The Xbox Live Arcade is mirroring the times, says a recent analysis, and that may leave you strapped for cash.

The fine folks at XBLA Fans, so driven by their fandom of XBLA, completed an expansive inquiry into the sales and statistics for 2011, and the results are interesting to say the least.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the prices for many new XBLA releases are at the 1200 point mark ($15) as opposed to 800 points ($10). You probably also noticed the same if you’ve been browsing the XBLA catalog lately. It’s become the buzz phrase of the community; “1200 is the new standard.” But is it really?

Well, compare 29 games with the 1200 point price tag to the 59 games sold at 800 points. While there definitely are more 1200 point games than in the past, they are definitely not the new standard. At least, not yet. Currently, most of the games demanding 1200 points are high-profile, highly advertised games. This means that the games you want are going to cost more, it’s the same situation you would see at your local GameStop: Better game equals higher price. That’s just supply and demand, or the equivalent in an infinite-supply environment.

But what if the games aren’t really better?

The XBLA benchmark for “better” is undoubtedly defined by the Summer of Arcade promotion. Anyone who purchases the five Summer of Arcade featured games gets entered into a drawing for some truly epic prizes. In 2011, the average Metacritic score for these games was at 78.8, down 6 points from 2008′s score of 84.8. Plus, the average cost has gone up by 160 points.

However, there is a glimmer of hope for the frugal amongst us. XBLA Fans also looked at the frequency of game sales and found that a whopping 73% of games go on sale within a year of their release. Although some of the games are on sale for as short as one day’s time, being diligent and observant can snag you some killer deals.

Times are getting tougher, but with the similarity of XBLA’s situation to the real world, learning to catch a deal on Xbox Live might just help you out in life.

Check out the full study at XBLA Fans for some more exciting info, and good luck; it’s a jungle out there.

• Ripten Review: Monday Night Combat
• From Dust Sets Ubisoft Digital Sales Record
• RipTen Review: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (XBLA)
• Xbox Live Summer Of Arcade Starts Today – Dates and Prices
• Torchlight Reaches 1 Million Sales Across All Platforms
• My Wallet Is Divided On The 2010 Xbox Live Summer of Arcade

Finally, the type of Rock’em Sock’em release week that is fun to write about. While maybe not the Superbowl of release weeks, with so many big and varied releases, it could easily be mistaken for a busy November release week. Let’s take a look at a few of the notable releases of this week.

Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning is a single-player action role-playing game put together by a dream team including  executive designer Ken Rolston (lead designer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion),  story writer R.A. Salvatore (celebrated fantasy writer), artist Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn and famous comic book artist) and Big Huge Game owner Curt Shilling (Hall of Fame MLB pitcher and gaming enthusiast).  With a team like this and great early reviews, you’d be fool not to pick it up for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The Darkness II revisits the ongoing saga of possessed mobster Jackie Estacado from 2007′s hit The Darkness. Promising interesting new gameplay tweaks, such as the ability to quad wield and increased use of darklings, this is indeed a promising release to look for on PC, 360 and PS3.

For gamers looking for more Batman there is Gotham City Imposters. While not featuring the Gotham’s Caped Crusader, the game will be played from the perspective of two teams each trying to kill the other: one with people dressed like Batman and the other with people dressed like The Joker.  Players will be able to customize their costumes, gadgets and other aspects of the game with 8 player action that takes place with an over-the-top visual style. Gotham City Imposters releases this week on XBLA, PSN and PC.

Shank 2 sees the return of avenging assassin Shank. Once again Shank is forced to go on the offensive as those closest to him come under atteck. Using an arsenal including dual handguns, chainsaws, machetes, plus all-new weapons and a brand new set of moves to protect those close to him, his enemies don’t stand a chance. Shank 2 releases this week on XBLA,PC and PSN.

Pick of the Week: I am a big fan of 2007′s The Darkness. At the time it had breathtaking graphics, an offbeat style and gameplay mechanics to make it both unique and satisfying. At the same time, it would be hard to overlook the pedigree of the team that put together Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. It’s a close one, but Reckoning by a nose - Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

Below is the full list of new releases.

PlayStation 3

• Dance Magic
• Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition
• Gotham City Impostors (PSN)
• Jak and Daxter Collection
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning CE
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
• Shank 2 (PSN)
• The Darkness II
• The Darkness II LE
• The House of the Dead III (PSN)
• The Simpsons Arcade Game (PSN)

Xbox 360

• Dance Magic
• Fallout: New Vegas – Ultimate Edition
• Forza Motorsport 4: February American Le Mans Series Pack (DLC)
• Gotham City Impostors (XBLA)
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning CE
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
• Shank 2 (XBLA)
• The Darkness II
• The Darkness II LE

Wii

• NADA

PC

• Gotham City Impostors
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• Shank 2
• The Darkness II
• The Darkness II LE

3DS

• Balloon Pop 2
• Resident Evil: Revelations

DS

• Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness

PSP

• NADA

• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 9 – Jan.15
• New Video Game Releases: 4/25 – 5/1
• New Game Releases: 4/11 – 4/17
• New Video Game Releases: Dec. 5 – Dec. 11
• New Video Game Releases 5/2 – 5/8
• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 30 – Feb. 6

Playing Risk is, more often than not, a frustrating experience. You always seem to have the advantage in numbers. If your luck gives out, you’re always one dice roll away from losing a battle, probably because Lady Luck decided to be a cheating bitch at that specific moment and time.

