Live Arcade Games

[Shannon]

Anyone know what Sonic's achievements are?

 

http://www.achieve360points.com/game/sonic...gehoghighspeed/

 

Wow... Thanks for that link. I was gonna ask if there was any site that covered the 360's achievement lists. Because I could not find anything covering the lego star wars achievements on the gamefaqs. All the links pointed to PS2, and Cube faqs. I thought it'd be kinda cool to have a site with that kind of info.

 

Drat.. looks like they don't really give tips on completing some of the levels without dying. Some of them are rather hard to do.

 

In regards to the Sonic game. They are doing exactly what I thought would have been a cool idea with the x-port emu's on the xbox. Have some sorta achievement function tied into the emu (or leaderboards). Anyways to tie achievements into the monitoring of an emulated game is kinda cool. I also noticed when viewing the achievements you can bring up other gamers achivement lists for comparison, etc. Pretty cool.

Edited July 14, 2007 by Shannon

[moycon]

Drat.. looks like they don't really give tips on completing some of the levels without dying. Some of them are rather hard to do.

 

There are tips from other people who have gotten the achievment in the forums.

Each game has it's own forum. Good stuff.

 

I just noticed in addition to Bomberman Live , Konami's Yie Ar Kung Fu will be available this coming week as well. It features the original and an enhanced version for 400 points.

Edited July 15, 2007 by moycon

[Gabriel]

I bought Golden Axe. Here are some more typical Gabriel observations.

 

Firstly, it helps to look at the options screen and see what's on and what's off. It turns out the graphics are normally set with Smoothing equal to Off and Improved Sound equal to Off. Luckily, Golden Axe is one of those games which looks primitive, but doesn't really look bad. It's not anywhere near as pixelated as Double Dragon, and I think it looks better than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It's pixely, but not overwhelmingly so. As for the sound, it has that old arcade charm. So, what happens when you turn on smoothing and remixed sound? Well, if you turn on smoothing the game changes to look like rough watercolors. Everything is a blurry smear. So, smoothing is a total loss. The remixed sound fares a bit better, but is just different rather than any kind of improvement. It sounds as if they took the CD audio from the SegaCD release of Golden Axe and just stuck it in this game. In short, one of the enhanced features is a total wash and the other is negligible.

 

The game itself plays fairly well. I have a bit of trouble with double tapping the pad in order to run. The biggest shock was the shortness of the game. See, I haven't played the arcade Golden Axe in a long time, much less beaten it recently. It turns out that the home version had a whole additional level beyond the point where the arcade game ends. So, I beat the game and wait to be told that I've defeated Death Adder's body double, only to see the ending of the game. I was more than a bit surprised.

 

The game features unlimited continues, or I think it does. I didn't run into any continue limitation, and I suck. For those who care about achievements, they're all really easy except the one requiring you to beat the game without using a continue. Local and Online multiplayer are there.

 

Now for the inevitable comparison. How does Golden Axe on Live Arcade stack up against Golden Axe from the Genesis (available on the Sega Genesis Collection for PS2 and PSP as well as a Wii Virtual Console download)? That's a very strange question to answer. Golden Axe Arcade is a richer audiovisial experience. Both are similar in gameplay, but Genesis Golden Axe is customized for home play as well as having a longer quest. Golden Axe for the Genesis was a damn fine port AND improvement. I don't think I ever fully appreciated that until now. I give the slight edge to the Genesis Golden Axe. The extra level after saving the king and queen (or whoever they are) adds that little extra oomph to the game.

 

Yeah, I'm flip-flopping on my implicit stance that the arcade versions are always better than the old home ports. For this one, at least. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt to have both versions.

[Jess Ragan]

So when is Minter's Confetti-Mania (er, Space Giraffe) coming to the Xbox 360? I'm morbidly curious about that game, and might buy it even if it fills the screen with blinding debris 70% of the time like most of his other games.

 

JR

[Flojomojo]

So when is Minter's Confetti-Mania (er, Space Giraffe) coming to the Xbox 360? I'm morbidly curious about that game, and might buy it even if it fills the screen with blinding debris 70% of the time like most of his other games.

I think the official answer is "it's comong out when it comes out." According to Minter's blog, it's been done for a while and it's just going through what seems like scads of paperwork and internal review at Microsoft.

 

Shouldn't be long now, I hope!

[StormSurge]

Anyone know what Sonic's achievements are?

