Videogames have come along way since the days of Pacman and Atari, but there’s one thing that eludes developerseven today; water. Microsoft and Dark Energy Digital’s newest arcade title Hydrophobia has fixed that problem and has some amazing water physics, even if that’s all it has.

I really wanted to like Hydrophobia, but it’s lack of soul and frustratingly broken elements kept me from doing so. At it’s best, it’s a surreal adventure game that keeps you on interested throughout but most times its a clearly flawed and unimpressive platformer.

Hydrophobia places players in the role of Kate Wilson, a systems engineer on the Queen of the World, a massive luxury liner ocean vessel that has taken the place of cities after the world has fallen into the “great population flood.” All is not well though as a group of terrorists known as the Malthusians have carried out an elaborate terrorist attack on the ship, leaving the once proud vessel in chaos and flames. The only problem is that this really isn’t explained to you early on, and when the game finally gets around to letting you know what’s going on, you find yourself not caring.

There’s also a strangely eerie feeling throughout the game that’s reminiscent of the September 11 attacks. Now, I understand that any game dealing with a terrorist attack is going to have that feeling, but here — it’s a bit overwhelming. As Wilson, you’re left racing around emblazoned wreckage, trying to find a way out as your friends and coworkers are dying around you.

Hydrophobia is filled with some of the most dramatic moments in recent games, and a good portion of that is as a result of the game’s HydroEngine, created exclusively for Hydrophobia. In simplest terms, the engine allows for water to move more realistically than ever before. As you’re racing though the ship, water begins to rush in and rise at a rapid and impressively realistic pace. The best part about the engine is that its completely unscripted which means that it acts differently during each play through depending on the environment.

So far so good right? If only the tense moments weren’t filled with mechanical issues and frustrating shortcuts taken by the developers. Chief among these concerns is the game’s unresponsive and nonsensical control scheme. When a game is built so tightly on edge-of-your-seat moments, the controls can’t lag, but sadly that’s the case throughout most of Hydrophobia. Take for instance a sequence where you’re asked to jump over a fiery balcony to a nearby section of scaffolding; the button combination they ask you to do is unnecessarily complicated and what’s worse, it sent me jumping the wrong way, into the fire.

The game also features a rather annoy pace. Go five feet, cutscene, go five feet…cutscene. Gaming is an interactive activity, and my pet peeve is when you we’re shown these cool sequences, but not allowed to do them. It makes me think — why can’t I do that? Add that to the fact that the game features very dated last gen visuals and you’re in for a a rather uninspired gaming experience.

Hydrophobia could have been a great game, hell — it could have been a great game, but instead, the developers decided to put in overly complex control schemes and frustrating gameplay elements. There’s a ton of awesome games on the Xbox Live Arcade like Limbo, Splosion Man and Trials HD, it just doesn’t make sense to spend your money on such a lackluster experience.

Sony has had the lock on truly original and experimental downloadable titles on their PlayStation Store since the start. Microsoft, on the other hand, has tended to play things more traditional side with their releases. Limbo, however, is a distinctive step to the dark and nontraditional side for the 360. At heart, the game is a simple, challenging puzzle-based platformer—and a good one—but the execution is anything but traditional.

Fans of the genre might feel nostalgic tugs toward the original innovators of the genre—Out of this World, Flashback, Heart of Darkness… All games that mixed platformer gameplay with intelligent and often extremely difficult puzzles, amidst a menace atmosphere. Limbo is absolutely an exercise in style more than anything else. The game takes simple, familiar gameplay into a dark, amazingly disturbing environment.

There’s no real set-up. In fact, the description in the Live store is the only real bit of information you’ll get on the game’s story. You play a young boy whose sister has disappeared into, presumably, Limbo, or at least some dark, horrible place where gory death is a constant companion.

Limbo is distinctive entirely due to its minimalistic presentation. The game is completely black and white. There’s almost no music at all, no dialogue, and the sound effects are nearly completely ambient in nature. The landscape is dark and depressing, and the aural effects are perfectly tuned to convey the stark nature of the game’s world.

Although the visuals might be simple, Limbo is still gorgeously macabre. The character animations are fluid, the eerie forests and bizarrely, primitive structures have just enough detail to invoke an almost primal sense of dread. This dread is further compounded by the main character. The nameless little boy you control might not be completely helpless—he’s a hell of a jumper and climber—but he’s still a child completely lost in a hostile environment.

