Chasing Styx (XBLIG, 2016)

Chasing Styx
Developed by Forepaw
Released for XBLIG (8/2016)
Also on PC, Linux & Macintosh

Chasing Styx is a shmup that instantly brought back memories of the old KiKi KaiKai games (or Pocky 'N Rocky as it's known in the States). You play as a anthropomorphic thing (wolf?) that has two little heads floating at his side that give you some extra firepower. You have a strafe button mapped to RB which works incredibly well. You also have a dash and close range attack that use up your stamina meter so you can't spam these moves. After selecting your level in the overworld, you have one life to clear the selected stage. The difficulty is pretty high as some of the enemies have some tough bullets to dodge due to your player sprite being so large. I'm also still somewhat confused exactly where the hitbox on the sprite is, but on the plus side the bullets are purple and very easy to see coming at you. One complaint I have with the gameplay is you have to be too close to the edge of the screen to get it to scroll, making you vulnerable to enemies popping up. This could have been easily fixed but it's not a game breaker. The game definitely plays better than it looks. The pixel art isn't terrible, definitely above average, but something overall about the graphics just didn't click. I feel like some slightly more detailed sprite work would have done wonders for this game. The high-res fonts that are constantly on the screen feel out of place when everything else is so pixelated. Nitpicks aside, Chasing Styx is a very fun game and is recommended for shmup fans. It should be noted that if you have access to a PC and a Steam account, you'll be able to access the game free-to-play.

Final Verdict: Chasing Styx is a solid shmup title with some light-RPG elements for XBLIG (among other platforms) that's definitely worth a look.

Hypership Out of Control (XBLIG, 2010)

Hypership Out of Control
Developed by Fun Infused Games
Released for XBLIG (9/2010)
Also on iOS & PC

Hypership Out of Control is a vertical shmup where the brakes on your ship have gone out, so you will gradually gain speed the longer you manage to stay alive. You'll have all kinds of obstacles coming at you and you will have to react fast in order to dodge everything. The object of the game is, of course, to stay alive as long as possible. In addition to to left and right dodging capabilities (equipped to LB/RB), you're also equipped with blasters that can take down the smaller obstacles. Occasionally you'll be able to pick up power-ups to give you a limited boost, including weapons upgrades, shields and speed downs. There are also coins scattered all about, mostly for points in normal mode but there is a mode that requires you to constantly collect them in order to prevent a timer from reaching zero. The game supports up to four players locally and also keeps track of your high scores.

Hypership Out of Control uses a simple pixel style for its graphics and the chip tune music helps complete the retro package. Recommended for retro gaming fans, especially those who love vertical shmups. A sequel of sorts (more of a remix) was released in 2012, titled Hypership Still Out of Control. I played the trial for that one and honestly could hardly notice a difference other than remixed level layouts and some minor graphical updates, but the notable thing is that the framerate seemed to chug a little bit which is not something I encountered in the original. For that reason alone I'd recommend just sticking with the original, at least if you're playing it on your 360.

Final Verdict: Hypership Out of Control is great for quick pick up & go gaming sessions. Highly recommended and only a dollar!

Orbitron: Revolution (XBLIG, 2011)

Orbitron: Revolution
Developed by firebase
Released for XBLIG (12/2011)
Also on PC

Orbitron: Revolution is a horizontal shmup where you can roam left or right, playing similar to the arcade classic Defender. The graphics are 3D rendered and look incredible by XBLIG standards. In the primary game mode called guardian, you'll be going around a circular structure, trying to defend it from attacking ships. You have a little radar at the bottom that will indicate where the nearest attackers are. Once you locate the attackers there will be a driller that must be destroyed before it damages the structure. These drillers will always have some ships around guarding them. Once you've taken out the drillers the game will spawn additional attackers visible on your radar. This is pretty much the meat of Orbitron, but unfortunately the game only has this one stage. Replay value comes in the form of trying to beat your high scores plus there are two additional game modes. Countdown mode has you just trying to survive for three minutes facing off against attacking ships. If you're able to complete that mode you'll unlock extra mode, which is guardian mode with only one ship. Orbitron: Revolution is a simple shooter that's fun to play in short bursts and I find it fun to come back to every now and then to try to beat my high score. It's also worth noting that if you purchase both this and ArcadeCraft, you can unlock an Orbitron machine to put in your arcade in that game. Definitely an awesome idea from the developer and both games are worth looking at in my opinion.

Final Verdict: Orbitron: Revolution is a nice Defender-style horizontal shmup. Shooter fans should give this one a look, especially those into the Williams classic.

Blaster and Morion (XBLIG, 2010)

Blaster and Morion
Developed by mukagosoft
Released for XBLIG (8/2010)

Developer mukagosoft made quite a few contributions to XBLIG and Blaster and Morion was released back in August of 2010. The game is a twin-stick shooter, one of the more common genres on the platform. Blaster and Morion tries to be a bit different by having the player control an actual human rather than a spaceship. The overhead view is a bit too close to the player, making it hard to take enemies out from a safe distance due to your lack of vision. You can't continuously fire as your gun will overheat, which could have been helped had there been a button to fire rather than having aiming/shooting assigned to the right stick.

