Puzzle Quest XBLA Review

Puzzle Quest got great reviews and was a good demo, but I could never take the plunge for $15 when everything else on XBLA is $5-10. Well, Microsoft dropped the price and I picked it up and man was I missing out on an addictive game. Puzzle quest is such a simple yet brilliantly executed game. The main game is a competitive match-3 puzzle game which introduces the concept of spells & moves during your puzzle fight. The RPG elements take this Match-3 game to the next level. There is so much incentive to keep playing and questing. You keep playing for that next spell, next level, more gold, etc. Another great thing about the game is that there is a decent difficulty level but you are never severely penalized for losing a fight. What it boils down to is that Puzzle Quest is a steal for $15. If you are a puzzle game fan, this game's RPG elements extend the playing time of the game significantly. You'll definitely be inclined to play the game again as a different gender or class (there are 4 classes: knight, warrior, magician, and druid).

Gameplay: 9.5/10 - Pretty genius gameplay concept that is fantastically executed.
Graphics: 8/10 - Nothing Special in the Graphics Department, but it's an XBLA game.
Sound/Music: 5/10 - Definitely the worst aspect of the game...terrible voice overs and repetitive and boring music.
Lasting Appeal: 10/10 - You'll put hours into this game without realizing it. Major replayability
Tilt: +8.75%

Puzzle Quest is greater than the some of its parts. It has immense replayability and longevity and the gameplay is incredibly addicting and easy to pick up and play. Definitely one of the best games on Live Arcade that I have played, certainly the one with the longest lifespan.

Verdict: 90%

GRID Mini Review

GRID by Codemasters is the asphalt successor of DIRT. It even runs on the same graphical engine and has a "hip" 4 letter title too. I have no idea what the title means, but I do know that Grid is a very enjoyable racer which blends elements of sim and arcade racers and toes the line between the two pretty well.

Like sim racers such as Gran Turismo, Grid requires you to break and take turns at certain angles and speeds...it is not Burnout, petal to the metal, on the dime arcade racing, but at the same time it is not nearly as hard and difficult as your typical sim. There are steering assists and warning lights which help tell you when to break and slow down. One of the big plusses for me is that there is no car tuning and monkey wrenching.

The game has the same tiered racing setup and selection that Dirt did and has everything from race sim time trials to the more arcadey drift battles and demolition derbys. The game does a really good job of presenting a diverse bunch of races that play very different. Of course one of the best new features (over Dirt) is the Rewind feature. If you are in the lead and mess up that final turn, you no longer have to restart the race...just press back, rewind the replay and tap X to snapshot back in time to right before your mistake. This new mechanic makes races much more forgiving and less frustrating.

The game nails all the graphical and audio high points. It looks gorgeous and has nice voiceovers, music and sound effects. There's an extensive single player campaign and online matches to get your money's worth on longevity as well. At the same time, the gameplay is really what will make you love or hate this game. If you love Burnout and arcade racers, Grid may be a little too realistic for you. If you love Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, Grid is probably a bit too skimpy on the tuning, car count, and realism. Grid works for those people who enjoy a steeper difficulty and deeper racer but who can't meet the commitment and challenge of a race sim. Give Grid a try, you may be like me and fall into that in between category of racer as well.

Gameplay: 7.5/10
Graphics: 9/10
Sound/Music: 8.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 8/10
Tilt: +0.05
Verdict: 83%

Indie Game Showcase: flOw bundle mini-review

I'm not really sure if flOw is a video game, but it certainly is an experience. As a game, flOw lacks gameplay, complexity, and challenge, but it's slogan is "...life could be simple." That slogan really embodies what flOw is. flOw is an incredibly fresh and relaxing voyage into the depths of a simple oceanic world. The gameplay is simple, but the presentation, graphics and sound work incredibly well. As a game, the only real incentive to keep playing is to evolve your creature and unlock new creatures, but flOw is enjoyable beyond that. Just as a good album is great to pop in and relax to, flOw is a great thing to start up just to veg out on the couch and experience the "lights and sounds" if you will. For less than the price of a movie ticket ($8.99), you can experience flOw and this unique gaming experience really should not be missed. Congrats to thatgamecompany.

Verdict: 88%

MotorStorm PS3 Mini Review

MotorStorm for Playstation 3 remains a gorgeous looking game and really boils down to this: It's an intense racing title with gorgeous graphics, a great variety of vehicles, and a bunch of levels and tracks that all look very similar. I understand that Motor Storm takes place in an undisclosed desert and is an undersground event...but do all the levels have to be sandy gold, gritty orange, and muddy maroon? Don't get me wrong...the different textures and tracks and how different vehicles all handle them is very fun. It's just a shame that all the tracks look so similar. There's actually not many tracks at all which further hampers what could be a fantastic game. It's a great start and a great showcase title for the PS3. It could be a franchise to contend with the next time around. Imagine Motorstorm 2 with grassy levels (with varying muddy batches, high grass, etc.), snow covered and icy terrain levels, new vehicles (snow mobiles, hovercrafts, monster trucks), and a wider selection and variety of tracks. That would be a game to contend with! As it stands now. MotorStorm is a damn good game and a wise choice by Sony to package it with the 80GB PS3.