 

http://www.achieve360points.com/game/sonic...gehoghighspeed/

 

Wow... Thanks for that link. I was gonna ask if there was any site that covered the 360's achievement lists. Because I could not find anything covering the lego star wars achievements on the gamefaqs. All the links pointed to PS2, and Cube faqs. I thought it'd be kinda cool to have a site with that kind of info.

 

Drat.. looks like they don't really give tips on completing some of the levels without dying. Some of them are rather hard to do.

 

 

Like Moycon said, check the forums. Also, each game has a page & most games have an achievement guide.

 

As for Lego Star Wars, most undefeated achievements can be earned by using a ghost Jedi. Just make sure not to fall off of anything. Also, the ghost Jedi won't help on the flying missions.

[Gabriel]

Those dreading Wing Commander Arena can mark their calendars for this Wednesday. Super Contra should be arriving as well.

[Flojomojo]

Those dreading Wing Commander Arena can mark their calendars for this Wednesday. Super Contra should be arriving as well.

I guess I was dreading it before, but the brief look at WCA in the Live Arcade montage from E3 looked pretty nice. Maybe it was because they used a mostly first-person perspective for it. I'll probably end up getting it, since it looks like a fun little game, even though it's not "true" Wing Commander.

[Atariboy]

After finishing up the first two Wing Commanders in recent weeks, I think I'll pass since it doesn't really seem like a Wing Commander game.

[Flojomojo]

After finishing up the first two Wing Commanders in recent weeks, I think I'll pass since it doesn't really seem like a Wing Commander game.

 

According to http://wcnews.com/news/2842

 

Also, we want to dangle a metaphorical carrot in front of your face by saying that we have some exciting news surround Wing Commander Arena in the weeks to come. It's a small surprise, but a surprise that is exciting nonetheless. Anyway, that's all we are saying, so stay tuned.

 

Maybe there will be more Wing Commander soon.

[Gabriel]

Today is Super Contra and Wing Commander Arena.

 

I'll get the easy one out of the way first. Super Contra appears to be Super Contra. It's an arcade game. More specifically, it's an arcade game I never knew existed. I was looking forward to it being available on Live Arcade, but, when all is said and done, it doesn't do anything for me. For those who like it, it's here. For those who don't, you won't care.

 

Moving on, Wing Commander Arena is a title a few people on these boards expressed trepidation over. I tried to remain cautiously optimistic. My sentiment is odd in and of itself because: 1) I generally don't like EA games, 2) I think Wing Commander as a franchise is pretty damn lame, and 3) I really didn't have high expectations for the game anyway. The only thing I knew to expect when I loaded the demo this morning was a game which would probably only shine on a Live Gold account. Since I don't have a Live Gold account, and don't see myself getting one again until Ace Combat 6 comes out, I fully expected to be underwhelmed.

 

Novadrome met my low expectations. Wait, did I say Novadrome? I meant Wing Commander Arena. Oh, who am I kidding? Novadrome and Wing Commander Arena share enough similarities to feel like the same game. Both feature tiny, ill controlling onscreen vehicles. Both feature bland arenas which are too large to truly facilitate interesting versus play. Both have powerups of dubious merit scattered randomly about. While the control isn't strictly similar, Wing Commander Arena manages to have an intuitive, but not very emulative control scheme. In short, both games feel like car wars games. Considering Wing Commander Arena is a space fighter combat game, this is a bit of a drawback.

 

On the good side, Wing Commander Arena's weapons are more useful than Novadrome's. And where Novadrome created a situation where everyone was too fast to properly hit with a weapon or run down, Wing Commander Arena's ploddingly slow fighters are a welcome change in comparison.

 

In short, any feeling of blazing turn and burn space fighter combat is purely coincidental and apparrently unintended. I really can't stress enough how the game feels like Novadrome. It seems like Novadrome was given a graphical overhaul and control alteration and rereleased as Wing Commander Arena.

 

There is an Asteroids style mode in the game. You "protect" a space station from rocks floating around. I really don't know why I'm protecting the station, because it seems completely invulnerable. Anyway, it doesn't matter because the early levels are mind numbingly boring with nothing but slow ass and visually uninteresting rocks to shoot. It is literally Asteroids for the 2600 on the teddy bear game/difficulty B with a 200 meters behind the tailfin of the fighter viewpoint. Later, things pick up when enemy fighters are added to the mix. This really helps the mode, and I think if 4 enemies were added as well as more and faster asteroids (or possibly other varieties of space junk) then it might actually be entertaining. Predictably, the trial game ends before it is possible to see if this suspected improvement occurs, so I'm left yawning and wondering why I bothered.