The folks at Denki decided to leave the fighting aspect of Risk up to the player and not chance. What better way to test our skill than to make us play a game of Jumble with Scrabble tiles and a Risk board? Thus, Quarrel was born; a Frankenstein baby of classic strategy games, sprinkled with a hint of cuteness to make it marketable to all ages.

Quarrel features both single player and a multiplayer game types. The solo campaign has different modes that you can play through. In ‘Domination’, your player hops from island to island, pitting your cute little, semi-racist avatars (no, seriously, look at the tiki people) against the computer’s semi-racist avatars. ‘Showdown’ starts you off at rank ten with AI opponents to challenge in a ladder format until you’re ranked first.

How Quarrel works is that for every avatar battle piece you have on a piece of your land, the more letters you can use to form words from the eight tiles provided. Letters are assigned points based on ease of use, similar to Scrabble rules. Obviously, ‘X’ is going to be worth somewhere in the ballpark of 15 points, and ‘A’ is going to be worth only one. You can only have eight avatars at once on your land, thus you can only form a maximum of eight letter words. To ensure that you can definitely form a word, the eight letters that are provided to you each have at least one anagram.

To ensure fairness, you and your opponent get the same letters. Turns in multiplayer matches are timed, both during move planning and during the spelling to ensure that you don’t take forever. Whomever forms the word with the larger amount of points, wins. Quarrel uses Risk rules. If you win a battle as the aggressor, you clean out the other player’s land and it’s now yours. If you happen to be defending, the aggressor’s forced to run away with only one guy left, although he gets to keep his original piece of land.

Denki’s introduced a few new things to change up the gameplay. If you so choose to attack or defend against another player with the disadvantage of fewer avatars, and you happen to win, you’ll be able to take prisoners equal to the number you were short when attacking. There’s also a treasure/point system that’s unique to Quarrel. If you manage to fill up an entire bar of treasure/points by forming words, you’ll gain the ability to call backup whenever you’re in battle, so long as you don’t have the max number of eight avatars on a piece of land. Forming the full, eight-letter anagram automatically puts you up one backup. Backup comes in handy when you’re short handed in a match, since calling in an additional unit allows you to use an extra letter. Unfortunately, you can only use this feature once per turn, so you can’t stack the benefit in order to make up for your short handedness.

Quarrel has a surprisingly large amount of little quirks and content for such a simplistic game. Trailblazing, in which you defeat more than three different groups of avatars in succession with your one group allows you to gain more treasure/points after each victory. Also, Denki added a Gold, Silver, and Bronze standard as the bane to every perfectionist player that happens upon Quarrel. If you manage to complete the objectives that are set out for your campaign without any mistakes, such as losing a piece of your land, you’re given the Gold standard. Each time you mess up, you’re knocked down to a lower standard. Bronze standard is worth as much as it is during the Olympics. Sure, you’re good at your sport, but you’re not going to be remembered since nobody really gives two shits about the guy who didn’t get the gold. You essentially get a cute medal, a wreath, a pat on your back, and a lifetime of complexes for coming this close to getting the gold.

There’s also a challenge mode that’s implemented into Quarrel. Essentially, there’s four different types of goals to accomplish. However, there are three subtypes of each of these challenges if you find the original one a little too easy or stale.

As with all digitized word games, I tend to play them like a pre-teen boy who thinks he’s a lot cooler than he actually is. I put in “foul” words and see if the word filter catches them, giggling all the way. Words With Friends has a word filter that’s like the stern matronly nun of an all-girl’s Catholic school. It’ll beat you to death with a ruler until you stop trying to input different euphemisms for “penis.” Quarrel‘s got a bit of a strange word filter. Although it doesn’t outright let you throw in curse words, it’ll let a few things slip through. Also, rather than being a Neo-Nazi and hating on different languages, Quarrel allows and even encourages you to form words from other romance tongues. Most surprising to me, though, was that Quarrel allowed me to play the word ‘fem’, and then promptly defined it as (and I’m paraphrasing a bit, but not exaggerating) the equivalent of a homosexual male bottom. Despite this racy definition, it wouldn’t let my girlfriend use ‘sodomite’, which she had proudly formed as an eight-letter anagram and was disappointed to find that Quarrel rejected it. I don’t quite see how it’s any “worse” in context than “fem” is, as Quarrel defined it. Hell, Quarrel even had one of its AI spell a word that was defined as ‘wanting to urinate even though one has already urinated.’ Color me just a little bit confused about what Quarrel considers vulgar.

Quarrel is a fun little game that’s worth picking up. I just wish there were more players. Trying to find a multiplayer game is a little difficult, and usually requires five to seven minutes of staring at the unmoving screen. According to the leaderboards, there are only about three hundred people who are playing it. I’m sure the numbers have gone up since I started playing right around this game’s release on XBLA. When multiplayer isn’t available, single player is actually a viable alternative option. The AI’s wordsmithing prowess ranges from the vocabulary capacity of various household appliances to honored Proust scholars. The first few rounds of Quarrel tend to be easy, and your ego swells until it’s promptly deflated by an anal vocabulary-probing by the harder AIs. Definitely expect your vocabulary to improve after this game… and to start hating any derivative form of Bananagrams or Scrabble.

Here’s The Rundown:

- It’s cute. Little bit racist, but cute.
– It let’s me play some euphemisms for bad words. I’m immature.
– The smarter AI actually poses a real challenge
– My vocabulary is improving.

