Light's End Review

A-


Old Skool RPG lovers rejoice, and join me for a celebratory drink! I've been keeping an eye on this one since it's low-key announcement, and I took a couple days to reflect, just to make sure I wasn't overreacting. I wasn't. This is a really cool (and yet modest) game.

Yes, I love RPGs and therefore you can accuse me of a bias, but I would argue that regardless of your like/dislike of RPGs, that Light's End does so many things right that you can still acknowledge it as a great game. Whether or not you enjoy playing it is another story.

First up on the awesome list, innovation. Any game that brings a fresh mechanic to the table and does it well gets points. Light's End approaches the RPG from a new angle and asks the question, "What if you don't just play as one one character, but as all characters?" And I am not referring to a party of characters - I mean you can literally play as anyone that you meet in the game. You just hit 'Y' and a small flame indicates the transfer of control.

Now then, this is cool on a couple levels. First, as a puzzle-solving mechanic it creates some creative scenarios. In order to advance the game, you need to encourage interactions between the right characters - paying attention to dialogue clues can help point you in the right direction, and there are some very clever solutions. (no spoilers here folks) There's also a great amount of well-written dialogue that of course changes depending who you're controlling.

Second, the character-switching mechanic is geniusly tied to the plot. I can't go into detail, but there is a reason why the game is played in this manner and it all comes together in the end. And for a game with no combat (neither turn-based, nor live) and no 'big boss battles' the ending was quite a treat.

You may look at the screenshots, and think that it's nothing special graphically. And it's true, you'll need to appreciate the charm of simple 2D graphics, but it's actually far more appealing once you see it in action - they grew on me. Also, the design is so tight that it becomes easier to love, and some wonderful music tracks raise the bar up again.

All of this said, plenty of people will likely feel starved or grow bored of a game that is primarily based on dialogue and one stand-out character-switching mechanic. There is lots of reading to do, and some puzzle solving that may get tedious for some. You won't fight monsters, gather loot, or explore huge maps. But you will experience a wonderful short story with dynamic characters and some thought-provoking social commentary.

At 200MP, this is a no brainer in my book. It's a tight, unique experience. The auto save feature lets you replay the demo until you make it through the first chapter (nice touch) - so there's no risk in trying it out and seeing if it strikes a chord.

Revenge of the Evil Aliens Review

B

Oh man those aliens sure are evil. And they want revenge. There's your premise!

Revenge of the Evil Aliens is another eye-catching dual-stick space shooter, with a pretty standard set up, and a focus on a solid shooter experience. The first thing you'll notice when looking at the screenshots is that the game accomplishes an interesting 3D feel to the enemies which provides some depth in an often flat-feeling genre.

You'll be treated to a nice level of polish in most areas, with a full tutorial, multiplayer capabilities and three difficulty levels for replay value. Props for including those - three important elements that some might say should be standard in a shmup, but still deserve being noted.

What I liked most about this game was the powerups - you can really pimp out your ship nicely with some heavy artillery both by collecting different bonus items (increased range, bouncing bullets, etc), and then leveling them via scoring lots of successful hits. It's actually possible to collect and level up all power ups, at which point you can dish out some serious pain.

You also get a a taste of some pretty wacky enemies. Beyond the UFOs of varying toughness, you also fight off floating brains, skulls, and Martian insects. I enjoyed the variation, but on the flipside the randomness had me scratching my head.


My main complaint with RotEA is that it's simply not a long enough experience. With only three levels, good players will zip through this game in a couple hours or less. And then the "I died in a tough spot and now I start with no powerups" disease comes in to play as well. There were a couple spots that left me pretty helpless and fighting a tough sequence over and over.

As a final nice touch, there are some built-in achievements to score which can add to the excitement.

I'd recommend this for any shmup fans who want a good challenge (the highest difficulty is no joke) and at 200MP the shorter experience sits okay with me.

Mind's Eye of Jupiter Review

C

This one caught my eye because it's outside of the 'norm' in terms of what you find on Xbox Live Community Games (soon to be Xbox Live Indie Games, don't forget). And I don't mean to say that the norm is bad - just that we are seeing quite a few apps, shmups, and platformers - so this one seemed like a good way to mix it up.

