Xbox Live ARCADE Games... definitive thread

[obonicus]

Stellar input. Don't worry, there will be plenty of standard, straight to the point, games out this year to fill your needs.

Oh, no, it's not about that. The game is very good. But we're so desperate for legitimacy that all of a sudden Portal went from this fun, quirky, short game with some genuinely funny writing to being deconstructed like Finnegans Wake. The way the press is already clinging to this like it's some revolution in gaming makes me worried that we're going to see something similar.

It's a good game; a fine platformer with some very intelligent puzzles stemming from a simple set of play mechanics and very appealing visuals.

 

[RobertR1]

So I finally played through Portal last night. Comparing to Braid, portal is a breeze and clearly the story in Braid is much deeper also. Portal was fun but there really was no challenge until you hit 18 and 19. 19 had 2 places that I got stuck in and frankly was a bit too long. If Braid is a 10/10, I'd give Portal a 8.5/10. I'll play the "advanced chapter" that got unlocked to see how the difficulty scales there. There isn't a same sense of accomplishment to passing a Portal level as there is getting a hard puzzle piece in Braid. Having said that I look forward to the upcoming Portal content on Live.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I'm in the world 6 in Baird and I'm pretty much blown away by its excellence. Very nice time manipulating and the art direction is nice. I have to admit that I resorted to cheating in the world 5.4 at the crossing the Gap final piece...

Spoiler

There was no way I would have figured that the enemies also bounce off your head too!

I'm sure many will figure that out straight away...

I watched my friend play it yesterday and it was very entertaining to view the different angle and way of thinking in solving the puzzles.

 

[PARANOiA]

Bionic Commando tonight. Woo! Plus Fable Pub Games for those that pre-ordered, though I'm too lazy to check to see if it's available in Australia.

 

[eastmen]

I just beat Braid. Kind of disapointing though I guess I have to find the stars still.

 

[RobertR1]

Castle Crashers is 1200pts officially. Not 1600 or 1800 as the rumor floating around was suggesting:

 

[Scott_Arm]

Is Castle Crashers a golden axe style game?

 

[AzBat]

Is Castle Crashers a golden axe style game?

Yes. Here's the Wikipedia gameplay description...

The game is a sidescrolling beat-em-up in which up to 4 players can play, online or locally. Playing as one of the available knights, players must defeat enemies to progress using attacks and magic. As enemies are defeated, the characters level up, giving access to new combos and abilities. There are also weapons that can be found and used, and well as animal orbs that assist the players in various ways, such as scouting for items. At the end of a boss battle, players then fight each other in a battle to earn a kiss from the rescued princess.

Other modes include Arena, where players fight each other, and a mini-game called All You Can Quaff.

Tommy McClain

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yes. Here's the Wikipedia gameplay description...



Tommy McClain

That might be fun, if the length of the game is decent.

 

[Scott_Arm]

My internet connection is back. I'll be getting Braid shortly. I tried the trial last night and thought it was pretty cool.

 

[Gerry]

I finally got the Millionaire achievement after dying many...many...many times in pacifism, before reaching a million, so I feel like I have accomplished something on my first go-round. I am not very good at Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 1 or 2, but feel free to add me if you want to play.

On the subject of GW2. I can't believe some of the scores out there. Was rather chuffed with my 138M in Pacifism only to find the highest score was somewhere around 1.5B mark!

Some of the scores at the other modes are equally insane.

 

[Scott_Arm]

You can go pound sand with your 138M in Pacifism, while I sit at 20M! You sir will NEVER be on my friends list (I only accept people I at least am competitive with, lol)

I still have two achievements to get...

Hey, I can't even break 8M on any of the modes, so you should be pleased with your 20M.

 

[RobertR1]

Awesome game! Played solo form 9-10 to get a hang of the game. Then found 2 others over Live and we started from the beginning. Got all the way through the game. We started at 10pm with low level characters and ended at 2:30am. It felt like may 1hour had passed by. The game isn't perfect but it's a ton of fun. Easily worth the 1200points. Go get it!

Braid+Geometry Wars 2+Castle Crashers > than majority of the $60 games out there for purchase. Sadly, due to the power of marketing, people rather spend $60 on a mediocre game than split it over 4-5 awesome Arcade games with varied gameplay.

 

[Pugger]

Braids puzzles and ideas are going to be copied into big budget titles quiclkly, you just watch.
Its a great game, I'm on world 5 after getting stuck with the last 2 puzzle peices on world 4 for longer than I care to mention.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I've added my gamertag for anyone that wants to play Castle Crashers (downloading now) or any other multiplayer games.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Castle Crashers is awesome. That game gets so hilariously weird. Multiplayer is great.

 

[obonicus]

It's sorta hard single-player. What really bugs me is that enemies can just break your combos and hit you back while you're hitting them.

Has anyone tried playing with the red/lightning guy? Is it just me or is lightning useless? I have a hard time hitting at all.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I've been playing ice so far. The area freeze is difficult to use at first. As you power up your magic it drops more icicles and it gets easier to hit groups. Maybe lightning is the same and the spread increases?

My biggest problem with single player is managing to survive all of the missile attacks. You're tryin to hit one guy and all his friends are shooting you in the back. Still, very fun, but my experience with multiplayer yesterday was a lot more fun.

 

[obonicus]

My biggest problem with single player is managing to survive all of the missile attacks. You're tryin to hit one guy and all his friends are shooting you in the back. Still, very fun, but my experience with multiplayer yesterday was a lot more fun.

Yeah, I think it was balanced too strongly towards MP. I can deal with the missiles, just jump around and do a lot of throws. My problem is the bigger enemies... this big thief would break my combos and toss me, constantly -- he was way harder than the first boss.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yeah, I think it was balanced too strongly towards MP. I can deal with the missiles, just jump around and do a lot of throws. My problem is the bigger enemies... this big thief would break my combos and toss me, constantly -- he was way harder than the first boss.

I agree that the game was definitely designed more towards multiplayer than single. Still fun single.