- The music tends to glitch out at times
– The word filter is really, really bizarre

8 and 8.5 represent a game that is a good experience overall. While there may be some issues that prevent it from being fantastic, these scores are for games that you feel would easily be worth a purchase. Read more about our scoring system in detail here.

Quarrel was developed by Denki and published by UTV Ignition. It was played not to completion for 5-6 hours. You can only play a word game so long before you want to kill things. A review copy was provided by the lovely folks at Triple Point.

• Disney Acquires UTV, Parent Company of Deadly Premonition Publisher
• RISK Marching to XBLA Early Ths Year
• Xbox Live Prices Go Up Despite Decline in Metacritic Scores (XBLA)
• New Video Game Releases: Feb. 6 – Feb. 12
• RipTen Review: AMY (XBLA)
• UKIE to Launch PC Download Chart

The Reviewer

(not) by

Edgar Allan Poe

To you the gamer pessimist, I ask you honor one request;
My credibility and past you might not know,
But I promise I write not in jest, heed my words about this mess.
Regarding AMY I attest, no matter your opinions on game journos
Trust the reviewers, this game blows

You might think we’re mostly wrong, every review same dance and song,
our arguments so rarely strong. It makes you skeptical of scores this low.
You start to think “it can’t be as bad as this, can’t trust them further than I can spit,
Besides Jim Sterling hated it. What the hell does that guy know?”
Look- trust the reviewers, this game blows.

For ten dollars it might tempt, but cheap doesn’t make its quality exempt
I hope your purchase I preempt, take that wallet and keep it closed
There is nothing worth your money here, a survival horror game without fear,
controls so bad you’ll shed a tear, the gameplay needs much NoDoz.
Trust the reviewers, this game blows.

It must be said- AMY isn’t lacking heart, but that is where compliments and I must part
This game marks a trainwreck as its start, an opening so apropos.
Like a child’s plate with spinach, I don’t think this game is finished.
At no point do glitches diminish, but your frustration will sure grow.
Trust the reviewers, this game blows.

Graphically it may seem decent, but not for gaming eras recent.
The animations are malfeasant, look at how she holds that phone!
AMY’s strength is its aesthetics, but they’re still as clear as Dianetics
Even with flawless cosmetics, it wouldn’t cover up what we know
Trust the reviewers, this game blows

Just playing AMY is energy sapping, three hours in and you’ll be napping
I’d rather listen to Randy Savage rapping. The more you play the more time slows.
You’d think your thumbs had the plague, with controls that feel like you have stones for legs,
No solace in a plot so god damn vague- AMY has far more cons than it has pros.
Trust the reviewers, this game blows.

In the loosest sense it is like Ico, except a direct comparison would be psycho,
the difference too far to be be seen by Tycho. For arguments sake lets juxtapose.
AMY’s puzzles are simplistic, each one solvable by methods heuristic.
Did I mention Amy’s autistic? Probably not, I’m bad at aping Poe.
Still- Trust the reviewers, this game blows.

AMY also suffers from awful combat, every attack is inaccurate and flat.
Lana has Johnny Bench fingers but needs his bat. Is that a crowbar or a pillow?
The game’s design flaws are massive, and more obvious when your character is active.
It’s an Occupier with a Gene Sharp book forcing you to be passive, a strategy I oppose.
Trust the reviewers- this game blows.

It isn’t so bad its good its just terrible, playing AMY as an experience is unbearable.
It’s so bad I had to rip off Poe for this parable. There are no highs in AMY, just lows.
I know we reviewers aren’t always right, and you may want to play AMY just for spite,
but playing this was a true bleak plight. It drove me crazy and it shows.
Seriously, just this once, trust the reviewers- this game blows.

Here’s The Rundown:

+ It doesn’t look terrible.

+ Flashback was an awesome game.

+ There are some decent ideas buried under all of the things that don’t work. A sequel would probably end up being okay if they hear the near universal criticism and adjust accordingly.

+ It is still way better than Rogue Warrior. 

- Just one enormous escort mission/fetch quest. Should have made it timed just to get the unholy trifecta. Even then, it could have worked if it wasn’t so technically broken. At least you could stuff Ashley in a trashcan.

- Checkpoints are as rare as unicorns and as reliable as vertically oriented economic systems. AMY embodies the idea of fake difficulty

- I couldn’t find rhymes for “generally terrible voice acting.”

- Ten dollars more than I would pay for an unfinished beta.

- It gives Shaq Fu a run for the money as Paul Cuisset’s most puzzling mistake.

1 (RIP) to 4 are varying degrees of a bad game. A 1 (RIP) being a game you would actually pay money to not play, and a 4 is something that just barely fails to be mediocre. Read more about our scoring system in detail here.

AMY was developed by VectorCel and published by Lexis Numérique. It was released on January 11th, 2012 on XBLA for 800 MSP and January 17th, 2012 on PSN for $10. I think that’s the same, I was never good at converting fake currency into real currency. Haha, I’m just kidding, all currency is fake! Death to capitalism! A copy of the game was actually purchased for the purpose of this review, seriously. I’m a starving artist and I bought this thing for you people. The game was played until chapter 5 and wasn’t completed because life is just too fucking short. And yes I know Ico doesn’t rhyme with psycho before you say anything, I’m banking on most of you not realizing that.

• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 9 – Jan.15
• Plants vs. Zombies likely coming to other platforms
• Marvel Announces Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for XBLA and PSN
• Dead Space Demo Coming 25th November
• New Video Game Releases: Feb. 6 – Feb. 12
• UKIE to Launch PC Download Chart

The UK’s games trade body UKIE has announced that a beta version of its PC Download Chart will launch in February.

The chart comes thanks to both UKIE and “Disney Interactive Studios, Focus Multimedia, Get Games, Green Man Gaming, Mastertronic, NCsoft, Sega, Square-Enix, Ubisoft, Warner Bros and other top PC game publishers and digital distributors.” This is the first time a digital chart has been attempted.

After this PC chart is established the body will move on to PSN and Xbox Live charts.

Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE said:

Having this digital data alongside our UKIE Games Charts for boxed products will allow the games industry to lobby government even more effectively and allow our members to make informed and fact based commercial decisions.

It will certainly be interesting to see exactly how well digital downloads are doing. I rarely buy disc-based PC games, and I’m sure many other are like me- so I’m expecting big numbers. Let us know what you think below.

• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 9 – Jan.15
• RipTen Review: Trine 2 (XBLA)
• Gotham City Impostors Is Not Your Average FPS (Hands On)
• Limbo Officially Coming To PC And PSN
• Carmageddon: Reincarnation Coming 2012
• Warner Bros Announce New Batman Game: Gotham City Impostors

Rumor has it that Microsoft will be phasing out their silly points system by the end of the year.

A source close to the company told Inside Mobile Apps that the points system for Windows Phone, the Zune marketplace and Xbox Live will be gradually removed, with MS telling developers for each platform to change their plans accordingly.

Instead real money will be the currency of choice, meaning that we no longer have to buy stuff in Magic Spacebux™ and have stupid tiny amounts left over in our accounts. Points left in accounts will be converted to your local currency, said the source.

Of course, a Microsoft spokesman said “we do not comment on rumours or speculation.”

Inside Mobile Apps via Joystiq

• Forza 4 “American Le Mans Series Pack” Available Today
• Xbox Dashboard Update Takes Color Out of Your Life; Microsoft Working on Fix
• Xbox 360 System Update Coming Tomorrow
• Xbox Live Summer Of Arcade Starts Today – Dates and Prices
• Torchlight Announced For Xbox Live Arcade
• Xbox Live Free Weekend for UK Begins Tomorrow

Microsoft’s Major Nelson, via his blog, has revealed the full line-up for this year’s Xbox Live House Party. This is a particularly strong line-up with two of the Xbox 360′s anticipated titles. The Promotion runs from February 15th – March 13th. Here is the full list with dates and prices below:

• Warp – February 15 for 800 MSP
• Alan Wake’s America Nightmare – February 22 for 1200 MSP
• Nexuiz – February 29 for 800 MSP
• I Am Alive – March 7 for 1200 MSP

As a special bonus, those who purchase all four titles during this promotion receive 800 MSP back. Not a bad deal and a worthy line-up makes this a party that should be attended.

• I Am Alive to Release March 7th as Part of XBLA House Party
• New I Am Alive Trailer Shows a Unique and Varied Combat System
• Crysis Is “Not” An Xbox Live Arcade Title
• RipTen Review: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (XBLA)
• Xbox Live Summer Of Arcade Starts Today – Dates and Prices
• Torchlight Reaches 1 Million Sales Across All Platforms

Ubisoft today announced that I Am Alive will be part of the XBLA House Party promotion and will be available on XBLA March 7th. Below is a description of the game from the press release:

I Am Alive follows an everyman’s journey to find his wife and daughter, who were lost during the “Event.” A year later, he finds Haventon, his hometown, in shambles. Buildings are destroyed, toxic ash fills the streets and society has been torn, causing inhabitants to take all necessary actions to survive.

In I Am Alive, players will be challenged by both the environment and the enemies. Stamina and resource management are key when being exposed to deadly atmospheres and scaling enormous buildings in search of supplies. The unique combat system requires players to utilize intimidation – cowards are easily swayed with an empty gun, while other enemies will put players to the test.

Check out the gameplay trailer here.

I Am Alive will cost 1200 MSP.

• Xbox Live Arcade House Party Line-up Revealed, Dated and Priced
• New I Am Alive Trailer Shows a Unique and Varied Combat System
• I Am Alive Still Lives – Announced for PSN and XBLA this Winter with Trailer
• Beyond Good and Evil HD Will Hit PS3 “Later This Year”
• Earn Money in Fable 2 Before It Releases – No Prostitution Required
• New I Am Alive Trailer Gives Survival Tips

Ubisoft has released a new trailer for I Am Alive which shows a unique and varied combat system. The video shows that the player must always be wary when interacting with human NPCs. Weapons and bullets won’t be plentiful, so it is often in the players best interest to avoid combat by bluffing convincingly and finding creative ways in offing enemies. Sometimes resorting to stealth with the old knife from behind to the throat is the best technique.

I Am Alive will release in Q1 2012 on Xbox Live.

• I Am Alive to Release March 7th as Part of XBLA House Party
• I Am Alive Still Lives – Announced for PSN and XBLA this Winter with Trailer
• New I Am Alive Trailer Gives Survival Tips
• Xbox Live Arcade House Party Line-up Revealed, Dated and Priced
• Final Crimson Alliance Trailer Shows Off “Moonshade” the Assassin
• Sneak Peak at Ghost Recon Future Soldier Multiplayer

Now that we’re past the holiday season, we can start to look for an increase in both the quantity and quality of new releases. While the end of January no doubt holds promise, we are unfortunately saddled with a mediocre release week.

