Features

Tequila Works’ Deadlight is a game about zombies. They’re not mutants. They’re nothing like the aggressive “not-zombies” popularized in Resident Evil 4. And, while players will encounter variations on the basic zombie as they progress through the title’s six-hour campaign, they certainly won’t run into any of the tank-style baddies that are prevalent in Valve’s Left 4 Dead franchise. No, here is a game that instead proudly features classic zombies that Tequila CEO and Creative Director Raul Rubio described at PAX East as being “stupid as lemmings.”

Players need only push a heavy object off a platform and onto a section of weak flooring below in one of the game’s earliest areas for evidence of just how intellectually challenged these poor creatures are. A never-ending stream of “shadows,” as main character Randall Wayne calls the zombies, will mindlessly amble their way towards the gaping hole in the floor only to end up joining other dead zombies similarly lacking in brain power in a pile on the floor below. It’s a bit of comic relief waiting to be discovered by players in a game that tells a grim tale of post-apocalyptic survival painted primarily in black, gray and brown.

The creation of said zombie death trap is reliant on simple physics, as is a later trap that results in zombies being smashed to bits when a car resting on a lift is dropped on them at precisely the correct moment. It’s a rewarding feeling when the shadowy figures are flattened by the vehicle, and it’s said to be one of many such instances in the game. “All puzzles are physics-based,” explained Rubio. “Environments can be your biggest ally or your biggest enemy.”

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The days of Xbox Live on the original Xbox were nothing like they are now on the Xbox 360. Far fewer games came with Live functionality, forcing players to choose from a much more modest selection. One such game that still managed to fly under many a radar despite the selection is Phantom Dust. One part Magic the Gathering, one part traditional RPG adventure, Phantom Dust was a budget title without much press or hype. The bulk of the game consists of doing quests to solve a massive mystery surrounding Edgar and the nameless protagonist.

Underground Town, home to the dwellers, is the last bastion of humankind after what is essentially an apocalypse. Massive dust storms took the surface world, and now most of humanity has been forced underground, but there’s a catch! The dust took some, scared others, and granted special powers to a select few. Those with powers are known as ESPers, one of which you are, and are tasked with accomplishing missions on the surface world.

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Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture have already shown the world that a developer in Hungary can work together with a studio in Japan to deliver a fantastic shoot ’em up with Sine Mora. Now they’re fast on their way to proving it was no fluke as the duo enter what Digital Reality Director of Publishing Balázs Horváth says are the final few months of development work on Black Knight Sword before it launches this summer. It likely won’t be the last time they team up, either. When asked if the two would work together on a game again in the future, Horváth smiled and said only: “Yes.”

As for Black Knight Sword, it’s something very different from their last collaborative work. The studios have left the bright blue skies behind and turned their attention to a dark and dreary fantasy setting. It’s the result of Grasshopper’s unique approach to story conceptualization being funneled through the creative minds over at Digital Reality. What that amounts to is an opening sequence with a man — a man hanging by his neck. His suicide attempt doesn’t quite come to fruition, however. Instead he ends up grabbing the hilt of a mysterious sword that transforms this sad and mysterious soul into the equally mysterious Black Knight.

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What we are playing is a weekly column published on Sunday. Various members of the team let the world know which games have had them hooked over the past week …
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Recently we had a chance to speak with 7sixty Games about their upcoming new age beat’em up, Kung Fu Strike. In this interview we talk about the games origins, graphics style, even a little tidbit about DLC. So put on your favorite kung fu themed fighting music and dive in to the rest of this interview.

XBLA Fans: Tell us a little bit about 7sixty games.

Rob Burman: 7sixty is a relatively new publisher set up in 2011 with an aim to release great digital games. Many of us play games at the company and over the years it’s become more apparent that a lot of the more creative and imaginative titles are released digitally, so we thought it would be great to focus on this aspect of gaming. Kung Fu Strike will be our first XBLA release and we’re more excited than a black belt in judo who has just smashed his hand through a pile of bricks.

XBLA Fans: How did the idea of Kung Fu Strike originally come about?

