You like to shoot, so don't deny it

In recent weeks I've been playing a new Xbox Live Arcade title straight out of Rotterdam, namely Rocket Riot from my friends at Codeglue. This is a title I was pitched back in 2006, when it was called So Square (it was also Jetpack Junkies before settling on the final title). It's a fun little pixel-based arena blaster with a very distinctive style and a lot of wackiness, in-jokes and humour. How often do you watch an opening cutscene that has to explain why noone has any legs? How many games these days have a theme song?


With a jetpack strapped to your backside and a rocket launcher in hand, you face off against wave after wave of pirates, zombies, ninjas, commandos, aliens (you get the picture) in a free-for-all blaster characterised by utterly destructible pixel scenery and few opportunities for breathing or blinking.

It is generally harder to gauge the likely success of multiplayer focused titles than singleplayer ones as they need a decent sized fanbase to succeed. When the game launches, it either captures gamers' imagination and quickly builds a fanbase or it is passed over and the multiplayer never really gets off the ground. The very nature of the beast makes it tough to predict whether you have a hit on your hands until the game is out in the wild and this is the main reason I didn't go out to bag the game back in 2006.

Rocket Riot offers a frenetic blasting experience but with its real-time, manic nature, I feel it doesn't offer a change of pace from most full-price boxed shooters. The side-on perspective brings Worms to mind but that game has carved itself a niche over the last decade and a half by, in my opinion, offering a singular experience of pressurised turn-based play cycle and artillery gameplay, boosted by a great weapon set and bags of charm.

However, Rocket Riot gives itself the best chance possible, with its distinctive art style and its quirky presentation. Only time, and sales figures, will tell if I made the right call or not. Help make me look like a fool by checking out the demo - and thank your lucky stars that Pete and the guys removed the GDC test level that was made out of my company mugshot!

Wow, it's been a long time

There I was, happily blogging away, when real life got in the way a little bit, in the form of upheaval at work mainly. Thankfully, things have mostly sorted themselves out now and I'm hopefully going to be able to post regularly again.

Since I last posted, I've put a lot of time into a number of games, all of which I hope to say something about in coming weeks: Crackdown, Eternal Sonata, The World Ends With You, Mass Effect, Soul Bubbles, Boom Blox, Ticket to Ride, Braid, Elite Beat Agents, Age of Conan, and today, the Fable 2 Pub Games on XBLA.

Some people would argue that gambling is no fun unless it's for real money, but I disagree. I find it strangely relaxing (and almost hypnotic after a while), particularly card games, and Fortune's Tower (the card game in the package) definitely delivers, with its constant stick-or-twist dilemma. Keystone is a more complex form of craps and is good fun too. But the weak link is the Spinnerbox games, which are effectively increasingly complex 'pure chance' fruit machines - pay your money, hit the button, see if you win (but mostly you lose. A lot.)

Despite them, if you enjoy frittering away virtual coinage on games of chance, check out the trial version. If you later buy Fable 2, you can use the game to gamble with your in-game gold, which sounds like a good idea, but will probably lead to virtual bailiffs, virtual gamblers anonymous meetings, etc. Just remember:

How ace is XBLA?

On Saturday, I mainly played Xbox Live Arcade games. I knocked
Assault Heroes on the head with Andy, played Carcassone against the AI, finished off the time attack mode in Geon and then, late in the evening, downloaded Word Puzzle and spent far too long playing through the main mode. The last levels are very tricky, especially at 4am when you can barely focus on the screen.

I was struck by how much I've come to take the simplicity and ease of use of the XBLA system for granted. New titles are flagged up for me, I download a trial, and if I like it, a few button presses are all that is needed to debit my stored credit card and unlock the full game. I don't even have to shift on my beanbag. It's a far cry from mailing an order to Special Reserve and then waiting a couple of weeks for the postman to bring your game in a jiffy bag. The sheer ease of buying new games on the service has definitely contributed to my extensive use of it. I've got 30 or so Arcade games and the majority were purchased rather than free with codes. The dip-in, dip-out nature of the games is something I've come to rely on and many evenings I find myself not touching a retail game at all.

That said, Sunday was mainly spent playing Assassin's Creed (aka Jade's Game) - more on that in the next post.