Microsoft X-Box 360

[Lando]

Have you guys tried out Chime on XBLA?  Great game, somewhat similar to Lumines -- and I believe a part of the proceeds goes to charity (maybe all of it).  It's only 400 points and well worth it. 

[Rock]

I ended up getting Panzer General for XBLA and decided to download other games that may interest me.  I also downloaded Defense Grid, though I own it on the PC.  I noticed a few of you have it, including Rock, and I was just curious if there was any minor differences between the PC version and the XBLA version?  If not, why own it on both?

I own it on both because it came out first for PC, and I loved it on PC.  But I also knew from my PC experience that it was the perfect kind of laid back game I'd love to play on the couch.  And indeed it was.  I'd say it's a much better experience on XBLA, just because the controller is much more smooth for it than the mouse was.  Plus the XBLA version has several new maps that were very interesting.  They called it the "Awakening" expansion or something like that.  That still isn't available for the PC version. 

[Rock]

Have you guys tried out Chime on XBLA?  Great game, somewhat similar to Lumines -- and I believe a part of the proceeds goes to charity (maybe all of it).  It's only 400 points and well worth it. 

I'll check it out sometime Lando.  I'm very far behind in my XBLA games actually.  I used to be right on top of the new releases every week a few years ago, but now I check them out way late.  For example, I recently bought Castle Crashers when they were giving all their money to Haiti relief.  And I just recently bought Shadow Complex which was on sale, and I haven't played that much yet.  And I also bought Splosion Man last week when it was on sale.  I like Splosion Man a lot more than i thought I would judging from the demo.  It reminds a bit of the good parts of Sonic:  it's all about speed, and reacting fast.  I didn't think I had those kinds of reflexes anymore, but I've been doing really well in Splosion Man. 

I also recently bought Magic: The Gathering when it was on sale a few weeks ago.  It's a much more interesting game than I was expecting.  I wish I could build my own deck already, but it looks like they make you go through the whole campaign before fiddling with decks.  But I'm enjoying the campaign and challenges, so that's okay. 

[Cragmyre]

I also recently bought Magic: The Gathering when it was on sale a few weeks ago.  It's a much more interesting game than I was expecting.  I wish I could build my own deck already, but it looks like they make you go through the whole campaign before fiddling with decks.  But I'm enjoying the campaign and challenges, so that's okay.

You can't build a deck.  The best you can do is get more cards added to the deck, but you can't remove cards from the base deck they provide.  So, the base deck will be 60 cards ( including land ) and whenever you unlock a new card you can add it to the deck, making the deck go larger than 60.

It is still fun, but from a statistics point of view, less efficient once you go over 60.

My biggest problem with any game is my EGADD kicks in and I put things on the back burner.  Which means, I've only opened a few decks.

[Venture]

Is there a max deck size?

[Cragmyre]

No.  I think there are 15 extra cards to be had for each prebuilt deck, and I believe ( not positive ) that it also adds lands to help with mana.  All you can do is either add the extra card, or take it out.  I still have fun with the game, and everyone is on a somewhat even footing ( assuming they both add all extra cards, then completely even footing )

[Jaded]

I got into the closed Blur beta via Fileplanet. A much more open beta starts Monday and there are keys being given away all over the place.

It's surprisingly fun.  Basically a cart race with license cars and an RPG element. You earn "fans" by racing, which get you ranks, which in turn unlock more cars and mods for you car. On the track there're all kinds of powerups. Fairly standard stuff. Missiles and mines and shields and stuff.

But w/up to 20 players in a race it can be real mayhem (though I never was in one with more than 10... there weren't many people playing). Definitely worth looking for a beta key for!

[Lando]

Anybody checked out the Toy Soldiers game available on Live Arcade as of yesterday.  It's one I think the boys would enjoy.  Anyone?

[Venture]

I picked it up via the web, but have yet to download and play.  Hopefully tonight or the weekend!

[Venture]

Oh, and I do intend on picking up Blur when it releases.  I dig the kart-esque gameplay, as well as the levelling up and unlocking of cars and gear.