Arguably the biggest mutliplat release this week is Choplifter HD. An update of the successful 80′s Sega arcade and Master System hit. Choplifter HD distinguishes itself from other games in the genre as the focus is more directed at rescuing. Choplifter HD will be available on  XBL, PSN, and PC.

Another title to look for is Amy, an innovative survival horror title from the original creator of the 90′s classic Flashback. Amy takes place in an apocalyptic future populated by zombies, demons and other unsavory types. The cooperative gameplay featured in Amy is a deep and unique system that requires players to strategize in order to protect Amy and keep both characters alive. Amy releases this week on both PSN and XBL.

Pick of the Week: The original Choplifter serves as one of those 80′s arcade classics that is still playable today and this HD modern update looks to be both entertaining and addicting. Meanwhile, Amy has more than a few features that make it unique and a pedigree you can’t deny – Amy

Check out the full list of this week’s releases below:

PlayStation 3

• Amy (PSN)
• Choplifter HD (PSN)
• Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat
• National Geographic Challenge!

Xbox 360

• Amy (XBLA)
• Choplifter HD (XBLA)
• Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat

Wii

• Carmen Sandiego Adventures in Math: The Case of the Crumbling Cathedral (WiiWare)

PC

• Choplifter HD

3DS

• Crush 3D
• My Pet Puppy 3D

DS

• What’s Your Type?

PSP

• NADA

• New Video Game Releases: Feb. 6 – Feb. 12
• New Video Game Releases: 4/25 – 5/1
• New Game Releases: 4/11 – 4/17
• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 30 – Feb. 6
• New Video Game Releases: Jan. 16 – Jan. 22
• New Video Game Releases: Dec. 12 – Dec. 18

The Kid knew he could do it. Didn’t even have a doubt that Bastion would be a great success. And it was, selling 500,000 copies and gathering over 60 awards. Just in the time for the New Year. 

Supergiant Games announced just yesterday that with the recent Steam and XBLA sales, Bastion had hit the 500K mark. To top it off, it’s made a lot of end of the year awards from various publications (including RipTen’s Best Downloadable Game and Biggest Surprise):

Associated Press – Top 10 Games of the Year

Entertainment Weekly – Best Videogames of 2011

TIME – Top 10 Games of 2011

USA Today – Top 10 Games of 2011

NPR – Ten Best Video Games of 2011

CNN – Top 10 Video Games

Wired – Top 20 Best Games of the Year

Paste Magazine – Game of the Year

Boston Herald – Best Game of 2011

A.V. Club – 10 Best Games of 2011

ScienceFiction.com – Top 10 Best Sci-Fi Video Games of 2011

Spike VGAs – Best Downloadable Game, Best Original Score, Best Song

Inside Gaming Awards – Best Downloadable Game, Best Indie Game, Best Original Score

IGN.com – Best XBLA Game

VentureBeat – Best Indie Games of 2011

Giant Bomb – Best Music, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Top 10

TotalBiscuit – #1 Game of 2011

UGO – Best Downloadable Game of the Year

Yahoo – Best Downloadable Game

Game Informer – Best RPG Innovation (The Narrator)

Official Xbox Magazine – Best Music

GameSpot – Song of the Year

Team Xbox – XBLA Game of the Year

Quartertothree – Game of the Year

XBLA Fans – Best Audio, Best Visuals

Xbox 360 Achievements – Best Arcade Game

Rock Paper Shotgun – The Games of Christmas

IndieDB – Worldly Award for Best Gameworld, Players Choice Top 10

HorribleNight – Best Downloadable Game, Best Soundtrack, Indie Developer of the Year

IndieGames.com – Top 10 Indie Games of the Year

The Escapist – 12 Games of Christmas

Reaction Time – Best Downloadable, Best Voice Acting, Best Soundtrack

TrendyGamers – Downloadable GOTY

Gamezebo.com – Best PC Game of 2011

XBLARatings – XBLA Game of the Year

Press X or Die – Game of the Year

Unwinnable.com – Best Surprise Indie Darling

RipTen – Best Downloadable Game, Biggest Surprise

Reviews on the Run – Best Downloadable Game

IndieGameReviewer.com – Best Indie Game of the Year

gamrFeed – Best XBLA Game

Media Kick – Readers Choice, Best Downloadable Game

Kotaku Australia – Readers Choice, Indie Downloadable GOTY

Level Save – Game of the Year Pick

Click Online – Top 7 Pleasant Surprises

Piki Geek – Top 10 Best of the Year

nJoystic – Best Soundtrack

Press2Reset – Best Soundtrack, Best Song

The Sixth Axis – Best Downloadable Game

MiddleEast Gamers – Best Indie Game

Kotaku – Pick, Best Game Music of 2011

GamerCrash – Best Soundtrack

Gamercast – Top Downloadable Game

Bishop’s Gaming World – Best Soundtrack, Top 10 Games of the Year

Tom’s Hardware Turkey – Most Original Game, Best Narrative, Best Original Score

 

No surprise there, really. Bastion‘s one of this year’s best gameplay experiences. Here’s hoping that Supergiant Games keeps on churning out the good stuff in 2012.