Upon first impression, part of me thought I might have a poor man's Myst on my hands (which would be sweet) and I suppose I was not too far off with that - it's just a matter of how poor, so read on and then you can decide for yourself.

Mind's Eye of Jupiter drops you into a smallish 3D world and your primary agenda is exploration. You aren't given much in the way of an introduction or lead-in, but sometimes that can add to the allure if early visual/text clues are used well. (more on this below)

The 3D environment is okay for an indie - it's hard not to notice the lack of graphical polish in some areas, however. As you skim around the bumpy terrain (no footsteps SFX) it's a bit too easy to imagine the 3D editor creating small peaks and valleys. This is a reminder that polished 2D graphics can still outshine 3D. In fact, even lower end 2D graphics maintain some 'old school charm,' while lesser 3D graphics feel like you're tooling around a level editor.

That said, the initial immersion factor (with help from the ambient music) was high. Most everyone can appreciate the fun of exploring some old ruins and solving the mysteries within.

But to make that work, and keep the player immersed it's very important that any text/dialogue follows suit. This is where Mind's Eye lost me. As you explore the ruins, you come across dialogue cues - hitting a button let's you read what you'd expect to be flavor text - something that advances the plot or creates mood. And there is some flavor text, albeit nothing that really captured me. But some, whisk the player out of the game entirely and remind them that they are in fact on the couch stuffing their face with tortilla chips (and spicy salsa!).

When in game, on a [supposed] deep otherworldly exploration of some mysterious ruins, the text cue "This game is rated IM, for immature" pretty much takes a giant poop on believability, immersion, and all of the hard work that goes into releasing an indie game. The same goes for "Not another game where you need to find a key." Whoops, self-inflicted injury.

Unfortunately, I found this to be a rather fatal flaw, and I put the game down after a couple run-throughs of the demo. I didn't have enough time to complete a quest (because the first one just has you hunting down 15 clay jars, 15?!), so it's possible that later chapters are better.

For me, games of this nature rely heavily on believability and immersion. The player has to be captured by the world and that can hinge on every word they read. As soon as you read something that takes you out of that world and the game is being referenced within the game, the spell is lifted and you want to leave. With a serious and sophisticated set-up (created by the title, box-art, and premise), the self-deprecating humor within Mind's Eye of Jupiter feels entirely misplaced.

Gamers who are looking for a relaxing 3D adventure may still find some enjoyment here. I'd suggest trying the demo to see if you can get past what I could not. At 200MP, if the game can offer 3-4+ hours of gameplay, it might be a fair value.

Angry Barry Review

B

I love it when developers let there imaginations loose. This loony, mature, political satire beat-em-up granted me a very enjoyable Sunday morning.

This is the second community games release from Arrogancy Games and I believe this one is the hotter ticket. The premise is a twisted take on all of the current notable political figures/events and despite the nickname/name changes, I don't think anyone will be confused as to who the characters are supposed to be (unless you live in a van down by the river).

This first element that struck me was the very crisp, cartoony art style. It allows for a good deal of exaggeration and makes for some satisfying over-the-top effects. There is also an opening sequence that I could have sworn was a shot of a female's butt walking, but the pan out revealed it to be our protagonist's (Barry's) rear end. I am not sure what that says about me, or potentially the developer's sick imagination. Moving along...

The reason for the 3 emblem score is that there is a great degree of polish beyond the impressive graphics. Also included are special moves, a variety of attacks/combos, varied enemy AI, several unique bosses, storyboard style interludes, a 'hard' mode - and most notably, the ability to play 2 player co-op (awesome). This is the kind of effort that deserves a round of applause.

Small spoiler here, but I really want to mention it. You can pick up a cow and smash enemies with it. Yep, that's right.

