XBLA

Source: Major Nelson

Adventures of Shuggy was developed by Smudged Cat Games and published by Valcon Games. It was released June 15, 2011 for 800 MSP. A copy of the game was provided to us for review purposes.

We’re used to thinking we find the best platformers on the classic Nintendo or Sega consoles, but in the growing future we see Xbox Live Arcade as a platform for that genre. With calls to classic difficulty in Super Meat Boy or offering an artistic experience with Braid, the types of game in that genre boom and The Adventures of Shuggy brings that same flavor.

As Shuggy, you inherit a mansion with over 100 challenge rooms. Your mission is to go throughout the rooms all over the mansion and collect the gems in each room. The game goes from tricky to downright complex in a matter of levels and the amount of variety will keep your thumbs on the edge.

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Ms. Splosion Man is Twisted Pixel’s follow-up to their 2009 Summer of Arcade title, Splosion Man. Just like Ms. Pac-Man is to the original title, Ms. Splosion Man aims to …
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Inside a booth hidden in the back left corner of the South Hall at E3, Robot Entertainment showcased Orcs Must Die, as the looming shadow of the astronomically larger Activision booth served as foreshadowing of the impending storm coming for developers of digital downloadable games. Come this September, the onslaught of retail AAA titles, with massive marketing budgets beings, and all eyes will be on them. But in the months leading up, the digital download space will be offering on of its most impressive lineups ever of polished and innovative titles, including one of our favorites: Orcs Must Die.

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When I look at From Dust I see the vast, treacherous deserts plaguing an aboriginal society. I see people literally walled off by rocks formed from years of volcanic ash. I see a lifestyle of forced reliance on the temperamental flooding, life-giving waters. I see a microcosm of human history, and it’s all under my control.

Launching this summer, From Dust is a god game where players will have to keep their villagers alive without directly controlling anyone of them. Instead players will have to shape the landscape of the earth to make inhabitable for their people. A typical interaction requires players to create a pathway from one totem to another, before a timer runs out. Players can pick up and drop sand, water or lava and utilize these in any combination to accomplish their goal. Should they be unsuccessful a roaring flood will wash away their village and they will need to start over.

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Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project was developed by 3D Realms and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released June 23, 2010 and retails for 800 MSP.

Just over a week ago, Duke Nukem Forever was released onto the world and while you may think that’s a sign of the apocalypse, we’re all still here. Duke’s brand of humor and violence has been seen in countless iterations in different genres from first and third person shooters to the classic side-scroller. Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project aims to return to the classic side-scrolling days and make sure the aliens pay. Duke must save the city of New York from imminent destruction from aliens and fight his way through levels ranging from Chinatown to the depths of space. Now this all sounds great and fun but you have to remember that this game originally came out in 2002. What was great eight years ago doesn’t always fly in today.

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I’ve always agreed with the comedian Whitney Brown one thing: if I became a vegetarian it would not be because I love animals but because I hate plants. Thankfully someone heard my cry. Halfbrick has adapted their bestselling iOS game Fruit Ninja, bringing it the Xbox 360 and trading in touchscreens for full body tracking. Until the actualization of Fruit Ninja Kinect, there has never been an adequate way to unleash this pent up rage against nature’s bounty. All joking aside, coming into E3, I was skeptical if Kinect could handle the precision required for a title like Fruit Ninja. By the end of the week, I was not only a believer but an advocate.

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Recently we told you that the guys over at TimeGate Studios announced they will be holding the first of many clan tournaments on Thursday June 23. The tournament will …
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A few months back we brought you word and a trailer, that a new four player co-op brawler, by the name of Lucha Fury was on its way to the XBLA. The guys over at Punchers Impact have given us a new teaser trailer, allowing us to have a little insight from one of the henchmen in the game. As you can clearly see, life isn’t all glitz and glamour. Oh, they were also nice enough to toss us a few new screenshots, which you can check out after the break.
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The original Duels of the Planeswalkers was perhaps the best bad game one could play on XBLA. It launched with numerous bugs, many of which remain unfixed today. A small number of cards didn’t work as described in their text, it was inordinately difficult to arrange blocking if there were too many attackers, and certain design decisions crippled the strategic calculus normally found in a Magic game. And in many ways the first Duels game played like a giant teaser advertisement for the rest of the Magic universe, rather than as a game whole and complete unto itself. It was still hugely fun to play, because Magic is a fun game with great art and clever mechanics, but the game lacked a certain richness, that attention to detail and the player experience that marks a great game.

Thank Wizards and Stainless, then, for making the bold decision to leave behind the old game, warts and all, and concentrate on creating the game that the first Duels could have been. The new Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 addresses many of the complaints about the first Duels, providing a smoother, faster game experience, a cleaner UI, vastly improved deck editing, a variety of online cooperative play formats, and a generally richer, better game experience.

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