Henshin-a-go-go, baby!
It’s been a while, but you knew this feature couldn’t stay away forever. That’s right, it’s about time that we had ourselves another installment of Missing in Action!
What else are they gonna dip all those chips in?
DrinkBox Studios turned a few heads at PAX East with their reveal of Guacamelee!, “Mexican themed co-op-multiplayer dimensions-swapping Metroid-vania beat-em-up platformer” starring a “down on his luck Mexican anmed Juan Aguacate.” Just from that sentence alone, you can see why people were intrigued by this bizarre, yet beautiful game. At least someone from Sony noticed enough to make Guacamelee! a PSN exclusive for both the PlayStation 3 and the Vita as part of Sony’s PlayStation Pub Fund Program.
If you want a beat-'em-up, go buy The Simpsons.
The cornerstone of the Fable series, starting with the very first game, was to bring some degree of innovation to the RPG formula. This puts Fable Heroes in an odd position, as it merely exists to capitalize on the merits of Fable III by borrowing its characters and locales for a mindless beat-'em-up. Puppetized versions of the cast make their way through the bright and cheery fabric version of Albion, killing a variety of equally colorful enemies. However, devoid of any challenge or strategy, Fable Heroes serves very little purpose and offers almost nothing to appreciate.
Quick pick-up-and-play fun.
If you were to set Art Style: Orbient, Pinball, and a side-scrolling shoot-‘em-up on a collision course, the result would be StarDrone Extreme. It's an odd combination, yes, but one that frequently provides some quick thrills. However, like Plants vs. Zombies, StarDrone Extreme seems to suffer from being on the wrong platform. While fun in short bursts, the experience fails to engage for more than a level or two at a time.
Forgoing the traditional peripheral-based input, the upcoming downloadable title channels Amplitude and Frequency.
Today, Harmonix officially announced Rock Band Blitz for both Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network. Rather than utilize the peripheral instruments that have made the series a hit, Blitz requires players only have a controller on the ready to play the beat-match title. Just like Amplitude and Frequency, Rock Band Blitz brings multi-track arcade gameplay that has players switching between instruments on-the-fly to replicate the song.
When I die, I want to go to Rhythm Heaven.
If asked to describe Rhythm Heaven Fever in one short phrase, I'd say it's “a horse of a different color!” Like Rhythm Heaven and the WarioWare games before, Rhythm Heaven Fever does an excellent job of painting itself as a game different from virtually any other. It's more unique, more quirky, and more inspired than a lot of what I've seen in the past. For a title budgeted for release at $30, there's certainly plenty of content to keep the original feeling going for some time.
Aye Carumba!
Konami brought many great, well-known beat-'em-ups to the arcades in the late 80's and early 90's, and all of them but one have made a transition to home consoles. Yes, The Simpsons Arcade Game is the last and perhaps best classic Konami beat-'em-up to be brought back, and for those who've played all the other classic Konami titles to death, there's enough variance and originality here to keep players hooked.
Macca told a Germany interviewer his work on a game project.
Sir Paul McCartney is known for such classic hit songs as "Hey Jude", "My Love" and "No More Lonely Nights", as well as being a member of Wings and, of course, The Beatles. The legendary recording artist has now told an interviewer for Germany's Die Zeit that he is working on music for a video game. And no, its not The Beatles: Rock Band 2.
Does Treasure's beat 'em up still have its edge?
When the 32 bit wars began, I was firmly entrenched in the Sony PlayStation camp. I believed then, as I do now, that the overall library of games on the PSX was far superior to that of the Sega Saturn. That shouldn’t imply, however, that there weren’t games on the Saturn that could make even the staunchest PlayStation supporter green with envy. The Saturn was capable of pumping out impressive sets of 2D sprites, and in this the PlayStation was a distant second. Games like Astal, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Albert Odyssey made me desperately want the beefy Sega console, and as soon as I was able to, I plunked down my hard-earned cash for a Saturn. The main reason for this purchase was, of course, Guardian Heroes. I had missed out on many of Treasure’s other games, since I had also sided against Sega in the 16 bit days. Even so, I knew just what kinds of incredible things the quirky Japanese developer was doing with animation and sprite work, and for me, Guardian Heroes was a system seller. Now, 15 years later, Guardian Heroes returns for XBLA with an HD upgrade. Does the game hold up after all these years, and is it worth the 800 MS point asking price? Read on, brave warriors, read on.
This might be the worst game I've ever reviewed.
That's a bold name for a game – it immediately makes you think, "This game must be badass." Or at least that's what developer AGO Games thought you'd think about the game based on its title. Put up or shut up, I say – and based on my experience, AGO ought to be shutting up right about now. The Asskickers is a completely terrible game that achieves little more than being just that, a game.