 

I wasn't surprised this game featured such an amazing lack of content. After all, it is very clearly labeled as a Multiplayer over Live title, and I did look at Bomberman Live last week, which would be just about as fun single player as looking through the family photo album. Novadrome... Sorry. Wing Commander Arena, doesn't look like it would be even that fun in single player mode. Ultimately, anyone buying this game is doing so to play against strangers online. Considering the slow driving mechanics of the game and uninteresting combat environments, I don't see why anyone would want to. But I'll leave that for someone who actually enjoys playing these types of games online to explain.

 

No purchases for me this week. I have 600 points in my account, and Wing Commander Arena suddenly made New Rally X look pretty appealling.

 

For another completely extraneous side note, I purchased Project Sylpheed yesterday and spent a chunk of the evening playing it. All the flaws I mentioned in my comments about the demo still apply. If Ace Combat 6 had been available already, I definitely wouldn't have bothered with Sylpheed. It has no online play or multiplayer option, so those wanting to dogfight with friends are just out of luck. It's a by the numbers space fighter sim of the sort which rear their heads every year or so. But, it's OK. It doesn't knock my socks off, but at least it feels like space fighter/Star Wars style action. Those looking for a single player cosmic turn and burn experience may want to give it another look after being disappointed by Novadr... Wing Commander Arena.

[Gabriel]

Wing Commander Arena Rant II: Gabriel Bitches About Something Pointless

 

Sometimes, a reviewer writes something so bone headed as to belie belief. I'm certain that every 100 words I write has about 1,000 stupid statements in it. Even though I often fail, I attempt to maintain a level of perspective. I do this by playing games and simply writing what I think. That's why you'll often see references to other games in my rants. Nothing exists in a vacuum. So, it's that thought process of mine which makes the following statement seem so outrageously wrong.

 

Presentation-wise, Wing Commander Arena is more on the lines of a budget title than a miniscule Xbox Live Arcade project. The user interface is professional, with a respectable vessel selection area and stylish menu boxes. Wing Commander Arena is quite pretty in action too. The backgrounds and particle effects are most impressive, but it could use a little more detail in the ships. The sound ain’t too shabby either, (mainly soundtrack with some FX thrown in for good measure) although don’t expect to hear Mr. Hamill belt out any lines.

 

I already knew Team XBox reviews were capable of some astounding wrongness from the Double Dragon incident a couple of months back. For those who need a refresher, the reviewer in question partially justified low marks for Double Dragon on Live Arcade because of a "horrible emulation job" of its "NES predecessor". Well, with Wing Commander Arena, a different reviewer wrote the comment above, and I find myself wondering just what exactly he's smoking.

 

Let me define budget titles for the 360. They're represented by games such as EDF 2017, Project Sylpheed, Ninety Nine Nights, and various others. Even Bullet Witch and Dead or Alive 4 currently qualify as budget titles. The common thread in all these games is they look damn nice. I'm a jaded gamer, and I must admit that the visuals on these titles even wow me. So, those games represent the standard which this reviewer is comparing the visuals of Wing Commander Arena to.

 

That is so wrong. It's insulting not only to the disc games above, but also to the readers.

 

I didn't go into the graphics of Wing Commander Arena. The visuals were functional, and didn't stand out at all from Live Arcade titles like Mad Tracks or Marble Blast. If we want to talk about "impressive" visuals, I'd definitely list Prince of Persia Classic before this. Moving to other consoles, perhaps this reviewer should look at Super Stardust HD or Tekken: Dark Resurrection on the PS3 to gain some perspective on what a graphically "impressive" downloadable game on a console looks like.

 

Maybe he's meaning to convey more praise for the menus than the in game graphics. I doubt it. From the loadout of the language, he definitely seems to be trying to elevate Wing Commander Arena to a status it doesn't deserve.

[Lord Helmet]

I played the demo for Wing Commander Arena last night. I'm really disappointed. I didn't find it fun at all.

 

Back to Castlevania I suppose.

[Flojomojo]

I thought it was OK for what it was -- but it's really not worth much as a single-player game, nor does it have anything to do with the Wing Commander games, aside from the ship designs.

