When we first heard that Full House Poker would be at the tail end of XBLA’s spring showcase Block Party alongside the likes of Beyond Good and Evil HD, Torchlight and the spiritual successor to Contra, we were a bit skeptical. After all, how does a virtually unknown poker title fall in with blockbusters like these gems? To our pleasant surprise, the answer is very well.
Gameplay
The primary gameplay of Full House Poker isn’t very different from other standard Texas Hold ‘Em poker games. While the button layout differs, it feels pretty standard to real life poker tournaments. Players have the option to hit, hold and fold in normal play with the added bonus of fast forwarding once they have folded out instead of being forced to watch the rest of the hand play out.
One added feature is the ability to play with emotion. Using the left or right triggers, players can bluff their confidence or anxiety about the moves they make in hopes of both the computer or real life opponents may buy into. Using this creatively can give players an advantage if they properly taunt their competitors into bad plays to take the pot.
Added to Full House Poker however adds the concept of experience points and leveling to poker. Now, don’t worry. This isn’t an RPG-like system where going up levels will earn players perks or special abilities that make players better at poker. Instead, it works as a reward system. For every hand a player deals in on, they earn experience.
Winning hands earns further experience along with risky and smart plays that pan out in their favor. As levels increase, new titles, decks, tables, decor, avatar costumes and game rooms themselves unlock. Not counting in game avatar costumes, there are already 93 unlockable rewards for players to attain.
In December, the Flickcast was happy to reveal that Twisted Pixel Games had announced a new member of the ‘Splosion family with Ms. ‘Splosion Man. Without seeing actual gameplay footage though, one major concern did come up. Would Ms ‘Splosion Man just be more of the same with a pink coat of paint? From what we can tell from the GDC demo (see below) this isn’t the case. While the core mechanics of ‘Splosion Man haven’t changed (i.e. blowing up), it looks like a whole new level of complexity has gone into the levels.
New traps, tactics and tools look like they await in the levels of Ms. Splosion Man. It does look like certain characters and bosses will be making their return as well alongside movie quotes and Twisted Pixel’s eccentric sense of humor.
Check out the full gallery and gameplay trailers after the jump.
Sometimes players say they want something completely different to turn a franchise on its head. That’s when they wind up with Bomberman: Act Zero. Other times, players just want an upgraded version of the same game like they get with yearly iterations to the Madden franchise. That’s when they get Bomberman Battlefest. Sadly there are times when the minimalist approach don’t give a strong enough reason for old players to come back.
Gameplay:
The basics of Bomberman and why it has always been fun have not changed. Players start at various locations on a grid map where they set bombs that launch fire in up, down, left and right of the bomb’s location. At first, players are only able to set one bomb at a time which only spreads one tile in each direction and once a bomb is placed it is stuck there. If the fire hits a player, they die. Simplistic as this concept is, it quickly gets turned on its head with the inclusion of any of the myriad of powerups that expand the distance a bomb explodes, increases the number of bombs a player can set or changes the effect of a specific bomb being placed.
There has been a definite theme of cute and quirky family friendly games with the releases of Games for the Holidays. The final game in this cross promotional trilogy is ilomilo. ilomilo is the story of two tiny friends who wake up every day at opposite ends of an ever changing park and spend much of their time making their way through obstacles to reach each other. This puzzler can be played with either one or two players and takes a simple concept and put its own imaginative spin on it.
Gameplay:
ilomilo starts off each level with ilo and milo on two opposite ends of a complex structure of interconnected blocks. Moving only one at a time, ilo and milo must alternate moving various objects in the environment around to aid the other in meeting at a center point.
A simple enough sounding concept right? Well the level designers took this and ran with it in a way that they were able to create some incredibly challenging puzzles along the game’s 49 levels.
Some blocks pop out and block the way while others can be picked up and moved, extending bridges or launching ilo and milo over gaps. Through the levels, ilo and milo are guided by their friend Sebastian as they not only attempt to reach each other, but collect hordes of, well, collectibles along the way. These collectibles unlock music and artwork as well as other stages and pieces of letters that help further explain the backstory of ilo and milo’s friendship.
Raskulls has been one of those XBLA titles coming in just under the radar since its initial reaction at GDC 2010. With only an image of the game’s iconic King who is also featured prominently on the game’s artwork and the simple minded Dragon, Raskulls has made its way to consoles with an underground following, having been mostly promoted through trade shows such as E3 or PAX. It wasn’t until December when it was announced as a part of the cross promotional Games for the Holidays from XBox Live Arcade alongside ilomiloand World of Keflingsthat people found out that Halfbrick meant business when they were coming up with Raskulls.
