This may be a touch short game review. I often like to exhaust all of you with all the details of the games I play in hopes of providing you with everything you need to know to buy, demo, or forget a game. Unfortunately in this instance, it is a touch difficult as the game, Strategy Soccer, is: A) A sports game and B) A two-player only game. Now typically the first would not be much of an issue, since I, as an American male, spend most of my time emotionally detached from whats going on around me. But the second issue is a bit more of a problem, because as I have previously mentioned the vast majority of my friends choose to manifest themselves exclusively in various digital formats. But we shall overcome these adversities and do the best we can, so get that ice berg sized grain of salt out and lets get to it.

Gameplay

As the game’s name implies, Strategy Soccer has taken upon itself the task of combining both the sports genre and the turn based strategy genre into one package. This of course runs into its first problem right off the bat since any strategy came you try to make requires a great deal of AI work to make even remotely enjoyable for the single player. Strategy Soccer forgoes this need by simply making it a two player only game, which is great to alleviate the heavy burden of programming, but not necessarily great for anyone with a serious lack of willing and able participants.

It was right out of the gate with Strategy Soccer that it began to be a bit bothersome to review. As I had previously mentioned, the game is two player only and my traditionally anti-social personality has lead to it being practically impossible to find people to coerce into playing the game. So this leaves me with the unfathomably boring option of playing the game single player. Imagine if you will, sitting at a chess board and playing yourself because that is exactly what it is.

Moving beyond the lack of a single player mode we do find a few decent design decisions. First and foremost is the decision to go with a turn based system. This alleviates the major issue of sluggishness and the down right inappropriate use of a console controller for a strategy game. Of course on the negative side of things, it also slows down the pace of an already mind bogglingly slow sport. The game also utilizes an energy system that allocates a certain number of points for each players turn. The points are then spent using an assortment of various abilities which have been balanced by what appear to be fairly well thought out energy costs.

Audio/Visual

Graphically speaking, there isn’t a whole lot going on here to talk about. The little sprites are okay, and their jerseys which represent which country the players are from are neat. Unfortunately, at times it was fairly confusing which players were exactly which if they were for example two countries with predominantly red colors.

Music and sound effects are very minimalistic. They work but aren’t worth mentioning beyond me simply saying there was audio.

Summary

I’m sure the game was intended to capitalize on the international extravaganza that is World Cup. Unfortunately I procrastinated and didn’t get this review up till after it was over. Fortunately, that means I probably wont be killing your World Cup buzz by saying that I think you’d best look elsewhere for a soccer fix. This one just feels pretty half baked as is the 240 Microsoft Price.

If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably getting a little tired of shooting zombies and are really interested in a change of pace. Maybe you’d like something a little reminiscent of the adventure games of late 1900′s, where something isn’t going to chew your face off or explode if you take a second or two to actually look around and enjoy the environments that have been so painstakingly created. Well then maybe Travis Rogers’ latest installment in the Mind’s Eye of Jupiter series is just the ticket.

Gameplay

As a science fiction based adventure game this ones gameplay is exactly what you think it is. Reminiscent of many 1990′s adventure titles such as Myst, Return to Zork, and the like. You simply wander around, investigating the environment, inspecting objects, and more or less trying to figure out what the math is going on.

Similar to the aforementioned titles, this second installment of the Mind’s Eye of Jupiter series features some puzzle solving in a 3D environment. The puzzles themselves provide the main resistance to progression in the game. Unfortunately, the puzzles are impossibly simple. There is just simply no challenge present in the game other than pick up object x, place object x at location y. Considering their simplicity, the game was notably devoid of any sort of red herrings. For instance, in one room you need to figure out how to open a door to proceed to the next room. In this room there is literally only the objects you need to open the door. All the puzzles in the game seemed to be this way.

Also on the list of negatives is the completely linear layout of the game. There is absolutely zero branching and that is a bit strange for games of this genre. I would have liked to have seen some alternate means to an ends and maybe some outright wrong turns that reward your exploration with some interesting flavor or clues to plot intricacies.

