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The new site has launched www.360evolved.com
This one has "closed down for business"
Staff members,you should have gotten an email to register at the new site,after you register,I'll make you able to post. Thanks!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Castle Crashers review
Castle Crashers is a new game from the team that brought you Alien Hominid in 2005 to X-Box and then early last year on Arcade. So it’s been almost four years since the last appearance of a game by The Behemoth. To be honest the game is well worth the wait with all the elements that are commonly found in Beat-em-Ups with the addition of RPG ingredients which adds to the already excellent résumé.
Like with all Beat-em-Ups there is very little story to speak of. This isn’t one of the big draws of this kind of game anyway. But really it doesn’t matter all that much at all with Castle Crashers as it is so simple and wonderfully designed that you don’t care too much about why you're hacking some guy’s head off but you just enjoy doing so. But what story there is goes a little something like this, the King’s four daughters have been kidnapped and as one of the bravest and most trusted of the King’s knights you are charged with bringing them back safely. One of the biggest reasons I didn’t care that much about the story was the continuous gags and the many cunning additions that appear throughout the game.
Of course there are the obvious levels with castles and mysterious forests to explore, and as you can guess it really can get a bit boring as the basic gameplay isn’t at all different throughout the game. But the key to Castle Crashers' success is that, as the game starts to take a tedious trend,a new little tweak is added to make the whole game feel like your first approach again. This could be anything from giving you a Golden Axe style lizard to ride on, an item to make your hero stronger for a short period or sending you on an awe-inspiring chase scene.
Possibly the best and, of course it should be, the easiest to get a handle on is the combat system. It is so simple to do with only two attack types, a heavy and a light attack. These can be chained together to get simple but effective combos, making the game actually beatable unlike the Alien Hominid, which was just plain impossible at times.
There are two issues that can cause small problems for you, but nothing that can cause your enjoyment to completely stop it's annoyance that you could have done without. Some points in the game there are sections that you just have a hell of a time getting through. This is due to the visuals not showing you all that you need to see, like being able to navigate the map as well as you should be able to, this mainly happens when you are caught in chase scenes which thankfully are few and far between.
This is a Hack and Slash style game with RPG elements,the weapons are collectible, but each one also affects your hero is a certain way. Collect a mallet and your strength is increased by two points but you are weighed down from the mallet and thus your agility is decreased by one. The only problem with this system is that you can only see the status affects of the new weapons that you collect at the Blacksmith shop,which can get very irksome if you discover a new weapon and want to use it but are unsure if it will benefit you over your current weapon.
There is one other modifier that can help you out in a squeeze, there are animal modifiers dotted around the levels which give you special benefits if collected, like if you collect the owlet then it will collect fruit from nearby trees to replenish your health.
No medieval based game would be complete without magic would it,and of course Castle Crashers comes up and trumps. The magic is mapped to the four face buttons but only if you hold down the trigger modifier to allow your spells to become active. At first you start with a single spell and as you level up you gain access to more powerful and useful spells.
Castle Crashers is a bundle of fun to play and although it can be completed in a matter of hours, there are tons of replay value in the new unlockable heroes and the seemingly endless slots for both your animal buddies and your collected weapons. There are two other modes other than the main adventure mode, one is an arena mode which sends waves after waves of enemies at you, this can be a laugh for a few minutes but you really get more satisfaction from replaying the levels of the main game. The other is a mini-game in which you have to tap X and Y continuously to eat as much food as you can against other competitors. This is really only worth a look once or twice no more. So the bottom line is,that Castle Crashers is a game that all 360 owners should have the enjoyment of.
Overall 9/10
Like with all Beat-em-Ups there is very little story to speak of. This isn’t one of the big draws of this kind of game anyway. But really it doesn’t matter all that much at all with Castle Crashers as it is so simple and wonderfully designed that you don’t care too much about why you're hacking some guy’s head off but you just enjoy doing so. But what story there is goes a little something like this, the King’s four daughters have been kidnapped and as one of the bravest and most trusted of the King’s knights you are charged with bringing them back safely. One of the biggest reasons I didn’t care that much about the story was the continuous gags and the many cunning additions that appear throughout the game.
Of course there are the obvious levels with castles and mysterious forests to explore, and as you can guess it really can get a bit boring as the basic gameplay isn’t at all different throughout the game. But the key to Castle Crashers' success is that, as the game starts to take a tedious trend,a new little tweak is added to make the whole game feel like your first approach again. This could be anything from giving you a Golden Axe style lizard to ride on, an item to make your hero stronger for a short period or sending you on an awe-inspiring chase scene.
Possibly the best and, of course it should be, the easiest to get a handle on is the combat system. It is so simple to do with only two attack types, a heavy and a light attack. These can be chained together to get simple but effective combos, making the game actually beatable unlike the Alien Hominid, which was just plain impossible at times.