So time to get beefy. There are two related issues I had with Angry Barry. First, the endless droves of enemies can be mind-numbing. Sometimes there are so many packed on the screen that I actually was having trouble finding Barry. It's not unusual to go 5 minutes just fighting the same one or two enemies over and over in repetitive fashion. I believe this could have been balanced better by making each enemy tougher to take down (seems that they all take 1 or 2 hits max, besides bosses). On a related front, this repetition may have been an effort to extend the game time, which is understandable because I was able to play through on normal difficulty in about an hour, without dying.

So this, for me, is another example of quality over quantity. It can still sting when you realize that that you've nearly exhausted the playability in a single sitting, but it was a memorable experience. Angry Barry is appropriately priced at 400MP and the developer does make mention in the game that he struggled with that choice - which is something I actually found refreshingly honest, not arrogant.

Any old sckool beat-em-up fans should definitely have a look for a unique and current take on an old genre. Head over to the Arrogancy Games website, or the Xbox Live Community Games Catalog for more info.

Chalked Review

C+

You ever order a nice big steak, and the waiter comes over with it, and it's sizzling with goodness, and you're drooling - then you take that first big bite and you're met with bland chewiness? That was my Chalked experience. Only instead of steak...it was a video game. I wasn't eating the game but...okay you get it I hope.

This game is busting at the seams with style and builds you up with a really cool indie look and feel. The 3D graphics are simple but attractive, with a gray palette that reflects the game's name. The soundtrack is a catchy rhythmic 'a cappella' which was a risky choice but it really gels well with the style. The title screen is pretty slick too and when I jumped in to the game I really thought I had a 'sleeper' in my hands.

Even the concept is strong and could really work with some tweaking and polish. There are tall fellas and short fellas. The tall ones have to bomb the buildings, and the short ones have to stop the tall ones from doing so - you can play on either side. You spawn in to a chalky city and the elaborate game of tag begins.

But somewhere after you take you first couple steps, Chalked goes up in dust. As the bombers, you just have to avoid the short guys and bomb the buildings. But brutal camera controls and awkward movement are mostly frustrating and getting clipped by a short fella with no way to avoid or dodge is just plain annoying. As the 'diffusers' you spend time trying to find the bombers and tagging them, which is an exercise in awkwardly running around after guys who are running in the opposite direction at a very similar speed. That's it.

Because the run speeds are preset and static and all you can really do is run, the intensity and fun level are quickly diminished. No powerups, no speed boosts, no leaping, no attacking, shooting, or dodging. Just running. The short fellas do have the ability to place 'flags' which essentially calls for some help from AI teamates who will patrol that area to stop bombers - but this is a very passive mechanic with a low satisfaction level. I think most players would prefer to be lone hero with more abilities, and baddy-stopping power, rather than calling for aid with the press of a button and watching the basic AI interact.

With the main mechanic being "tag" and "avoid getting tagged" the developers would be wise to add some strategy around that element. Adding an expendable speed boost, some powerups, or a dive animation (or all of the above maybe) would allow for strategic and skilled gameplay. What if the tall guys can dodge, but the short guys can throw chalk spears? What if the camera could be quickly positioned in a top-down view for better scoping of the area? Granted, this is all easier said than done, but a couple months of testing and polishing could do wonders.

With so much going for it in the art and presentation categories, I honestly hope the devs take a crack at going back to the drawing board to add some gameplay features. Lot's of potential here. At 400MP, I'd suggesting having a crack at the demo to see if the gameplay strikes you differently, and making a call from there.

Johhny Crush Review

C

Pretty cool box art. And you get to fight a penis monster (see screenshot below). I mean did it really need a pink texture?

It's a fearsome phallic foe! A sausagey centipede! A boner battle! Okay I am done. But seriously, come on.

What we have here is a decent attempt to make the first noteworthy FPS available to Community Games. Johnny Crush takes all of your favorite guns used in almost every FPS ever made (assault rifle, shotgun, chaingun, yada yada), and pits you against big insects in a city-like setting. My 'originality' meter is going flaccid (sorry) but I will give a quick high-five for delivering a playable FPS with solid graphics and fun guns. It's also easy to load up and just start splattering insects, with little concern for any sort of story/plot - and sometimes that's just what people are looking for.

