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Tying off a four-game joint-venture with Sega that includes Bayonetta, MadWorld and Infinite Space, Platinum Games released a debut trailer on their blog for Vanquish, their kept-behind-closed-doors game. Vanquish looks set to try and finish the partnership with Sega on a high-note, as the one and a half minute trailer packs a lot of punch.
Anyone who looks at things with a “glass half-empty” perspective will note that the trailer features pretty much no gameplay footage and has a very striking similarity to Halo. But as Wonderwall Web interestingly noted, the Quantum Theory trailer released a little while back is another shooter-based Japanese IP that bares a striking similarity to Gears of War. Maybe Japanese developers are looking to pay tribute to the games that us western gamers love so much, or maybe it’s to cash in on the success they’ve seen?
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Twin-stick shooters. Ever since the popularity of Geometry Wars, people have been attempting to make the “next big thing” in twin-stick. Most get tossed into the Indie Games section of XBLA to wither and die (as they rightfully should). But some rise above the rest, and even improve upon the formula of Geometry Wars.
Galax-e-mail, the first title from Bog Turtle Games (yes, of Elfland Reloaded fame), is one such Indie Game twin-stick shooter and a copy was kindly given to us to review. The game has you traipsing around the galaxy acting as a sort-of electronic mail delivery service. Your task is to destroy alien bases throughout randomly generated arenas until you find a warp hole that delivers your e-mail to its final destination. Neither storm, nor black holes, nor alien swarms, nor minefields will stop you from accomplishing your appointed course.
From what I’ve seen, there’s been a bit of an over saturation of space shooters in the Xbox Indie Games channel. Almost every week it seems like there’s at least one shooter style game that gets a “Leave to Die” rating from our good friend njsykora.
Slingstar isn’t quite one of those, but it isn’t just your average shooter either. Instead of shooting things, it’s more based on physics and inertia rather than “hold down the shoot button” and “don’t die” (well, that is part of it…). The simple-yet-gorgeous art, soothing ambient electronica music, and simple concept make for a good wrapping for this interesting new take on the arena shooter.
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