Via [Supergiant Games Blog]

• Bastion Now Available on Steam
• Geeked Out: The Kid Munny
• RipTen Review: Rock of Ages (XBLA)
• Meet The Cast Of The DeathSpank: The Baconing In This New Trailer
• The Steam Version of Bastion Features Portal Turrets!!
• RipTen Review: Bastion (XBLA)

Trine 2 combines a beautiful, artistic and vibrant world with platforming, puzzles and action / RPG elements to create one of the most visually stunning and entertaining downloadable titles of 2011.  These puzzles aren’t solved alone however.  Having the ability to simultaneously switch between three distinct characters makes Trine 2 one brain-twisting experience.

Throughout the game you’ll be using each of your three characters abilities to solve countless puzzles: Amadeus who is a wizard which can conjure boxes and platforms and has the ability to levitate multiple objects; Zoya is a thief who wields a grappling hook and a bow, and Pontiusis a fearless (fat) knight with a sword and shield (and hammer)

As you venture through the game you’ll have the ability to level up each of the three characters further increasing their skills. While these do make puzzle solving easier, leveling up isn’t necessary if you’re looking for a real challenge. Trine 2 also offers many different ways to play. If you want to try solving each puzzle by using just Zoya for instance, you’re more than welcomed to do so.  If things get to tough however, you can always switch to another character to help complete the current section.

Aside from puzzle solving, Trine 2 also offers a bit of combat. It’s not the strongest aspect of the game as it’s rather basic. Most of the enemies die in a few simple hits and aren’t very challenging, But when trying to solve platforming puzzles at the same time, it certainly makes things a bit more difficult.

However the challenge is actually where I found issues with Trine 2.  As challenging as it can be sometimes, the checkpoint system used in the game completely ruins it. Instead of reloading to a checkpoint and having to re-complete what you’ve done, the game just “warps” you to the area. This can be done at any time by accessing the pause menu. So, you never really have the fear of dying because you’ll never lose any progress.  While the puzzles aren’t easy, this system almost makes the game too easy.

This tends to make mini-boss like enemies insanely easy as you can simply spam the checkpoint system and repeat the same attacks without the worry of the enemies health returning back to full. It’s not a deal breaking, but it’s certainly an easy way out for gamers who can’t overcome the challenge.

As I mentioned before, Trine 2 is a simply beautiful. The colors are perfect, bloom is used just right, the environments feel like-like.  Overall it’s just one of the most beautiful downloadable titles I’ve seen in a long time. Even though some of the environments can be repeated, you’ll never get bored of seeing the same beautiful scenery.

The animations on the other hand are rather dull and don’t offer much variety, but the simple fact that you’ll have multiple ways to tackle each puzzle makes up for it. I would often find myself in the middle of solving a puzzle, just to realize I could have done it a completely different way. This is what makes Trine 2 so excellent. On your second playthrough, you can challenge yourself by completing different puzzles in multiple ways to further increase the replay value.

If that’s not you’re type of thing, co-op is also offered. Up to three players can take on the entire single player campaign playing freely as any character their heart desires. Unfortunately, the downside to co-op is that nothing will be changed. If you’ve already beaten the game by yourself, you’ll be doing the exact same puzzles over, but with a friend instead.

This is rather disappointing as a separate co-op experience with its own unique puzzles would have made a great time with friends. I’d rather be able to only complete certain puzzles and levels with friends, that way going in I would have no idea what to expect. Maybe in Trine 3?  Or Trine… Trine?

Overall, Trine 2 is simply a fantastic experience that any gamer who is a fan of puzzle platforming games should at the very least, try out. You just simply can’t go wrong with a beautiful downloadable title such as this that offers so much and takes a different approach at puzzle solving.

Not only that, but if you have a friend to jump in from the get-go, you’ll have one hell of a weekend. Bottom line is, if you’re looking to get your brain twisted for the holidays, Trine 2 is the game you’re looking for. You won’t be disappointed.

Here’s The Rundown:

+ Beautiful. Simply beautiful

+ Great physics and puzzle solving

+ Fantastic use of characters and abilites

+ Multiple ways to solve the same puzzles

+ Co-op

- Co-op, due to the lack of separate levels

- Some puzzles are overused a bit too much

- The current checkpoint system ruins much of the challenge

9 and 9.5 represent the pinnacle of the genre, a game that defines what that genre should be about. These scores are for games that you not only feel would be worth your purchase, but you would actually try to convince your friends to buy them as well.

Trine 2  was developed by Frozenbyte, and published by Atlus.  It will be released on XBLA and PSN on December 21st, 2011. A review copy was provided by Atlus for the purpose of this review. Trine 2 was played until completion taking around 6 hours to finish. It’s so pretty!  

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The last thing that comes to your mind when thinking of Batman and The Joker is a FPS.  So, Gotham City Impostors is a very interesting game to say the least.  At first sight, Gotham City Impostors may looks like just another FPS, but rest assured, it’s far more than that. In fact, I was quite surprised at just how damn fun this game really was. Best part of it all, it’s an XBLA/PSN title and it packs some serious punch.

What sets Gotham City Impostors apart from every other FPS in the over crowded market, is how much variety and customization is offered. No matter how you choose to play a FPS, there’s something here for you. So let me break down just how much customization is packed into this massive downloadable title, which is known as your “Secret Identity”.

First off is editing your loadouts. You have your standard primary weapon, back up weapon, support item and what every super hero can’t do without; a gadget. You’re primary and back up weapons include; assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, etc. You also get a mod for each one.

