Rock Band Blitz Review: Rocking out with controllers
Rock Band Blitz gives players another addicting way to enjoy their music collection, but competing against your friends isn’t as simple as performing like a 5 star band.
It wasn’t too long ago when music based games were on the rise. It all started with Guitar Hero, which spawned a generation of games and plastic guitar controllers. Then Harmonix decided to step it up and give gamers the complete band experience with Rock Band. Since Rock Band 3, gamers have only had DLC to keep them going, and Harmonix needed a way to bring something new to the table for people who want rhythm based games. The result is Rock Band Blitz.
Instead of having the traditional Rock Band set up with drums, mics and guitars, Rock Band Blitz is meant to be played by a single person with a traditional controller. The game focuses on a single player trying to achieve the highest score possible by playing all of the instruments available in each song. Rock Band Blitz offers an experience that focuses on the music instead of playing together with your friends, trying to achieve rock star greatness.
Hybrid Review: Complicated simplicity
Hybrid features more streamlined shooter experience that ends up making the game more tiresome than fun.
Hybrid is indeed an odd game. When I heard the developers of Scribblenauts was making a shooter for XBLA, I immediately had my doubts. How will a developer that isn’t known for shooters going to make a title that gamers will truly want to keep playing, instead of loading up Call of Duty.
Hybrid is essentially a cover based shooter, but with a dab of Halo presentation. The biggest difference between Hybrid and other cover based shooters is the simplicity of the mechanics. Instead of having robust levels, dozens of weapons and more game play types than you will ever play, players receive a streamlined and simplistic title.
The weirdest part of Hybrid is, in fact, the cover system. The only way I can describe Hybrid’s cover system is “point and click.” Each map is equipped with a dozen or so cover areas, and the only way to actually move is to go directly from cover to cover. Apparently in the future, floors were something that just had to go, and people have to transport via jetpack. Players go from cover to cover simply by placing their reticule over the cover they wish to move to, and press the A button. Once in cover you can move from left to right, or switch what side of the cover you are on. Not actually having to manually travel from cover to cover will throw players for a loop at first. Trying to reprogram your brain to not move is no easy task.
Awesomenauts Review: Blast in, but with Friends
Awesomenauts is a lot of awesome mixed with MOBA.
The MOBA genre (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) is one that I personally have never been into, but once I saw the beautiful and witty art style of Awesomenauts, I decided to give it a endeavor. If you can deal with some unbalancing issues, you will find Awesomenuats to be a simplified 2D arena shooter with some real legs to keep you coming back.
If you are familiar with the MOBA genre then getting into Awesomenauts will not take long. The goal of each match is to conquer your opponents’ base by destroying their turrets defending their main base. This is done by players controlling a group of different classes, each with their own set of unique abilities. Each stage possess its’ own set of different ways to approach your opponents’ base, and some even have hidden paths to sneak up on your enemy.
Trials Evolution Review: the Truth Behind the Title
In August of 2009 RedLynx released Trials HD; a physics-based motocross racing game in which the player treks across a straight track ridden with numerous obstacles including hill, jumps, loops, and even dynamite. Based less on realism and more on puzzle solving, Trials gives you the ability to reload at multiple checkpoints throughout each track. The player is also given the ability to create and customize their own track, using any and all obstacles available in the game.
Trials Evolution: The Awesome Evolution of Trials
Last month RedLynx debuted the sequel, entitled Trials Evolution. Trials Evolution maintained all the popular aspects of the original that made it such a success, but RedLynx didn’t stop there. Evolution is not just a name; the simplicity of the original received a serious overhaul in every facet of its awesomeness. In the time I’ve spent racing across the epic quantity of premade career mode tracks, I’ve been introduced to more new features than I could shake a stick at!
