red-baron-arcade
Latest
Red Baron Arcade gets un-canceled, releases today
Red Baron Arcade, originally scheduled for a September release last year, mysteriously disappeared once Activision Blizzard acquired Sierra Games. Six months later, the downloadable flight game makes a surprise return appearance.Our impressions of the game from 2008 were rather lackluster, but the game may have improved quite a bit over the last few months. Update: The PlayStation.Blog's Jeff Rubenstein confirms the game will cost $9.99, and players will be able to experience a taste of the game in a playable demo.See the game's original trailer after the break.%Gallery-31402%
The fate of Red Baron Arcade is unclear
When the giant Actiblizzard katamari acquired Sierra's game properties, the fate of Red Baron Arcade became unclear. The PSN game was scheduled for a release last September, but has since disappeared off the face of the earth. Gamers Platform is reporting that the game is canceled: "Sadly, Red Baron was never completed; they had to stop the project when Sierra Online was incorporated into Activision-Vivendi."Our own contacts confirmed that Sierra Online is no more, but could not verify if the game has been canceled. "I can't confirm that the game itself has been canceled. Sierra Online is no longer however, so they won't publish."Considering no one seems to know if the game exists anymore, it's probably safe to assume that the project is dead.
Hands-on: Red Baron Arcade
Many of you wisely noted in our debut trailer for the upcoming PSN game Red Baron Arcade that it looks fun, in spite of its antiquated graphics. After playing a few missions from the downloadable title, I'd have to agree with that assessment. Red Baron Arcade is true to its namesake: it provides a very arcade aerial combat game, one which is easy to pick up and play. The simplistic nature of the gameplay is part of its appeal, but also limits the depth one may come to expect from a genre like this.Planes are incredible maneuverable, able to turn at a moment's notice. Obviously, these planes aren't meant to handle like their real-world equivalents. Various evasive tactics, like U-turns and barrel rolls, are done easily with a single press of a button. While this makes it very easy to jump into the game, it also makes everything feel completely unnatural.While the controls are far from realistic, they do get the job done during the massive dogfights featured in the game. Even the first missions had dozens of enemies to shoot down. Your opponents will go down rather easily, allowing you to dominate the skies. Various power-ups and collectibles are scattered throughout each level, making it easy to restore your health, energy and bombs.%Gallery-31402%
Red Baron Arcade brings air combat to PSN in September
Download to PSP Stainless Studios is bringing their PC arcade air combat game to the PSN in September. Set in World War I, Red Baron challenges players to tackle 36 single player missions, or go head-to-head in 8 player online multiplayer. There will be over 20 aircraft to choose from, and multiple modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag. It's a genre seriously under-represented on the PSN, and we're sure many will try the downloadable demo when it releases on September 18th.
ESRB adds 2.5 XBLA games to ratings list
Since there was no XBLA release last week, we need some good news when it comes to the Live Arcade, and the ESRB delivers for us, rating three two and a half new XBLA games. The half game is the user-named Puzzle Quest expansion pack, Revenge of the Plague Lord. The two full games are Samurai Showdown II, a Neo-Geo fighting game, and Red Baron Arcade which is a World War I arcade flying shooter with graphics similar to Battlezone. Now, as is normal with this type of crystal ball gazing, no one knows when these games actually will see final release; with a bit of an exception for Revenge of the Plague Lord though. Since it's simply DLC it will probably be released as soon as it's ready.