[Cragmyre]

I'm interested in Blur too, though I haven't really done much online with the 360.  Wonder how bad the chat will be inside that game - though I can turn off chat, correct?  ( see, I really don't know much about playing online )

[Jaded]

Cragmyre, in the beta at least, I can see icons pop up when people are talking but I can barely hear them. Like I can hear its a voice but can't make it out. I don't know if that's just luck on my part or what. I don't even have a headset connected to my controller, and maybe that's why?

I actually do think with friends chatting could be fun because there're a lot of "Oh sh*t! Did you see that!?" moments. And the fullest race I've been in had 10 people. I can't imagine what a full 20 car race would feel like!

Toy Soldiers, btw, has an accompanying Facebook game that lets you contribute to the 'war effort' via Facebook. AFAIK it's the first time an XBLA game and a Facebook game have shared any kind of resource.

[Rock]

I got into the Blur beta that's being given out by Joystiq.  Apparently they'll give me a code in about a week to enter the beta.  I'm looking forward to it, since I'm a fan of all of Bizarre Studios' games so far.

They might still have more left so go sign up if you have Xbox Live Gold and are interested. 

I haven't tried Toy Soldiers yet.  I downloaded the demo, but I've been too busy playing the Just Cause 2 demo.  It's amazing!  Has anyone here tried it yet?  I think this might be the game that's even more fun than Crackdown. 

Try this:  Shoot a propane tank, wait a second, then just before it takes off into the sky, use your grappling hook to pull yourself onto it.  Wheeeeeee!   Up in the sky, be sure to parachute away before the propane tank blows up.  It's sooooo much fun.  Also be sure to look for a combat helicopter that's..... I believe either directly north or directly south of the town near your starting location.  Just follow the road and you should see it. 

[Venture]

I played the tutorial and first 2 levels of Toy Soldiers last night.  Pretty fun!

The presentation is top-notch - all the fonts, pictures, music and sound evoke a turn-of-the-century feel with a world going to war.  The playing field is also very kid friendly.  Pull back from the battleground to see that the whole thing is in a shoebox on some kids table in his room just makes it feel right - all the imaginary battles I'd have with my plastic army men.

Gameplay is tower defense, with the bonus you can hop into any tower to control it.  From the tutorial, the standard one is the machine gun.  I saw howitzers, mortars, sniper towers, AA guns and even a biplane I could fly to shoot down their planes and dirigibles.  Each tower can be updated multiple times to get more powerful and more abilities.  You can place barbed wire to slow the enemy down, and to create the paths of slaughter.

The transition from tutorial to game is a bit jarring though - all of a sudden you have just machine guns that can't be upgraded vs everything you had just a level before.  It is a challenge though, when I realize that my guns aren't killing those damn horsemen quickly enough, and oh shit...is that an armored vehicle rolling towards me??!

[Jaded]

BTW as long as we're talking XBLA, did anyone try out Greed, Inc? I think it came out last week. I expected @Splusmer to give it a go since it had hexes.

[Lando]

Blur sounds interesting.  Have to check it out when it's released.

Thanks for the feedback, Venture.  My kids love tower defense games.  I'll definitely pick this one up, and I'm a sucker for toy soldiers and the WWI setting.

[Venture]

J. - I picked Greed up, got about 5m into the tutorial when I was called away, and never got back to it.  I'll try to get to it this weekend and post something! Waiting for the new FF come Tuesday though!

[irata]

Thanks for the reviews, guys! 

Toy Soldiers sounds interesting, despite the bad "Army Men" memories it elicited when I first heard/read about it.  I'd give it a try, but i'm kind of in a gaming holding-pattern, waiting for Final Fantasy XIII to hit on Tuesday.

[Auzette]

I bought Toy Soldiers, couldn't resist. Will be playing it tonight.

I am curious about Greed, Inc. Splusmer, did you play it?

[Rock]

I'm pretty sure splusmer doesn't own a 360.  But Greed Inc did come out for all 3 platforms I believe (PC, 360, PS3).  But I'm not sure if splusmer checks the Xbox 360 thread.