Where this game falls short is the actual gameplay. We can certainly forgive Johhy Crush for the lack of AAA-level graphics and polish, and given the context it can certainly hold it's own on delivering fun visuals. But man oh man, be prepared to backpedal. With the drone-like AI that simply spawns and hones in on your location, and the wide open city streets, the ONLY way to play this game seems to be to back-back-back-that-shit-up with guns blazing. If you get your back against the wall, you're in trouble and usually you just try to escape to a new area so you can backpedal some more.

Regardless of the repetitive and somewhat mindless backpedaling extravaganza, it's not like players can't have a good deal of fun. I mean after all, it's an FPS with killer insects. The kicker however is the cost. This game needs to be marketed and delivered as the very-poor-man's Halo and at 800MP, that's just not cheap enough. It's going to be very hard to undercut the AAA titles, XBLA, and the bargain bins, with that ambitious top-level price tag. I hate to say it, but it's going to rub people the wrong way.

I admire the ambition, and believe this would definitely be a better, recommendable experience at 200MP. You'll have to really like FPSs, insects, and/or giant johnsons to shell out the cost of 2-4 smaller fun titles.

Karnn Age

B-

Oh I get it. Karnn Age, like Carnage! Like "Total Carnage!!" from Smash TV! Isn't that snazzy.

Karnn Age is a throw back to the high-intensity top-down shooters of old, and it definitely doesn't fail to deliver on those expectations. There is a nice dose of that here. You control a small shirtless man-beast commando style dude with a crazy gun and you splatter all sorts of weird insect themed enemies in a small square game region. How's that for a one sentence summary? (answer = awesome)

I was kind of hoping to see what my pals overseas at XNPlay had to say about this one first, because I've been riding the fence for days. I've fired Karnn Age up many times now and sometimes I am in the mood for this sort of mindless action and sometimes I feel like I put an old piece of gum in my mouth. Which is gross and should be avoided.

Here's what's good. First of all, the "intro" or attempt at a story is one of the most hilariously ridiculous things I have ever seen. Karnn Age is certainly not a game that takes itself too seriously, which is mirrored by the trailer, and of course the game's title. That's a plus in my book, at least for this type of game - you can get away with that. It's got a nice pick-up-and play control scheme, a solid variety of enemies/bosses, and it's seriously challenging on the higher levels. And last, it has a replay mode if you want to bath in your own glory.

But I have a meaty favorite known 'as beef.' First, the game region is a rectangle (*fart noise). It's very restrictive and uninteresting. Injury to insult, in this scenario it's unfortunate to discourage players from using the outer boarder of this rectangle - which is what is Karnn Age does by having a crazy-ass sun attack you (a la Super Mario Brothers?) if you step on the sand. It's not a bad/risk reward mechanic but probably not best suited for game that already has you doing 180s in a little box. I need that space just to get some space, man! :) Karnn Age also sort of screams for multiplayer, but that's not a simple request of course.

But like any strong, informative, and helpful review, "ahem," I can highly recommend this to a particular group(s) of gamers. It only takes a glance at the trailer or gameplay videos to know that it's a high-octane shooter. You'll be scrambling away from countless enemies and bullets - it's about survival, killing, and bragging rights. Yes, you like that? Then you like this.

With mid-level graphics and sound I believe this to be attractive at 400MP but mostly for those who got really excited at the very notion of this type of game. It probably would have attracted more of the masses for a quick taste of mayhem at 200MP. Enjoy the splatterfest.

Trino Review

A-

When I sat down to play this one I sort of thought to myself, "Oh man another game with basic geometry as the premise, bleh." Based on the score you can tell that I underestimated how fun triangles can be. All those other shapes can go to hell. Yeah I said it.

But Trino is more than just a shape-based game with an average mechanic. Is has tight intuitive gameplay, slick (but modest) graphics, and most of all, character. That's what made this game stand out for me - it doesn't stop at "create triangles to trap baddies." Trino goes a step further to create a game with a little blobular hero, and the fits together the pieces (SFX, music, animation, AI, effects) to drive a comprehensive theme home. It feels complete, like an equilateral triangle.