Gameplay:
At first glance, Raskulls looks like a simple side-scrolling racing game. Even in the first seconds of the game, players will quickly realize this is far from the case. Similar to a game like DigDug, players are able to blast out bricks next to them to carve a path across maps. Unlike DigDug, Raskulls is an incredibly fast paced game where up to four players at a time are smashing through series of bricks while combating each other with special bonus item powers as bricks topple down around them at the same time.
The most basic modes of Raskulls revolve around racing. Players must either face off against single or multiple opponents or in a timed checkpoint race, hoping to earn the fastest time to success. These races can be compared to a platforming version of Mario Kart. A player is never really down and out as obstacles often impede whoever is in first place to give others a fighting chance. All the while, various weapons are deployed to help stun opponents or blow blocks out of the way faster.
Last year, we took a more traditional approach with our Best Video Games of 2009 article with categories such as Best Music Game or Best Action Platformer. This year we are going to depart from the traditional and give what we think are categories that truly deserve to be rewarded their due.
The ultimate “What If” scenario brought forth to one of the best games of 2010, “What if the undead invaded the old west?” And the answer doesn’t just involve a lot of people dying. There are horses of the apocalypse, big foot, some hard choices to be made and people turning on or abandoning their fellow man left and right.
This awesome story told over the revamped look of Red Dead Redemption using characters players have already grown to know, love or despise makes Undead Nightmare not only the best zombie game of 2010 but also the best exmple of DLC for the entire year as well.
Were you ever one of those people who enjoyed Warcraft or Starcraft where you spent all your time building up an epic base with fully upgraded squads only to become annoyed when a group of invaders would come by and disturb your perfect little kingdom? Well, if so, then A World of Keflingsmay be the perfect title for you. And there is no pesky Zerg rush to worry about.
Gameplay:
A World of Keflings brings together the charm of the original Kingdom for Keflings title using a player’s dashboard Avatar to manage resources, build structures and assign tasks to three different locations of the Kefling world. A player begins their career as a hulking giant amongst a world of pintsized Keflings which they can interact with by either emoting, assigning to jobs or kicking. While the kicking can be entertaining at times, anyone with a heart will begin to feel bad for mistreating their miniature friends, especially once they have begun giving them names.
Instead, most of the time is spent either assigning jobs to Keflings like mining ice, transporting ore or sheering sheep. A player can also perform any of these actions themselves with the added benefit of their size. While a smaller Kefling may only carry a few of an item, the player can carry larger amounts. This becomes a great benefit when massive undertakings like new buildings must be completed.
Both the player and Keflings can be upgraded during the course of play, with witch’s potions improving the player’s attributes and Keflings leveling up over time by repetition of the same task. These upgrades become beneficial as structures begin requiring more advanced materials to complete. And of course, if a Kefling isn’t working hard or fast enough, there is always the option of kicking them into shape.
Players are also given a group of special larger Keflings who act as personal assistants. As a player progresses, more of this family is unlocked. These Keflings will help carry building components and stockpiles of resources behind a player, allowing for faster construction. Once a player has completed a structure, the helpers will be able to complete buildings on their own by mimicking what they saw a player do based on the blueprints at hand.
Last week, Microsoft Games Studios revealed their big holiday push for XBox Live Arcade with three unique, quirky titles. The three games, World of Keflings (December 22nd), Raskulls (December 29th) and ilomilo (January 5th) will not only be coming out in the heart of the holiday season, but they will all be tied together, a first for the downloadable platform.
As you will see in the trailer below, all the titles will feature cameos from characters from the other games. In ilomilo, characters can be dressed up as Keflings while the Raskulls can be invited to live in the Keflings world.
Check out all of the new trailers for XBox Live’s upcoming holiday games after the jump.
Not to toot our own horn but the second internally we heard about a new project being announced from Twisted Pixel that we were told we wouldn’t want to “miss”, we knew Ms. ‘Splosion Man was on her way and we couldn’t be happier.
Twisted Pixel has shown they have what it takes to produce top rate games on the XBLA platform including the original ‘Splosion Man, the Maw and Comic Jumper. Now, it seems fitting that they finally jump into the world of sequels with their highest rated and arguably most successful title.
Taking a page from the classic Pac-Man formula, Ms. ‘Splosion Man adds a bow and some pink to the original star to create an entirely new experience. Actually, the experience isn’t that different but it becomes more polished and hopefully adds more ours of fun to the original formula.
Make sure to check out the full press release below, written in Twisted Pixel’s unique and only slightly disturbed sense of humor detailing the “inadvertent creation” of Ms. ‘Splosion Man and look at the first teaser trailer as well.
Stick to the Flickcast for more on Ms. Splosion Man as details become available.
Dead Rising 2was easily one of the most fun games of the past year to come out. Aside from the series’ signature creative violence, part of what helped hype the game was the XBox Live exclusive Dead Rising: Case Zero. The prequel to the events of Dead Rising 2, Case Zero help set the stage for the unique father / infected daughter relationship that would drive the events of Fortune City.
