Castle Crashers has invaded Xbox Live Arcade and, unless you're having connectivity issues, chances are you've discovered the charm in this homagerevolution modern iteration of the beat 'em up genre. The game seems to be receiving positive reviews for its ambition as an XBLA title, but those pesky connection issues are causing reviewers to shave points off "Castle Crashes'" overall score.
IGN(90/100): "Castle Crashers takes the best elements of traditional side-scrolling beat-em-ups and adds lots of flair. There's some great humor here and some nice surprises that will please most. ... The bulk of Castle Crashers is an enjoyable ride and one every 360 owner should experience."
GameSpot(85/100): "Even at a price of 1,200 Microsoft points, Castle Crashers provides great value. The main storyline offers hours of bad-guy beating and princess-rescuing fun that it is sure to please. The ability to play with friends should make the experience richer, even if it is limited to a more local experience. As a testament to its entertainment, feature losses and some disappointing online play hardly slow this juggernaut of amusement down. This is an absurdly hilarious romp you won't soon forget."
VGT(60/100): "Castle Crashers is an entertaining brawler, but the replay value is chopped into little frustrating bits by a horrifically painful online experience. I'm left wondering why I spent $15 (1200 MS points) on a five-hour single player game. Multiple playthroughs will unlock new characters, but the repetitive nature is a bit tiresome. Avoid purchasing Castle Crashers until the developer sorts the major online problems out."
X3F in Brief and GameTrailer's video reviews can be found after the break.
Continuing with their week-long series, nos amis at X3F talked with Silicon Knights President Denis Dyack over some of Too Human's biggest perceived faults. Part 1 of today's video interview is embedded above. Some highlights:
On the community's early judgment: "People are trying to understand a game that's inherently interactive [by watching a video] ... All I can say is try the demo."
On clipping and texture issues: "There's glitches in all games. It's really interesting to me because, as an example, there's gonna be things you can always improve. To me, framerate's not really that essential in cutscenes and it never has been for us ... I don't think Too Human's inconsistent from any of our previous games ... So there's clipping. Oh noes. Bottom line is, does it affect gameplay and by how much? Are there ways to improve Too Human? For sure, but the overall big picture? Happy, extremely happy."
On the Valkyrie death scene: Dyack estimated it was a 15 and a 1/2 second scene. "If it's a sign that people love the game so much that they just want to get back in and play, could we make it skippable? Sure, it's an easy change. Is it something we ever would have anticipated since we thought it was faster than going to get your body or losing experience [which does not happen in Too Human] ... is that a change we can make in the future? Sure."
On comparisons to Diablo: "There's this tactical element. People think, 'oh, this is like Diablo with a bit of action. In Diablo I can just go up to an enemy and pound him away [until it dies] and move on to the next one, if you had the better loot, you usually win. In Too Human, if you don't use your tactics, it is a new kind of genre-bender, you're gonna die. And we're looking at some of the feedback and a lot of people are dying. [laughs]"
On future downloadable content: "I think that's gonna be unique to people who pre-order it, that's a one-time thing. But we've got tons of ideas that will far exceed the pre-order bonus."
Check out part two of the interview after the break.
Our compatriots over at X3F visited Too Human developer Silicon Knights last week and were welcomed with a big, friendly bear hug from president Denis Dyack, who proceeded to drink from a bottomless coffee mug as he gave them a tour of the Ontario-based studio. Check out video of the guided tour (after the break) as well a pic-tour-ial gallery. X3F has an entire week of Silicon Knights coverage planned. Tomorrow: Part 1 of their 1-on-1 interview Dyack.
How nice of you to join us. Do you have any idea what time it is? We were expecting you weeks ago! Well, no matter, go and take your seat with the rest of the Virtual Console class so we can begin.
Samurai Shodown 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): SNK's 1994 follow up to Samurai Shodown finally slices and dices its way onto the Virtual Console this week, bringing back most of the original's weapon-wielding cast, as well as several newcomers vying for the opportunity to skewer anything that moves with a pointy blade and sharp Engrish wit.
