics, poster art, [and] constructivism.”

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Shiftlings was developed by Rock Pocket Games and published by Sierra. It was released on March 4, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Xbox One is already home to an increasingly diverse range of game genres thanks to the ID@Xbox initiative, and it’s encouraging to see even crazier games like Shiftlings adding to the rich catalogue that already exists. Essentially, Shiftlings builds upon the existing range of puzzle-platformers by adding a unique twist on cooperative play along with stunning cartoon graphics and a slightly dark sense of humour.

Shiftlings is a game about two unfortunate aliens who happen to perform maintenance duties across a range of space installations whilst being watched by a reality TV audience. Why, you might ask, would anyone want to watch the Shiftlings at work? Well, apparently because the hazards involved in performing space installation maintenance are many, varied and often hilarious. The hilarity for the TV audience is presumably heightened by the fact that both Shiftlings are connected to each other via a pipe — a fact that plays a key role in the gameplay for us as players. The question is, can the beautiful visuals, strong humour and lure of cooperative play overcome the inherent challenges and frustrations that not arise in all puzzle-platformers, but also those that are specific to Shiftlings (such as the fact that both characters are literally connected throughout)?

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Greetings earthlings.

In continuation of XBLA Fans’ previous story here, Sierra has released a video featuring behind the scenes footage detailing the creation process of Shiftlings.

So how will the lovable wacky alien janitors’ survive this adventure? The world will find out on March 4. The game is available to preorder here for $14.99.

The behind the scenes video will be available below the jump.

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Question: What is Shiftlings?

Shiftlings is a puzzle platformer set in an intergalactic reality show featuring two space custodians traveling the cosmos completing complex challenges.

Their special ability is their connection to each other via one hose. That hose allows them to pass gas instantly between them allowing for one to become massive in size and weight which lowers mobility but offers new ways to solve puzzles.

Shiftlings will offer over 50 levels across five worlds and will offer both single player and two player local or online cooperative gameplay.

All this and more coming soon on March 4.

Check out Sierra’s Orientation video for Shiftlings after the jump.
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It has been a long time since Abe and the Oddworld franchise has seen an Xbox console. In fact, it hasn’t seen a release at all on Xbox 360. Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a ground-up remake of the classic Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, and excited Xbox One fans won’t have to wait much longer to play this game from the classic franchise.

This is the story of a floor waxer for RuptureFarms by the name of Abe and the unlikely adventure he is about to embark on. One night, Abe overhears his boss, Molluck the Glutton’s, plans for turning Abe and other Mudokons into tasty treats to save Molluck’s empire. It’s up to Abe to save the Mudokons by escaping the dark, desolate environments known as RuptureFarms to prevent the plans from happening.

Features included are fan-requested “old school” controls, QuikSave and QuikLoad functions, as well as leaderboard options.

Look below for a launch trailer of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty

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Funk of Titans was developed and published on Xbox One by A Crowd of Monsters. It was released on January 9, 2015 for $12.49. A copy was provided by A Crowd of Monsters for review purposes.

“Cool Daddy-o!”

It’s motivational speaking at its finest, and it comes from main character Perseus, to whom Zeus has assigned the task of defeating the Music Titans. The player is sent to clear three different worlds of music consisting of Pop, Rap and Rock. At first glance of screenshots and trailers of the game, I assumed this was another traditional platformer in which the player runs and jumps and attacks on command. Nope. Funk of Titans is actually a runner-type game in which the character automatically runs, and the player commands the jumping and combat. This revelation completely changed my outlook on the game. Let’s dig into the finer details of how it did so.

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Time to boogie down.

Funk of Titans celebrates that funk is the music of the Gods. Zeus created funk and the people love it. However, the power balance is being shifted as the Pagan Titans are trying to takeover by using other types of music to brainwash the people. All hope isn’t lost though as Zeus sends Perseus in the name of funk to defeat all the Music Titans.

Featured in this game are more than 40 stages of side-scrolling platforming in three different worlds of music: Pop, Rap, and Rock. Perseus will use his Funk-Fu to show the Music Titans whose boss. Funk of Titans arrives on Xbox One on January 9.

If you’re lucky, you might even see a rocket stick with a horse head.

Get funky with the Funk of Titans trailer below.

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Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was developed and published by Black Forest Games on the Xbox One. It was released on December 12, 2014 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Giana Sisters started off in a title known as The Great Giana Sisters which was released in 1987 on the Commodore 64. The title caused many controversies as the game’s design was incredibly similar to another popular platformer released at that time, Super Mario Bros. As a result, the brand went quiet for many years. Fast forward to 2012, Black Forest Games was successfully funded by a Kickstarter campaign for a project known as Project Giana. After more time passed, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 on March 20, 2013. Moving ahead to current times, Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut was released on the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox One on December 12, 2014.

When I first got a hold of Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams – Director’s Cut, I thought to myself, this is going to be great. Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams for the Xbox 360 was a blast and I’m excited to see the new improvements and extra content that is included in the Director’s Cut. After playing through the game extensively to provide a quality review, I’m at a loss for words to describe my experience. Then I found it. Let me show you below.

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• After Burner Climax will be delisted from the Xbox Live Marketplace on December 24, 2014. A producer of After Burner Climax, Noriyuki Shimoda, confirms via Twitter the removal of the game from distribution. The PlayStation Network is currently seeing a sale for the title and it is unknown at this time whether or not the Xbox Live Marketplace will see an equivalent sale.
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Special Editions was quietly delisted from the Xbox Live Marketplace while Deep Silver had it listed for its Deal of the Week from December 2-9. While it was sad to see it removed before the sale officially ended, at least the publisher can say the game was put on sale before removal.
• JUJU launches on the Xbox Live Marketplace today, December 10. The game is already available now for $14.99 USD and the download size is 1.75GB. After the jump is a launch trailer for the title. Check it out to see JUJU in action.

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