Lazy Review #3

Who Did I Date Last Night

Ah, if I had a nickle for every time I woke up with that problem. I'd have no nickles. This unusual game entices those browsing the game catalog with a little skin and sexuality. But I can assure you that there is nothing within besides some awkward headshots and B-list bikini models. Now that we've answered that question, we're left with the task of using several clues to match the correct girl's picture. You get three guesses and then it's end-game. I apparently dated a brown/straight haired professional last night, and she was hot as hell. My wife is going to KILL me. I can't recommend this one - the gameplay is shallow and it makes me feel creepy.

Drop Zone

Shooting down stickmen paratroopers can be a good time, please take note. Drop Zone has a retro arcade look/feel and it's exactly the type of game that seems to "fit" on the XBLIG service. More specifically, I love this game as a quick impulse buy at 80MP. If one arcade play costs 25 cents, then this is a steal for lifetime plays at 1 dollar. The concept is simple - shoot down the paratroopers and helicopters and prevent the former from reaching the ground. If they do reach the ground, they run over and plant a bomb on your turret = death. On the plus side, the music/SFX are solid and the exploding stickmen animations are truly satisfying. I was little annoyed that the turret was limited to certain angles of fire and there were not enough - it made aiming difficult. As mentioned, I like this entry as a solid retro arcade $1 purchase. It won't blow your socks off, but it's a simple and fun pick-up-and-play experience.

Crescendo Symphony

Interesting game name. This game got a good deal of attention as being one of the first Japanese games available to English-speakers. When I first fired it up, I was treated to some nice looking Japanese style art and overall the shell of the game looks quite appealing. The game style is a pretty standard side-scrolling shooter, but rather than a spaceship you play as a wand-wielding young anime girl. Your character's bullets are satisfying to fire and I was having a good time for the first couple

minutes of play. But then some flaws started to become apparent. The hit detection on your character is difficult to understand because the avatar is quite large and unsymmetrical, and it seems that only a certain radius 'counts.' Bullets would pass through my legs and sometimes head, so it was tough to figure out where I needed to be. The deal breaker for me was the lack of depth. No powerups, only a handful of static enemies, and the same waves approaching over and over. There might be something 'hardcore' about this that I am missing, but it personally wasn't doing anything for me.