The Dawn Patrol assault rifle for example has a wide selection of mods such as a silencer, red dot sight, extended mags, or even a body odor sniffer that reveals the positions of nearby enemies as wavy yellow “stink clouds”. Last but not least is your camo. FPS these days can’t have an awesome arsenal and no camo, that’s just crazy talk!

The support items and gadgets are what really make Gotham City Impostors stand out. Your support items would be your grenades or flashbangs in other games. In Gotham City, shit gets real. Who needs grenades when you can use bear traps, shurikens, or even a boomerang that can target multiple enemies and stun them all within a matter of a seconds.

The gadgets on the other hand, are where the real fun comes into play. Not only are these reusable, there’s also objects within the maps that benefit some gadgets. Equip a pair of roller skates to move quicker and you can jump off ramps sending you soaring through the air. If you’re more of a flying type of guy, just equip a glider rig and you’ll be flying like Batman in no time.

This isn’t useful on the ground, but it can be if you’re in the right place at the right time. Vents will blow air up sending you into the sky if you have the glider equiped. From here, you can perform “Dive Bombs” on unsuspecting enemies. Yeah, it’s bad ass.

If you’re like me though, you’ll enjoy the grapple gun which can hook on to virtually anything pulling you straight in. Feeling lazy and don’t want to walk to the other side of the map? No problem. Pull out your grapple gun, aim, fire, and before you know it, you’re behind the enemy.

All of these mentioned above can be selected in your loadout giving you whatever experience you choose to have. There are pre-sets for starting out, but once you level up you’re free to use what ever you like, when you like. It doesn’t stop there either. Even though this is an FPS, you can even customize your character. Based on your performance in game, you’ll earn “Costume Coins”. These can be used to purchase new: hats, logos, capes, shirts, pants, shoes, etc.

There’s also clan support which is called “Gangs” in-game, and two other customization options set as “Classified”. So prepare on spending quite some time perfecting your hero. While all this is great, it’s the gameplay that really matters right? Rest assured because Gotham City Impostors is a fucking blast. The beta currently supports two maps and two game modes. Psych Warfare is where you grab a battery and plug it in to demoralize your enemies with propaganda. Unfortunately, due to the lack of participants currently in the beta, I was unable to ever find a match in this game mode.

Fumigation is the other game mode which is essentially Domination from Call of Duty, except better. There’s three control points placed on the map in which you capture and defend. However, you’re not working to a set score. You’re working towards 100%. What this means is, you could be at 99% and the other team could start dominating you bringing you down to 10%. What’s great is if you start picking up your slack, you always have a chance to come back and win without worrying about the team having a higher “score” than you.

At the same time, this can be really bad for newcomers. I’ve been in games that lasted just a few minutes because my team was unable to overpower the enemy resulting in a very quick and unpleasant match. When you have two good teams and all these different weapons and gadgets being used at once, it creates a really chaotic, yet satisfying experience.

The controls are easy to pick up and jump straight into you, if you played just about any other arcade style FPS, you’ll feel right at home. The only real problem I’ve encountered with Gotham City Impostors is lag spikes. They don’t necessarily happen every few seconds, but they do happen often enough to make it somewhat annoying. I’ve also had a few instances where the countdown would reach 1 second, but the game would never start. Thankfully, this is a beta! So hopefully these minor issues will be ironed out before release.

From the mass amount of customization and variety, to the easy pick up and play controls, Gotham City Impostors brings one hell of a great time. I’m not going to lie, when I saw the trailers for the game, I thought it was going to be really lame. However, after playing multiple hours with my friends, this is definitely a game I’m going to be picking up once it’s released in January. Oh, and did I mention this was an arcade title? Yes, yes I did. But I feel as if I should remind you seeing how this could easily pass as a full downloadable title with a similar pricing model to games such as Resident Evil 4 HD.

Definitely keep your eyes on Gotham, my friends.

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11 Bit studios critically acclaimed “Tower Offense” game Anomaly: Warzone Earth is finally coming to XBLA next spring.  How criticially acclaimed?  94% on Metacritic.  That’s like Arkham City good.  All batmen aside, here’s the rundown from 11bit:

The ultimate Tower Offense strategy game tasks you with saving near-future Earth from an alien onslaught. The unwelcome invaders have captured the world’s major cities, building huge turrets that destroy everything in their path. It’s up to you to lead an armored squad through the streets of cities like Baghdad and Tokyo. By putting you on the attack, Anomaly Warzone Earth turns tower defense on its head and presents an extraordinary mixture of action and real-time strategy perfectly suited to the Xbox 360.

- Enjoy innovative Tower Offense gameplay – you’re the attacking side!
- Experience a new approach to strategy games on consoles – a strategy game designed to be played with a gamepad.
- Dive into six Xbox-exclusive Tactical Trials levels that will test your puzzle-solving skills in the Anomaly world.
- Play for hours on end in the engaging story campaign, as well as the two exciting Squad Assault Modes.
- Immerse yourself in the game with great visuals and atmospheric audio.

For more information, visit http://anomalythegame.com.

Or you could just watch the Cynical Brit talk about it in a funny accent:

If you can’t wait, you can always get the game right now on Steam or your iThingy.

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Our editor Dave Oshry is a man who stereotypes people. Is there a term for that? There should be a term for that. Stereotypist, or something.