Graphics: 9/10 - Fantastic but lacking level variety
Gameplay: 9/10 - Vehicle diversity, and terrain strategy make this game visceral fun. Enemy AI is a little bit "let you catch up" or "catch up with you"
Sound/Music: 8/10 - Music fits the tone, explosions and other vehicle engines all add to the atmosphere...sometimes it's all alittle much
Lasting Appeal: 7/10 - The lack of tracks and track variety really hurts the game, but different vehicles and terrain adds to it. After awhile though, everything just is all too sandy and the incentive to unlock the harder mode of the same level you've played already just isn't there.
Average: 82.50%
Tilt: -3.50%

Verdict: 79%

Retro Review: Atari Asteroids

You can play asteroids above for yourself. The above is a pretty spot-on translation of the 80s Arcade classic. It seems even more appropriate to review Asteroids since it was just released to Xbox Live Arcade. Asteroids was surely one of the best games for the Atari 2600. The game gave you more control over your ship (compared to space invaders) and while it was only black and white, it featured smooth animations/rotations for the time. The most important thing was that the gameplay was simple yet extremely challenging. As an arcade game this puppy just ate your quarters up and it is still worthy of a couple minutes here and there. Does Asteroids stand the test of time? Not really. The gameplay is too simplistic compared to even NES or Master System games, and while it still controls/plays well, it is clearly an arcade game with limited appeal. Graphics & Sound are pathetic and poor for even 2d games, so while in its day it was king, Asteroids is a little too retro for its own good. It still offers a decent challenge though and of course has that nostalgic flair.

Switchball Mini-Review

Switchball is one of the best looking XBLA titles available (I think Undertow beats it, but that's it). In addition, it is also a very entertaining and rewarding game. I guess you would call Switchball a puzzle game, but you certainly need some platforming skills to successfully roll your ball to the exit. The gamplay a revolves around...switchball-ing (sounds dirty)...switching your ball into other forms in order to complete tasks and move onto the exit. There's the standard marble, the heavy metal ball, a bouncy airball, and a slick multifaceted powerball. The art direction in this game is superb. The world is a beautiful looking DaVinci inspired world with odd gyrocopters and perpetuates the idea that you are one marble in a complex machine or gadget. If you like short but sweet games, Switchball is definitely for you.

THE GOOD:
4 different balls to control with different abilities
Beautiful Graphics and unique, interesting worlds
Easy Controls! (Analog stick and the A button)

THE BAD:
Music/Sound is bargain basement and repetitive
There's only about 30 levels
Time Medals are very Strict

All in all, this game is a great buy for an evening/weekend of relaxing gaming fun. It has a slow pace and easy controls so it can be played by a wide range of people. It's too bad that the game gets frustrating when you start attempting to complete levels for even a bronze time medal. The music/sound could have been easily improved too, but it's about par for other games like this one. Give the game a download and try the demo (on Xbox Live or the PC). If it grabs you, give it a purchase and you won't be disappointed.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound/Music: 7/10
Lasting Appeal: 7/10

Verdict: 83%

Undertow Live Arcade Mini Review

In short, Undertow is a steal at 800 MS points so enjoy and download away!

THE GOOD:
3 Different Races, 4 different units
Interesting Single Player Campaign/Story

Gorgeous Graphics

16 Player Multiplayer (with bots)

Co-Op Story mode online and split screen

Easy to learn Controls

Deep Strategy

Fantastic Balance and Map Design

THE BAD:

Campaign is too short

Can't Play as Alien Race (yet?)

Ranked Matches can be hard to find (Player matches much easier)

Undertow is one of the best looking games to come out on Xbox Live Arcade yet. I'm pretty sure it is the first one with ingame cinematics and voice acting as well. Undertow's gameplay is simple on the surface...think Geometry wars...but offers 4 different classes, 3 upgrades for each class and cleverly designed levels that all bring out the deeper strategies of the submerged, chaotic gameplay. The key strategies in this game revolve around the 4 classes of units, how you upgrade them through the course of a match, and how you dynamically change classes/use them in different situations. I wont' go into all the units, but basically there is a versatile, quick scuba diver, a slower, stronger powersuit, a quick submarine, and a slow lumbering underwater tank. The vehicles are good in the open waters where as the divers and powersuit units are best for the underwater caverns and tunnels. The game is an absolute steal at 800 points and puts a lot of the other Live Arcade titles to shame. It offers a complete package with single player, co-op campaign, and a very addictive multiplayer experience in a beautiful, Unreal (literally) package. Download the Demo and you'll see what I mean.

