Consolation Prize

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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Ikaruga, from those artisans at
Treasure, is a top-down vertically scrolling shoot-em-up. It was originally developed for the arcades and subsequently ported to the Sega Dreamcast (2002) and Nintendo Gamecube (2003), but now there’s no excuse not to play this gem of a shooter as it’s available from Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft points.

Generally in most “shoot ‘em ups” the aim is to avoid any incoming enemy fire. However, Ikaruga employs a simple but clever mechanic that revolves around switching the polarity of your ship between two colours, “black” and “white”, allowing shots of the same colour to be absorbed.

The polarity of the ship can be changed at will by the player and this not only changes the ships colour but also that of the weapon it fires. Because enemies also come in one of the two polarities switching to the opposite colour ensures that you will deliver more damage, but balancing this effect is the knowledge that you are going to be vulnerable to attack.

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Rocketmen: Axis of Evil , available from Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 points, is a game that tries to play homage to the early comic book style of science fiction with finned rockets, Venusians and dastardly Martians.

The trial of this top-down action “dungeon crawler” style game starts off quite well allowing you to customise your characters traits such as the gender, race, class and clothing colour. Presentation wise it all looks quite good. Comic book style cut scenes with voiceovers are used to further the tongue-in-cheek storyline and the art design suits the retro Sci-Fi style of the game and could have been taken from a 1930’s episode of Flash Gordon.

The game is simple enough to play. Wade through the level shooting anything that moves while picking up the occasional time limited weapon upgrade such as a shotgun or laser cannon, with the aim of completing the primary mission objective.

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It looks like it’s been a quiet few weeks for demo’s and arcade games for the Xbox 360 while I’ve been away but I noticed there were a few new titles to try out.

Originally released in the Japanese arcades a couple of years ago (2006) Triggerheart Exelica, now on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 points, is a traditional top down vertical shoot ‘em up with the usual formulaic mix of hordes of enemies, end of stage boss encounters and an obscene amount of enemy weapon fire to dodge.

The trial game allows you to play the first stage of five, choosing from one of two humanoid weapon systems known as “Triggerhearts”. There isn’t too much difference between the two apart from the onscreen representation of these cute anime inspired mecha girls and the different fire patterns employed. Exelica uses a wide fire pattern while Crueltear has concentrated straight forward fire only.

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I missed out on Rez the first time it appeared on the Dreamcast, and also its subsequent port to the PS2. An enhanced version is now also available from Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MS points and this time I’m not going to miss out.

The story is a simple one providing enough detail to form a setting for the game. In Rez, you’re a hacker infiltrating a super network controlled by an artificial intelligence. Known as Eden, the AI has recently begun to question the meaning of its existence and has started to shut down. Your task is to enter cyberspace and infiltrate the core to re-awaken Eden.

Rez HD is an on the rails shooter and thus the player has no control over movement as you follow a predetermined path through each level. Emphasis is instead placed upon aiming as you guide the onscreen laser reticle over swarms of viruses and projectiles holding down the “A” button to get a lock-on to each target. Up-to a maximum of eight targets can be simultaneously locked-on ready for a laser attack when “A” is released.

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The Metal Slug series of games have been around for quite some time now and spawned a host of games on a number of platforms. I’ve even got a copy of Metal Slug 1st Mission and Metal Slug 2nd Mission for my Neo Geo Pocket Colour, that ill fated hand-held that I thought was particularly good for the time.

This time it’s the Xbox 360’s turn to receive a port of Metal Slug 3. The game is a run and gun side scrolling shooter which sees you taking on hordes of enemies, rescuing prisoners for power-ups and taking on the obligatory boss at the end of the stage.

During a stage you will come across different types of “Metal Slugs” (vehicles), increasing your firepower and overall effectiveness, and are essential for ensuring your survival if your reflexes are as bad as mine. One nice aspect about this game is the branching paths that are available within a stage adding to the games replayability as you explore the different routes available.

The controls are nice and simplistic with the left joystick used for movement and for the direction of fire with “X” used to shoot, “Y” to throw grenades and “A” to jump. Graphically things all move smoothly and the sprites, some of them surprisingly huge, look great.

The full version is available for 800 Microsoft Points and is well worth a look if you’re into arcade shooters.

Undertow has been available on Xbox Live Arcade for a couple of weeks now. It’s a small download at only 49Mb and to unlock the full game will set you back 800 Microsoft Points.

