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Raskulls review: Take my skull for a ride
Wait ... a Raskulls game? In 2010? What's next, Pele's Superstar Soccer? Who still remembers the Raskulls, those third-rate Smurf knockoffs from the 1980s? Even the biggest fans of Peter Cullen and June Foray probably recycled their tapes of the Ruby-Spears cartoon, which aired on ABC's Saturday morning cartoon block for a few months in early 1984. The Kenner toy line, Star comics series, and Atari 2600 game (released in the wake of the crash of 1983) were all embarrassing failures. Even the Snorks looked good next to the Raskulls. Okay, absolutely none of this true, but this fake history perfectly fits the tone of Raskulls, an XBLA exclusive from Halfbrick Studios that combines racing with puzzle-platforming. It might be a brand new property, but Raskulls is an obvious parody of The Smurfs and the assorted rip-offs that littered the Saturday morning airwaves back in the 1980s. The self-aware and absurd Raskulls basically Shrekifies The Smurfs. %Gallery-110540%
MicroBot, Magic Pack 3 join Raskulls on XBLA today
If you haven't already purchased Raskulls through a fellow "Games for the Holidays" title, A World of Keflings or (the officially unreleased) ilomilo, Halfbrick's puzzle-platform is now very clearly available on Xbox Live Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points ($10). Additionally, dual-stick, Innerspace-esque shooter MicroBot (800 points) makes a surprise invasion on the service, in addition to the long-awaited third expansion pack (400 points; free multiplayer version) for Magic: The Gathering. And now for the but-back-to-Innerspace link of the day ... [Thanks, Daniel]
12 Days of Joyswag: Xbox 360 S plus 'Games for the Holidays,' A World of Keflings, Raskulls, and ilomilo
To celebrate the holidays, we're having twelve straight days of giveaways up through Christmas day. And while we say it's to celebrate, really ... we're simply getting rid of some of the larger packages around the ol' office. Remember when Microsoft promised everyone in the audience during its 2010 E3 keynote a brand-new Xbox 360 S, the just-announced redesigned console? We've got just one left and we're going to take this opportunity to unload it before the year's out. But instead of just a plain ol' 250GB Xbox 360 S console, we're going to spice matters up with codes for all three of this month's Xbox Live Arcade "Games for the Holidays," featuring A World of Keflings, Raskulls, and ilomilo. We've got nine other sets of codes which we'll be handing out on Twitter and Facebook over the course of the week but, for now, get in on our final piece of Joyswag in this series. Happy holidays!%Gallery-95140%
Download Raskulls early through ilomilo
We've already reported about the quirk that allows you to download Raskulls early through today's A World of Keflings. Readers have written in to inform us that you can also get it through the other Xbox "Games for the Holidays" release, ilomilo -- which is itself available well before its release date thanks to a secret website. Simply press Y in the ilomilo main menu, and you'll be able to access the trials (and thus the full games) for both Raskulls and Keflings. At this point, the only one of the three you can't get before its release date is A World of Keflings, and that's only because today is Keflings' release date. [Thanks, Dillon and Jeff]
Video: Xbox Live Arcade's Games for the Holidays mascot crossover
Confused by Xbox Live's "Games for the Holidays" crossover bonus? Don't worry. This new video from Microsoft makes it very clear what you unlock when you buy more than one game from this seasonal promotion.
Xbox 'Games for the Holidays' feature unlockable crossovers
Raskulls, Ilomilo, and A World of Keflings aren't just connected through the shared "Games for the Holidays" promotion. They also each unlock extras in the other games. In Ilomilo, you can get unlockable Keflings and Raskulls costumes for Ilo and Milo by purchasing the other games. Additionally, "You can unlock ilo and Doug as playable characters in Raskulls," says Raskulls dev Halfbrick, "and also unlock Raskulls characters within ilomilo and World of Keflings by purchasing the full range of games." And buyers of Raskulls or Ilomilo can build homes for characters from those games in A World of Keflings, according to a statement posted by Kotaku. Even crazier: you can actually get Raskulls early by buying A World of Keflings. Raskulls can be bought from within that game, a week before its December 29 release. That's two out of the three games available early!