All this complaining may give you the impression that I didn’t enjoy the game, as it turns out this is just not the case. I was quite pleased to be playing a game of this type on the XBLIG as it is quite an unusual offering. The game was short enough to play in a single sitting, which didn’t feel wrong in this particular instance as it felt a bit like reading the chapter of a book. Additionally, the transition for this typically mouse dominated genre to the console worked out pretty well with the use of a pretty solid menu system.

Audio/Visual

The Mind’s Eye of Jupiter series is in 3D. I would liken it to probably a very simplistic looking PlayStation 2 game. I say simplistic because there isn’t an awful lot of “stuff” in the game. Very few objects laying about, mostly large cavernous rooms with heavily geometric looking shaped items. The character models are a little bizarre, but not in a way that negatively effects the game since their presence is limited. As a pure adventure game the world is odd enough that it makes you want to look around, so in that category it does get bonus points. But, as previously mentioned, the lack of branching and additional areas to explore for explorations sake you do feel a little unfulfilled – which is something my girlfriends passed say is sometimes a deal breaker.

Musically the game is unmemorable, it has music and that’s about all I can say for it. It has a sort of a surrealistic scifi feel to it that doesn’t hurt the gameplay and adds to its atmosphere but you aren’t going to be trying to find the soundtrack.

Summary

If you played the first game of the series I think you probably know what to expect and whether you are interested in playing the second installment or not. To those of you interested in starting with the second game you can do so, as the game has an intro that catches you up to speed and doesn’t simply strand you in the middle of an already started narrative. I would say I enjoyed this game as it provided a bit of a breath of fresh air, its unnecessary simplicity may have even contributed to the overall positive experience. With all that said I can’t simply stamp a buy on the 240 MS Point  Mind’s Eye of Jupiter – 2, I think it would be best for those who are interested to pick up the game’s demo and see if its plot and world appeal to their tastes. For those who end up uninterested but still seek an adventure game you may want to check out Decay.

As the designated falling block aficionado of Two Fedoras, I love seeing what the Indie community can produce to iterate on such an already markedly established genre with so many classics.  This brings us to XBLIG’s latest offering: Acupwnture.

Acupwnture is an unfortunately titled falling block game that, in attempting to be a difficult and unique member of its genre, almost misses the point of being a falling block puzzle game in the first place but still manages to deliver some solid block fun.

Gameplay

In the vein of your standard falling block games, blocks in Acupwnture arrive at the top of the screen, and move at a steady rate downward until they land on something below them.  They have your control to shuffle them left and right, or rotate them. Blocks are two-piece composites pulling from five different colors, with the block removal mechanic working similarly to Chime and Lumines in that you have to create 2×2 squares of a single color to mark those squares for removal.  You then have a set amount of “moves” (that is, block placements) during which you can continue to build using squares of the same color to increase the destruction, and therefore your score. In order to complete a level, you must destroy a certain number of blocks of each color type.

The extra twist in Acupwnture is that the five colors each correspond to a different element, Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal. The game field itself is also aligned to an element, which informs not only the win conditions for the stage (in terms of how many removals of each element must occur) but also the stage’s “special ability.” I found the stage special abilities to be a nice twist, in that they spiced things up just enough, and gave a bit of flavor to each of the elements. Also nice is that the level timer itself helps to warn you of impending ability usage. Although what exactly you can do with that knowledge is lost on me.

The game bills itself as being “insanely difficult,” and to an extent it is.  But what I enjoyed most about Acupwnture was discovering the little tricks to being successful in spite of that. Namely that making use of the “insta-drop” to save a massive amount of time was key to victory, as well as learning to use the “emergency” coins to clear the field of a chosen color block to help clear the way for creating a super block of a needed color. Finally, utilizing the fact that an exploding superblock will snake its way through any trail of singular blocks connected to it, destroying them all.

