I suck at Geometry Wars and every time I play, I get crushed by the sheer weight of defeat. My high score is probably in the range of 30,000-40,000. Pitiful, I know! My dear friend, Capn Rocket, on the other hand, was at one time "best in the world" on the original PGR2 version of Geometry Wars and puts me (not a very difficult thing to do) and most others to shame. Fortunately, I was able to tap into the psyche of an accomplished Geometry Wars pro to bring you some tips. Here they are, straight from the horse's mouth:
In light of the upcoming release of Geometry Wars 2, I thought I'd throw out some GW:RE tips for those needing to brush up their skills on the 360's original killer app.
1. Unlike the original, GW:RE is a multiplier game. Once you get to about 5x or so, use your bombs to keep that party rolling.
2. Try to make every shot count. The rapid fire is obviously the best weapon. Although the spreadshot helps against black holes, it will usually put you on the defensive. Bomb when the boot-to-ass ratio slips into the negative.
3. Use your ears. Once you've learned what sound each enemy makes when it spawns, spin up a playlist well-suited for rampant destruction.
4. Make the bastards chase you. Running laps is still the accepted method for staying alive.
5. Beware the loner. It's always the stray oddball that gets you.
6. Play until you need to buy another controller. Consider tracking down some Gel Tabz thumbstick covers.
Enemies Guide
Green diamonds: line these passive-aggressive hippies up against the wall and mow them down.
Pink squares: You can't outrun the pigs, but you can out-corner them. When surrounded, you can finesse an escape if you don't shoot toward your exit.
Black holes: Neither black nor holey, you can activate them to buy some time. For maximum points, destroy them after they're about to go supernova. If you can't, better get good at picking off Blue Cheerios of Death as you run like a little girl.
Red magnets: You can 1) kill them immediately 2) Hope your rapid fire overwhelms their shield or 3) sidestep them at the last second. Ole!
Snakes: Shoot at their heads until a path is clear. Remain still if surrounded. Like the magnets, they are highly succeptible to black holes. Curse Cakebread and his minions for inventing these.
Mayflies. Think of them as multiplier fodder. This will keep you from filling your pants as you try to punch a hole through the line. Try bombing partway through the spawn to reduce their numbers. You can also try flying to the opposite corner to buy time.
Final tip: You can check your multiplier by dividing the point value of a green diamond by 100.
Good luck, Chuck! You're gonna need it.
There it is folks! El Capitan has spoken. You can also check out a video of his amazing accomplishments after the jump.
Too often when we play games from our childhoods do we experience the "rose colored glasses" effect. Our memories of these games are marred by the gaps - when encountered with the original product after so many years, we often end up disappointed. Lucky for us Capcom has remastered Street Fighter II in order to match our memories. The HD remix remarkably manages to be just like you remember Street Fighter II. No crappy port to 3d. No gimmicky control scheme. Just pure concentrated childhood. Thank you Capcom for your surprising amount of restraint.
I'm admittedly a huge fan of ultra-nerdy board and card games. We try to have a board game night at least once a month which really ends up just being an excuse to get together, drink a bunch and throw salted cashews at each other when things aren't going our way. This group play seems an awkward fit for the Xbox Live Arcade (mainly due to the lack of cashews, salted or otherwise), but in this reviewer's opinion the majority of XBLA games in this genre are gems. Uno, Catan and Carcassonne are some of the best games available, period, for the XBLA, while games like Word Puzzle and Sotrilo Solitaire flop. This week we see the newest in the board/card game genre, Lost Cities.
At first glance this game is super complicated, but like with any good game in this genre you spend the first couple rounds incredibly confused until all the pieces fall into place and it clicks. This process, at least for me, is pretty darn satisfying. It took only two rounds of demo play before I purchased Lost Cities, and I've spent all afternoon with it since. It is a fairly unique yet instantly familiar game, straight from the first menu which displays random semi-literary looking characters. I like the grey-haired bespectacled professor the best, who incredulously lifts his eyebrows and grimaces as you scroll through the different options. I heard him in my mind saying things like "huzzah! achievements!" or "what what leaderboards pish posh!"
Notoriously difficult, mind-blowingly insane Dreamcast (and Gamecube!) shooter Ikaruga is finally coming to the Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, April 9th. It's a complete port with achievements thrown in to make things even more mind-blowingly insane, and you can grab it for a completely reasonable 800 Microsoft points.
