The end

It has now come to the end of my blog. Thank you for reading it and farewell!

Quick Review #3: Retro Arcade Adventure (XBLIG)

Image source: gamergeddon.com

Time for yet another quick game review! This time, I'm reviewing the Xbox Live Indie Games title (yes, another one), Retro Arcade Adventure. It was developed by Siactro and the game is available for 80 Microsoft Points.

This game is reminiscent of those "one against many" games, and is set in a fantasy world. All you have to do is defeat the waves of enemies with your sword in the same kind of way like the original Zelda on the NES.

The coolest bit in the game is where your character turns into a fire-breathing dragon and you get to wipe out lots of the enemies. Be aware that you only get to be a dragon for a limited amount of time, though.

As you can see, the game looks very retro and it is. I think it's great to see there's still fans of retro graphics. That's probably why the developer named the game "Retro Arcade Adventure". The developer has done an amazing job with the sprites, making it very old-school.

Is there anything wrong with this game? Well, not really. I could say that the only problem with Retro Arcade Adventure is that it does get a bit repetitive after a while.

Despite it being a bit repetitive, it's still a great little retro-style game. For that asking price of 80 MSP, it's still worth a download.

Overall rating: 8.5/10 

Quick Review #2: Gentlemen Start Your Engiiines (XBLIG)

Image source: marketplace.xbox.com

Time for another review! This time, I'm going to review another Xbox Live Indie Games title that I've been playing recently. This is Gentlemen Start Your Engiiines (yes, they used the letter 'i' three times!), developed by the one-man French team Maximinus. It is available to download for 240 Microsoft Points.

As you can obviously see, it's a racing game. When I played the game, I thought "Hmm...is it me or does this game look kinda similar to that Sega classic Daytona USA?". I think it is. Not visually, but the controls feel pretty much the same.

All you basically do in this game is you're racing in the kind of way that feels a bit like NASCAR. That isn't really a bad thing.

I would say that the only problem this game has is its price. You might think 240 MSP is alright, but the thing is that there isn't a lot of content and I think 80 MSP would've been a better price. Despite the price, this NASCAR-style arcade racer is still decent to play.

Overall rating: 7/10

Quick Review #1: MiG Madness (XBLIG)

Image source: marketplace.xbox.com

I thought I would now start a new series on my blog with little reviews of games I've been playing recently.

This first game actually caught my eye when I was on my Xbox 360 last night. This is MiG Madness, an Xbox Live Indie Games title from Bionic Shark Studios.

As you can see from the screenshot, it is an arcade-style aerial combat game. If you've played Konami's 1982 arcade classic Time Pilot, then you should know what to expect. In reality, MiG Madness is really just an re-imagining of Time Pilot. The premise of the game is that you have to destroy waves of enemy aircraft.

The controls are simple: use the left stick of your Xbox 360 controller to move your plane around, and use the right trigger to fire your machine guns. Be aware that your plane's machine guns can overheat and you won't be able to use them for a relatively short period of time.

Visually, the game looks fine. I wasn't expecting much in terms with graphics, but the developer still did a great job. The sound in this game is what you would usually expect from the kind of game it is.

There's some flaws in MiG Madness, though. You can't always see the bullets you're firing, but you can't see your enemy's bullets at all. There's isn't a lot to do in the game, it's just going through those waves of enemies and trying to beat your previous high score. It could've been better if the developer tried to be more original and added some more modes.

As it is, it's still a decent little shooting game for just 80 Microsoft Points. For that low price, it's still worthy enough for you to give it a try.

Overall rating: 7.5/10 

Why I love: Samurai Shodown II (Neo Geo)

Image source: techmynd.com

Here's another Neo Geo classic! This is Samurai Shodown II from SNK. It was first released in 1994 and it's the sequel to the original Samurai Shodown that came out the previous year.

Like the original Samurai Shodown and the games that followed this sequel, it is set in feudal-era Japan. As you can obviously see from the screenshot, it is a fighting game. However, you have to fight your opponents with bladed weapons like swords.

The fact that you have have to fight with weapons is the thing that made the Samurai Shodown series really stand out from other fighting games at the time.

You can get the game from the Virtual Console section of the Wii Shop Channel for 900 points. It is also available on Xbox Live Arcade for the slightly cheaper price of 800 points.

Why I love: Metal Slug (Neo Geo)

Image source: ign.com

When this game was released in 1996, the 16-bit era was ending as we were about to go into the new era of 32-bit gaming. Most developers were starting to get used to the hardware from consoles like the original PlayStation (or PS1 for short) and the Nintendo 64. Some developers though, they decided to continue making 2D games. This is one of those...

Today, I'm going to talk a bit about Metal Slug for the Neo Geo. This run and gun classic was published by SNK and developed by Nazca Corporation.

What you basically do in this game is that you have to continually shoot at a constant stream of enemies in order to get to the end of the level (or mission as they called them). There is six levels in this game which range from forests to military bases. I know that amount of levels isn't a lot, but it's still a blast to play.

You can now play this SNK classic by downloading it from either the PlayStation Store on both PS3 and PSP, and also the Virtual Console service on the Wii.

Why I love: Twisted Metal (PS1)

Image source: en.wikipedia.org

Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about Twisted Metal for the original PlayStation (or PS1 for short). It was published by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by SingleTrac. The game was originally released on November 5, 1995 in North America, January 1996 in Europe, and November 15, 1996 in Japan.

Twisted Metal is a vehicular combat game where you control one of the twelve unique vehicles, such as an ice cream truck, a monster truck, and even a motorcycle. All of the vehicles have machine guns mounted on them, which is a key part of the game. The guns can overheat, which means you won't be able to use them for a short period of time.

Even though the game might not have aged as well like some other PS1 games, it's still an enjoyable classic. You can try this game by downloading it from the PSone Classics section of the PlayStation Store.