Consolation Prize

It’s that time of week again when new Xbox Live Arcade titles have been released for our perusal and this offering, developed by “Housemarque”, better known in my books for the superlative
Super Stardust HD on the PS3 is a welcome addition to the Arcade roster and firmly plants its putting wedge on the more humorous and casual side of Golf, akin to such games like Hot Shots Golf.

At the start of the game you can customise your golfer; choosing a gender, hairstyle, and can kit them out in a selection of clothing styles. You know that this game isn’t going to take itself too seriously when you find your cartoon-like golfing avatar can be equipped with bunny slippers, karate gloves, and even kitten ears. However, as silly as this may sound it sets the tone of the game well and guarantees that your character stands a good chance of looking at least somewhat different to your opponents.

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In preparation for the forthcoming release of Soul Calibur IV the second game in the successful melee weapon fighting game series by Namco, Soul Calibur, was unleashed onto Xbox Live Arcade last Wednesday, 2nd July.

As mentioned this was the second game in the series following in the footsteps of Soul Edge (PS1) and is probably most fondly remembered by Sega Dreamcast owners with which it became an instantaneous hit during 1999 because of its stunning visual beauty, great character roster, fantastic character animation, and its instant pick-up-and-play fighting techniques.

The story, as with most fighting games, is virtually non-existent but revolves around an evil mystical sword known as “Soul Edge” wielded by its host “Nightmare”. The characters in the game have there own altruistic or selfish reasons for joining the quest to stop Soul Edge and the player jumps into that role, progressing through a series of one-on-one rounds until the final showdown.

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Released last Wednesday Ticket to Ride, another renowned board-game, swelled the ranks of Xbox Live Arcade and joined the list of other great boardgames which have been given the Xbox Live treatment such as Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne.

Ticket to Ride ranks as one of my favourite boardgames of all time, mainly because it’s so simple to learn, easy to play, fast flowing, and it’s just an enormous amount of fun when played with a group of good friends.

This version is a nigh on perfect conversion and plays exactly the same as the original board-game featuring the American version of the map. The aim of the game is simply to complete “Tickets” across North America, for example “Seattle to New York” by linking cities together. How you get from “A” to “B” is up-to the player but because in most cases there’s only one connection between cities, which when claimed can’t be used by any other player, competition for routes is fierce and claiming strategic positions on the map before your opponents is crucial to your overall success. Instead of going into more depth about the game mechanics I’ll instead just point you in the general direction of my board-game review
here.

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Dr Edgar Herbert is not a happy bunny. He was a top research scientist in the field of Weather Control Enhancements for the AIC but he’s been put out to pasture early. Like any bitter employee Dr Herbert is out for revenge and there’s no better way for a psychotic genius to show his disappointment at his golden handshake then to wreak havoc around the world against his former employees. I’m sure at some-point Dr Herbert may have even cackled to himself and asked for “one miiiiiiilllllion dollars”, and yes that was a deliberate reference to Austin Powers.

Anyway, onto the game. Elements of Destruction is a top down strategy game where the aim is purely to cause as much damage as possible to villages and cities whilst meeting your mission goals, such as “destroy five barns”. At your disposal are the elemental forces of nature enabling you to call down down lightning strikes, topple buildings with earthquakes, or even rip a path of destruction through neighbourhoods with a tornado. The title of the game sums it all up rather neatly really.

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So this is another sequel to the original arcade classic Frogger? Personally I’d have preferred it if poor old Frogger was left in peace to laze away his remaining days in the swamp rather than have this sequel dredged up from the murky depths. Needless to say I wasn’t that enamoured with this Xbox Live Arcade release.

Trying to build on the simplicity of Frogger we’ve now got a rather hokum story that involves a cute alien called Pico making a crash landing in Firefly swamp. In the process of the emergency landing some parts fell of the UFO and Frogger, being the rather friendly amphibian he is, decides to help poor Pico find the missing items.

Levels now span multiple screens and Frogger must make his way to the goal, and thus the missing part of the spaceship, collecting coins and musical notes along the way and avoiding swamp hazards like snakes and flying fish. Of course the journey involves river crossings, and seeing as Frogger can’t swim these must be navigated by hopping on the moving logs and lily pads as per the classic arcade game.

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Going back a few years I used to be a fan of Sid Meier, from the early flight simulators like F15 Strike Eagle and F-19 Stealth Fighter to his more strategic games like Railroad Tycoon, Colonization and of course the renowned Civilization. Eventually I just stopped following what Meier was developing but I’ve always remembered his name and his legacy.

I’ve been keeping an eye on how this console centric version of Civilization was progressing with keen interest, and over the last couple of days I’ve been playing the demo, trying to decide if I actually like the game or not and if it’s worth purchasing.

Well, after a shaky start I’ve warmed to the game. To begin with I wasn’t that enthralled; the cartoon-like art design didn’t immediately appeal and the random gibberish spouted by your advisors in place of a verbal language is very irksome. Maybe I was comparing it to the Civilization from old which I remember as being quite a hardcore resource management strategy game where cartoon characterisation and comedic advisors certainly didn’t have a place.

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Unfortunately I never got around to trying out the first installment but what’s on offer here in Assault Heroes 2 is a good old school style romp of a top down shooter.

Although in the trial you start in the “P.L.A MKI Jeep” it is sometimes necessary, by choice or by force, to leave the comfort and safety of your armoured shell and proceed on foot. During these occasions you’re more vulnerable and have reduced destructive capabilities, but on the plus side you can roll to avoid attacks and at certain points in the game hijack enemy vehicles.

The jeep is quite versatile and has access to a variety of death dealing weapons. The mini-gun is the default all purpose weapon but you also select the flak cannon, flame thrower, or ice gun, with each one being more suited to certain types of enemies and cycling through weapons via the shoulder buttons is encouraged but not necessary. In addition to your weapons you also have access a limited number of grenades and when times get extremely tough you can unleash a nuke to clear the immediate area of nasties.

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OK I admit it, I’ve never heard of this “classic” arcade game that was released back in 1980 by Atari. The easiest way to summarise this game is as a 4 player mash up of Pong and Breakout with each player occupying a corner of the screen, defending their fort from bouncing balls and hopefully deflecting them back in the opponents general direction.

As is the tradition with Xbox Live retro titles the graphics have been given an overhaul with the “enhanced” mode but if you’re a bit of a masochist you can play the original mode should you desire. The upgraded mode is definitely an improvement over the original and I really can’t see anyone playing the classic mode for any other reason other than historical interest.

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