PixlBit

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.

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Smooth combat is requisite for a brawler in 2012.

From the very first moments of the game, it’s made clear that Bloodforge is heavily inspired by the God of War series. So inspired that developer Climax Entertainment decided to crib a sizeable portion of that experience in order to create the Microsoft Studios published brawler. However, calling it derivative of the Sony series would be giving it too much credit. Copying only the most basic of elements from the popular series, Bloodforge is a one-dimensional game that won’t hold most gamers’ attention.

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Taking a page from cell phone companies, the Xbox 360 can be purchased on a contract at select locations.

Microsoft has announced an all new way to obtain an Xbox 360 for a much cheaper up front cost. The 4GB Xbox 360 console with Kinect can now be purchased at participating Microsoft stores for only $99. That is, when you sign up for a 2 year Xbox Live Gold membership at $14.99 a month. The coupon, featured above, can only be used at the 16 Microsoft stores scattered throughout the US.

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The niche Japanese games publisher will be augmenting the Vita line-up later this year.

XSEED revealed yesterday that two of the games in their pipeline are the latest Ragnarok online game, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Orgarhythm, a rhythm-based RTS title. Both titles are being translated for the PlayStation Vita and both are expected to launch later this year.

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I didn’t even know The House of the Dead 4 Special was a thing that existed.

Despite the rest of The House of the Dead series making its way to consoles, The House of the Dead 4 has been left in the arcades – and perhaps rightfully so. With the introduction of the machine gun as the standard weapon, the once requisite precision aiming for this light gun series has been all but removed. That’s not to say that there’s no challenge or fun to be had with the latest arcade iteration of the series, but the experience pales in comparison to earlier editions.

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