There are two issues that can cause small problems for you, but nothing that can cause your enjoyment to completely stop it's annoyance that you could have done without. Some points in the game there are sections that you just have a hell of a time getting through. This is due to the visuals not showing you all that you need to see, like being able to navigate the map as well as you should be able to, this mainly happens when you are caught in chase scenes which thankfully are few and far between.
This is a Hack and Slash style game with RPG elements,the weapons are collectible, but each one also affects your hero is a certain way. Collect a mallet and your strength is increased by two points but you are weighed down from the mallet and thus your agility is decreased by one. The only problem with this system is that you can only see the status affects of the new weapons that you collect at the Blacksmith shop,which can get very irksome if you discover a new weapon and want to use it but are unsure if it will benefit you over your current weapon.
There is one other modifier that can help you out in a squeeze, there are animal modifiers dotted around the levels which give you special benefits if collected, like if you collect the owlet then it will collect fruit from nearby trees to replenish your health.
No medieval based game would be complete without magic would it,and of course Castle Crashers comes up and trumps. The magic is mapped to the four face buttons but only if you hold down the trigger modifier to allow your spells to become active. At first you start with a single spell and as you level up you gain access to more powerful and useful spells.
Castle Crashers is a bundle of fun to play and although it can be completed in a matter of hours, there are tons of replay value in the new unlockable heroes and the seemingly endless slots for both your animal buddies and your collected weapons. There are two other modes other than the main adventure mode, one is an arena mode which sends waves after waves of enemies at you, this can be a laugh for a few minutes but you really get more satisfaction from replaying the levels of the main game. The other is a mini-game in which you have to tap X and Y continuously to eat as much food as you can against other competitors. This is really only worth a look once or twice no more. So the bottom line is,that Castle Crashers is a game that all 360 owners should have the enjoyment of.
Overall 9/10
Sexism on Xbox Live: The Intro
One of my friends posted this somewhere, and all I am doing is passing this along. I will be updating you as he updates, and at the end of the experiment, I will interview him. So, without further ado, here is the intro!
"So, I was explaining to some friends of mine about how most women have bad experiences on xbox live, and I decided to become a part of a 'social experiment'. I thought it would be interesting to experience the sexism and such
...but from a guy's perspective.
But, as my gamertag isn't all too feminine as it is, I will have to change it to convey to the average guy gamer that my gamercard is convincing. I'll have to change my pic and name. For a pic I'll probably use one from the Splinter Cell DA (there are some pictures of one of the main woman characters), as a name I'll change it to something feminine (I haven't figured that out yet, maybe The Flying Dutchess).
This experiment will go on for a few days, starting tomorrow, and at the end I'll change my gamercard back to the one I have now and relate to you what happened and what my take on the sexism I will probably encounter was like. Since my voice isn't all too feminine either (I hope :P), I'll mute myself during the duration of the experiment.
Yes, I'm" pretty crazy. "
Here's to wishing him the best of luck!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
PAX Pack coming to Rock Band
Next week, Rock Band is coming out with a PAX pack of songs from artists playing at PAX this year. The pack includes:+ "Skullcrusher Mountain" - Jonathan Coulton.
+ "Livin' on the Corner of Dude and Catastrophe" - MC Frontalot.
+ "Shhh…." - the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.
The pack is 240MS points, or $3. All of the tracks are master recordings, and the song by the Darkest of the Hillside Thickets is a previously unreleased track. And, if that wasn't enough, all of the proceeds from the sales are going to Child's Play.
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Xbox Without Halo
The Xbox's killer app- Halo. Now the question is, where would the Xbox 360 stand in the console wars without it? My guess? Nowhere. There would most likely not be an Xbox 360 without it.
Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch title for Xbox. Many say that because of of this title alone, the Xbox performed as well as it did. It sold alongside more than fifty percent of Xbox consoles for more than two months after its release. This game was also said to jumpstart the multiplayer revolution.
Halo 2 launched on November 9, 2004. It generated an astonishing total of $125 million on its first day, making it the fastest selling media product in United States history. It was one of the premiere games for Xbox Live, and without it, Live would have been doomed.
Without Halo, there would be no Xbox Live, thus, no Xbox 360 because the Xbox wouldn't have performed well enough for Microsoft to warrant developing a new console. The Xbox was so successful because of Xbox Live, and without it, the Xbox would just be another gaming console.
Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch title for Xbox. Many say that because of of this title alone, the Xbox performed as well as it did. It sold alongside more than fifty percent of Xbox consoles for more than two months after its release. This game was also said to jumpstart the multiplayer revolution.
Halo 2 launched on November 9, 2004. It generated an astonishing total of $125 million on its first day, making it the fastest selling media product in United States history. It was one of the premiere games for Xbox Live, and without it, Live would have been doomed.
Without Halo, there would be no Xbox Live, thus, no Xbox 360 because the Xbox wouldn't have performed well enough for Microsoft to warrant developing a new console. The Xbox was so successful because of Xbox Live, and without it, the Xbox would just be another gaming console.
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