This is one of those games that you show your friends in order to elicit "holy shit"-type reactions from them. The action is intense, the music is epic and the game itself is one of my favorites of all time. I've been waiting a while to see this on the Live Arcade and I cannot wait until Wednesday. Highly recommended!
I like to think of Japanese shmup games as the digital equivalent of auto-erotic asphyxiation. An innocent bystander stumbling into your bedroom only to catch you with a scarf tied around your neck, naked from the waist down will have the same reaction as someone stumbling into your bedroom only to find you playing Triggerheart Exelica: equal parts revulsion and morbid fascination. It's as if there are no thrills left and the only thing that can sate your slavering thirst for more is a solid 20 minutes of bullet hell. That's not to say that anyone who enjoys a good shmup is depraved, it just feels like a sort of masochism. Each shmup prides itself on being ridiculously difficult and fast, screen filled with bullets and music pumping loudly. It's enough to give any sane gamer a seizure. But this genre thrives, fueled by the frothing demand of crazy people all over the world. Bullets litter the screen in an intricate array, one hit and your character (or ship or whatever) explodes. Enemies keep coming at you as the bullets fly, and eventually you get to a boss who is so ridiculous you wonder how anyone could defeat it without getting hit once. This is where the true appeal of the shmup lies: replaying, memorizing and concentrating until perfection. Triggerheart adds a grappling hook of sorts to the formula, which allows you to capture enemies and swing them around you like a hammer toss, removing any bullets in its path. Which is neat. Grappling hooks are neat!
Triggerheart's main failing is the length of it's story mode. It's short. It literally took me about 20 minutes to play the game to completion. There are two separate anime robot-girl-thing characters you can utilize, each with their own shot pattern and, I assume, their own storyline which may stretch your experience a bit. I say I assume because I didn't have the patience to pay attention to the incredibly generic and melodramatic plotline. Something about someone stealing something from someone else and they are mad about it and then someone sacrifices themselves to save the other person. And then a lot of explosions, and maybe some credits with birds flying over the horizon. You don't play shmups for the story, though. You play them for the ability to wow anyone watching with your bullet-dodging skills. At 800 Microsoft points I can see this being a worthwhile purchase for anyone who wants a nice introduction into the bullet hell class of games, but if you download Triggerheart Exelica hoping for anything but the exact same shmup you can find anywhere else, you'll be sorely disappointed.
Triggerheart Exelica also has the interesting history of being a port of an arcade game, which was ported to the Sega Dreamcast in 2007. That's right, it was released for the Dreamcast in 2007, which shows that system's tenacity to say the least. Sad or awesome? I'll leave that up to you.
Score: 3/5 A fun but short shoot-em-up with a generic plot and okay graphics.
posted by Grant on December 2, 2007 11:25 AM in Games
Microsoft has finally spilled the beans on the system update that's coming on December 4th. Here's a quick lowdown on the important parts:
As we have been told before, new "Xbox Originals" will be available for download via the XBLA. That means you can get old Xbox games such as Halo and Psychonauts, optimized for your 360. 1200 MS points each. That works to 15 bucks, plus tax.
Also on the XBLA, some of the older games that are already available will now become "Arcade Hits" which means they'll have a permanent price drop. Two important ones are Lumines going to 800 points while Zuma drops to 400.
There will be an expanded bio option for your Gamertag, letting you do more than just have a picture and a motto. You can limit this bios to friends only, if you want. This may be where they implement the ability to change your Live ID, as I heard about last week.
Also, the previously known "friends of friends" will become available, if your settings allow. You can let your friends or anyone see your own friends list.
New controls will let parents set a timer on their kids' Xbox access. Per-day or per-week time limits can be set.
New full-screen movie previews will be available.
There will be more details that will be officially announced at the Xbox Live website upon the release of the update.
Click the jump for the full current press release.
posted by Qais on November 8, 2007 9:19 AM in Games
I'll be honest, the first thing I noticed about ScrewJumper was the confluence of aviator caps and goggles. I'm a simple man with simple needs and I simply love aviator caps and goggles. Toss in characters with proportions straight out of Megaman, a techno soundtrack, a whole mess of neon, and some 'splosions and I will happily purchase damn near anything.