The boy has no weapons except his wits, and the gameplay boils down to jumping, climbing, and pulling or pushing objects to continue onward. There’s no attack mechanism here, and the design of the game makes no special allowances for the poor kid. Brutal death is everywhere, especially since your first time through with be almost entirely reliant on gruesome trial and error.

Huge bear traps will pop the boy’s head off, trap spikes impale him, a giant spider will make a lunch out him, along with other traps and the frequent danger of drowning. Limbo is absolutely not a game for children. In fact, if there’s a chance a kid might run through the room while playing, it’s recommended to have the parental controls on, which make the constant deaths less graphically brutal.

If such matters aren’t an issue, the only real complaint in Limbo is its short and sudden nature. Thorough explorers will probably get to the end in, at most, four or five hours. Future playthroughs will likely take little more than an hour. The lack of any narrative structure means little resolve or explanation of the how and whys of this boy’s terrible, therapy-inducing journey. For a cheap downloadable game, such shortcomings are acceptable. But given just how polished, deep, and beautifully disturbing Limbo is, most gamers will be left wanting something more than merely a short exercise in demented atmosphere and puzzle-solving.

The Blast Factor: It’s hardly a terrible thing to say that players will love the game so much that they’ll be left wanting more. Such is the case with Limbo. It’s artistic, challenging, and, despite its utter sense of minimalism, more emotionally involving than almost any game you’re likely to find.

The first in a recently announced series of DLC packs coming up for the critcally acclaimed Red Dead Redemption, the ‘Legends and Killers’ pack will be released into the Wild West sometime in early August. It will feature 9 new multiplayer map locations – more than doubling the amount of territories in the existing multiplayer modes, 8 new multiplayer characters from Red Dead Revolver, and a new Tomahawk projectile weapon with corresponding Challenges/ Achievements/ Trophies for both single and multiplayer. It will run $9.99 on PSN or 800 MS Points on XBLA.

In case you haven’t logged on to Xbox Live or the Playstation Network this week, Electronic Arts and Hothead Games have made available a new game called DeathSpank.

DeathSpank is an action-RPG, which blends epic storytelling, addictive gameplay, a whole lot of humor, and randomly enough, evil chickens. The game was developed under the direction of Ron Gilbert, who’s otherwise known as the guy who created the amazing (and hilarious) The Secret of Monkey Island series, so I’ve got to imagine that it’s on-par with some of those great games.

“While DeathSpank is definitely one of the funnier games out there, it’s more than a one trick pony,” said Vlad Ceraldi, Director of Game Development for Hothead Games. “We’ve built a game with fast-paced, addictive combat set in a world that has a tremendous amount of depth that is filled with dynamic characters, colorful environments and tons of cool weapons and loot. And yes, we still have ponies too– trick ponies!”

DeathSpank is rated “T” for teen, and is available now via the PS Network for $14.99 or on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200 Microsoft points.
For more on DeathSpank, please visit, www.deathspank.com

Bethesda Softworks/id Software announced Wednesday that Doom II is now available for download on Xbox Live Arcade.

Doom II adds new weapons, monsters, and a mix of space, urban, and hellish environments over 32 levels. It is the classic PC title and part of one of the most popular video game franchises in history.

The Xbox Live edition comes complete with 5.1 surround sound, high-definition graphics, achievements, deathmatch and co-op play.

There are six new enemies and a brand new bonus chapter that’s never been seen before.

It can be downloaded for 800 points.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade, a download hot-spot for bite-sized games, had a stellar 2009, led by grand success of Battlefield: 1943.

According to research group Forecasting and Analysing Digital Entertainment (FADE), Microsoft is making bank off your digital dollars.

The research group reported XBLA revenue of $103.4 million for 2009, which represents a 34-percent spike from 2008. The group also reported the average price for an XBLA game jumped from $8.33 in 2008 to $9.12 in 2009, so that explains the overall jolt at least a little. The other key component? The games made available in 2009.

Trials HD, Shadow Complex, Battlefield: 1943 and others released on XBLA in 2009 and saw grand success, not to mention The Behemoth’s Castle Crashers, a 2008 runaway hit, still at the top of the charts.

