XBLIG prices can be changed every 7 days starting May 23


Big news from Microsoft today, as they announced via the App Hub, the official MS forums where XBLIG developers Read more

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 Review: Rolling in the Right Direction


A new Sonic game always brings a level of uncertainty with it. Sega’s mascot has seen more highs and Read more

One Million Fans Take a Stroll with The Walking Dead Episode 1


Comic books, television, and now video games: is there any form of media that The Walking Dead can't conquer? Read more

Kittens Spit Fire When Serious Sam Double D XXL Assaults XBLA This Fall


Take a long, hard look at you what is on your screen right now. Yes, that’s a kitten, spitting Read more

••••

» twin-stick shooter

By at .

Ashlands: Retribution now available on Microsoft’s Indie channel

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Anthony Swinnich in News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

It’s not every day you’ll see excitement surrounding yet-another twin-stick shooter on the Xbox Live Indie Games channel, but entries into the genre usually don’t have the apparent level of polish Ashlands: Retribution seems to.

Retribution appears to take heavy inspiration from Housemarque’s Playstation Network standout Super Stardust HD. All action takes place on a gridded-sphere instead of a rectangular battlefield meaning that enemies and obstacles can come from all directions, even if you can’t see them.

Developer Ben Quintero told Armless Octopus that there is “a surprisingly deep leveling system without the confusion of classic RPG tropes.” There’s also leaderboard support and trophies for the competitive gamer. The best news is that you won’t have to wait to try it for yourself. Both the demo and the full game — which costs 240 Microsoft points ($3) — are available right now.

Robofish Review: Sea of Destruction

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Mike Wall in Reviews, XBLIG Reviews | 5 Comments

Not a week goes by where a new twin-stick shooter isn’t dumped into the ocean that is Xbox Live Indie Games. It’s almost cliché to even comment on the zombie-like hordes of them, but Robofish is a great example of a game that builds on the existing standards and really puts its own glowing, neon shine on the formula.

As perhaps you may have surmised, you play as a robot fish – a robofish if you will – that is intent on destroying a legion of neon fish. It’s pretty standard fare as far as the actual shooting is concerned, but a complex weapon customization workshop lets you outfit your robofish with all kinds of ways to eradicate those ferocious fish and helps this game grow some legs to stand on.
Read more

Block Zombies! Review: Night of the Living Legos

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Mike Wall in Reviews, xblig, XBLIG Reviews | 2 Comments

Thanks, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1. Thanks for your addictive gameplay. Thanks for your stupid, catchy song. Thanks for creating a template that countless mindless, shambling hordes of games have imitated, and shamelessly refused to improve upon. The twin-stick shooter may be the most prolific genre represented in Xbox Live Indie Games, but most are redundant experiences that aren’t even worth Microsoft’s server space. But every so often a game like Block Zombies! comes around, shuffles the pieces up just enough, and mixes in a few new wrinkles to come out with something that feels fresh and fun.

Yes, Block Zombies! is another zombie twin-stick shooter, and yes it apes the voxel style that Minecraft returned to the limelight, but you know what? It totally works. The game’s carefree visual style and upbeat tempo makes Block Zombies! an absolute delight to play. It’s like you’re a  kid wandering through a Lego playground that just so happens to be infested with cubical zombies who explode into tiny pieces when killed.

Read more

Beat Hazard Ultra review: Feelin’ the beat

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Dave Schectman in PC, PC Reviews, PSN, Reviews | Leave a comment

Don't get sucked in the tractor beam

Over the past year, I’ve found myself venturing into indie gaming territory more and more often. It’s a refreshing change to see what a lone programmer or small company can do with an idea, especially compared to triple A titles made by large companies with multimillion dollar budgets. What’s more, when that idea is implemented well and allows some creativity the on part of the player, you’d best believe I’d be all over that like a junkie mainlining primo smack.

