The Fall of Gods (XBLIG): "An Epic Chapter Based Action RPG"

The Fall of Gods is an XBLIG action RPG that follows an epic tale of good versus evil. The story unfolds through panel style artwork, and is very similar to the biblical tale of Genesis. There are some noticable differences though. This tale involves 9 Gods who each have different views on how things should be created. Esther is the God who creates man, and woman but encounters interfernce from the other 8 Gods regarding her plans for mankind. Another difference in the tale invovled mankind being given free will to create as they pleased. This event ended in the creation of man-like creature hybrids. The entire creation process began with darkness, and was ultimately halted by it as well. When the 9 Gods faced this evil threat (the darkness) it came at a high price which nearly destroyed everything they created, and them as well. Using the last of her powers Esther once again breathed life into her creation (mankind), and gave him the ability to use magic. Following this the Gods fell into a long slumber, and the world was slowly reborn from the aftermath of the Gods' war against darkness. When the game begins, Heric the descendent of the man Esther breathed life into finds himself to be the world's only hope against the incoming darkness. He yields the same magic that his ancestor once did, and must utilize his powers for mankind's sake. He is guided by a helper that Esther has sent along with him on this journey to face the darkness.

Tunnelvision (XBLIG): "A Visually Stunning 3D Shmup Masterpiece"

By now most of you know that I'm really into the shmup (shoot 'em up) game genre. I have even reviewed some shmups here on this blog. A couple of days ago I found a video of a new XBLIG shmup that was going to be released on the Xbox Marketplace. The shmup was titled 'Tunnelvision', and it was developed by 'Team Stendec'. The cool thing about this shmup is that it took the genre in a new direction with some visually impressive 3D graphics. The video I watched on youtube actually didn't do the game justice though. When I played the game for the first time I was totally amazed by the lighting, and 3D effects. The gameplay was easy to pick up on, and involved a lot more game elements than I had initially thought it would feature. There are 9 mission based levels that get progressively more difficult as you play, and as the title suggests the playing fields are located in tunnels. There are also end level bosses called 'Level Lords' that must be defeated in order to continue. For the score hounds out there the game does feature a highscore leaderboard, but I think it's only local. Overall I found the playthrough to be an amazing experience, and quite challenging at times.

Avatar Fighter Online (XBLIG): "A Solid Avatar Based Fighting Game With An Unfortunate Downside"

I absolutely love Xbox 360 avatars! Since I first got my Xbox 360 earlier this year I've had a lot of fun spending time making my avatar a personal reflection of myself. When I first began doing XBLIG game reviews here on my review blog I noticed that there were quite a number of avatar based indie games available. You could find FPS versions, games that involve aerial combat, and even a game based on hackey sack (which I reviewed not too long ago). When I noticed that 'Bwoot Games' was going to release an avatar based fighting game I knew I had to get this game for review. I not only wanted to see how it stacked up against mainstream fighters for myself, but I also wanted to let (you) my readers know as well. I have quite a few readers/friends who enjoy fighting games just as much as I do, and I'm pretty sure they're probably just curious as I was.

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 (XBLA)

When it comes to the trading card game of 'Magic the Gathering (MTG)' I am no stranger. I actually collected, and played MTG years back with a friend. What always held my interest was the artwork on each, and every card. The art really brings the game to life, and makes imagining a fantasy duel much easier. Without the artwork I honestly think that MTG would have failed years ago, but thankfully they decided to to include the mini-masterpieces on the cards. 'MTG: duels of the Planeswalkers 2012' keeps true to everything the trading card version stood for, and brings it to digital life in a truly amazing way. The game features very detailed customization options as well as lots of unlockable content (via in-game & xbox live marketplace). Wizards of the Coast/Stainless Games (the developer) even went so far as to include the premium holographic cards that veteran fans of the game will likely recognize. Everything about this game is done in great quality. It even opens with an epic cinematic scene that would put most video games to shame. Throughout the entire game there are artistic images of the paintings that adorn the MTG cards. It's eye candy at it's best with quality gameplay that doesn't dilute the core values that 'Wizards of the Coast' set out to achieve.

Pinball FX2 (XBLA): "Ms. Splosion Man"

The 'Ms. Splosion Man' Pinball FX2 table was a joint effort between Zen Studios, and Twisted Pixel. It is my absolute favorite out of all of the tables in the Pinball FX2 library. I do realize it looks like it's geared more towards the female gamers, but I think it's really fun. The table definitely seems to have way more going on than any of the previous ones. It features a cool music soundtrack, vivid colors, and constant hilarious commentary/actions by Ms. Splosion Man herself. The table's setup is layed out just right so you can achieve some really high scores fairly easily. I currently have a highscore of 134 million points on this table which actually pales in comparison to a friend's score of close to 600 million points. I have played this table numerous times, and always go back for more. I'm hoping to get a highscore of at least 1 billion someday ...