Look, I know this is another “you’re nuts Delroy!” picks and to be fair, it is an odd one considering some of the games that released this month. I didn’t play Vanquish at release like many others, coming to this gem on a flyer some years later. It reviewed decently, it was Sega, it looked sort of generic. The cover is weird. It was short. Eh, I’ll pass! And what a fool I was, as Vanquish is the Bayonetta adjacent game I desperately need in my life. You’re some sort of soldier in high tech armor and there’s some baddie…yeah ok, the story here is inconsequential. The action is what matters and Vanquish delivers in heaps. The shooting is fast and impactful. Movement is smooth as oysters sliding down your throat (yuck). The sound design is in your face. And the sliding thing…lovely! This is a “big budget” arcade game, the type I loved growing up and continue to love. It doesn’t slow down or your time. It’s a great game, up there with Bayonetta.
Shoutouts, oh so many! Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Sonic 4 Episode 1, DJ Hero 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Costume Quest, Super Meat Boy, The Sims 3, Rockband 3, Fable III, and Pinball FX2. Monster month during Monster month!
I played this for the first time with the recent remaster and it was a lot of fun, no doubt. The movement system is unmatched, and I’d love to see another shooter with similar elements someday.
The Kinect launch! Hooray for Xbox profit margins and an incredibly long console cycle! Ok, so the Kinect launch was huge and the launch titles weren’t bad. But the best game of the month? That’s Pac-Man, duh. My favorite game was Majin. It’s a game with heart. I’ve used the term before to try to define a quality of a game that’s outside of the core methods we use to judge it. There’s something more here, something tangible that you don’t see in the review scores it received.
The game isn’t perfect by any means, and I’d be hard pressed to say it excels at anything in particular except for one thing, the thing that often matters most: The journey it takes stuck with me somehow all these years later. The relationship developed between the titular character and monster is subtle but heartfelt. The team loved what they were making, you can feel it all over. It’s a feel-good game, like a good rom-com. Yes, I love Serendipity ok! If only they had the budget to make it look better. Play less janky. Include better puzzles. Maybe we’d all talk about it differently. Or maybe I’m just a nostalgic weirdo who likes an oddball game?
Shoutouts to Dance Central, Kinect Sports, Kinectimals, Kinect Adventures, NBA Jam, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX.
World of Keflings is the follow up to Kingdom of Keflings, a civilization-building-god-game I guess you could say. You take the role of an Xbox avatar and trudge around this cartoony world, helping your Keflings denizens with various tasks which ultimately lead to building a larger society with more Keflings. It’s almost Viva Piñata in some ways, but instead of a garden you’re tending to a kingdom. I’d long since fallen off of RTS games, but Keflings almost plays like an easier version of one. It also has Black & White vibes, where you’re a “god” helping/hurting your people. It’s fairly simplistic mechanically, the graphics are bright and fun, and there’s a little campaign with a few chuckle moments. It’s just a fun game to sit around and play for a bit during downtown. Did you play either this or the predecessor? Did you enjoy games like Black & White or Viva Piñata?
Shoutouts to Battefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam, Dead Rising 2: Case West, and Raskulls. Not a lot here. I liked Vietnam as an expansion fwiw.
My wife and I played through together, something we rarely do. It’s funny how much this one randomly comes up in conversation between us, most recently this weekend while hiking. A perfect game for the two of us, one I’d never want to experience in any other way. She helped make the game special for me, a fond memory in our early lives together.
ilomilo can be boiled down to a cute, co-op, puzzle game featuring the two titular characters trying to come together in a series of levels that ascend in difficulty. It takes place in a weird, colorful, whimsical, dream-like world complete with creepy-cute characters. It’s rather striking at times, the art style really benefits the game. The actual puzzling is thought provoking but never truly difficult to the point of frustration. While it can be played solo, it’s meant to be played with another human, preferably a loved one. It’s fun, low risk, and worth the handful of hours it takes to play. Do yourself a favor and allow yourself a feel good game.
Shoutouts to Dead Space 2 and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. I really like Dead Space 2, it’s the best in the series.
The kefling games honestly were something neat and different, and I kinda enjoyed both. Don’t think I finished either, but that came down more to slightly clunky mechanics and maybe running into a bug more than not enjoying the idea. This kind of humor and game style is fun and probably would help with the kid friendly content they need.
I would actually like something along these lines again but just tuned up. I would love to see some more of the games that used our avatars, they were just fun.
Also enjoyed the campaign in Battlefield Bad Company. I’ve never played any of the multiplayer in any of those games, as I’m mostly not into that, but I enjoyed all of the campaigns so am a bit disappointed to not see one in the new one. Never played Black and White, and only a teensy bit of Viva Pinata in Rare Replay so can’t compare them.
I agree, a Keflings game with polish would be a nice addition to the Xbox lineup. Heck, I’d take a polished one on any modern platform. Avatars…Xbox does such a “good job” burying them, I forget they exist sometimes! Also @Cerysnetics has been summoned due to your lack of Viva Piñata love
For the longest time it was difficult for me to decide whether I liked FO3 or New Vegas more. I realised though what I like most about 3 is the Capital wasteland, everything else (especially the main story) is really quite poor and missing the “Falloutness” of the originals. New Vegas is, by a country mile so much better in every respect.
The best 3d Fallout game. If there is any justice in the world Obsidian should be put on Fallout 5 whenever they are able and given all the times they need to make the new best 3D Fallout.