To get the most fun out of Acupwnture however, my advice is to give Standard Mode a miss entirely. Standard Mode plays out as a series of stages with the goal of clearing a specific number of each color type before it moves on to the next. There are tiers whereby it introduces more difficulty through adding to the number of elements of the board, which increases the “stage abilities” used against you. But in my mind, stage-based goal-oriented design isn’t what makes falling block games great.  Instead, I suggest playing “Continuous Mode.”  Rather than presenting you with a new board (and cleared score) between stages as Standard Mode does, Continuous Mode simply resets the goal counters and keeps on moving, while you shoot for the highest score you can. That’s the kind of play I can get behind.

The only other slight problem I have is with the controls. The block rotation buttons are A and B, with Y serving as the “emergency coin” thrower. Personally, I like using the triggers for block rotation and an options menu to let me set controls would have been nice.

Audio/Visual

The graphics in Acupwnture are fairly well done. I can’t say I’m a fan of using so many off-standard fonts in various places and various styles, but at least they’re legible, unlike some other block games. The backgrounds are nice and vibrant and fit their respective elements without distracting from the gameplay itself. The blocks especially are well done. Coded in a combination of both color and design which makes it easy to see what exactly you’re dealing with in play, in the goal area and on the field at any given moment. The periodic shimmering of blocks on the play field is also a nice touch which adds to the polish.

I would have liked to see a more unified menu aesthetic, however. The pause menu especially is quite an eyesore of black text and red highlight on a dull white/gray field. I’m fairly certain the menus are also based off the XNA game state example. This is fine, but they don’t expand on it and use its power to an advantage for animation which would have made things feel better.

The sound effects are nice and fitting. Your standards of block rotation, movement, and destruction. I would give the music a miss though, and bring your own if you can. It’s serviceable, but varied wildly based on the stage (which itself is based on element type), and got annoying after repeated loops.

Summary

If you’re desperately in need of a new falling block game, you can’t really go wrong with Acupwnture by FourthDimensonal Gaming for 80 MS Blockgamebuyers. While it is a solid offering, you probably won’t play it for long. It just doesn’t have the addictive staying power of a Lumines or Chime.

Seriously, though, can’t we move past this “pwn” thing already?

Practically ever since the launch of Twilight began to glitter the ultimate human predator, I have more or less been in the midst of an all out vampire boycott. In fact, the only exception in the last two years was playing Castlevania: SOTN on XBLA. Oh and I don’t want to hear any whining from you True Blood soap opera fans either. Now to the point, I’ve momentarily placed a moratorium on the blood sucking boycott for one very special game that we’ll be having a full review of in the near future(between now and when the Sun becomes a Red Giant engulfing the Earth). I’m bored with ending these the same way every time, so just know that the bold stuff is mine.

