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As featured on XBLI.net.
In this episode I finish up with a stream-of-consciousness trial impression for my favorite game.
Ghastly Ghouls
Ghastly Ghouls is a super-simple game where you dodge waves of enemies. The hook is that it gets right what so many XBLI games get wrong – namely, the waves of enemies have a lot of variety. The game ramps up in difficulty at a decent clip, so that despite it’s simplicity it remains interesting. The problem with Ghastly Ghouls is that a couple glitches within the span of the demo kept me from enjoying it. Firstly, it’s possible for enemies to spawn on top of you. That’s a big, cheap no-no that tends to make people angry. Secondly, just as I was doubling my previous high score, the game crashed on me. Hmph. (80pts)
Digital Art Gallery: Callad
These art gallery apps rarely get the best of me, but I found Digital Art Gallery to be oddly soothing. Mellow fantasy music plays while a slideshow of CG females pose provacatively. The art is actually really well done, but it’s clearly intended for boners and not for high-brow analysis. Digital Art Gallery sets a nice mood, but at the end of the day you can go to any number of websites displaying digital art galleries while listening to all the ren-faire music you want, completely free of charge. (80pts)
Extreme RPS Online
This is not the first rock, paper, scissors XBLI game, but it’s certainly the only one worth a damn. Production value here is great, with some funny characters, smooth animations, and many features. "But it’s rock, paper, scissors," you say. Yeah, I’m well aware that that’s a horrible premise for a videogame. I don’t want to condone it, but give it a try because it’s actually pretty cute. That and I swear there’s some genuine AI built into the game because I felt like I was outsmarting it. (200pts)
Reef Rave
Reef Rave on its own is a pretty ridiculous app. Rave music plays while a tropical-colored visualizer does its thing. But in my case, turning off Reef Rave’s soundtrack and firing up a little Ratatat made this into a nice alternative to the 360’s own visualizer. The problem is that this app makes no effort to convey this to you or include any features to encourage using your own music. Judged on its own merits, Reef Rave is little more than a pretty picture and some crappy music. (80pts)
Spaceman
Dr. Spaceman! This game is mad Atari. You’re a little dude – Mario with a spacesuit. He’s so Pringles. I imagine Bubble Bobble mixed with some vertical Bomberman. The music is space-trippy with a splash of 80s. It gets tough quickly, but it’s a simple and entertaining platform-puzzler. Fiddy, jump over that big ass ramp! (240pts)