ScrewJumper features head to head multiplayer as well as four single player modes. It also offers chain explosions to go along with your bitchin' techno and neon, providing the gaming methadone to your E4 heroin. Even after watching the video several times it's difficult for me to ascertain whether the game will actually provide me with more than an hours worth of fun, however my hankering for cliche character archetypes (the reckless one, the aloof one, the crazy one, and the leader) simply won't allow me to miss out.
And now we announce the grand prize winner for our Legendary Photo Mission Tuesday. The votes were counted and then thrown in the fireplace because this contest was completely subjective based on my own personal tastes, ha! Remember, our theme for this mission was "FLAG CAPTURED!" and we had some spiffy pictures come in all vying for the prize. With no further ado, here is your winner!
Congratulations to Chris Policastro! You win! Shredder has never looked more...uh...flag capturey. Chris will be receiving the awesomely huge Halo 3 Legendary Edition for Xbox 360. And to continue onward with prize giving, here we have the runner-up picture!
Huzzah for Danton Domike, also known as Classybot. You will be receiving a special code for a free download of Geon: Emotions from the Xbox Live Arcade. But the fun doesn't end here. We've got a few more pictures for everyone to see after the jump. Check out the pictures that just barely got edged out for winning stuff!
One in a recent series of Vintage Sega Classics brought back to the Xbox 360, Ecco The Dolphin may give you the pleasure of sonar shooting and dashing-attacking the sea crap out of anything that swims, but it may not stack up against the likes of its old school cousins Sonic the Hedgehog and Golden Axe. Hit the jump to find out why.
posted by Chris on August 30, 2007 9:23 AM in Games
From September 1st to September 3rd, you can get a great deal on some fun Xbox Live Arcade titles. In honor of Labor Day (or something) Microsoft is offering Gauntlet, Zuma Deluxe, Dig Dug and Small Arms for half off the original price. A pretty great deal for some classic arcade titles. From the press release:
Celebrate this Labor Day weekend by downloading four Arcade favorites for half the price! For the 48 hour period beginning at 12:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, September 2 (5:00 p.m. PDT on Saturday, September 1) and continuing through 11: 59 p.m. GMT (4:59 p.m. PDT) on Monday, September 3, the following Xbox LIVE Arcade games will be available for half their usual price:
“Small Arms” – 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Easy to pick up but hard to put down, “Small Arms” is a frantic multiplayer action game with the feel of an arcade shooter.
“Zuma Deluxe”– 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Explore more than 20 realms in Adventure mode and put your skills to the test in this fast-paced puzzle game.
“Gauntlet” – 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
The original dungeon crawler lets four adventurers explore and fight together as a warrior, valkyrie, wizard, and elf.
“Dig Dug” – 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
Experience the fast-paced action of this quarter-cruncher from 1982 as you take control of Dig Dug himself and vanquish Pookas and Fygars.
I'd recommend getting Zuma at the very least. That game is insanely addictive. For a period of time I was seeing those damn balls and hearing their gentle knocking noise in my sleep. Okay, maybe that's not a good thing.
Overview:
Marathon Durandal is actually the sequel to the original Marathon game released by fan favorite Bungie back in 1994. Marathon 2: Durandal (with the 2 removed for the XBLA version) was released in 1995 as a follow up to the popular Mac FPS. It introduced a few innovations in gameplay and options that have become almost standard among the FPS genre.
You are a nameless, faceless security officer. Durandal, the onboard AI of your ship has transported you to the homeworld of the S’pht (an alien slave race) to find something capable of stopping the Pfhor (the race that had enslaved the S’pht) from invading and/or destroying Earth.
In what I hope is the start of a long line of excellent board games coming to the Xbox Live Arcade, the newest is Carcassonne, a tile-laying game out of Germany. It even won game of the year (or Speil Das Jahre, if you prefer) in 2001, which is a pretty big honor. Those Germans love their board games. And why shouldn't they? Board games are incredibly fun, but mainly because you are there in the same room with your friends, heckling one another and munching on cheetos. Surprisingly, the XBLA is pretty good at replicating the board game experience, mainly because of the super slick interface, easy to use friend system and persistent chat. Carcassonne also features Vision camera support, if you are into that kind of thing. The concept of the game is that you are building up the famous walled city of Carcassonne (located in France) piece by piece. Each person starts their turn by placing a new tile that either has a road, piece of a city, cloister, or a combination of them all. The strategy lies in where you put your little "follower" tokens, which help you claim points. The game goes until all the tiles are laid, and whoever has the most points in the end wins. It's fairly simple to learn, difficult to master. Like any great board game.