FADE’s complete top ten for estimated XBLA sales in 2009 is below.

* Battlefield 1943 (EA Dice) – $12.5 million ($15.00)
* Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) – $7.3 million ($15.00)
* Trials HD (RedLynx, LTD) – $7.1 million ($15.00)
* Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment / Epic Games) – $6.1 million ($14.38)
* Family Game Night (Hasbro) – $4.2 million ($9.53)
* Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) – $4.2 million ($15.00)
* Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) – $2.8 million ($10.00)
* Worms 2 (Team 17) – $1.8 million ($10.00)
* Peggle (PopCap Games) – $1.8 million ($8.86)
* Turtles in Time: Reshelled (Ubisoft Singapore) – $1.7 million ($10.00)

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

It’s rainbow time! Rainbow Islands, one of the world’s most underrated platformers, has now made its way to the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade. For those who are unaware, Rainbow Islands is a sequel to the immensely popular Bubble Bobble, which was initially released in 1987 for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, among many other platforms.  Though I would be hard-pressed to say that Rainbow Islands is cuter than Bubble Bobble, this Taito Corporation title gives everyone its share of warm-and-fuzzies.  Hell, even the rating is cute: E for Everyone due to “Comic Mischief”.

The basic premise of the XBLA release, Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!, is similar to the original in that you must make your character climb as high as he can to escape the sinking city within a certain amount of time.  Using magical powers to create rainbows, players will be able to jump higher and higher, while also attacking dangerous enemies (such as caterpillars, mini-tanks and giant blue bees!) in the process.

The gameplay for Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is incredibly simple: pressing the B-button makes your character jump and the A-button makes your character shoot out a rainbow.  While it isn’t the most fluid gameplay, with a title that is based on clearing stages in limited time allowances, simple controls are more than welcome.

What I really like about Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is the fact that your character has no life meter, which has been replaced with a timer.  This timer counts down for every second spent enjoying the rainbow-ey goodness; when the timer runs out, the game is over.  Instead of losing life, being attacked by enemies results in a subtraction of time.  Likewise, when a player defeats an enemy, their character can collect not health, but more time.  I thought this was a very fun and imaginative way to make a game finite without bringing the whole life-and-death scenario into play.

Another somewhat unique thing about Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is the fact that the rainbow magic can be used as both a climbing tool and a weapon against the evildoers that have overrun the town.  This becomes especially helpful when a platform you are jumping to is a bit out of your jumping range as you can just shoot a rainbow, use it as a stepping stool and be on your merry way.  Advantageously timed rainbows will allow players to jump higher, get rid of enemies and let your character collect the bonuses your fallen foes have dropped.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is also full of entertaining game modes as well, complete with Story, Challenge, Time Attack and Xbox Live Match modes.  In Story mode, players take control of Bub and Bob, whom were also the protagonists in previous games.  Bub and Bob must escape the city before the evil Dr. Crescent submerges it compeletely.  Bub and Bob will be able to collect gems throughout the game that will help them do a super move that can combat Dr. Crescent and his large destructive ship.  This mode can be played in single player and two-player cooperative styles.  In Challenge mode, players simply try to get as high as they can with a set number of lives, while Time Attack mode tests players’ speed by seeing how quickly they can complete a stage.  In Xbox Live Match mode, players race against other Xbox Live users on certain levels.

In the Challenge and Time Attack modes, players can actually use their Xbox Live avatars to take part in the action.  Unfortunately, those are the only modes that this feature is available in.  One could imagine that letting Xbox Live users incorporate their avatars would increase the entertainment value of both Rainbow Islands and the avatars themselves, but obviously the developers seemed to go in a different direction.  To many, this will seem like a pretty simple idea that was just not capitalized on for whatever reason.

In terms of aesthetics, this game brings as many colorful graphics as you would expect from an old school Japanese platformer inspired by rainbows.  At first look, players may confuse this title with one of the Sonic games for Sega Genesis as they seem to be designed with very similar graphics and stylization.  Each of the levels has many different shades and tones of pastels, while the enemies look like cute and colorful toys in lieu of anything threatening.  I wouldn’t consider this a negative, however, as I think most of use fell in love with Bubble Bobble for more than its gameplay.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! implements what many gamers have referred to as "2.5D" graphics, which is a sort of blend between the 2D and 3D styles.  Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is a good example of this because of the use of 2D scrolling environments and 3D character models.  Though I think 2.5D is a good strategy, especially for updating older games like Rainbow Islands, I thought the stylization of this title was a bit lackluster.  I’ve seen many iPhone adaptations of old games that make Rainbow Island: Towering Adventure!’s graphics pale in comparison.  For a system like the Xbox 360, I think the look of this game could have been stepped up at least one or two notches.

