Living LIVE 12.27.08: Second Edition
Posted by Trace Aber on 12.27.2008
Coffee power-ups, a virtual fireplace, and a lot of puzzles. No Chevy Chase, though.
Welcome to the second edition of Living LIVE. Hope everyone had a great holiday, whichever one you may have celebrated. I found my Dreamcast the other day and decided to buy myself a little Christmas gift – Skies of Arcadia. Next to Shenmue, that may very well be my favorite Dreamcast game. It's a shame the Dreamcast didn't last longer – we probably would have seen a second Skies game, though from what I have read we may see one sooner than later. One can only hope. Anyways…
My name is Trace Aber and this is Living LIVE.
Game Marketplace – A weekly look at the arcade games, demos, and add-ons released this week.
Arcade Games
It has been a very slow week for the arcade game section of LIVE, adding only one game to the collection. I kind of thought there would be more considering it is the week of Christmas and I am sure many people got points added to their accounts as a gift. Then again, Microsoft is a slightly bigger business than my column, so maybe they know more about it than me.
Puzzle Arcade (800MP)
Developed by CTXM (who teams up with PopCap games every now and then), Puzzle Arcade is yet another puzzle game on a system that has way too many puzzle games. There are quite a few modes, including the basic "picture puzzles" and a pretty cool "dynamic puzzle" mode where the images move as you play. There are six modes of play in all, and if you own LIVE Vision, you can even use the pictures you take as puzzles. You then have two ways to play each puzzle – Classic and Turbo.
Online play in Puzzle Arcade
The puzzles are generally interesting to look at, but there is one thing I cannot get past in puzzle games such as this – your workspace is almost always cluttered. I do not fault the designers but the genre for this as there is not much you can do about it. Still, if you are into this kind of thing, Puzzle Arcade definitely has a lot to offer and I could see where people could get a lot of replay value out of a game like this. Recommendation: If you are looking for a good time waster or just love putting puzzles together, this is a great purchase as you will have potentially unlimited puzzles to solve, including a new puzzle every week.
Community Games
To make up for the lack of professionally produced arcade games this week, we have been granted with a ton of new community games. While I am not going to review them all, I will review a select few, including what may very well be the most pointless 400MP you could ever possibly spend.
Beat IT! Christmas Edition (200MP)
This is a rather odd little game. It supports up to eight players, all of which can play on a single controller. A wheel spins and the player must complete a certain action depending on what action it gives you. This may sound fun until you realize all you are doing is pressing buttons or rotating a joystick.
This is pretty much the only thing you'll see
I suppose I could see how someone might be able to have fun, but I don't see myself having much fun at all. It is a poor party-game clone, though I will admit that the music is decent. Recommendation: Avoid. You can download the trial if you want to listen to the music, you know?
Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp (200MP)
For a game that consists of collecting biscuits and coffee, this is pretty fun. The graphics are obviously basic, but they have a sort of hand-drawn retro look to it. The music is typical of the 8-bit era, which is a nice touch.
The levels are small but can sometimes provide a small challenge
The game is your standard platformer, with coffee being your life force. You will encounter some puzzles throughout the game, and while I have yet to run into anything terribly difficult, it will still make you think. It may be the quirkiness of the game, but I really enjoyed it. Recommendation: At 200MP and 55 levels (albeit short), you really can't go wrong. Besides, who doesn't enjoy a good platform game?
Ultratron (400MP)
Annoying metronome-like music is always a downside…and this game depends on it. In Ultratron you are trying to avenge the human race and destroy the four bots of the Apocalypse (so it is kind of like a 1980's sci-fi flick). The left stick moves and the right stick shoots, which may be the most popular control scheme in gaming today - at least on Xbox Live. You have your normal assortment of power-ups and what have you, but it appears as though every single enemy takes one shot and the game lacks a lot of depth. There are "assault stages," which just seem impossible to beat as your entire screen is covered with enemies and the power-ups are right in the middle of them.
Pretty Ultra if you ask me.
This game is not technically bad, but it lacks excitement. The screen you see above is what you will see the majority of your time in Ultratron. Also, I just want to point out that I absolutely hate games with "Ultra" and "tron" in it (unless of course it is Tron), and this game manages to fit both words in it. Recommendation: Unless you can stare at the same screen over and over again, avoid.
