Hot on the heels of Summer of Arcade, Microsoft offers a special return on Live Arcade investments
Considering the program a "Thank-you Gift," Microsoft announced that those who spend 2400 points on specific content during the month of October will receive 800 points back.
The second time is a charm.
Continuing the genre confusion of the first Bomberman Nintendo 64 title, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! is also an action game with puzzle elements. This time around, pieces of the classic Bomberman formula are combined with the new conventions of the first 3D title. The result is an improved single player experience, but leaves the battle mode as a mixed bag of fixes and new issues.
In this episode, PB and Jason goes where it's never gone before. Where? You'll have to listen and find out.
Four Spider-Men are better than one.
It seems that each and every year a new Spider-Man game is released, and every year that Spider-Man game seems to be a disappointment. My last exposure to a Spider-Man game was Spider-Man 2, which featured open-world exploration and tasks. The game controlled well and was moderately enjoyable, but the structure was a bit too loose, causing the game to eventually become tedious and boring. Shattered Dimensions, the latest Spider-Man game, is quite the opposite. For the first time ever, the essence of Spider-Man has truly been captured through the game's characters, levels, presentation, and solid gameplay.
Cue obligatory "It's a blast!" pun.
Though sometimes listed as a platformer, Bomberman 64 is essentially an action/puzzle game. For those unaware, Bomberman is a long-running series which got its start on the NES. It stars little pudgy dudes with oversized round heads, who have an unlimited amount of bombs which they pull from... somewhere. Bomberman 64 brings the series into the third dimension, and features a single player adventure with some wonky puzzle elements.
Who keeps their machine gun ammo inside a barrel of water?
An ambitious game for its time, Body Harvest is more than just another "blast the evil aliens" shooter. When giant alien bugs come to Earth to gather humans for... some purpose... it's up to a nameless man in an orange suit of supposedly high-tech battle armour to save the day. The intrepid hero will travel around the world -- and through time -- using a variety of vehicles to blast bugs, carry supplies, or simply cover long distances quickly. Unfortunately, the game contains too many gameplay issues to be playable.
We're gettin' the band back together.
Blues Brothers 2000 is a platformer based on the movie of the same title. Having never seen the movie, I can't say exactly how the game follows it. The game has its own quirks, but I've been told not the ones you'd expect from a Blues Brothers movie. The object of the game is to collect all of the notes in your song, all of your band’s instruments, and rescue all of your band’s members so you can enter the Battle of the Bands.
In the newly christened PB & Jason, issue #2, Jason talks about the Playstation Move. In fact, Jason says everything he can about the Playstation Move. He could even tell you more than you could ever want to hear about the device. In short, he details his impressions, then goes down the list of titles with reviews, impressions, and information available from a few various online gaming news sites, like IGN, 1up, and Kotaku.
Hardcorps
On the surface, Blast Corps. may seem like nothing more than a mindless demolition game. Upon further inspection, it becomes apparent that it is also a strategy, arcade, racing, and puzzle game mixed into one. Few games can be called truly unique, but there isn't much else out there like Blast Corps.
BioFREAKing bland.
Careful observers will notice that, on the box of BioFREAKS, the word "FREAKS" has a period after each letter. As it turns out, it is an acronym for Biological Flying Robotic Enhanced Armored Killing Synthoids, something which I'm sure sounds like I just made up.
