Features

This year we decided to collectively look at each of the Summer of Arcade games. So all this week we’ve been posting roundtable discussions of the games in order of release (Tony Hawk, Wreckateer, Deadlight, Hybrid). Today we end with the most well received game in the line-up. Humble Hearts’ Dust: An Elysian Tail, takes a tried and true formula and adds some oft-times breathtaking art to make an incredibly solid package.

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We’re more than halfway through our roundtable series looking at the Summer of Arcade 2012, which means it’s time to talk about 5th Cell’s take on the third person shooter, Hybrid. Though fun and unique, it’s not without it’s issues, some of which our EIC took issue with. Hit the jump to find out what he and our other staffers thought of the game in general.

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The following is an editorial. It represents the views of the author, and as such does not represent the views of the XBLA Fans staff as a whole.

I’m often in the minority around here. I’m not really a fan of the more “indie”-styled games, I like the more “franchise”-y ones. I’ve been railed multiple times on our podcast for my opinions (all in good fun, of course), and often find my views completely polar to other staff members. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD was a perfect example of that. I absolutely loved the game. Other staff, however, had varying opinions, some feeling it was downright awful.

Fair enough. To each their own, right? I’ve seen other staff gush about Bastion, LIMBO, Super Meat Boy, and pretty much every other big indie game. And in a way I can see why those games merit their love. They’re all solid games with tight gameplay. That being said, I often find that I’m not a fan of those kinds of games. But there’s a difference–I can concede that the more indie-esque games have solid gameplay, whereas the rest of the staff often finds gameplay issues in games I love–things I often am able to overlook. Such is the case with Tony Hawk, so let’s address what could have truly made it great, totally memorable, and what would have given it a better Metacritic score of 66/100. (which, if I’m honest, is probably an accurate blend of all the different opinions I’ve seen/heard)

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This week there’s a whole lot of game talk, including a good portion about Dust and sadly a fair bit about The Expendables 2. I stumble through the news in Perry’s absence and then we fire through the Community Corner.

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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/XBLAFancastEp75.mp3[/podcast]

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We’ve hit Tony Hawk and Wreckateer, now our rountable moves onto the third title in this years Summer of Arcade. Deadlight is the first game from Tequila Works and unfortunately it was not well received by most. We discuss just what went wrong. Read More

 

Continuing our look back at Summer of Arcade 2012, today’s roundtable discussion focuses on Iron Galaxy’s Wreckateer. The cheapest of this years line-up at 800 MSP and the only Kinect title, it also ended up being one of the better reviewed games. As you’ll see our staffs discussion reflects that. Read More

[Matt McEnerney] We’re in the process of creating more content for the game which will certainly include new moves, but also a new arena, a new style, and some more items for your created fighter. Can’t give you specifics yet, but we’re hoping to pass certification and go live before Christmas. I can confirm that the content pack will be free! Read More

This year’s Summer of Arcade promotion has been a contentious one, most would agree it was one of (if not the) weakest offerings we’ve seen since the promotion began in 2008.

Now that all the games have been released, we here at XBLA Fans thought it’d be a good time to look back at the five games that were part of the promotion. Starting today and continuing every weekday we will be posting a roundtable discussion between our writers, focusing on a game a day. We’ll be going by order of release so let’s kick things off with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. Read More

Our EIC shows off his world.
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Spidey is no stranger to video games. Wikipedia lists over 30 titles under the webslinger’s banner. But let’s be honest here, only a handful of them stand out. One that is stands near the top of that list is Spider-Man for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, Mac and PC. It was the first time players really felt like Spider-Man. No longer were we limited to two dimensions. We were (relatively) free to choose our path. While the levels were linear, they had a certain feeling of freedom. You could cling to the ceiling, wrap a thug in webbing, and even web swing for a short time. It was innovative, it was entertaining, and it had all the Spider-Man charm. We want it back.

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