Dead Rising 2: Case West looks to continue the downloadable trend by filling in the events that take place after Dead Rising 2 but also letting players catch up with their favorite war covering and zombie invasion surviving photo journalist Frank West. Frank, the protagonist from the first Dead Rising, will fight alongside DR2′s Chuck Green. There will apparantly be some cameos from survivors of Dead Rising which will also help explain the events that happened in between the two games further.
Returning to the DR fold will be Frank’s signature camera (as well as a disposable for Chuck). Just like capturing PP in the first DR with awkwardly posed zombies and rampaging psychopaths, we hope Dead Rising: Case West gives us that same photogenic eye.
Dead Rising 2: Case West won’t strictly be a co-op experience though. Capcom has revealed that if a player wants to go through the game solo, Frank will be controlled by computer AI. And while AI of survivors has been the leading cause of their deaths in the past, Frank won’t be able to be killed as long as he is under computer control.
Stick to the Flickcast for more coverage on Dead Rising 2: Case West when it comes out next month on XBox Live Arcade.
Pinball FX 2 is the most recent XBLA release from Zen Studios and a followup to their 2007 homage to the classic pinball arcade coin op machines of bowling alleys and arcades past. The game goes for a realistic feel in both gameplay and visuals and stops itself from becoming too videogamey. With the exception of a few changes in camera angle for special instances, nothing is really present to distract from the actual pinball experience players are expecting.
Gameplay:
Pinball FX 2 feels like a real classic pinball machine. The controls couldn’t be simpler. The bumpers on the controller act the same way the side buttons on the classic arcade machines would as players spend hours trying to rack up obnoxiously high scores that few ever achieve on a variety of tables. A player can also tap the analog stick to shake the table, but as with a real machine doing so too much will cause a tilt, ending the players turn.
The tables of Pinball FX2 all do a good job of differentiating themselves from each other with very different layouts and puzzles. Some are more challenging with increasingly varied puzzles while others are smaller in scale. The nice thing is players get the chance to try out tables before they purchase them. Since the game takes an a la carte approach, players aren’t forced to purchase more than they want with tables only costing about $2.50 each.
Games have just gotten too easy. It’s a fact. Back in the NES days, players were given limited health alongside limited lives in an effort to have players spend more time playing levels over and over again due to the limited amount of space available on the game cartridges.
Now, gamers seem to be all about instant gratification. They want to race through levels in record time so they can move on to the next game. Super Meat Boy bucks that trend by providing one of the most challenging and entertaining games to come to the XBox Live Arcade since N+ or Braid.
Gameplay:
When talking about Super Meat Boy, it is impossible to mention it without discussing the game’s unusually high level of difficulty. In many games, it could be said that difficult stages or areas are unfairly created to hinder a player’s progress, such as the trials during Dante’s Inferno that required unrealistic combo scores and other such tasks. Super Meat Boy on the other hand is a rewardingly challenging experience.
Literally only being able to run and jump, players must traverse levels as Super Meat Boy (or various other unlockable indy characters) to reach their girlfriend Band-Aid Girl. When playing Super Meat Boy, you will die. A lot. There is no health and one wrong move on your part spells splattered meat being rained across the level. It is just how the game is designed. Luckily, most levels can be beaten with a perfect run through in roughly thirty seconds. So while it may take ten minutes to make it through a level, the levels themselves are not long at all.
The controls are basic but very right. Holding jump longer makes Meat Boy jump further while adding in a run first extends the distance even more. Meat Boy can slide down walls and wall jump due to his sticky composition. But our squishy friend has no natural defenses to the buzzsaws, lava, jelly-like creatures or walls of salt and hypodermic needles that cover the maps. One touch and he’s gone. But the way the game controls, it never feels like it isn’t your fault when you die.
A player knows they are to blame for their own demise and as a result, completion of these levels feels increasingly rewarding instead of cripplingly painful. Even more rewarding is watching a replay of all your little Meat Boys traversing the level after completing one letting you see just what mistakes you made during your play through and seeing just what your perfect run looked like.
When we first heard that Full House Poker would be at the tail end of XBLA’s spring showcase Block Party alongside the likes of Beyond Good and Evil HD, Torchlight and the spiritual successor to Contra, we were a bit skeptical. After all, how does a virtually unknown poker title fall in with blockbusters like these gems? To our pleasant surprise, the answer is very well.
Sometimes players say they want something completely different to turn a franchise on its head. That’s when they wind up with Bomberman: Act Zero. Other times, players just want an upgraded version of the same game like they get with yearly iterations to the Madden franchise. That’s when they get Bomberman Battlefest. Sadly there are times when the minimalist approach don’t give a strong enough reason for old players to come back.
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