Blaster and Morion also features platforming, and this is where the games biggest faults lie. The jumping animation is severely lacking in frames, resulting in an unpredictably strange feeling jump and making precise platforming way more frustrating than it needs to be. Blaster and Morion has some very ugly textures for its 3D rendered graphics and can be quite the eyesore to look at. With such an abundance of great twin-stick shooters buried within XBLIG, Blaster and Morion is one of the many XBLIG titles you can easily skip. This game is a sequel to Blaster and Amethyst which was released only three months before this game was released. I'm absolutely certain that the first game is just more of the same and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the two games apart from screenshots.

Final Verdict: Blaster and Morion is a sub-par attempt at a twin-stick shooter and one you should avoid by all means.

Score Rush (XBLIG, 2010)

Score Rush
Developed by Xona Games
Released for XBLIG (12/2010)
Also on PS4

Score Rush is a twin-stick shooter that allows up to four-players at the same time for some very frenetic shooting action! The game retails for the hefty price (by XBLIG standards) of $4.99, but it'll easily give fans of twin-stick shooters their moneys worth and then some. The game keeps track of your local high scores and it's a blast to play over and over to try and best your old scores. The controls are spot on, using both sticks to move/fire and any of the top buttons will use one of your bombs. Your hit-box is easy to see and the same can be said for the enemy bullets, which stand out nicely among the chaos happening on-screen.

Score Rush features nine different bosses you can fight against if you manage to stay alive long enough. You're given three lives and once you've lost them it's back to the beginning. Score Rush plays like a vertical shmup without the scrolling background, as enemies pretty much all approach from the top of the screen. The graphics have that neon look to them, similar to the style that Geometry Wars made popular. You fight against a dark, water-looking backdrop that  sets a nice contrast to the brightly colored enemies and bullets, making everything stand out well. The effects when shooting the enemies are well done as are the explosions, though this is probably a game that shouldn't be played by those prone to seizures due to lots of flashing bright colors constantly bombarding your eyeballs. The sound and music design match the graphics, but Score Rush really shines in the gameplay department and stands tall as one of the top twin-stick shooters released on XBLIG. Six years after its release on XBLIG, Score Rush Extended would see a release on the PlayStation 4. I wonder why developer Xona Games didn't port the updated version to the Xbox One as well?

Final Verdict: Score Rush is a fantastic twin-stick shooter with four-player support. The $4.99 price is high but it's worth it for shmup fans as this one is one of the best on XBLIG!

Related Links:
Score Rush - GameFAQs

Platypus (XBLIG, 2009)

Platypus
Developed by Escapist Games
Released for XBLIG (11/2009)
Also on PC/PSP/iOS/Windows Mobile/BlackBerry

Platypus is a horizontal shmup that originally came out for the PC back in 2005 and later received a port for the PlayStation Portable in 2006. Platypus is a very good-looking game, using clay models to render all of its graphics with a look similar to the Clay Fighter games. The backgrounds have multiple layers of parallax-scrolling and look wonderful, however its in the gameplay department where Platypus takes a bit of a slide. Your default shot is puny and you don't get to keep your powered-up shots when you grab them as they all have a timer, which upon expiration you go back to your default weapon. There will be stretches in the game where you won't have a power-up drop and your default weapon can take forever to chip away at some of the larger enemies. Platypus could have definitely benefited from a more traditional power-up scheme for your ship. The next issue is the enemy placement, which definitely could have been amped up. It seems like there are typically no more than just a few ships on the screen at once, many of them simply just passing through without even really attacking the player. The gamplay in Platypus is quite average, which is a real shame because it's a very pretty game to look at. At the $4.99 asking price, I can't recommend Platypus as there are many far superior shmups on the console. I would have purchased it without a second thought had it retailed for $1 though!

Final Verdict: Platypus is a great-looking horizontal shmup that unfortunately doesn't have the gameplay to match the visuals. There are many far better shooters on XBLIG worth your time.

The Deep Cave (XBLIG, 2010)

The Deep Cave
Developed by jijaweb
Released for XBLIG (11/2010)

The Deep Cave is one of those 2D platformers designed to kill you hundreds upon hundreds of times before you reach the end. The game features that retro-style pixel art that is so commonly seen on XBLIG and the sprite work is above average in the Deep Cave. Certain screens stand out with some nice background details while others are quite forgettable. The music is excellent and does a good job keeping the player calm while dying repeatedly. My only real beef with the Deep Cave are the jumping controls; there's something just a bit off and the result is a bunch of unfair deaths. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I swear the jump button just doesn't work sometimes, almost as if you press it too close to a ledge it doesn't work or something. Lining up your jumps can be tedious at times due to the overly sensitive movement as well. It can be a bit frustrating to progress but with a lot of patience and persistence you'll eventually reach the next screen. The game does try to add some diversity to its rooms by inverting the gravity and having you walk on the ceiling. The game also contains a save option, which can be used at any time during the game, and will load you at the start of whatever room you were in. In the full version of the game, you get a special ending if you're able to complete the game in under 500 deaths. The Deep Cave is a good platformer that could've been great had the controls just been fine-tuned a bit longer.