Trino is a very peaceful game. That's not to say it can't make you sweat a little, but I really appreciated the calm atmosphere created by 'swimming' around and trapping encroachers. The soothing SFX and music really make this the type of game you can fire up when you just need a break from it all.


The mechanic that the game stands on should be clear by now. You create triangles that when closed off, trap and kill anything inside. It's essentially your weapon. It's a strong mechanic, and certainly one to base a game around, but that's going to be hit or miss for some players. The developers did a good job of realizing that even a cool mechanic like this can get old after 15 min or so, so they smartly added powerups that can alter the amount of triangles you can make and number of sides you can create on screen at one time. This is well balanced with the increasingly bothersome baddies who learn how to hone in on you and destroy your triangles at the axis. Also, the means to advancing levels is pretty innovative, as you're required to powerup the axis of the level then connect them all to "close out" the whole board. Pretty slick and adds some challenge as you navigate around the perimeter.

I don't really have any major criticisms beyond, "what you see is what you get." Even with level shape variance, powerups and soforth, you pretty much do the same thing throughout the game - so you better like the foundation this game is built on. I wouldn't have minded a little narrative describing the setting, but many players would disagree there saying it's mostly ignored anyhow in a game like this.

I do recommend this game for anyhow who read the description and is intrigued. If you're like me and think it's just another gimmicky shape game (at first glance), I'm here to tell you that it delivers beyond that. Enjoy - it's fairly priced at 400 MP.

Halfbrick Echoes Review

B+

I have to be upfront here and tell you all that I did not purchase the full game on this review. So take that for what you will. Halfbrick decided to limit the demo to only one play-through (aka you can't reply the demo levels more than once - eek) so my playtime is quite limited. I honestly don't like this move and find it a bit aggressive. I understand the need to limit the content, but limiting that content to one play-through... stings. I'll be curious if that has a positive or negative effect on sales. They almost got an "ah f*ck it" sale out of me, but I decided to hold strong. I often like to try a demo a couple times before making a decision.

On a positive note, what I did play was quite cool. This is another well-polished release from Halfbrick and while I was not a large "Halfbrick Blastoff" fan, I was in fact the minority there. It's really fantastic to see Halfbrick's devotion to high quality development on the XBCGs and they are doing a good job of developing a noteworthy brand.

What Halfbrick does best, is something they nailed again here with Echos. It has a very simple, very addicting, pretty innovative mechanic. You basically control a character from the a top-down view and race around collecting crystals while avoiding the baddies that spawn. The catch is that the baddies trace the exact path that you just ran to get the crystal, so you have to plan accordingly. Add in a really interesting array of maps, smooth controls, several game-types (including multiplayer), and lots of power-ups, and you get a really addicting face-paced "free roaming Pac Man." (that was off the cuff, sorry)

One thing I like too is that Halfbrick does put some effort in to creating a theme. This time there is a light story about a woman who "falls" in to her Salvador Dali studies, which then sets the foundation for the various map settings. It's not deep or taken too seriously, but it's there and it helps. I'd actually like to see Halfbrick make an effort to go one step further on this front, because the ideas/themes are fun, but they usually leave a robust story and narrative out.

And I give 1 bonus point for letting the player mess around with the credits. :)

If you like fast, addictive, and straightforward gameplay, then I think I can safely recommend this to you at 200 MP. Halfbrick is establishing itself as a reputable developer that knows how to get things right and deliver fun high quality games. I send my plea to let us play your demo more than once!! (had to twist the knife one more time)

Heck of a May

It's been a strong couple weeks of releases for XBCG. Either I am getting good at pre-judging based on box art, or there really is a surge of solid titles to play. Some notable releases:

• Clover (Binary Tweed)
• Trino (Trinoteam)
• Halfbrick Echos (Halfbrick)
• Karnn Age (Karnn Age)
• Orbyx (no site that I can find)

Even more good news, the developers seem to actually be promomting their games! Hey, good thinking. :) Through my casual exploration, I've come across light promotion and/or development websites for each of these games. Two big steps in the right direction.

Reviews for these are completed aleady or in da works, so stay tuned.