This brings me to the latest offering from Cold Beam Games: Beat Hazard Ultra. Before I go into the specifics of the game and my overall impressions, I have something to confess: when I picked up the original game last year, I was not impressed by it. The graphics were nice, and being able to control the soundtrack (and therefore also the difficulty) through my own personal soundtrack selection struck me as a pretty awesome concept. Compared to other music-based games like Audiosurf or Lumines, actively shooting whatever the song selection created was a hell of a lot more fun than matching colored blocks or screwing around with puzzle tiles.

Read more

Astro Cluster goes nova with new trailer

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Taylor Bliss in News, xblig, XBLIG News | Leave a comment

The XBLIG scene is kind of littered with twin-stick shooters, and on an almost weekly basis there’s a new one in our weekly game round-up. That’s not to say that we here at Armless Octopus aren’t hopeful for a quality entry in the genre, which is why the trailer for the up-and-coming Astro Cluster caught our eye.

While there doesn’t appear to be much depth as far as story and single-player components go, the indie does sport 16-player online multiplayer – a rarity for XBLIGs – as well as a split-screen co-op mode. It also touts a custom soundtrack and a $1 (80 MS points) price tag. A well-supported competent multiplayer offering could be the factor that helps this shooter stand out from the crowd. The expected release date for the indie is June 3, barring a lack of peer reviews by that time.

Infinity Danger review: Delectable danger

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Mike Wall in Reviews, xblig, XBLIG Reviews | Leave a comment

so many lasers!

Considering that first experience with Milkstone Studios was the wretched Avatar Ninja, the videogame equivalent of clamping your hands in a vice, I didn’t exactly have the loftiest of expectations for Infinity Danger. So, I was delightfully surprised to discover that Infinity Danger is not only a pretty flashy looking twin-stick shooter, but it’s actually a pretty darned fun one as well.

The premise is to destroy as many increasingly complex mechanical bosses as possible before time expires, which really gave the game a fun arcade feeling. Destroying a boss yields a time bonus, while dying is accompanied by a penalty. The first few bosses had the defenses of a marshmallow and would have self-destructed had I just hurled verbal slanders at them, but as the opposing ships blossomed into metallic networks of rocket launchers and lasers, I realized it was best that I swallow my tongue and and get serious.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Radiangames Ballistic

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Mike Wall in Reviews | 4 Comments

so purrrty

Insane Twin Stick Shooting Action. Isn’t it nice when a subtitle does such an adept job at conveying the premise of a game? In fact, insane might not be even be a strong enough term for this game, which I like to think of as Asteroids on acid. This is not an experience for the seizure-prone, as the sheer volume of luminous neon explosions and chunks of radiating objects soaring around on-screen is, well, insane.

Ballistic is sadly the final Radiangames Xbox release, and is a bittersweet return-to-roots conclusion for a series that began, and now concludes with a flashy twin-stick shooter. I’m not the biggest fan of the oversaturated genre, and while I adore Radiangames’ previous tangential takes on the formula such as Inferno, Fluid and Fireball, I was a bit let down to learn the final release seemed a bit tame and uninspired by comparison. But, I emerged from my Ballistic trance about ninety minutes later and was happy to discover while it may be a bit more traditional, it does roll a lot of the elements from the rest of the series into a pretty intense shooter.

Read more

Xbox Indie Review: Alpha Squad

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Mike Wall in Reviews, xblig | Leave a comment

manly men.

Are you a manly man? Do you wear belts made out of beef jerky and sweat whiskey from your pores? Would you like to slaughter armies of freedom-oppressing soldiers, machine-gun-wielding gorillas and puddles of incarnate slime with a huge arsenal of weapons? What if you could do that while simultaneously oogling ridiculously large-breasted women in skimpy, revealing outfits and rocking out to some wailing guitar solos?

In case you can’t tell, Alpha Squad doesn’t have much time for subtlety. Its title screen features the musclebound cast of rag-tag mercenaries brandishing their enormous firearms in front of a burning city accompanied by its metal theme song. It gloriously revels in every aspect of over-the-top 80s action movies; it’s dumb, it’s obnoxious, it’s sexist and it’s can be quite a bit of fun, when it isn’t being hampered by some infuriating flaws.

Read more

1 2 3   Next »