Ys Book I & II (TurboGrafx 16 CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Nihon Falcom's enhanced remakes of the first two titles in the Ys saga finally levels up for the US Virtual Console. Offering roguelike-style combat and music we still find ourselves humming at the dinner table, this is a download not to be missed by role-playing fans with eyes for the classics.
Silicon Knights' Denis Dyack wants to set the record straight: Too Human was not in development for 10 years. Speaking to X3F during their tour of the studios last week, Dyack said, "I cannot dispel that rumor enough ... that is a bad way to talk about Too Human because that is factually incorrect." He cites the E3 1999 reveal -- at that point planned as a 4-disc PS One title -- but explains that production didn't actually begin until after Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes was completed. Given that title's March 2004 release, we're going to carbon date Too Human at 5 years, born in 7 A.D., or Anno Duke (Nukem Forever).
It should be noted that there are screenshots from E3 1999, but both those and the descriptions appear devoid of any Norse mythology that now has become a major aspect of the game. Stay tuned for video and images from X3F's Silicon Knights tour later today.
If you're still downtrodden at hearing that Activision won't be publishing the classic Sierra adventures of yesteryear, we have great, great news: The saints at AGD Interactive have just released the (free) VGA remake of Quest for Glory II: Trial By Fire, a labor of love in development off and on for nearly seven years.
Finally you'll get to meet Rakeesh, Uhura and Ad Avis in their 256-color glory, as well as get the chance to navigate a much simplified alleyway system. If that last bit didn't make you breathe a sigh of relief, you should click here immediately and get educated. If it did ... well, we assume we've already lost you to the "Source" link.
In the beginning, Media Molecule made LittleBigPlanet. But the levels were barren and flat, and devoid of obstacles, so the player moved upon the face of the level creation system. And the player said, "Let there be swinging, spongy balls," and there were swinging, spongy balls. And the player saw the swinging, spongy balls, that they were good, and he divided the swinging, spongy balls from the electrified floor.
If you needed any more proof that LittleBigPlanet's level creation system is going to be mind-blowingly robust, (though arguably less robust then the level creation system discussed in Genesis), we turn your attention to the video posted after the break -- a time-lapse sneak preview of a player crafting his own level. It's a pretty clever design, and looks like a blast -- best of all, it only took about ten minutes. That kind of thing apparently used to take seven days. Thanks, technology!
Oh Myst, whatever happened to you? We loved you when you were original, and we loved you even more when Riven came out. Then we were rudely slapped in the face when the game left Cyan and Ubisoft released Myst III: Exile and later Myst IV: Ages of Revelation. We tried to be chipper when you went back to Cyan and Myst V: End of Ages came out, but honestly too much water had passed under the bridge. Maybe because of the Uru: Ages Beyond Myst / Myst Online: Uru Live debacle.
We know you might be too busy and Hollywood now, with your movie deal and iPhone announcement. But, we're still smarting from our past experiences. We'll give you another chance, but you'll need to hurry along while we're still smitten with the iPhone. And please, don't call it iMyst. Myst will do just fine. You wouldn't want us to get Pyst all over again.
[Update: We just heard from one of the gents working on the game (Yeah, that's the kind of pull we have) and they tell us "I'm pretty darn sure we're only calling it iMyst internally as a goofy moniker. I really doubt you've got anything to worry about with regards to rebranding of the game. Who knows, maybe if it does well, other Cyan games will follow." Good news all around!]
For those of you who have resisted the urge to cheat your freakin' Albionian (Albino?) butt off in the Fable 2 Pub Games, the Fable 2 development blog states that a patch is incoming to remove the infamous exploit. That's fantastic, because for those of us with certain moral or ethical issues about cheating, it was becoming hard to resist the Siren's call of all that yummy money.
The Fable 2 development blog also has some handy tips and tricks on how to play the games and improve your odds. Remember, if you're looking for in-game items and less risk, check out the tournaments. They're a great way to brush up on your gambling strategies without losing gobs of cash.
