Games
The Must Have Games 2012 promotion is nearly over, but that doesn’t mean the Xbox Live games will stop coming once March rolls around. Microsoft has just announced several new mobile Live titles.
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Splinter Cell: Conviction was announced back around the Windows Phone launch over a year ago. At last, Gameloft’s mobile port of the popular Ubisoft franchise has made it to Xbox Live.
This version of Splinter Cell tells the story of series lead Sam Fisher’s investigation into the death of his daughter. Gorgeous console-quality cutscenes narrated by Sam’s pal Victor Coste bookend each level. Conviction is actually a port of the popular Xbox 360 game (minus the multiplayer) and feels very much like a console title.
Being a phone game, it uses a virtual stick for the controls. They’re a tad clunky (much like Assassin’s Creed: Altair’s Chronicles, also from Gameloft) but the difficulty is forgiving enough that it doesn’t harm the experience. If you’ve been wanting a meatier Live title (complete with shooting and sneaking), look no further. Still not convinced? Check out our video preview.
Splinter Cell: Conviction costs $4.99 and there is a free trial. Get it here on the Marketplace.
Thanks Saket for the tip!
Splinter Cell: Conviction may not be showing up on the Marketplace just yet, but the Xbox Live Deal of the Week has at least gone live. Orbital from BiteForge and Microsoft Studios is now on sale for $1.99, down from $2.99.
Orbital is all about shooting orbs into other orbs, destroying them and causing chain reactions. It’s got 3 modes of play, each of which changes the rules and aiming around a bit. The neon graphics are pretty enough. As I stated in our review, I really wanted to like Orbital, but it just never clicked for me. The aiming needs work, the game is unforgiving, and there’s no metagame tying it together. But a lot of people enjoy the game anyway, so you may want to give it a shot too.
Orbital is on sale for $1.99 for one week only. Shoot on over here to the Marketplace to get it.
If you've been following the saga of Sonic's Jewels 7 (SJ7), you'll remember that the popular Sega Master System and Game Gear emulator was due for a nice sound update. That update actually did hit the Marketplace but only for a few hours before it was pulled due to a copyright claim by Sega.
Our own Rafael Rivera worked with the developer to sort through the claim, which revolved around the use of Sonic the Hedgehog and the dev was quoted as saying it will return. The condition of returning though would be to shed all of Sega's copyrights--images and names--in order for it to presumably pass the Marketplace certification. We spoke of this on the last podcast where the name "Blue Tomato" was tossed out as the new name.
Now we got word that Blue Tomato is in the certification process in the Marketplace and the developer has posted some screenshots, showing off the new artwork. The most pertinent question though many of you have is this: Will I have to re-buy the emulator? The answer appears to be "no" as this will by just another update to the existing Marketplace spot for the app. Certainly that should make some of you relieved.
Moreover, that sound update will be included as well as "better game loop" and Zip support, which should make things a lot easier for users. We'll keep you posted if/when the app passes and is re-available for download again.
Source: Facebook
Windows 7 users (i.e. most people with a computer) who also play Windows Phone games can enjoy an abundance of desktop themes based on WP7 games. Last week we showed you the Chickens Can’t Fly theme, which is certainly good for a few laughs. Now a Bullet Asylum theme joins the fray.
Like Chickens Can’t Fly before it, the Bullet Asylum theme includes includes wallpapers, sounds, and colors based on UberGeekGames’ Must Have title. To be honest, the backgrounds don’t remind me of the game all that much. Do you see any trippy explosions in the pics above? I didn’t think so. But they do capture a nice sci-fi vibe, at any rate.
You can find the Bullet Asylum Windows 7 theme pack here at the Windows download page. As for Bullet Asylum the game, it costs $2.99 from the Marketplace.
This week's "Must Have Game" is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. We wrote about this game way back in June 2011 and it was even announced before Windows Phone 7 launched, making this one of the longest "in gestation" games we have seen yet. We wrote back then:
"Another Gameloft title, Conviction was announced prior to the Windows Phone launch and then disappeared off the radar. This title provides a surprisingly faithful rendition of the Splinter Cell series, with great 3D graphics and stealth game play. The Mark and Kill allows players to select multiple targets and perform instant kills on them. This is definitely a game to look forward to, but don’t be surprised if it costs $6.99 at launch."
Now the game is just $4.99 and finally will hit our phones early tomorrow morning. So is it worth it?
Yeah, actually it's pretty darn good. It's great to have this type of game finally our our phones instead of the traditional casual arcade games that we've had as of late. This is a much slower paced, cinematic style game where you take your time...murdering people. We're all for that (don't judge us!) and what we've played so far we like. The controls are pretty intuitive, the graphics are pretty snappy and it's quite a bit of fun.
Will it hold up after a few levels? Will the gameplay be challenging enough? Too early to tell and that's why we have Paul around to tell us. But so far, we're quite happy with it. Look for the game to land in the next 12-20 hours in the Marketplace for $4.99. Of course, we'll let you know when we have a link for it, so stay tuned.
Windows Phone gamers should already be familiar with Russian developer MaxNick’s Xbox Live title, Spider Jack. What you might not know is that MaxNick has also published several indie games for the platform, the latest of which is Doodle Invasion.
In Doodle Invasion, alien invaders are attacking one of our beaches. Players must stop each wave of invaders by firing missiles at the alien mothership. You also have to keep aliens off the beach, which involves drawing lines to bounce the aliens into your boats. As the game goes on, new types of weapons and alien threats spring up, always accompanied by a friendly tutorial message.
Doodle Invasion has quite a unique play style – juggling the need to attack the mothership, keep the aliens off the beach, and optional tasks like protecting a windsurfer will keep you on your toes. The Parachute Panic-like art style is super cute, too.
The Windows Phone version of Doodle Invasion has all the features of its iPhone counterpart, plus some additional language translations (EFIGS, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean). In the future, I’d like to see an online leaderboard and maybe a way to read over the tutorials at your leisure – I accidentally skipped them sometimes because I was already tapping the screen.
Doodle Invasion costs $1.99 and there is a free trial. Pick it up here on the Marketplace.
Escape from Heaven is a nice looking game for your Windows Phone where you play the role of Hedgy, a hedge hog that doesn't like Heaven and yearns to make it back to Earth. You navigate over obstacles, jump from platform to platform working your way through the various levels of the game to make it home.
Escape from Heaven has a minimalist feel to the graphics, simple game play but Escape from Heaven is a challenging, entertaining, well presented game for your Windows Phone game library.
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Few professionally-made games attempt to embrace the punk rock culture. After all, most games strive to look and sound as professional as possible rather than adhere to a DIY philosophy. But that’s just what Ska Studios’ I Made a Game with Zombies in It!!! (aka I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MBIES 1N IT!!!1) did in 2009. Released as an Xbox Live Indie Game on the Xbox 360 and sold for a mere 80 Microsoft Points ($1), it quickly became a big hit among cost-conscious 360 gamers. With the move to Windows Phone, the game received official Xbox Live status. The mobile version couldn’t be sold for a dollar since Live titles start at $2.99. Thus the developers threw in a couple of new game modes, and Zombies on the Phone (Z0MB1ES!!1 (on teh ph0ne) was born.
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Yaht 3D is a simple yet entertaining game for your Windows Phone that is patterned after the legendary dice game Yahtzee. If you're familiar with Yahtzee, Yaht 3D will be an easy game to pick up and the game is a great way to pass the time with.
The graphics and animations are very nice and the game of Yahtzee always has its challenges. Yaht 3D supports single player, multiplayer or you vs the computer games. So you can pass the time to yourself or challenge your neighbor to a game.
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