Posts tagged Xbox Live Arcade
Review: Stacking (XBLA/PSN)
Feb 17th
Child Labor Laws, Matryoshka Dolls and Fart Jokes: A Review of Double Fine’s Stacking
Stacking is an adventure-puzzle game about the youngest child of a family of Industrial Revolution-era chimney sweeps fighting against the upper class. What separates this from other period pieces is every man, woman, child and beast is portrayed by a Russian stacking doll. How that design document was successfully pitched I may never know, but what resulted is one of the most original, entertaining and charming games I’ve ever played — possibly the best yet from developer Double Fine.
Review: The UnderGarden (PC)
Nov 24th
Billed as a digital palate cleanser of sorts, The UnderGarden is designed to be the anti-Call of Duty. With its rich colors, methodical pacing and mellow music, it’s clear that developer Artech Studios was trying to deliver something more along the lines of Flow or Zen Bound, where patience and relaxation are at the crux of the experience.
But unfortunately for The UnderGarden, that experience just ends up feeling like a one-sided exchange with the player coming up short. For a game that’s supposed to be about mellowing out and enjoying the ride, there were just too many technical, communicative and design-related problems for me to derive any enjoyment from playing the game. Despite its good intentions and lovely aesthetics, The UnderGarden is unfortunately more trouble than it’s probably worth.
Review: Super Meat Boy (XBLA)
Oct 25th
Recently, I’ve been making a push in my life to go vegetarian. There are a lot of reasons that I think it’s the right decision for me: I feel healthier, nothing has to die just so I can have a snack, and it lowers my environmental impact.
But nothing has driven me to despise meat as much as Super Meat Boy. I spent the better part of eight hours running a sprawling gauntlet stacked to the brim with deadly traps and implements of destruction, leaving a meat-stain behind with every step, jump, and gruesome death. Under my guidance, Meat Boy has been splattered, slashed, shredded, and vivisected a grand total of 1,431 times. It was pretty disgusting.
But that’s not to say it wasn’t fun; in fact, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Thanks to its perfectly tuned controls, broad range of diverse levels and undeniable charm, Super Meat Boy is also one of the best platform games I’ve ever played.
Review: Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley (XBLA)
Oct 19th
Captain Smiley has lost his touch. The superhero — a muscular, caped crime-fighter with a smiley face for a head and a talking, smart-ass, star-shaped sidekick named Star embedded in his chest — finds his comic being canceled after degenerating into an embarrassing commercial flop. In order to regain his former glory and pay his debts to the Twisted Pixel guys, who bust down the fourth wall with aplomb by bailing out Smiley’s debts, Captain Smiley is forced to guest-star in other comics to build up enough of a reputation and a financial base to relaunch his comic series.
Comic Jumper features a rich, vibrant presentation that’s bizarre, outlandish, hilarious, and wonderfully innovative. But unfortunately, actually playing the game is a whole other story.
Review: Space Invaders Infinity Gene (PSN)
Oct 1st
The first thing you’ll see in Space Invaders Infinity Gene is a carbon copy of Space Invaders, the seminal 1978 black-and-white arcade classic. A swarm of aliens march in neat rows toward the bottom of the screen, where your tiny spaceship with its peashooter cannon fights to repel the alien invasion.
And then everything just goes crazy. The screen flashes to a blank white and this message appears:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
— Charles Darwin
And just in case that message didn’t establish the game’s purpose clearly enough, it’s quickly followed by this proclamation:
“THE KING OF GAMES STRIKES BACK!”
And really, in a nutshell, that’s Space Invaders Infinity Gene. It’s an attempt to take one of the most important (and old) video games ever designed and to introduce change after change into the formula through a series of “evolutions.” It’s as fascinating to consider from an intellectual perspective as it is enjoyable to play.
Our Most Anticipated Games (for the rest of 2010)
Sep 16th
Another year is nearing its inevitable end, and we couldn’t be any happier about it. Although 2010 has already played host to a plethora of amazing and potentially award-winning video games, it’s not quite time to start hedging bets for the game of the year. Read on for our staff’s own list of noteworthy releases that you should be excited for.
Review: Shank (PSN)
Sep 14th
I vividly remember the first time I played Shank one year ago at the Penny Arcade Expo. It sticks out in my mind not because I was so impressed with its sense of style and good-natured, over-the-top violence, but because something about the game’s presentation tapped right into my old adolescent subconscious. After about thirty seconds of gameplay, I apparently forgot where I was and exclaimed the first thing that came to mind:
“This game is fucking ridiculous!”
To which a group of pre-teens looked at me incredulously and giggled while their father gave me a stern look. Oops.
Though it’s been a full year since I got my hands on Shank (and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m not fit to be a parent), those few extraordinary minutes were enough to convince me to buy it as soon as it was available for download. But five minutes of creative, celebratory violence doesn’t necessarily guarantee five hours of solid entertainment. Now that I’ve battled a frustrating control system, trudged through fight after protracted fight and experienced a muddled, relatively disappointing storyline, I’m left with a totally different verdict:
This game is fucking ridiculous…but it’s not all that much fun. Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Dead Rising 2: Case Zero (XBLA)
Sep 10th
Developers have come a long way since the abysmal, early dark ages of downloadable content. What started with overpriced horse armor has evolved into a product that can defy typical classification.
Is Case Zero a demo for Dead Rising 2? Yes. Is it a prelude DLC package that adds to the full game with character development and carry-over bonuses for the final retail product? Certainly. To the great chagrin of forum-goers and blog posters, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is but the tip of the iceberg for the industry, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the idea.
Welcome to the future of videogame demos. I hope the critics have developed adequate coping mechanisms.
Silicon Sasquatch’s Honorable Mentions of 2009: Aaron’s picks
Dec 30th
While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s other fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We now present a five-part series of articles, one from each member of the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Today, Aaron brings us our penultimate installment in this series with his list of honorable mentions.
The Backlog: It’s Like E3 Again Edition
Aug 21st
Why hello there, future purchase
What a week it’s been. The inaugural Gamescom in Cologne, Germany opened on Wednesday and guess what: Sony kindly unveiled the new PlayStation 3 Slim. Media outlets weren’t exactly surprised by the announcement, but I think we’re all glad the rumor mill has finally ceased its incessant turning about the damn console. Looks like I finally need to go get a PS3.
Oh, and a little event in Anaheim, California called BlizzCon flung its +10 Doors of Nerd Barricading open to the (literally) unwashed masses of Blizzard fanatics today, and so far we’ve already been made privy to the next World of Warcraft expansion, a new Diablo III class and StarCraft II being confirmed for release in 2010.
You know, as a gamer I like it when these big gaming-related events run back-to-back with one another. The ESA might as well wedge E3 2010 between next year’s Gamescom and BlizzCon to mentally and physically destroy every games journalist in existence. That could be Silicon Sasquatch‘s in! Read the rest of this entry »