Gameplay: 9/10

Graphics: 10/10

Sound/Music: 8/10

Lasting Appeal: 9/10

Verdict: 90%

EXIT Xbox Live Arcade Mini Reveiw

Exit follows Mr. Esc as he attempts to help adults, children, and injured people find an escape to natural disaster situations. There are over 220 levels and of course the standard 200 achievement points.

The game is a worthy and interesting platformer / puzzler. It's graphics and artistic style are great and the sound/music offering is above average from an xbox live title. There are plenty of levels and lasting appeal, but Exit does suffer from its flaws. The biggest flaw is in its gameplay. Mr. Esc moves very slowly and methodically...this is all well and good, except it is extremely frustrating when you have to restart a level (and then methodically and slowly move to exactly where you were prior to your mistake) while this makes the game more challenging it also makes it frustrating and exceedingly tedious. There is a major need for an undo/rewind button in this game! On the other hand, each different scenario does a really good job offering something new: new items, new people to rescue, electricity hazards, etc. which keeps the gameplay fresh.

Category Breakdown:

Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 10
Sound: 8
Lasting Appeal: 7
Average: 82.50 %

Ultimately, Exit definitely gives you your money's worth for a unique live arcade puzzling game. Furthermore, since it originated on PSP it has great pick up and play gameplay where you can sort of pick away at the 220 levels. In long play sessions, the frustration of restarting levels and the slow moving Mr. Esc may weigh on you, but ultimately the game is worth a try and if you like the demo, it's worthy of a purchase.

Verdict: 82%

Band of Bugs: Red Kingdom Mini Review

Please see our main review for Band of Bugs HERE since this will only address the new content available in Red Kingdom.

So Band of Bugs had a great single player experience, but after I tore through the campaign, I found that online matches were few and far between. Lucky for me, NinjaBee just released Red Kingdom- a new 10 mission campaign along with some other tidbits for only 250 MS points (there's also 2 new map packs...1 is free and the other is 150 pts). I'll just quickly breakdown each feature of the expansion pack:

10 new single player missions-Red Kingdom. THANK YOU, this is by far the biggest selling point (for me at least) since the single player campaign ended up being the strongest aspect of Band of Bugs. I absolutely love the humor and missions of this game.

New Red Kingdom Tileset- while the new tiles don't match well with the old, It should be noted that the newer levels have much more graphical prowess. There's a sandstorm level, that totally stunned me when i first saw it. Definitely has a unique and different look and expands the editor nicely.

2 new units: Cavalry & Catapult. The Cavalry unit is great and the Catapult is a limited fire mage.

2 new achievements: Beat Red Kingdom, get 10 golds in Red Kingdom

All of this for 250 MS points...End Result:

If you like Band of Bugs, Red Kingdom is certainly a steal. It has helped reinvigorate the game for me.

Joust Xbox Arcade Mini Review

Joust is the other free game that Microsoft provided me with. It is much better than Frogger, but maybe that's just because Joust is more action oriented. The fact remains that the game is a direct port of a twenty year old arcade game. Again, all the developers have done is slapped some achievements on this old game and addes a new menu and some Xbox Live functionality. Yes, Joust is a better game Frogger, but where's the classic mode, and an updated graphics mode. When xbox live arcade games can look like Cloning Clyde, Outpost Kaloki, or RoboBlitz (hello?) there's really no reason these older games shouldn't get a facelift. I'd be all for just porting old games to the arcade for free, but if you're going to make us pay for them add some features, and update them a little. Joust is better than Frogger...or maybe I'm just better at it. Still not worth your purchase.

Verdict: 50%

Frogger Xbox Live Arcade Mini Review

So Xbox had this promotion and I received 2 predetermined Xbox Live Arcade games free: Joust and Frogger. While I appreciate the free games, they were not all that good or entertaining. So to not waste time and words on them, we're just going to do 2 mini reviews on them...quick paragraph and a verdict...that's it.

Frogger Review:


While any game for free is pretty much great and worth it, the very notion that Microsoft would charge for Frogger is ridiculous. The game is the exact same game from way back when except it has Achievements and Xbox Live scoring/internet connectivity...whoop-dee-do! The development team merely ported this decades old game over to Xbox Arcade and added some achievements in...and a new menu. Graphics are the same blocky sprites they were back then. And the gameplay, which was addictive and fun twenty years ago, is bland and repetitive now. Wasn't there a new Frogger game somewhere along the way with updated graphics for Playstation or something? This game needs more features, some updated graphics, and variations in its gameplay. The classic game is nice to have but isn't worth more than a dollar up against other original Live arcade games like Outpost Kaloki, Small Arms, etc. Frogger makes other Live Arcade Games look good! if not great! Avoid this one. Frogger just isn't as great as I remembered.

Verdict: 35%