A World of Keflings, Raskulls and ilomilo dated for XBLA
"But Joystiq," you ask, "isn't there already a way to get the absolutely delightful ilomilo for XBLA right now?" Yes, there is -- or you could wait until it's "officially" released on the Xbox Marketplace come January 5 as part of the "Games for the Holidays" promotion. But really, who would do such a silly thing? (Either way, it'll set you back 800 Microsoft Points, or $10.) Of course, since there's no way to secretly procure Ninja Bee's latest, A World of Keflings, or the puzzle/racer mash-up that is Raskulls from Halfbrick Studios, you will have to wait until their official launches on December 22 and 29, respectively, at 800 points ($10) each.
Hands-on: Raskulls (XBLA)
Most Xbox Live Arcade enthusiasts likely aren't familiar with Halfbrick Studios, the Brisbane, Australia-based studio that's only previous work on the platform involved Indie Games that weren't very successful. After switching gears and offering some PSP Minis titles, the dev studio is back on Xbox with Raskulls, a polished and quirky game that has a variety of inspirations, from Mario Kart to Bomberman to, most notably, Mr. Driller. %Gallery-50092%
New Raskulls trailer filled with rats, skeletons, mayhem
Halfbrick has released a new Raskulls video packed with gameplay footage. We're also introduced to an invading race of evil alien rats which, somehow, are pitted against a seemingly innocent race of sentient skeletons. Figure that one out. Much more important, however, is the aforementioned gameplay, which honestly looks quite fun. Sitting somewhere between Mr. Driller and Smash Bros, the gameplay accommodates lots of platforming, power-ups, puzzle solving and close quarters combat. We still don't know when the game will finally make it to Xbox Live Arcade, but there is some good news as Halfbrick has announced that Raskulls will be playable at PAX East this weekend. The Joystiq staff will be there en masse, so expect us to give it a try.
Raskulls box art decided, disappointing
Well, congratulations, internet, you got it completely wrong. The image above and to the left is the "democratically" chosen digital box art for the upcoming XBLA title, Raskulls. It won over the image to the right by a minuscule 15 votes. Just look at it. It tells you nothing about the game. It's just a skull king dude pointing. Now look at the image to the right. You see that the king is searching for something, a precious gem of some sort. What's more, he is clearly not the only one, as he is pursued by many competitors and what appears to be a giant, flying pirate ship. Also, there is a laser. This is box art. This is the stuff of great literature. Alas, the public totally flubbed it. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the electoral college.
Raskulls XBLA box art to be chosen by fans
It's been quite some time since we discussed Halfbrick's upcoming XBLA action puzzler, Raskulls. Lest you've forgotten the game, imagine Mr. Driller with platforming elements and plenty of direct multiplayer combat. Oh, and all the characters are skeletons for some reason. Suffice it to say it's pretty colorful and "wacky." Now, Halfbrick is reaching out to its fans to decide on the virtual box art that will represent the game on Xbox Live Arcade. The two possible choices are above and, while we don't want to influence your vote, the one on the right is clearly the better of the two. If you need some help deciding which art best represents the game, we've embedded a trailer after the break. Once you've decided, head over to the Halfbrick website and cast your vote before the polls close on February 24.
The Raskulls bust some blocks in latest trailer
Halfbrick Studios, those adorable chaps from Brisbane, has sent along a gameplay trailer of its equally adorable XBLA game, Raskulls. Many things in this trailer rub us the right way: the cute, infectious music; the block-breakin' gameplay reminiscent of Mr. Driller; and the unique special abilities for each character. It looks to be a dangerously fun combination, if we may say so.
Joystiq interview: Halfbrick Studios
We recently fired off some long-distance questions to Halfbrick Studios, an independent developer located in Brisbane, Australia, about itself and its projects in the pipeline for Xbox 360 -- more specifically, for XBLA and XNA Community Games. Lead artist Matthew Knight generously accepted our assault and blasted back with his answers. Warning: Stepping into our friendly exchange just might hit you like a ton of (half) bricks ...
