Posts Tagged ‘Live Arcade’
Family Game Night Game Review–A Backhanded Value
So Hasbro has put forth the most backhanded value game on the face of the earth with its Family Game Night collection on Xbox Live Arcade.
While you’ll shell out eight hundred Microsoft points for the full version, and you’ll get a pretty nice array of games with it including Battleship, Scrabble and Connect Four, you’ll also have to shell out further points for the FULL versions of the individual games. Unless I’m totally missing this concept, the initial eight hundred gets you the normal games described. If you want to try the FULL versions of each individual game, with new options and gameplay modes attached, then you’ll have to shell out eight hundred Microsoft points PER GAME.
I know, that sounds a bit confusing, so here’s a fast summary as best I can understand it:
The demo is free. With that, you get timed versions of the games currently available: Scrabble, Connect Four, Yahtzee, and Battleship. The “full game” is eight hundred points and takes the timers off and such. But then, you can pay out ANOTHER eight hundred per game to try things like Super Weapons Battleship and Wild Dice in Yahtzee.
See what I mean? Backhanded value. Sure, it’s great to pay ten bucks and get a host of games. It’s NOT great, however, to pay on TOP of that to get the full games. So while I’m enthused about having a host of casual classic board games available to play, I’m not so enthused to have most of their features locked up unless I pay massive ransom. So while I can recommend the good half of the deal, it’s not without a serious finger wag to EA and Hasbro for the bit of gouging.
Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos Game Review–Point And Click And Repeat
Have you ever played those games that come with some computers, where you’re looking for hidden objects in a frame, and you have to click on these to get anywhere? That’s exactly what one of the newest games on Xbox Live Arcade will have you doing–it’s called Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos.
And for those of you out there who are thinking PROFESSOR Chaos, yes, I’m with you–every time I hear Dr. Chaos, all I can think is Butters in tinfoil. Anyway, DOCTOR Chaos (not PROFESSOR Chaos despite how truly awesome that would be) has just been broken out of prison by his three associates, and it’s up to you to round the three of them up by traveling the world, locating various clues, and clicking on them.
I really don’t favor these kinds of games myself, because I hate looking for “a radio” when I have no idea what they mean by “a radio”. Are we talking a handset? A transistor radio? A CLOCK radio? What? There are dozens of different kinds and configurations of radio, but here I am, trying to find the one THEY mean by “radio”.
And it really doesn’t help that so much of the gameplay is just hunt and click. Yes, you get a limited number of hints, but still, all you’re basically doing is clicking on a picture looking for random stuff that you’re not even a hundred percent sure what it looks like.
But if you really liked those find-the-hidden-whatever games when you were a kid, or want to pass on the love to the next generation, then Interpol: The Trail of Dr. Chaos will be just what you’re looking for.