Not as good as the best AC game which is 2, Brotherhood still has a lot going for it, a fun city to explore, Ezio (woof!) and an Assasins guild to build.
Super fun to play for (and this is key) 25-30 hours before it overstays its welcome.
Speaking of Keflings, the studio behind it, Wahoo Studios, but also known as Ninjabees - haven’t updated their website since 2014. The trademark also expired for the World of Keflings in 2014 or 15, but looks like it was renewed in 2016. They’ve supposedly made more games including a Keflings game for Windows since then, so I’m assuming they still exist but had some sort of problems. Odd they haven’t updated the site but kept paying for hosting.
ilomilo was my jam! What an incredible puzzle game, cute but also very imaginable. One of the best examples of Xbox Live Arcade. Although i could never get the timing right for the music minigame achievement.
Stacking is another overlooked XBLA gem from the wonderfully weird minds at Double Fine. It’s almost never mentioned among the best games in the service, but it’s every bit as good as your Limbo, Braid, or Fez. It takes an idea that shouldn’t work for a game and spins it into a clever, lovely, heartfelt experience that’ll stick with you. It’s one of the best in DF’s legendary catalogue, and that’s no light task.
So what is Stacking? Well, glad I asked myself! You control a matryoshka doll - that’s Russian nesting doll - named Charlie who sets off on an adventure to save his family from a villainous Baron who inflicts incredibly poor labor practices on his “employees”, Charlie’s family included. It’s a unique setup for a game, especially at the time, telling a story that conveys a serious topic in a more lighthearted manner.
Throughout the game, you use your ability to “stack” in and out of other dolls to solve various puzzles which all play into the greater narrative in some way. Stacking has a perfect sense of progression, starting easy and slowly becoming more complex, but never to the point of being overly challenging. This is no Grim Fandango, as every puzzle has a logical solution. It’s truly gorgeous to look at, with a style and subtle color palette that remains unique even today. I could to keep gushing but that’s not really the point of this thread. Just know that this is an absolutely high quality game, one that should be on your list if you’ve never tried it.
Shoutouts to You Don’t Know Jack, Bulletstorm, Hard Corps Uprising, De Blob 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and the Dreamcast Collection. My wife always talks about De Blob as one of her favorites.
Ok, to start I wanted to just write “Beyond Good & Evil HD” and be done with it, but I believe I already wrote a bit about the original so…new game highlight time! Torchlight isn’t a slouch of a game by any means. As a Diablo-like ARPG, I think it naturally lends itself to a PC setting where you can use a KB/M combo. The Xbox 360 port was handled quite well, they managed to squeeze the game’s control scheme into a controller which is always impressive. As far as general gameplay, you know what you’re getting into here. Lots of monster slaying, potions drinking, and loot collecting, with an extra side of inventory management. One innovation that Torchlight introduced was your pet which could take loot back to town to sell and whatnot. It wasn’t a terrific looking or sounding game, but it was fun to play. I definitely enjoyed replaying it on Xbox after dumping hours into it on PC. It’s not quite Diablo III on console, but it’s a good, cheaper alternative.
Shoutouts to Fight Night Champion, Beyond Good & Evil HD, Dragon Age II, Top Spin 4, Homefront, Full House Poker, Crysis 2, Lego Star Wars II, Shift II, and WWE Allstars.
Portal 2 faced quite the challenge when it released. How was Valve going to follow up one of the best puzzles games ever made? How could they innovate, keep things feeling fresh, and could the one up themselves? While not as innovative or surprising, Portal 2 manages to be a better game in just about every way. You’re still solving tricky puzzles in first person using a variety of portals, playing with physics, weight, and movement in a way that other games wished they could. It’s immensely charming and funny, featuring a humorous narrator in the form of Wheatley the AI and villainous GLaDOS. Portal 2 succeeds in just about every metric it can for a puzzle game, slowly ramping difficulty and teaching the player mechanics along the way. You can always sort things out, even when it feels impossible, simply by thinking in and outside the box. It’s a phenomenal game, a must play.
Shoutouts to The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, Section 8: Prejudice, Outland, Mortal Kombat, and Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes.
I have to admit, I don’t recall much about the story or characters of L.A. Noire. My recollection is that it felt disjointed in some way, and I never connected to the game for these particular elements. That said, I remember liking the game and playing it through to the end. It was a technological showpiece for Rockstar, using impressive motion capture tech which made the characters lifelike in an almost uncanny valley way. The voice acting and soundtrack were top notch, the city impressively designed. They captured the feel of the era so well, and not in the way GTA games do. This isn’t a caricature of Chicago, it’s a leveled and serious take. I hated the driving - this is a Rockstar game so no surprise - but enjoyed the investigation and questioning that took place. The feeling is being a detective was neat and a change of pace in an era of being the anti-hero. The stakes felt more real and serious. While I don’t think it lived up to the hype, it was a fun and interesting game and worth playing.
Shoutouts to Gatling Gears, Dirt 3, Bangai-O, Virtua Tennis 4, and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean. Not a terrific month overall, but every console needs a breather right?
I liked Lego Pirates of the Caribbean but it seemed a bit more glitchy than some of the others, and I don’t know that I finished it. Thankfully most of these can still be played today
I know LA Noir looked interesting and I’ve got it on my list to play, but haven’t started it.
I know LA Noir looked interesting and I’ve got it on my list to play, but haven’t started it.