Puzzle DeFusion (400MP)
Good music, awesome visuals, and sixty levels, this is a puzzle game I can actually get into. Instead of simply matching blocks according to color, you have to make connections to the blocks that cause them to disappear. Some of the higher levels can be intense, though I must make the disclaimer that this game is not for those who do not like flashing strobe lights. You will have a seizure otherwise, which from what I understand, is not good.
Imagine that background flashing and moving around. Did you have a seizure? If not, you can play this game.
The only real problem is the lack of variety in gameplay modes. You are stuck with the one mode of play, which, while fun, may not last you that long. Still, it is a cool twist on the overdone genre. Recommendation: I say get it. While it may not have a lot of variety, it makes up for it in every other department.
Shed (200MP)
While a simple card game similar to Hearts, I found this to be fun. The basic premise is that you must get rid of all of the cards in your hand and you must match (or go above) the card lain previously. The game includes a helpful tutorial that will teach you all the rules. There are also special cards which change the course of the game quickly. I went from one card to about ten cards in a matter of a turn. The games can last a while or just a few minutes, depending on the number of players and a little bit of luck. Recommendation: For the card game aficionado, or those who have grandmothers, I recommend this game.
Fireplace (400MP)
I really do not know how to explain this. Imagine a fireplace where the logs look like giant turds. Now imagine those logs not even warming you, and when a friend logs onto LIVE, the fire goes wild and glitches. Finally, imagine paying 400MP to experience this. Yeah, thought not. Recommendation: Why is this even on Xbox LIVE?
I just saved you 400MP. You're welcome.
Demos
You may have noticed the lack of demos in last week's column, much like this week. The reason for that is there have been zero demos for games that have either yet to be released or just recently released. In fact, the most recent demo is for the game Legendary, but even that came out over a month ago. This is where I give the power to you – should I review old demos even though the games have already been out and most of the people who will buy games will already own them? Or just ignore them until a practical demo comes out?
Game-Add Ons
We have yet another music-exclusive week on Xbox Live (well, at least in the "new release" section), but we have a bit more variety this week.
Lips
Haddaway: What is Love? (160MP)
Paolo Nutini: New Shoes (160MP)
Tina Turner: What's Love Got to Do With It (180MP)
Rock Band
Foo Fighters Pack 01: DOA, Times Like These, and This is a Call (440MP)
Foo Fighters: Times Like These (160MP)
Foo Fighters: DOA (160MP)
Foo Fighters: This is a Call (160MP)
Rockin' the Holidays 2008 Pack 01: Blue Christmas, Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You, and Hanukkah Blessings (240MP)
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Rev Theory: Light it Up (160MP)
Nickelback: Because of You (160MP)
Hinder: Use Me (160MP)
Other
Just wanted to make a quick note that in the Game Videos section of the Game Marketplace there is a video for Resident Evil 5. I highly suggest checking it out.
Video Marketplace
There are a couple of big releases this week in the video marketplace, including the movie of the summer.
The Dark Knight (Std: 320MP) (HD: 480MP) – Also comes with bonus clips that allow you to further explore the world of Batman. Hell Boy II: The Golden Army (Std: 320MP) (HD: 480MP) Two Tigers (Std: 240MP) (HD: 360MP) Dead of Winter (Std: 240MP) (no HD) Tropic Thunder (Std: 320MP) (HD: 480) Treasure Planet (Std: 240MP) (no HD) The Women (Std: 320MP) (HD: 480MP)
Events
Monday: GamerchiX Ladies Night: Saints Row 2 A night for ladies only, and if you don't want to play Saints Row 2, you can just go on the MyGamerCard.net Chix Tracker and search for other games that girls want to play.
Tuesday: Family Game Night: The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon This seems kind of like a silly idea. Basically, Microsoft suggests a game each week for your family to play…and then you play that game. I'm not really sure how this is a LIVE event, but, eh, what do I know?
Wednesday: Play and Win: Horde for the Holidays
Download a gamer picture in the Gears of War 2 download section, play an online game, and you are entered to win a bunch of nifty items. Details can be found by Clicking Here.
Thursday: Play and Win: Horde for the Holidays Download a gamer picture in the Gears of War 2 download section, play an online game, and you are entered to win a bunch of nifty items. Details can be found by Clicking Here.
Friday: Download and Win Presented by Sprint Pretty much same deal as Wednesday and Thursday, except you only win some Microsoft Points. You can find out details by Clicking Here.
Closing
And with that we come to an end in our second edition. Next week I will begin my countdown of "Ten Xbox Live Games Everyone Should Own," starting with number ten. Until then, keep on downloading!