[Atariboy]

I thought about giving it a go just now to see what I thought, and I see they're charging 800 points for this?

 

I'll pass, satisfying my curiousity isn't worth $10 for what most likely is a game I won't enjoy much. I'd of been tempted to check it out for 400.

[Gabriel]

After traumatic experience of Wing Commander Arena, I wandered as a lost soul. Soon, I discovered something which could ease the hurt. If I drank enough Cherry Coke, I could forget the pain and disappointment. Soon, I was in a clouded fizzy stupor. And that's when it happened.

 

In my weakenend state I met a new game. She was fulfilling a need I had at the time. I took her home and we did the nasty for hours.

 

Then I came out of my coke induced daze. OMG!! What have I done?

 

I bought Boom Boom Rocket.

 

I don't know whether to gnaw my arm off or just shoot myself.

[MCHufnagel]

After traumatic experience of Wing Commander Arena, I wandered as a lost soul. Soon, I discovered something which could ease the hurt. If I drank enough Cherry Coke, I could forget the pain and disappointment. Soon, I was in a clouded fizzy stupor. And that's when it happened.

 

In my weakenend state I met a new game. She was fulfilling a need I had at the time. I took her home and we did the nasty for hours.

 

Then I came out of my coke induced daze. OMG!! What have I done?

 

I bought Boom Boom Rocket.

 

I don't know whether to gnaw my arm off or just shoot myself.

Well, if you chew your arm off, it will be tough to play video games. So just shoot yourself and get it over with!

 

This is why I buy just enough points for what I want and then use them all. This way, I don't have points burning a hole in my pocket and end up blowing them.

[Flojomojo]

Marathon 2 and a bunch of board games coming on Wednesday!

 

That wouldn't be my first choice for the first releases in August, but it's better than what hit the Virtual Console today.

[moycon]

Marathon 2 and a bunch of board games coming on Wednesday!

 

That wouldn't be my first choice for the first releases in August, but it's better than what hit the Virtual Console today.

 

Wow, Marathon 2 looks cool! Reminds me of Doom and is the prelude to Halo??

I read this whole article with the producer....

 

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/808/808811p1.html

 

One thing I think is really cool is there is an Ultimate achievement that unlocks a special gamerpic if you snag it.

That's pretty neat. I wish more games did that for say getting 100% of the achievements.

[Shannon]

Marathon is like the prequel to Halo. I think it originally came out on the Mac. Supposedly you can play it for free on your PC. But I just may get it for the 360 anyways.

[moycon]

Marathon is like the prequel to Halo. I think it originally came out on the Mac. Supposedly you can play it for free on your PC. But I just may get it for the 360 anyways.

 

Yes I think there was 3 of them, and yes you can get them free online I think, but I'll get the game anyways for the achievements and more importantly, the online play that'll have a build in croud of players thatnks to Live (If folks buy it that is)

 

Believe it or not I'm also planning on picking up the game of classics (Like chess and checkers etc....) I have two 360's and my girlfriend lately has been really getting into it. Our most popular game right now is probably solitaire. We like to have our custom music list going and literaly sit for hours playing that game and listening to music. I'm thinking if it wasn't for the music we probably wouldn't be so into it. In any case, the classic games like solitaire, checkers etc...Would seem a perfect match for this type of play. Just kinda chillin out, taking your time, listening to some tunes.

 

Really Looking forward to both offerings this week, especially after the last few weeks of ho-hum releases.

[Gabriel]

Looks like yet another dry week from my POV. I might grab the boardgame one. I like Othello/Reversi.

[Gabriel]

The drought continues. Track & Field this week.

 

Nope. I've never understood the appeal of this game either. Unlike my recent experiences with rhythm games, I don't think I'll have an epiphany with regards to this one.

 

New Rally X keeps on looking better and better.

[Shannon]

I played the marathon demo and there was nothing about it that really interested me.

[FastRobPlus]

The drought continues. Track & Field this week.

 

Nope. I've never understood the appeal of this game either. Unlike my recent experiences with rhythm games, I don't think I'll have an epiphany with regards to this one.

 

New Rally X keeps on looking better and better.

 

I'm not a huge T&F fan myself. If we have to get an events games, I'd rather see one of the classic Epyx or Activision event games. Or even MS' own Decathalon. There's a game that could really use an update!