Dino ‘Splode
	Dino ‘Splode is an exciting action platformer where the player controls a nearly nuclear dinosaur named Sandwich. The player travels through various unique locations, solves puzzles, survives harsh environments, and makes their way through the bloodthirsty and constantly feuding Caveman nations. Developer: Owen Deery Price: 240 Microsoft Points Fairly enjoyable platformer with a kind of amusing sun/exploding lizard mechanic that creates a sense of urgency which persists throughout play. The speed of the game feels a little off though, I think it is worth genre fans’ time to give it a demo play.
This Is Hard
	Think you’re man enough to conquer the depths of THIS IS HARD? Trek your way through nefarious traps and deadly zombies to escape with your life. Who would fill the world with so many sharp and explosive objects? Conquer these challenges, or join the undead masses. Developer: Stegersaurus Games Price: 80 Microsoft Points Awesome, hilarious, and fun go get your run on.
Sharpshooter
	www.yyrgames.com – An intense test of your target-shooting skills! Experience 20 unique games, dynamically-adjusting difficulty, and optional Double Mode where you play with two guns at once! Compete with a friend in two multiplayer modes, or compete online with Internet Ranking! Will your skills be enough to earn the top grades? Also includes “The Best of Xbox LIVE Indie Games, Volume 1.” Developer: yyr Price: 80 Microsoft Points Mildly amusing thumb work out, yyr games typically runs competitions on their new releases as well. Competitions with MS Point rewards, so go check that out at their site if you end up getting the game.
Sword&Magic
	This game is a horizontal scroll shooting game. The character of two people can be switched. It raises the level when EXP is collected, and power improves. The trial version is 4 stages. The product version is 12 stages. Developer: HUNTERS Price: 80 Microsoft Points Interesting side-scrolling shooter in which you swap characters in and out during play. The art is a little janky even by pixel art standards and the bullet patterns seem a bit inelegant. It still seems worthy of checking out the demo.
German 101
	Learn German with 1000 flashcards featuring the most commonly used words. Developer: Glass Joe Price: 80 Microsoft Points This one, obviously, isn’t a game in the traditional sense of the word. I still felt like mentioning it as it seems the developer put a lot of effort into its creation.
Vampire Rage
	Cursed for an eternity with the loss of a loved one. Revenge is a dish best served cold! Vampire Rage is a fast paced shooter, themed around vampires and the undead. Can you handle the RAGE?! Developer: tricktale Price: 80 Microsoft Points A very very impressive demo experience. I would be willing to speculate that this one could be the best vertical scrolling shooter offering since Shoot 1UP! Just the environment and its various layers of parallax are enough for a thrill.
Ancient Trader
	The smell of exotic spices and the thunder of the sea accompany your journey as you discover new islands with thriving harbours full of goods. Sail through unknown waters where no ship went before, compete with other traders, fight mythical sea-monsters and gather ancient artefacts to claim a legendary treasure. Ancient Trader is a quick, pick-up-and play arcade family-entertainment strategy game. Developer: Fourkidsgames Price: 240 Microsoft Points This one has a really nice look to it. I don’t know how good or bad the gameplay is as it seemed hard to get a feel for it quickly which could mean there is some gameplay depth there. It may have helped if I had read any of the help or tutorials, but those are for pussies.

Mommy’s Best Games just uploaded a new video describing an update to their groundbreaking XBLIG shmup, Shoot 1UP. Which to be honest if you don’t own it already you’re probably regretting not having that living will.

Always in pursuit of perfection, MBG thought they could make some improvements on the already substantially enjoyable game by polishing up its “Score Trek” mode. The Score Trek mode itself acts as sort of a marathon mode which allows you to play through the game multiple times, saving level advancements and building up epically high scores for what can best be described as a gentlemanly comparison metric that doesn’t involve public indecency charges.

You can still find Shoot 1up on Xbox Live for a measly 80 Microsoft Kajiggers.

Pick yourself up five indie games for a very reasonable $19.99 over on the Steam platform. The titles of the Northern Lights Indie Pack include the ninja robot brawler Plain Sight, the recently updated Bob Came in Peices, Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner Blueberry Garden, waxy physics puzzler Crayon Physics, and the photogenic Saira. That’s a total savings of 64%.

But wait there’s more…

There’s a second five pack of games also available for $19.99 featuring the following games: AaAaAA!!! – A Reckless Disregard for Gravity, Gridrunner Revolution, Metal Drift, Starscape, and Zombie Driver. This little Summer Indie Action Pack stacks up a solid savings in the neighborhood of 60%.

You can pick up both of these bargain bundles as we speak over at Steam.

It’s been way too long since we’ve had a Productivity Killer to share with you all. Fortunately Brooks just derailed my train of thought today by sharing this little game with me. It’s a 2D puzzle platformer of sorts in which you utilize your recently discarded, still warm carcasses as tools to progress through the game. Kill Me! was created by Klaus K. Kristenson, Magnus A. Poppel, Sune W. Pedersen, and Mads P. V. Larsen and is available for free web browser based play here.

Alright, it has been a considerable length of time since our last update, so as you can imagine that means there was a ton of games to go through. I did my best to hit all of them and catch us up to todays releases. I gotta say there have been a ton of really good looking releases since I left on vacation and hopefully I’ll have time to go back and play them all the way through. On the other hand there was also a lot of total shit too — “Try Not to Fart,” seriously? Stay classy Silver Dollar Games.  Anyways, the descriptions of the games below have been carefully concocted by the marketing arms of their respective developers. Our scant commentary will be displayed in bold.