Shininess: The original is beautifully hand drawn, and the XBLA version definitely does it justice. There are subtle effects that really make the game shine, like when you place a follower he lands in a different position every time, as if you had just plopped him on there in real life. When you finish a walled city or score a road, it pops into place in 3d and plays a little victory sound. It's those little touches that I appreciate so much in a game, and they are plentiful in Carcassonne. The music is pretty but repetitive, and like many puzzle/board/card games on XBLA, it's best if you turn it off or play your own soundtrack. Not really a big issue for me, doubt it would be for you either.
Funness: Carcassonne is an instant classic, we here at The Weekly Geek play the board game version almost every weekend. You can pick up and play a quick game, or you can add more people and hone your strategies. The thing that makes the XBLA version stand out is definitely the pace. You don't have to add up your score on your fingers and toes anymore, it does it all for you automatically. It also shows you exactly where you can place a tile, so no more getting confused and not noticing that you accidentally blocked off a road three turns ago. The achievements provided are standard, and don't really take very long to obtain, except for the ranked match score ones, which require you to play tons of games on Live. Carcassonne tends to attract the same players Catan did, however, who tend to be a bit more civil and less profane online. A welcome treat!
Worthiness: If you are a fan of board games (and who isn't?) you really need to try Carcassonne. Either the analog or the digital version (or both!). The XBLA version even comes with the river expansion for added funtimes. The replay value is high, being that this will be a game that you can come back to over and over again. You never play the same game twice, and honing strategies over time is half the fun. Let's hope that Microsoft keeps bringing excellent titles like Carcassonne to the Live Arcade. In my opinion, the Live Arcade is the only thing saving the gaming industry creatively right now.
Overview: Today's review is of a quirky new racing game on the Xbox Live Arcade called Mad Tracks. It's a fun little party game where you drive around spring-powered little toy cars. It's got standard races, but also has a variety of other games such as pool and darts that you play with your vehicle. The game was first released in 2006 for the PC, but seems to have found a better home in the Arcade.
Shininess: The graphics in Mad Tracks aren't anything spectacular, but they are spiffy enough for a quick'n'dirty little XBLA game. Everything seems to flow well and looks nice enough for a game that takes all of 10 seconds to download.
The music is also pretty minimal, but the few mellow lounge-ish, jazz-ish numbers play in the background help make it nice and relaxing.
Funness: Mad Tracks is actually quite fun, for a while. The format of toy cars racing and also doing odd missions or bar games is a nice departure from both the standard race car games and party mini-game games. The single player has a good variety of games with different objectives and goals to get gold, silver, or bronze medals on different difficulty levels. It gives the game a nice collectables aspect. You've got basic races, but there are also games where you have to push a golf ball around a mini-golf course to get into the hole first, drive around on a foosball table to score goals, or just try to push the other cars off a dining room table. The variety will keep you entertained and the Achievements will make you want to go back and try to better your score on each game. Oh, there are also various wacky power-up items like rockets, freeze rays, and EMPs.
There is also an online multi-player aspect, but it's fairly lacking for two reasons. First, you can't stay with the same group of people in a random quick match and just play differenet games over and over. You have to back out to the menu and start a new quick match. Granted, this takes just a couple seconds, but it's kind of annoying and you have to wait for other people to show up in the game again. And that brings us to the second con of the online play. Not a lot of people seem to have this game so it can sometimes take a while to get a match going.
Worthiness: At 800 points (10 bucks in real dollars), Mad Tracks could be a good deal, depending on how much you think you'll play it. Test it out on the demo first to see if you think you'll want to play it over and over. You probably won't. The single player missions will only get you so far, and there isn't a huge online community for it. Maybe everyone's off playing the Halo 3 beta. But if you and a few friends plan on all buying the game, you can have some good party game nights online in a dedicated room to play lots of different mini-games.
I suck at Geometry Wars and every time I play, I get crushed by the sheer weight of defeat. My high score is probably in the range of 30,000-40,000. Pitiful, I know! My dear friend, Capn Rocket, on the other hand, was at one time "best in the world" on the original PGR2 version of Geometry Wars and puts me (not a very difficult thing to do) and most others to shame. Fortunately, I was able to tap into the psyche of an accomplished Geometry Wars pro to bring you some tips. Here they are, straight from the horse's mouth: 