When we heard that Sierra was divesting itself of much of Vivendi/Sierra's portfolio post-merger, most of us on staff were worried about what it meant for interesting upcoming titles like Brutal Legend or Ghostbusters. But a few of us (and a few of you, we'd imagine) hear the word "Sierra" and still think Quest for Glory, King's Quest and all the other great Sierra legacy franchises, despite most of them being dormant for more than a decade.
Here's the word, straight from Activision: "We are retaining only those franchises that are a strong fit with our long-term strategy including Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, as well as Prototype and a second game that has not yet been announced. We will not publish any other titles that previously were part of the Vivendi Games portfolio and we are currently reviewing our options regarding those titles."
According to the PR-Decode-A-Tron 3000, that means you shouldn't expect to see a next-gen Space Quest any time soon, but we'd bet if we all put the money in our couch cushions together we could buy the whole lot. What do you say?
Warning: This preview includes spoilers for one of the game's bonus levels. Those of you fearing spoilers for the game's main story are welcome to read on.
While Heavy Rain's teaser video is awesome enough, we were lucky enough to be given a demonstration of the game by Quantic Dream's David Cage.
Before showing us any gameplay, Cage reiterated the thought processes behind developing a game like Heavy Rain. It's an adult thriller with a mature, emotionally driven story. "You're not fighting a war. There are no gangsters, knights, princesses or zombies. You're not going to save the world in this game." We're hoping this grounding in reality saves it from the bizarre tangent Indigo Prophecy (Fahrenheit for those outside the US) took towards the end of the game.
Sure, we've been gushing about Heavy Rain lately, but Quantic Dreams President David Cage has assured Eurogamer that we will be able to experience it all first-hand with a demo. "Yes, of course, there will be a demo," he said, adding that it will likely not contain any elements of the main storyline. "We've spent a lot of time working on the story this time ... And I think it's a very unusual story for a videogame, so I think people will be quite surprised." Cage also noted that what we've seen so far is a separate episode and not related to the main storyline.
Cage also hinted that Heavy Rain DLC could be trickling out in the near future. "This is something it's really too early to talk about, but it's definitely a possibility," he said, adding, "You can tell any story with this interface, because it's entirely contextual." The clouds will burst with Heavy Rain (seriously, we're going to work on our pun addiction) in 2009.
This week American McGee's Grimm retells the story (in Grimm's special way) of the anthropomorphic Puss in Boots. The episode is free for everyone the first 24 hours after release and will be available only to GameTap subscribers after that time.
Grimm: Puss In Boots (Windows) - Cats are evil and Puss is no exception. Dogs rule!
Patrician III (Windows) - How to describe ... how to describe? Oh, it's like playing "Medieval Tycoon."
There are no new additions to GameTap's free games lineup this week. As always, though, the full list of free-to-play titles can be found after the break.
Konami announced today that Silent Hill: Homecoming will release on PC, in addition to PS3 and Xbox 360. The press release states the game "will be available as a digital download" through Steam and doesn't mention anything about retail.
Meanwhile, there's a report by Darkzero out of Leipzig that the game's release has been delayed from September to November. The press release for the PC announcement, however, still states Homecoming is "expected to launch" in September. We've reached out to Konami to clarify the release date and PC details and will update as soon as we hear something.
American McGee would be so proud. Konami has announced a new upcoming third-person action title called Lords of Shadow, which the company's European arm describes as "a dark fairy tale" in development for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. First announced during Leipzig's Games Convention, the game will be set in Europe during the Middle Ages, and promises to tell the story of "one man's journey to discover the true meaning of sacrifice amidst murder and betrayal." Honestly, this sounds more like fodder for daytime soap to us.
Being handled by Jericho developer Mercury Steam, the project is likely the result of a partnership between the two companies announced last March, at which time Konami called the game "a major part" of its release schedule for 2009-10. Konami has now narrowed that window a bit, confirming plans to have Lords of Shadow on retail shelves sometime in 2010.
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
