summer-of-arcade-2012
Latest
Hybrid review: A hop, skip and a pump shotgun
Two hovering islands sit nestled in the skyline of a war-torn city. My decked-out soldier crouches behind a wall on one island, my opponent sitting comfortably behind cover on the other. A massive chasm separates us, but that's not a problem thanks to our handy jet packs. No, the problem is that traversing the gulf means launching myself into the air at the risk of becoming the world's biggest clay pigeon.The ultimate goal is to take down my foe, sure, but the real challenge of Hybrid – and the real joy – is in bridging the gap between us.%Gallery-154142%
Deadlight review: Lessons for the zombie apocalypse
Playing a game about zombies is never a waste of time. Any game that features a variation of the undead – the shuffling decomposed, cannibalistic speed demons, the infected – offers a new approach to tackling the zombie apocalypse when it occurs in reality. Each new game demonstrates varied strategies and situations that it's best to be prepared for, just in case you end up next to patient zero at your next family gathering with nothing but a frying pan and a bottle of Aspirin.All zombie survival games can teach us something; they each have a lesson that is best taken to heart, before you take a bite to the brain. Deadlight, a side-scrolling platformer set in an alternate, apocalyptic 1980s, taught me something very important.No matter how hard you try, you will die, and it will be frustrating as hell. Every time.%Gallery-161497%
Deja Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games. If you played the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, you probably remember exactly when you got your first million points on Warehouse. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD allows us all to relive that memory while simultaneously bringing the games that started it all to a new audience. Thanks to developer Robomodo's careful recreation of seven select levels from the first two Pro Skater games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD evokes a strong sense of nostalgia.It plays just like you remember; that secret spot where you pushed your score (and your board) skyward is there, waiting for you to discover it all over again. %Gallery-160221%
Minecraft and Trials Evolution getting free DLC to celebrate 5 years of Summer of Arcade
Minecraft and Trials Evolution will receive "exclusive content" on the Xbox 360, to celebrate five years of Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion. Beginning July 18, Minecraft players can nab a "customized Summer of Arcade skin pack" with skins inspired by this year's five Summer games. At the same time Trials Evolution will get a new themed track, once a week, alongside each new game.For the Minecraft promo, players can download the skins by visiting the "Summer of Arcade experience" ad on the Xbox Live dashboard.The Summer of Arcade kicks off next week with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. A safe bet is that the special Trials map derived from that game includes 900 laps of something.
XBLA Summer of Arcade 2012 detailed, Tony Hawk kickflips it off on July 18
XBLA's Summer of Arcade 2012 begins on July 18 with the HD-ified rebirth of Tony Hawk Pro Skater for 1200 MS Points ($15). The following week, Iron Galaxy's Angry Birds meets Boom Blox Kinect flinger Wreckateer arrives for 800 MS Points ($10), with Deadlight, Hybrid, and Dust: An Elysian Tail launching in the subsequent weeks, all for 1200 MS Points ($15) a pop.Microsoft is offering an incentive (as always) to spur multiple Summer of Arcade purchases, giving those who snag "any three of the above titles" a free 400 MS Points ($5). From the look of things, that won't be too hard a sell.Additionally, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD is heading to PlayStation Network "a few weeks" after it launches on Xbox Live Arcade, but the rest of the Summer of Arcade games are exclusive to 360 (at least for now).