Undertow takes place after the polar ice caps have been melted covering the planet in water from an attack perpetrated by an unknown aquatic alien race.

The game is a side scrolling shooter where the player must fight for possession of strategic control points to achieve victory. Both the player and the opponent have a number of “tickets” (points) available which decrease in speed depending on the number of control points that have been conquered. The player will win by forcing the opponents “tickets” to zero.

Conquering a checkpoint is simply a matter of wiping out all opposition in that sector and waiting until it changes to your teams colour. Of course once you’ve taken a control point there’s nothing stopping the opponent taking it back, and thus control points swing back and forth between the player and the opponent during the course of a level.

The controls of the game are very straightforward using the left stick for movement, right stick to shoot, left trigger to drop a depth charge and right trigger to boost. In addition “X” can be held down for a continuous boost and the D-pad is used to select one of the four different unit types available to the player.

As you’d expect each of the different unit types have strengths and weakness but the player can interchange between them during the level if so desired. The “Marine” is fast and agile and has a decent shooting range, the “Dragoon” is slower than the marine but is better armoured and has a very powerful short range attack, the “Corsair” is fast and fires long range missiles but is lightly armoured, and finally the “Destroyer” is the slowest class but is heavily armoured and has the most powerful, but slowest firing weapon in the game. Each of the four units can be upgraded three times during the game once enough points have been racked up from destroying units and taking control points which increases there overall effectiveness.

Jotted throughout each level you will also come across various power-ups such as the “Frenzy” which doubles damage for 30 seconds, “Depth Charge” packs to add three depth charges to your arsenal, or “Health” packs to restore your unit to fighting fitness once more.

The trial lets you play the first three single player missions; “Training”, “Tide Pool”, and “The Line” from the first campaign. The game does have a story and the action is punctuated between levels with cut-scenes, but to be honest I didn’t really find them to be that enthralling.

Undertow looks great with some gorgeous backdrops and some nice graphical effects and I found fighting for control points with the tide of the battle swinging back and forth to be an enjoyable change from the shooter norm.

The full game offers multiplayer co-op as-well as versus modes and if you like playing the occasional shooter then this would be worth trying out.

Every now and again I get the urge to play a decent old school style shooter that can provide a good gaming fix when you’ve only got limited time to spare. I’d heard that Super Stardust HD on the PS3 was a good classic style shooter and once I’d sorted out my credit card with the PlayStation Network, promptly downloaded it.

The game is very straightforward and at its heart this is similar to the classic Asteroids but with a 21st Century spin to provide fast and frenetic gameplay with the simple aim of destroying anything that moves. The player controls a spacecraft in orbit over a planet using one joystick for movement and the other for directional fire, similar to Robotron or Geometry Wars. However, unlike the aforementioned classics you’re not based on one 2D plane but on the curved plane of the planet you’re orbiting.

Your ship comes armed with three different types of primary weapon, namely the “Rock Crusher”, “Gold Melter” or “Ice Splitter” which are selected via the “L1″ and “R1″ shoulder buttons. Each weapon is not only more suited to certain asteroids and enemies, but slightly different in nature. For example the “Gold Melter”, a beam like burst of fire is more appropriately used against “Gold” asteroids whilst the “Rock Crusher” is best against standard asteroids but provides great fire dispersion.

Although it’s not essential to use the correct weapon type it certainly makes life easier and thus less likely you’ll be swamped with hundreds of asteroid fragments floating around the planet surface and your ship crushed between a rock and the proverbial hard-place.

Certain asteroids contain glowing green cores and when destroyed will leave various power ups to collect such as extra lives, shields or weapon upgrades. Power-ups gradually degrade over time and when left uncollected eventually deteriorate to bonus points.

The game is split into a series of five planets, with each planet separated into five phases culminating with a boss encounter. Each planet gets progressively more difficult and soon the planet atmosphere is swarming with asteroids and enemies to avoid. In the event of an emergency you have a limited number of “bombs” which can be used to clear the immediate area or alternatively a “boost” facility which is unlimited but takes a a few vital seconds to recharge.

The game is gorgeous to behold featuring some great explosions and special effects with some catchy background music tracks which take me back to some of the classic shooters that appeared on the Amiga in the days of yore. Super Stardust HD has all the qualities of a great shooter and at its core is a very playable game that is easy to pick up and play yet hard to master. The game not only provides a great experience but is exceptionally good value at only 4.99 GBP.