Rob Burman: We are action game fans and we are Kung Fu lovers. However if you want to be a Kung Fu master you have to work very hard for years and years. As a result we wanted to create a similar experience in a video game, so you can do all kinds of incredible Kung Fu moves without ever leaving your sofa! Therefore it’s a title for hardcore gamers but it’s also for casual Kung Fu fans.

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Find out what developers and publishers the XBLA Fans team will meet with at PAX East
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When Ben Fisher and I started XBLA Fans we had no idea the idea would take off like it has. We’d begun planning the idea the fall of 2009 …
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After spending the last four years releasing a multitude of sequels and spin-offs for its popular Rock Band and Dance Central franchises, Cambridge-based Harmonix Music Systems is scaling things back a bit with its next release. The next Harmonix-developed title the world will get is still part of the Rock Band series, but it will arrive at some point this summer sans the band. On Tuesday the developer unveiled Rock Band Blitz — a single-player XBLA and PSN game that rocks out without rock instruments, instead requiring the use of a regular controller for solo-jamming along all five instrumental tracks at once.

The simplicity of the concept isn’t exactly in line with what fans have come to expect from the company that popularized plastic instruments, so it’s understandable if there is some hesitation from the community to accept this new direction. Project Director Matthew Nordhaus explanation during my trip to the developer’s studio that the team’s goal is to release a product that removes the series’ high barriers of entry through a more simplistic approach probably won’t have plastic rock stars pumped for the big show either. Read a few quick-and-dirty details on the internet and watch a quick clip of Blitz‘ gameplay and you might get the impression that this is just another case of a developer dumbing its game down for modern gamers who are, supposedly, unable to process complexity in their video games. Well, guess what? It’s not.

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The following comes from a contributor who wishes to be simply known as Fatshady. Big thanks to Fatshady and the rest of the Trials HD community for all their hard work!

Every time I meet someone who has played or even heard of Trials HD, I mention the “Trials HD Riddle”. The entire story about it I find totally fascinating, largely due tot he fact that the riddle has remained so well hidden. If you have ever played Trials HD, ask yourself this: Did you know that there were 18 unique Easter Eggs hidden within the tracks? Did you know these all connect to form a riddle that has remained unsolved for over two years? You didn’t? Well read on my friend, you are in for an eye-opening experience.

When I reflect on just about any other game that has a large player base and numerous Easter Eggs, there are countless wiki’s, YouTube videos and walkthroughs on most websites. Trials HD was played by over two million people yet the smallest percentage of them even know that there are secrets hidden amongst the tracks. What is even more astounding is that an even smaller percentage know that all of these combine to form one of the most elusive riddles found within a video game. With the upcoming sequel, Trials Evolution due to be released on April 18, I thought it was appropriate to share this riddle story one final time to ensure that one of the most fascinating aspects of 2009’s ‘Best Overall Game’ is not forgotten about.

Most people simply don’t believe that these clues have remained hidden for so long. I find that it is much easier to show them all so here is a recap of what we have found to date. To bring you up to date with the investigations, let me now go through these one by one and explain what we believe they are. This is a summary of the nearly 50 pages over at the official RedLynx forums regarding the riddle. Read it here

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No Todd this week, but myself, Perry, Andrew and special guest Shawn Saris get by without him. I talk briefly about Wrecked: Revenge Revisted, while we all talk for a good while about South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge. If that’s not enough, you can check out Andrew’s review for more in depth details.

Perry brings the news as always, which this week includes some high profile release dates. Andrew finishes things up with a twitter question and telling us about the new Remember the Days game, which is Gripshift. He won’t be here next week so you’ve got two weeks to play it and share your thoughts on twitter.

Please subscribe, rate and review the podcast on iTunes. We appreciate it! Check us out on twitter (@XBLAFans) where you can win codes for games, give us feedback or just ask a question. We are also now on Stitcher, so you can stream the show on your smartphone, give it a go!

Big thanks to Chris Green for the awesome theme music, be sure to check out his site BlurredEdge and why not follow him on twitter too @BlurredEdge.

[podcast]https://xblafans.com/xblafancast/XBLAFancastEp56.mp3[/podcast]

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