XBL Summer of Arcade 2011 Smorgasbord

It’s summer so you know what that means: more time to stay inside and play videogames until your brain hurts! Microsoft has been promoting their Summer of Arcade titles the last few years and this summer is no different. At E3 I took a look at four upcoming titles in XBLA’s lineup and I have to say each is unique in its own way.

Bastion

Of all the Summer of Arcade titles this was the one I was least excited about. A 2/3 perspective Diablo style RPG, Bastion actually presents a solid RPG adventure with a striking visual style. The game boils down to four action buttons (item, range, melee, dodge) and fighting all sorts of flora and a bit of fauna. The visuals are really what make Bastion stand out. The levels form around the character as he walks around the world. The stages seem to float in space and rise up in Tetris style block formations.

One issue that came up during the demo is the game gives you little direction when wandering around the map. While it was fairly straightforward, it would have been a welcome addition to have a map of sorts to examine while exploring. The combat as a whole, however, was satisfying. Bastion is a promising title with a unique visual style, well implemented audio and, hopefully, the final product will present a well crafted RPG title.

From Dust

From Dust is a physics based puzzle game from Ubisoft that requires players to manipulate earth, water, and lava to complete various goals on tsunami battered islands. In the first level played I was tasked with obtaining a rune from a nearby idol that when obtained would protect my village from the impending tsunami. Each level has a timer that counts down until the next tsunami will hit.

The goals of each level involve establishing new villages and finding more powers that make completing each stage possible. Some are as simple as building land bridges with excess dirt or blocking off river flows to allow villages to walk on dry land. Others require special powers, like jellify water, to remove and solidify mass amounts of water for short periods of time, allowing villagers safe passage.

This is the one Summer of Arcade title I’m not entirely sure of. It seems like an interesting concept but is in a genre I spend little time with. The concept as a whole is well thought out but the controls are imprecise. Since I had no control over how an element would be placed, my villagers ended up drowning on many occasions. Another issue is villager A.I. which was lacking to say the least. Overall, the game is something different and that alone is enough to give this title a shot.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

I’m a latecomer to the Toy Soldiers party and after going hands-on with its sequel I can say that I have been sold on this new take on tower defense. Toy Soldiers is not a traditional tower defense game which generally has little involvement in battles. With this game you are encouraged to jump into various weapons, whether artillery or anti-tank, to increase their effectiveness. In addition, there are hero characters that are super powerful units players control for short periods of time. In addition, there are vehicles that can be obtained that wreak havoc so long as there’s still battery life to spare.

The battles are intense with waves of enemies marching on your base and enormous boss battles to cap off stages. I was able to battle an Antonov A-40 (glider tank from WWII) with a giant tesla cannon attached to the front. I was able to jump from gun to gun as the A-40 rolled over my turrets and I rushed to rebuild. The visuals really stood out to me as battles take place in small play sets. When the camera is brought close to the action the models are well animated and rather detailed. The controls were spot on and as a naysayer of the tower defense fad I can say that Toy Soldiers: Cold War is bucking the trend of a rather stagnant genre.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

This game. This game is fantastic. The name alone turned me off but after spending time with Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet I am wholly convinced it’s a worthwhile investment. First and foremost the visual style is striking. While most of the game uses a black and white motif, the simple color scheme allows for fantastic visual contrasts with minimalistic designs.

The game controls like PixelJunk Shooter, with the left stick for movement and the right for aiming. I was given access to four gadgets (scanner, claw, saw, and blaster) that I used to solve some simple puzzles and culminated in a boss fight against a giant orb thing with eyeballs and tentacles. A reason to get excited for this game is the scope of it. The representative I spoke with told me it is implementing a Metroid style map system. This means that the whole game is interconnected and by using your scanner, players can mark areas they do not have access to yet as reminders for when they have the proper tools.

The controls are spot on and I felt wholly in control of my ship as I zipped around the narrow passageways. When faced with the large boss character, I chose to use my saw in lieu of the blaster. The representative was impressed saying I was the first person to try that approach thus far. It seems as though there are multiple ways of dealing with boss fights whether you go gung ho like myself or slow and precise like others.

The last area to address is the music from Norwegian black/death metal band Dimmu Borgir. Now before you write this title off, the sample chosen was from the Prague orchestra, and the overall sound design added to the sort of austere nature of the game. Everything fit. Another thing to consider is the addition of four-player co-op. This happens to be the Summer of Arcade title I most looking forward to and was personally one of my top games at E3.

Be on the lookout for all of these titles releasing in July.

**The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author. We’re not even sure how Nick found the time to play these.**