Blast Factor: Overall, Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure is as cute a game as you’ll find in the Xbox Live Arcade.  However, with flaws in the aesthetics, gameplay and general development of the game, it’s hardly the best value one can find.  For fans of the original, coughing up 800 points (about $10) will probably not sound too bad.  For everyone else, it’s probably not worth it.

Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! is available for 800 Microsoft Points on the Xbox Live Arcade. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

It’s almost time for The Warriors to come out and play.

Thanks to the folks Paramount Digital Entertainment, soon Xbox 360 owners will be able to feel like they are inside one of the most beloved cult classic films of all time.‚  Starting sometime in September, gamers will be able to buy The Warriors: Street Brawl on Xbox Live Arcade for a mere 800 Points.

However, before we get too excited, a thorough examination of the features and gameplay must be performed.

Luckily, Paramount Digitial Entertainment was kind enough to let me have an intimate, hands-on preview with The Warriors: Street Brawl.‚  Below are some of my thoughts, impressions and gathered information of the upcoming Paramount title.

First, let’s have a little refresher course on what exactly The Warriors movie is all about.‚  Released in 1979, The Warriors is a film based around a gang of the same name.‚  During a gang summit in New York City, Cyrus, leader of The Gramercy Riffs, the most feared and respected gang in New York, was assassinated during his speech.‚  Wrongfully accused as the murders, The Warriors must make their way through the streets of New York and reach the safety of their home turf, fighting numerous other gangs in the process.

Making a video game from a movie of this fashion is no easy task, but Paramount did a service for The Warriors: Street Brawl by implementing the most logical game style for the title: side-scrolling brawler.‚  With this approach, players can get a true feel of what The Warriors movie was all about.‚  Whether it is used to introduce new fans to the film or just for old fans to get a closer look at the action, the side-scrolling style of Street Brawl is a perfect fit for a game inspired by a film such as The Warriors.

I really liked the dynamic nature of the side scrolling, as well.‚  As I fought my way through groups of Baseball Furies and Turnbull AC’s, I noticed that the screen would zoom in and out as I progressed through the level.‚  This would allow the side scrolling to be functional while also being something other than boring.

The makers of The Warriors: Street Brawl also did their due diligence in regards to staying accurate to the movie that inspired it.‚  When starting a new game, players can select from some of the main members of The Warriors, including Swan, Cochise, Vermin or Rembrandt.‚  Each of these characters will have certain strengths and weaknesses in their speed, strength and fighting style, which could greatly help them in their quest to get back to Coney Island.‚  Also, the environments and enemies also come straight from the film as well.

Speaking of environments, I’d have to say that the backgrounds for Street Brawl were probably my favorite parts of the game.‚  Each environment had a very gritty, dark comic book feel to them, making it clear that my character was traveling through a very dangerous place.‚  The fights taking place on the subway and in the subway station were by far the most detailed and intriguing backgrounds I’ve seen in a side-scroller in a long, long time.

However, not everything in Street Brawl was quite as aesthetically pleasing as the environments.‚  What especially stuck out to me as a let down were the character models.‚  Unlike the game’s backgrounds, the character models were very bland and lacked detail.‚  The motions of Cochise, the Warrior I chose to play with, were scripted in a way that made every attack and step seemed unnatural and stiff.‚  A special move that stuck out in my mind (a long-reaching spinning kick) looked good, but fell short of redeeming the overall motion flaws in Street Brawl.‚  Perhaps I’m overlooking they comic book stylization of the game or maybe I’m just simply spoiled by my experiences with Battlefield 1943, but it just seems like XBLA games should have better graphics than what I saw with Street Brawl.

Still, I think the main entertainment value from The Warriors: Street Brawl will not come from the way the game looks, but how the game plays.‚  Street Brawl is a title that uses very simple controls.‚  Toggling the X, Y, A and B buttons serve as a medium to punch, kick and pull of special moves.‚  Players will also be able to pick up and use weapons, such as knives, bats, crowbars, 2×4′s and pool cues, to deal more damage against the rival gangs.

Street Brawl also has a wide variety of game modes.‚  First, there is the campaign.‚  Though I only got to play the single-player campaign, Street Brawl has single player, local multiplayer and Xbox Live co-op campaign modes.‚  As described towards the beginning of this preview, campaign allows players select a character and fight their way through New York and reach the safety of Coney Island.‚  Each player will be able to accumulate points by defeating enemies, picking up bonus items (rings, coins, gems) and advancing further into the game.‚  Players must continuously fight throughout the campaign or else the AI will punish you for stalling by sending in many enemy reinforcements.‚  Also, the longer you can survive through the campaign, the more characters you can unlock and fight with in future Street Brawl sessions.‚  Other game modes include Boss mode and Versus mode.‚  Boss mode lets players fight every boss they’ve seen in the campaign in succession.‚  This allows players to be immediately challenged without having to complete the entire campaign again.‚  Versus mode allows players to fight their friends to see who is the most skilled gang member.

Overall, The Warriors: Street Brawl looks like it could be a pretty swell XBLA title.‚  Running for just 800 Points (about $10), Street Brawl wont convince people to buy an Xbox 360, but it is an affordable option for those who don’t want to buy an entire $60 game.‚  Fans of those classic SNES and Sega Genesis side-scroller titles should keep an eye out for Street Brawl in September.‚  Those who are not quite familiar with the genre might want to just check out the demo.

And, well, for the true fans of The Warriors, the question isn’t whether or not they will buy Street Brawl.‚  The real question is: Can they dig it?

Get your hiking gear ready — we’ve got conquesting to do.

Sierra Online, the studio behind a number of Xbox Live titles including Switchball and Assault Heroes 2 announced Monday that it would be bringing popular card game Lost Cities to the Xbox Live Arcade this spring.

Designed in 1999, Lost Cities places players in the shoes of explores as they lead expeditions to one of the game’s five “lost cities” (The Himalayas, The Brazilian Rain Forrest, The Dessert Sands, The Ancient Volcanoes and Neptune’s Realm).

Lost Cities is widely known as a fast-paced game, with anywhere from 2-4 participants playing and discarding cards representing each of the expeditions. When a player or team decides to undertake an expedition, it garners points by playing a series of increasing value.

Lost Cities won the 2000 International Gamers Award, given to the best in strategy board and historical simulation games. More information on the rules of Lost Cities can be found at Funagaingames.com

Just a short post this Saturday morning.

Sierra has released new screenshots and a brand new trailer for Assault Heroes 2.

“Re-imagined for an even more intense arcade shooter experience, the Assault Heroes 2 game expands its horizons into outer space,” Sierra Online said in a statement this week. “New features include hi-jackable enemy vehicles, many more levels and an enhanced co-operative gameplay mode.”

The Wanako Studios-developed sequel to the hit arcade game will launch in the spring on Xbox Live Arcade.

Sierra announced today that anticipated space combat game Battlestar Galactica will hit stores Oct. 23 and come to Xbox Live Arcade on Oct. 24.

“Leading up to the launch of the game, fans of the series can also watch Razor Flashbacks on www.scifi.com/battlestar that will whet their appetites for the upcoming SCI FI Channel special two-hour Battlestar Galactica episode: Razor. Razor, which will serve as a backdrop for the events of season four of Battlestar Galactica,” the company said in a statement today.

Game features:

• Single-Player Campaign — Pilot various ships and complete 10 memorable missions from the TV series.
• Multiplayer Game Mode — Play online in this relentless space-based action shooter in Domination, Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes. (8 players on Xbox LIVE Arcade and 16 players on Windows PC)
• Legendary Spaceships — Fly 4 Human and 4 Cylon ships from the Viper II to the Cylon Raider, each with unique weapon capabilities.
• Special Weapons — Coordinate attacks with an arsenal of destructive weapons including the missiles, guns and more.
• Defensive Maneuvers — Avoid annihilation with the barrel roll, flip turn and other aerial moves.

The game is rated E-10+ and will be available for $19.99. The Xbox Live Arcade version of the game will cost 800 Microsoft points.