Prismatic Solid
	A forced rail shooter with a simple and stylish graphic spaces consistent of primitive and solid figures. Numerous amount of particles and tremendous amount of projectiles will thrill you. Impressive effects, expression and evolution. 　Battle across six different stages against various enemies. Each stage has an unique end-of-stage guardian. Developer: heloli Price: 80 Microsoft Points Top down vertical scrolling shooter with some unique weapons systems and a rather pleasing look.
Ice Crush 10,000 BC
	Try as fast as possible to clean up the playfield, earn bonus time with speed combinations and discover all special items. Developer: imagodespira Price: 240 Microsoft Points Fun block breaker of sorts. It seemed to lack some depth, but that’s what you typically want from this sort of game.
Blood Tempest
	Take the wheel of a heavily armed speedboat as you take on enemy boats, frigates, and battleships with a multitude of weapons and upgrades including missiles, machine guns, mines, armor, engines, and more. After your first intense dog fight you won’t be able to put it down! Developer: ZXB Games Price: 80 Microsoft Points Amusing boat shooter game thing that reminded me of the TV show “Thunder in Paradise” starring Hulk Hogan.
Good Sir, A Balloon Race!
	Challenge the Automated Aeronaut or a fellow Gentleman to a sport of ballooning courtesy of Super Boise Games. Developer: Super Boise Price: 80 Microsoft Points A particularly amusing concept, but feels a touch under developed.
SFG Beach Volleyball
	Take your Avatar to the beach for some hard-hitting volleyball action! Play with or against your friends online, or guide your Avatar through the multi-season Career Mode featuring 30 tournaments around the world and an RPG-style levelling system. If you liked SFG Soccer you will love this ground breaking volleyball game! Developer: Stir Fry Games Price: 400 Microsoft Points I don’t like avatars, and I don’t like sports games, but I suppose some of you out there do — so here you go, a decent Volleyball game.
I Suck At: Word Games
	Do you suck at word games? We do, but we like them anyway. Play online and review your scores with other players. Play public games with anybody or private games with your friends. Developer: Social Loner Studios Price: 80 Microsoft Points A word game with me in mind. I actually ended up buying it just because of its simplicity.
The Brain of Bob
	Welcome into the Brain of Bob! Delve into Bob’s world and help him on his quest to regain his sanity…all the while traversing your way through a mind bending version of reality. It’s time to prove you have what it takes to conquer all 30 LEVELS that await you! Developer: Vulture Games Studio LLC Price: 80 Microsoft Points Puzzle Platformer, the visuals are horrendous but the gameplay is fairly enjoyable.
Urban Space Squirrels
	It’s about a super-powered squirrel with bombs, in a semi-urban setting of puzzles. Somehow or another space is involved. Why haven’t you played this game yet? -BetaComments: /* “It’s kinda like Portal… but indie, and with this squirrel.”, “I’ll never again think of animal-testing the same way.”, “Our guild quit raiding because of this game.” */ Squirrel_Launch_Price: 80msp! (For a limited time) Developer: DTA Entertainment Price: 80 Microsoft Points A particularly good  platformers. Genre fans needs to take a look at this one for sure as it offers both a solid bit of gameplay and an amusing visual aesthetic.
TransSubversion
	Flip your world up-side down with ‘Scrappy’ and air jet across a gravity-defying quest for the Amber of Light! Puzzles and enemies await in over 40 beautiful and unique levels, TransSubversion will take aim to push your mind and might to the limit! Developer: davidklimek Price: 240 Microsoft Points Puzzle/Platformer with some really nice art. Worth taking a look at for fans of the genre.
Zombie Hunter
	Shoot & knife your way through endless levels of zombies and rescue as many survivors as you can. Get money for each zombie kill and for each survivor saved. Get as much money as you can since reloading is expensive. Get pickup items to boost your power, but be warned, the zombies get stronger also. First Person Zombie Killing Action. Developer: GBCoder29 Price: 80 Microsoft Points I’m so tired of Zombies, but this one is fairly decent. So I suppose if you are less tired of Zombies than I am you may want to check it out.
Alawishus Pixel
	Is carrying out a lifetime of the same task the bastion of futility or human resilience? We may never know, but at least Alawishus Pixel is fun! Play through 40 levels of platforming mayhem as you test your mind and dexterity in the newest indie from Frog the Door Games. Can you make it to the end? Only 80 Microsoft points! Developer: Frog The Door Price: 80 Microsoft Points Nice little puzzle platformer.
いれかえまほちゃん(Maho-chan Irekae)
	Fixed screen jumping action flash puzzle game! Aim to reach the place and utilizing their Irekawaru stars and hit the enemy! I very short time limit! Flashing quickly to clear soon! All 50 face! 50 surface 25 surface’m the boss! Save function does not load. Developer: ITL Inc Price: 80 Microsoft Points Puzzle platformer with some amusing mechanics and art. Anime fans will probably be most interested.
Kong360: Gorilla Warfare
	Kong360: Gorilla Warfare is a top-down shooter game featuring monkeys with a thirst for blood in a full 3D environment. The rules are simple, pick up as many health/armor packs and weapons as you can before blowing your enemies into smithereens. Computer controlled bots are provided as target practise but the real fun comes from playing in multiplayer split screen, system link or Xbox LIVE. Developer: SpaceDude Price: 240 Microsoft Points Impressive 3D top down shooter/brawler with online multiplayer. Game looks great and doesn’t use avatars! *gasp*
Old School Racer
	Old School Racer is a fun, fast paced motorbike game that will have you coming back for more! Upgrade your bike to set even faster times on the global scoreboard! With over 20 crazy levels and 13 dirt bikes to choose from, prepare to loose sleep! Developer: Riddlersoft Price: 80 Microsoft Points I don’t know who’s school this is from, but it wasn’t mine. My old school racer was Super Hangon. This one feels like a platformer on a motorcycle and is quite amusing.

