Strategy

Kuno Interactive announced via Twitter this week that they’ll be releasing Defense Technica on XBLA and PSN on October 9th. Steam users can download the game on October 10th.

Who are Kuno Interactive? They are a new developer from Seoul South Korea and on their site it mentions that they either are working on or have released such games as Moro Moro Train and Mutant Defense; both titles are for the PSN. A quick search of the internet did not yield any results for either game.

Very little is out on the internet about Defense Technica. Below is a a short paragraph that was posted on Xbox.com and clearly written in broken English:

“New strong man Defense Technica high-quality 3D Tower Defense! Defense Technica you with a great balance and strategic system to protect the core with a rapidity judgment and beautiful graphics, It is a defense game of the best thing to defend the core effectively against the enemy coming to attack is an object.”

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Skulls of the Shogun was developed by 17-BIT and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released January 30, 2013 for 1200 MSP. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Skulls of the Shogun is a samurai-themed, turn-based strategy game inspired by Nintendo’s Advance Wars series. Skulls players must guide the newly deceased General Akamoto and his band of undead warriors across the four seasons of the samurai afterlife. Along with a solid single-player campaign the game — which was simultaneously released on XBLA, Windows 8, Windows Phone and Windows Surface — comes bundled with the ability to play online and offline multiplayer skirmishes along with a much-hyped asynchronous mode, allowing matches to be played across all four platforms.

Throughout your journey through the afterlife, General Akamoto is assisted by a small team comprising of Archers (ranged attacks), Infantry (close-quarters combat) and Cavalry (scouts). Things may initially look bleak for our mustachioed hero, but further help can be gained by haunting shrines to summon extra resources in exchange for rice, or as the game progresses, by summoning elusive animal monks bringing advanced magic to your troop. You can also upgrade your comrades to a demon status by having them chow down on the skulls of the enemies they’ve slain.

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So you want to succeed in Guardians of Middle Earth?(GOME) right? Well, you’re going to need all the help you can get, because GOME is a complex game which is made even tougher because it is played almost exclusively online against other human beings. Don’t worry though, because XBLA Fans is here to help. Below are some of the most useful hints for new players, along with a few more subtle strategies which even experienced players are sure to benefit from:

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Skulls of the Shogun developers 17Bit have released a new trailer for their upcoming strategy game showcasing the cross-platform gameplay between …
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A new batch of CastleStorm screenshots have been released by Zen Studios for your enjoyment. The game is being described as “medieval castle vs. castle warfare physics based destruction real time strategy game” or “2D strategaction game” as our Guide Co-ordinator, Todd Schlickbernd, preferred when he got to see the game in action at this years E3. Zen has also released some free CastleStorm desktop wallpapers for you to download and kit yourself out with in preparation for when is published on XBLA later this year by Microsoft Game Studios. Head over to the official website for the wallpapers or hit the jump for the new screenshots.

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Team17 Software has released its fourth video diary for its latest title, Worms Revolution. Each week, Team17 will be describing new aspects of their new game. This week’s edition featured …
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It’s been a while since we heard from Undead Labs on the progress of their highly ambitious XBLA zombie thriller, Class3, however it seems that while the game is definitely still alive, it will no longer feature multiplayer co-op on release. New Community Manager Sanya Weathers, dropped the bombshell during a Q&A on the developers new forums stating:

“Since we plan to rapidly build a massively multiplayer online world around the Class3 design foundation, we decided to defer co-op play in Class3. Our hope is to add co-op play to Class3 during the development of Class4, but for now Class3 will be a single-player experience.

We wanted to let you know what the deal was as soon as we knew. While we are extremely happy with the way the game has come together around our core design goals — strategic base building, slick combat, open-world sandbox, survival simulation — we’re of course disappointed we couldn’t get co-op play in for release, so we’ll understand if you are too.”

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Welcome to our Challenges & Encounters guide, two of the key returning features in Magic 2013! This page is for the Challenges, Encounters can be found here. As they were in the past, these puzzles require you to solve intricate victory solutions from abysmal situations. Most of these puzzles require you to win during that one turn, making this a very small, difficult piece of Magic strategy. Since these are puzzles, however, we can solve them the exact same way every time! As such, each solution will be in step by step format, so you can’t possibly miss a beat.

Important: We strongly advise you either view every step before trying these, or you stop the timer after each move, as some steps are between individual card plays rather than entire turn phases.

Again, there are 10 Encounters to go along with the 10 challenges, so if you want solutions or help with those, head on over to the Encounters guide page. Read More

The Encounters are back in Magic 2013 and that means single-minded AIs following patterns until you win or lose. These patterns will be the same every time, but keep in mind that they will still block and attack logically regardless of the pattern. Since this is a card game and you still have to draw cards normally in Encounters, it’s important to remember that sometimes you can’t win without the right cards. That’s perfectly fine, these may take a couple tries no matter how sound the strategy is. The first three are pretty simple Encounters so their solutions are pretty straightforward, but as you progress you’ll find these Encounters get more and more difficult (and more and more unfair), so we hope you’ll find this guide useful.

Also back are the puzzle challenges. These challenges dare you to solve intricate Magic puzzles with a very specific setup and solution set. You can find our solution set to those challenges here. Read More

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 was developed by Stainless Games and Wizards of the Coast and published by Microsoft Studios. It retails for 800 MSP and was released on June 20, 2012. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Stainless Games and Wizards of the Coast have brought us our third iteration of the ridiculously named “Magic: the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers 201X” series. That means new cards, more missions, new modes, a redesigned interface, and yet the game’s name is still far too long. As such, while discussing the aforementioned inclusions, we will be referring to Magic: the Gathering Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 as Magic 2013 for the remainder of this review.

For the uninitiated, Magic 2013 pits you against several AI duelists throughout its multiple campaigns. Use cards to generate resources which you spend to summon creatures and cast spells. Learn about the different decks throughout the campaign and unlock them for your own use. Red, white, blue, black and green cards populate each deck and all have different signatures; for instance, green features powerful creatures, where-as black specializes in manipulating the dead. Handy tips and a thorough tutorial do a comprehensive job of teaching newcomers to the franchise, so don’t be afraid to jump right in.

As an up-front for interested veterans, no you still cannot freely create decks or mix and match cards, unfortunately, however Magic 2013 has the most cards in the series to date. If you want the card game in video game form, this is it, but if you want all of the Magic: the Gathering culture, you’d best go down to your local game store and participate there. Since this is the third iteration and many of you are simply curious about what’s new here, Magic 2013’s cards are all from the upcoming Magic 2013 core set. On top of that there are four campaigns including two different sorts of puzzles and the all new game mode Planechase.

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