Take me for example. He singles out the one person on this site from the southern United States (without “Mobile Guru” or “MMO Champion” in their title, anyway) who wears a cowboy hat, and tells them to review a NASCAR game which just came out for Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

“Why, sure!” says the individual. “I’ll just put aside my banjo and wipe the moonshine from my lips, and get right on it! Never mind the fact that I’m not very good at the game!”

It was at this point that he put down the world’s tiniest violin, slapped me on the back, and said “that’s the spirit!”

And that’s how we reached this point.

ROLLING START!!!

Am I the right person to be reviewing this game? I have no idea. I don’t watch NASCAR , I don’t drink Mountain Dew or Mtn Dew or whatever they’re calling that stuff now (Mello Yello, thanks), and I moved to Canada a decade ago, so you tell me.

Ah, but then, this isn’t just any game with a NASCAR license on it, is it? In fact, I’m not even sure that NASCAR proper has anything to do with the game at all, despite the name. This is Daytona USA, an arcade racing game from SEGA’s AM2 division. So in reality, it’s basically NASCAR-styled racing as viewed through a Japanese filter. Sort of like how America basically took Street Fighter II and turned it into G.I. Joe: Generation 2 for the first few years of its industry dominance.

With that said, here’s a little more disclosure: when Daytona USA first hit the arcades, I was not the least bit interested. No, the racing game I chose to play was none other than Nintendo and Midway’s Ultra 64 showpiece, Cruis’n USA, and it was glorious. No other racing game could ever possibly top it in a million years, no matter how hard they tried… unless they made a sequel, perhaps.

Fanboyism is a strange, strange thing, and can trump nostalgia for the rose-colored glasses bit any time.

That’s right: Nintendo vs. SEGA, the real console war (not like what you namby-pamby gamers have now, what with your two or three consoles under your televisions…) was still hot and fresh like a Krispy Kreme donut when the red light is on, and I wasn’t about to give SEGA’s game the time of day.

Except for that time I gave it the time of day. I didn’t like it, of course, because it was SEGA. But it did look sort of nice… you know, for an inferior product. And damn if it didn’t have a catchy theme song… that I refused to listen to. Lalalalalala~!

Suffice to say: I was young, dumb, picked my side for better or for worse (in this specific case, quite a bit worse in the long run), and just didn’t play the game very much at all.

Thankfully, times have changed. I’m older, wiser, and really don’t give a crap about console wars any more. Sure, I still love Nintendo (though I’ve yet to don a crown to proclaim it– nice gimmick, though), but I have moved on to open my heart to SEGA, as well as Microsoft and Sony. Which is a good thing, because otherwise doing this review would be really hard.

With that said, I’ve downloaded and played the game. And you know what?

I like it. Quite a bit, actually. Maybe I should give lima beans another try, too!

Or maybe not.

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo... DAYTONA!!!

At first, playing Daytona USA felt a little rougher than most of the driving games I’m used to. A little more sim-ish, one might say, though not terribly so; it’s difficult to watch your car flip off the side of the track, tumble across the road, land on its wheels looking like a crushed tin can, get right back in the race, and call it a simulation. Perhaps a fine middle-ground is what AM2 has managed to uncover here. Fortunately, the game has multiple difficulty settings, which makes learning the nuances of the game a bit easier before you crank things up a notch.

The game itself is rather low on content, with only two cars to choose from (automatic transmission and manual), and three courses to choose from, including a short “Beginner” course, which is completed in 80 laps; a medium-length “Advanced” course, which goes for 40 laps; and the rather long “Expert” course, which needs “only” 20 laps to complete.

However, they manage to do quite a bit with that content. Numerous modes and challenges set across each course gives you plenty of reason to rev up again after finishing a race. You can take on dozens of computer-controlled drivers, cruise by your lonesome to the game’s famed/infamous soundtrack in Karaoke mode (a big hit in the deep South, I’m sure), challenge the clock in Survival and Time Trials, race up to seven other players online, or show just how proficient you are at controlling one of these mean machines by proving you can get up to speed within a time limit or avoid hitting the wall while maintaining your speed. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. And it probably goes without saying that there are Achievements and Trophies to be earned on your system of choice.

With all of that said, there is plenty to keep you busy here with what the game has to offer, which helps balance things out nicely.

The King of Speed

Some companies would probably just dump a ROM on a server and call it a day, but not SEGA; they have enhanced the visuals, giving it a nice high-definition look. Granted, they haven’t really done much with the polygon counts on the cars and track, but even then, it still looks surprisingly good for a 3D game originally released in 1993. Furthermore, unlike some other updated releases, SEGA has offered via downloadable services (looking at you, Sonic Adventure), Daytona USA now features an enhanced 16:9 widescreen format.

This release also supports all steering wheel controllers on the Xbox 360, as well as the Logitech GT Driving Force steering wheel controller for the PlayStation 3. We were unable to try this feature at the time of review, though if you have one of these lying around, now would be a great time to break it out and bring things closer to the original arcade experience.

And, unlike some other SEGA arcade driving games that have been re-released to Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Network, Daytona USA retains the soundtrack which so many find synonymous with the title. For those unfamiliar, put away any thoughts of some weird country or rock or country-rock tracks you might be imagining; the tunes on display here, from “Let’s Go Away” to “The King of Speed” are… well, hard to describe, but fit right into that “NASCAR viewed through a Japanese lens” notion mentioned earlier.

Have a listen for yourself: