Loading ...
Archive for the ‘Arcade’ Category
Though a bit late, we finally managed to get our hands on FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage (FlatOut UC) after it made the jump from being a game on the Xbox 360 almost an year back to being a PC port now. Does it manage to retain all the fun the series has been synonymous with while driving down to the PC platform? We gave it a test ride to find it for ourselves.
Although we love our sims, here at The ANGRY Pixel, once in a while, we need an escape from all the reality around us. After battling miles upon miles of crazy Bangalore rush-hour, it feels strangely soothing to jump into a game that allows you to jump over cliffs and do crazy back-flips, all at the same time. There is nothing more exhilarating then to soar over the top of the trees, let go of the handle and do something stupidly amazing. So while we can’t do any of this stuff without losing a few limbs, thank God for games like Pure that allow us to escape from the reality into the world where everything, almost everything is possible.
2007 was a good year for racing games. Fans weren’t exactly spoilt for choice, but it was more a case of quality over quantity. There was something for everyone; Forza Motorsport 2 for the purists and car enthusiasts, DiRT for some off-road escapades and the best car damage ever, and the highly underrated and overlooked PGR4 with its addictive pick-up-and-play approach.
Like in most other genres in 2007, the Xbox 360 came out on top here was well. Forza 2 and PGR4 were exclusive to Microsoft’s console, while DiRT came to the PlayStation 3 months after it did on the Xbox 360.
But 2008 is a new year, and it’s already off to a smashing start – literally. Here’s a look at what racing fans can look forward to in 2008. Once again, there’s something for everyone – simulation, arcade and even some combat racing. And Sony fanboys can finally stop sulking now, because from the looks like it, the PS3 has got some heavy-hitters lining up on the grid.
I can tell what you’re pondering. No, I know what you’re pondering. Here you are, setting idly in your chair and skimming through random game message boards. The howls and cries of the current console generation are anywhere and everywhere, whether its about how balls-to-the-wall it is too see how much Nathan Drake can get his shirt-wet in gorgeous wide-screen high-definition or the municipal assertion that the waggle generation is here to stay, just so long no one has to endure Nintendo’s smutty online service for too long. Yeah, you’ve been there. But not too long back, you were rubbing your thumbs red over a console that reserved a special place in your heart for more than 7 years. Good times! Wonderful times! And now they’ve departed.
“If only there were still some new games to play,” you think to yourself.
Splendidly, it so happens that this April will be seeing several titles released on the PS2, and if you find yourself curious (and you should be), you’ll want to thank – who else – but Japan (or at least the company Atlus for publishing certain titles)! After all, it’s the only country in the world that still has an extensive backlog of games that most people haven’t even heard about.
“Wait, wouldn’t mean they were too crappy for public ingestion or…”
Quiet, you! Now hit the jump like a good munchkin.
Back in 2007, Penny Arcade released their “We’re Right” Awards, stating the best writing, soundtrack and new game mechanic awards. Predictably, the winner for all of them was Portal – something that we and many other gamers agreed on back then.
However despite this, it is in my opinion that at the very least, I have made a grave error. Portal’s story, despite being an amazing adventure with a compelling story and some of the best characters around (not to mention being responsible for spawning quite a few internet memes) was NOT the best story of 2007. It was NOT the best writing of the year, surprisingly.
So you may ask, what pray tell was the best story of 2007? What game could be better than GLaDOS or those incredibly cute turrets that let out the innocent “Whyyyyy?” whenever you toppled them over? Was it Bioshock? Andrew Ryan and Rapture were awesome after all. Was it maybe C&C 3? If those were your guesses, then I’m afraid your dead wrong. Hit the jump to find out just which game managed to trump GLaDOS and was an even bigger lie than the cake.
I’ve forgotten how painful Xbox LIVE can be when it completely refuses to behave – a memory that was more than brought to the front again the last couple of weeks, after my Halo 3 experience sank down the drain because LIVE thought it would be really hilarious to drop me from the match when I least expected it. But to make up for all those lost days on LIVE, and to coincide with the first Xbox LIVE Arcade community awards, Microsoft had announced a couple of days back that the award-winning Aquanox-meets-Unreal Tournament Domination underwater shooter Undertow would be made available to all Gold and Silver members from Wednesday through Sunday. As announced, the game, regularly priced at 800 MS Points, is now available for free download to everyone on Xbox LIVE until Monday, 28 January, 2008 1:30 PM IST.
Now, while I appreciate the gesture, I just can’t condone the fact that this game is taking the place of a regular Xbox LIVE Arcade release every Wednesday, not to mention that the LIVE service isn’t working right even now, after a whole damn month of problems. And what’s worse is that the game, apparently an appeasement for a service that wasn’t working the way it was supposed to (10 million new subscribers notwithstanding) has a small download window on it, after which it reverts to selling for its usual 800 points. Why not run the promotion for at least a week? Wouldn’t it have been better to have users register themselves at the Xbox.com page and get 800 Points instead of having a game thrust onto them that they may already have or not really want?
And what about the Indian Xbox LIVE users who might have already bought the game? We called up Xbox Support today morning and when we got through to a rep, we dropped the bomb and asked Microsoft about what happens to people who have already paid for Undertow. After acting completely clueless about the whole thing at first, and after reintroducing us to the annoying hold music for some time, they came back and said that they would indeed credit the 800 points into our account once they verified our Download History to make sure we had bought the game before yesterday. So, if you’ve already bought the arcade game, then all you have to do is call the Xbox support lines listed here, give them your gamertags and get your 800 points to spend as you please. You lucky dogs you!
Mix in the speedy loop-dee-loops of F-Zero, the block-matching of Tetris Attack, and the psychedelic funkorama that is Frequency. Do all that, and have it done on whichever song you’d like. Invisible Handlebar’s AudioSurf is like that (well, close enough) and more. In fact, I’ve already laid down the defenses on this one. It’s all I played yesterday from my day off work, and I’m stilling playing it now knowing I’ll have to get ready in a few hours. But no! Every second wasted is every second not being put into trying some other mega-repetitive J-Pop track with it, and seeing what happens. Which is why I’ll have to resort to a quick quote from the developer’s home page and condense enough effort for this blog post to go and play more AudioSurf. It’s all descriptive and shit, assuredly.
In Audiosurf, you race down a futuristic and colorful highway. The highway, the traffic patterns, and the scenery are all synchronized to the music you have chosen from your own collection. You earn points for clustering together cars of the same color on the highway, and can compete with others on the internet for the high score on your favorite songs. Audiosurf builds a highway for any music CD, MP3, iTunes M4A, WMA, or OGG song you choose, so the experience that you have is totally up to you.
Great. Mission accomplished. Now that you know what’s the whole deal, here comes the part where I hastily drop a download link and scamper off for another play session. Starting here.
Gah, me and my big fat motor. Oh well, February is just around the corner. I think I’ll be able to handle not having to murder any first-borns before then. I’ve been practicing!
Arctic Quest is a simple puzzle-solving game, where you finish each board by collecting falling crystals from the sky and placing it on the board. Once you finish a board, you move on to the next level. The boards take the shape of different animals, or according to the developers “…other tropical wonders.”
Azangara is a pretty neat arcade adventure game. You play the role of a sombrero wearing hombre, on the run to gather hidden treasure from castles in the long lost land of Azangara. The dark castles are littered with an assortment of monsters, puzzles and traps that make your life harder. Find keys to doors or force them open with crowbars to reach an exit while collecting as much as booty as you can on the way. The whole point of the game is to explore enough of the castle to gather all of the collectibles to get a high score.
I had promised myself that I would write a review a day on whatever game Giveaway of the Day… well, gives away (be it good or bad). So on with it!
Ok, so what’s on today’s menu? A small 3D Breakout clone by the name of Real Ball 2, developed and published by Arcadebird. Real Ball 2 looked promising as it started out, reminding me a lot of the old, original Breakout games to DX-Ball to Ricochet.