Honorable Mentions:
PolyWobble
Zombie Sniper HD
Stunning Stunts
High Stakes Zombie Monkeys
Impact of Towers
Hurdle Turtle
Ninja Escape
Adrenaline

My original Game Boy was my constant companion when I was dragged around by my parents to wherever it was they had to be, and it kept me out of trouble. As such, I have some rather fond memories of Metroid 2 as it was one of the titles I was gifted with to hold my attention. And boy did it.

I never quite beat that game, as my young mind wasn’t quite yet fit enough to process the sprawling maps and intricacies of spin-jumping. But that didn’t matter.

It seems the guys of 8Bit Horse share my love of that classic game, and made it the latest in their line of super-involved 2d game breakdowns.

Soak it in, and bask in 2d greatness. via 8 bit horse

I love the Dreamcast. In fact, as consoles go the Dreamcast will always have a very special place in my heart, not as my first console, because it wasn’t, but rather as the console that irreversibly changed how I thought about games. It was on this system that I first experienced the MMO environment with a little game called Phantasy Star Online. Suddenly games became this amazingly social experience where my friends and I could gather, make incredibly obscene ascii art, and just generally have a blast.

It is with this in mind that you can understand the unbridled excitement with which I read the news that Sega had finally decided to grant my wish and would begin to bring Dreamcast games to current generation platforms. The announcement came along with two titles: Sonic Adventures and Crazy Taxi. Now these are two great games that are a perfectly logical starting point for Sega. But as a Dreamcast fanboy, it is hard to not immediately begin construction of your own list of games you want to see ported. So without further stalling for time, I present to you my dreamy dreamcast port list.

Jet Grind Radio/Jet Set Radio
Skies of Arcadia
Space Channel 5
ChuChu Rocket!
Power Stone
San Francisco Rush 2049
Phantasy Star Online
Yes, I know there are new versions, but they all suck.
Spawn: In The Demon’s Hand
Yes, yes, I know it wasn't very good, but I have many fond memories of its arcade counter part.
Re-Volt
Gauntlet Legends
Blue Archer needs food!