Reviews for Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie, Assembly Line and World Wars: European Conflicts and previews for some XBLIG.
Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie – 80 :MSPoints: – Marketplace
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Anyone remember the time before mainstream games and highly addicting multiplayer titles? A time where one the most entertaining forms of gaming were those flash games on specific flash sites after school. I can distinctly remember those side-scrolling motorbike flash games where the task was to conquer the hills and jumps with the built-in physics all in record time. Those days are back in Mattini Games’ latest indie game Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie. Players take control of Julie Cevoir, a French stunt agent retiree of the Motorist Recon Force who apparently has no equal in the extreme motor biking world. Julie is immediately called up when the world is faced with danger at the hands of Dr. Kreutzer. While the story in bare and the game play is recycled. That doesn’t stop Mattini Games from producing a pretty decent end product.
Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie presents itself in a comic book form from the menu to the cut scenes. Cut scenes are illustrated through voice acted comic sequences. While I was a bit surprised with an Indie title having voice contribution I thought it could have done without it. The french accent for Julie sounded forced, all the while the rest of the cast being comically unimpressive. Music pre-menu and during the menu screen seems a bit misplaced however, it may just be my taste. That aside , the story felt like James Bond with estrogen injected in with an added plate of predictability on the side. The in-game graphics were a big let down in contrast to the interesting menu screens and story sequences. Tracks were bland and boring, with absolutely no creativity placed in. Thankfully the game play was fun and challenging enough to distract my eyes from start to finish.
Just like I stated earlier the game is reminiscent of motorbike flash games. From the floaty and awkward controls, to the sound, and spot on physics with added bonuses. Julie is equipped with a SMG and nitro on her bike, so that, you are not only doing flips but propelling yourself forward and destroying tanks and aircraft that stand in between you and the next checkpoint. It feels like a motocross rally race but with more bullets and explosions. The game plays like a twin stick shooter, bike controls are fitted to the left stick while the gun is aimed and shot with the right. The controls are fluid and simplistic for those who want a game to quickly pick up and play. There are about twenty levels to work through with a score count to hopefully improve on if you ever feel the need.
Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie has its faults but the gameplay makes up for them well in my opinion. Whether it is the satisfaction of shooting a plane and watching it crash and burn on the ground or doing a triple flip, all the while shooting mines and blowing up a tank. It is a great investment in a small time dev looking to expand. Mattini Games’ Indie title is currently available in the Xbox Live Indie Game Marketplace for 80 MSP which is well worth the price a for game filled with stunts, action, and a beautiful lady. I strongly suggest people who were fans of classic flash motocross games as well as fans to highly entertaining Indie games to pick it up now.
Assembly Line – 80 :MSPoints: – Marketplace
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Assembly line tasks you to build an assembly line for company products. Developed by a single developer at LoneWolf Studios, Assembly Line is easily one of the most unappealing indie titles I have come across and I strongly suggest spending Microsoft points on their latter title Euchre 360 or elsewhere. However, if mind-scrunching puzzles are more of your style and you have a lot of time on your hands then this might be for you.
Assembly Line is a puzzler title with the goal of allowing players to use common manufacturer equipment to construct different objects and shapes. Players may scroll through tools such as flippers, lasers, drills, and many more. The main tools are fitted with at least three more functions that are unlocked gradually after completing some of the early levels. Puzzle fans have plenty to work on with Assembly Line boasting 100 levels to perfect your manufacturing expertise. Controls were somewhat simplistic and adaptable.
Gameplay in Assembly line was a big issue for me. I spent a handsome amount of time on each puzzle, half of the time was spent figuring out what to do. The moment you select new game you are dropped into the gameplay with no tutorial or some form of instruction except, that you are supposed to build the produce you see on the top right of the screen. An ‘How to Play’ option can be found in the pause menu with paragraphs upon paragraphs of descriptions for each assembly line tool. So, you will definitely have to set some time aside when you initially start your play through.
Let me start off by saying that visually this title is lackluster. I was forced to stare at cluttered words and fonts that are hard to read in addition to a plain teal colored background. Which you tend to notice due to the fact that you spend quite a bit of time on each puzzle. The graphics and design are simple 2D models that are neither bad nor impressive. Which is commendable especially compared to other titles.
Assembly Line is one of those titles that you will have to set aside for one of those nights when you have nothing else to do and you have plenty of time (and patience). It may appeal to fans of the puzzler genre and casual gamers but it is not for everyone. LoneWolf Studios has talent behind the coding wheel and I look forward to their next title but this one is probably one to avoid.
World Wars: European Conflicts – 240 :MSPoints: –Marketplace
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World Wars is one of the more unique Xbox LIVE Indie titles I’ve seen, with gameplay reminiscent of an arcade-style shooter mixed in with tactical and vehicular strategy and combat. And believe it or not, despite some slightly awkward controls the game is above-average especially for mixing it up with a more strategic title. But I will admit, the genre is not for everyone out there, so if you’re not a fan of either of the two genres mentioned above I’d read no further.
To those still interested, World Wars does play like a fairly decent scrolling shooter/strategy game. While the controls are not perfect, they work well enough to enjoy the game as it was meant to be played through controlling units of men, vehicles, or aircraft to ultimately bring about the demise of your enemies. Gameplay wise, nothing feels too out of place, but then again nothing feels too new either. The game will ultimately break down into you leading a small group around, placing soldiers, driving around a few vehicles but will offer nothing incredibly new besides the ability to control individual units and vehicles in real time with the ‘A’ button menu, and even then the effect wares off rather quickly. I’ll stress, while nothing is bad about the gameplay presented in World Wars, it doesn’t offer much variety between the three major campaigns comprising of 6-7 individual missions throughout the single-player campaign.
Graphically, World Wars is another good example of decent artwork and animation put into an XBLIG title, with everything on screen (including menus and such) looking superb for the 2D top-down look. Not much needs to be said about the graphical style of the game, as it’s nothing too extraordinary it is obviously well done as it’s much better than other games I’ve seen. On the graphics side, the game looks nice, blends nice, and models World War II battlefields and scenery well, with an added cartoon 2D look to top it off. Much like the gameplay and graphics of the game, the soundtrack is nothing incredibly spectacular either with the type of music you’d be hearing from World War II, army band music. Really, nothing is bad about the musical style of the game either as it is incredibly fitting but doesn’t require much attention, as it’s the standard fare many of us have come to expect from war games in the past covering World War II.
All in all, World Wars: European Conflicts is a perfect game for the 2D shooter crowd, as well as those interested in games needing more thought than mindlessly shooting enemies to win a battle, as some of the later missions can be surprisingly tough if you don’t have a strategy beforehand. For the low, low price of 240 :MSPoints: it’s hard to argue, even if you aren’t incredibly interested in the game at first glance as I was blown away at how fun such a tried-and-true concept could actually be.
Preview
ToeTicTak
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ToeTicTak is a Tic Tac Toe (or Naughts and Crosses in UK) game by Angry Games. Not much info on the game so far apart from it will be released later this year and the screenshots are work in progress.
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