Final Verdict: The Deep Cave is a fun 2D platformer with a high challenge level. The controls aren't the greatest but the game is still an enjoyable experience and worth the dollar asking price.

Tunnelvision (XBLIG, 2011)

Tunnelvision
Developed by Stendec Games
Released for XBLIG (9/2011)

Tunnelvision is an admirable effort of taking the action of a 2D shmup and translating it to 3D. In Tunnelvision you fly straight down a tunnel and you have control of your ships steering with the left stick and aiming with the right stick. You fire with the right trigger while the face buttons help with maneuvering: X and Y barrel roll to the sides, while A is the throttle and Y is the brakes. The graphics are excellent by XBLIG standards, especially when compared to many of the other 3D titles available on the service. The textures look sharp and the game maintains a nice steady frame-rate, though the sense of speed is a bit lacking as your ship could definitely go faster. In Tunnelvision the enemies fire slow moving bullets that leave a trail behind them, making them relatively easy to keep tabs on where they are in relation to you. The game attempts to simulate the projectile dodging you'd see in bullet-hell shmups and it does feel cool to weave between the enemy fire. It doesn't quite capture the frenetic pace of a bullet-hell shooter but is a nice approximation of that style of gameplay. The game retails for $2.99 and as far as I know was only released for XBLIG, so it may warrant a look if you're into shmups.

Final Verdict: An interesting attempt to bring 2D shmup gameplay into the third dimension, Tunnelvision is an interesting title if your a shmup fanatic.

radiangames Fireball (XBLIG, 2010)

radiangames Fireball
Developed by radiangames
Released for XBLIG (11/2010)

radiangames Fireball is the developer's fifth release for XBLIG. The menu/graphics design is very consistent across all of their titles and it all looks quite polished. Fireball plays a lot like pacifism mode from Geometry Wars 2, so anybody who enjoyed that mode may want to take a look at this game. You have no direct method of attack, instead you must guide the enemies to explosive mines which you trigger just by getting near. You have a boost meter which you can use for a burst of speed which will aid when a quick escape is necessary. Defeated enemies drop pellets which will recharge your boost meter.

Overall, Fireball is a very basic game but it does what it sets out to do well. The game has eight waves to play through in addition to five challenges. The game declares that the full version contains true online leaderboards, which is quite a programming feat on XBLIG if this was indeed true. While radiangames Fireball feels a bit lacking when compared to some of the developers previous entries, I still enjoyed the time I spent playing it. I'd definitely recommend the Crossfire series or Inferno over this one, unless you're absolutely nuts about Geometry Wars pacifism mode and need more of that.

Final Verdict: radiangames Fireball plays like a more fleshed out version of the pacifism mode in Geometry Wars. If you loved that mode you'll likely enjoy Fireball.

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes (XBLIG, 2011)

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes
Developed by 8bits Fanatics
Released for XBLIG (1/2011)

Here's the original product description for this game you would have seen if you were browsing the XBLIG marketplace back when it was around: "Aban Hawkins & the 1000 SPIKES" is an 8-bit retro style Hardest Extremest Craziest Platform Action Puzzle Adventure. Simple & intuitive rules. Elaborate level design. Various fierce traps, traps, traps! Return to the Golden Years of Video Game. No one can BEAT this game...except YOU!! *ver1.03(3-3BUG FIX)

Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes is a retro 2D platformer that presents the player with a brutal challenge. The game will kill you almost every step of the way if you're not aware of what lies ahead. It goes without saying Aban will test your memory and patience as well as your reflexes. The player is granted a thousand lives to begin with, which is a good indication for the danger that lies ahead! The presentation is absolutely top-notch as well, featuring some of the most convincing 8-bit style graphics, sound & music I've come across on XBLIG. It almost feels like I should be blowing on a cartridge before booting this one up! Aban Hawkins is a must-play for retro platformer fanatics, and if you're one who fancies a good challenge then the 1000 Spikes will definitely deliver! The challenge level is so high on this game I've only ever managed to make it a few screens in, hence the brief review. If I ever get around to dedicating the time required to venture further into the game perhaps I'll revisit this review.

In 2014, publisher Nicalis would dust the game off and re-release it as 1001 Spikes for the PS4, Vita, 3DS, Xbox One, Switch, Linux, Mac, PC and even the Wii U. This is a sequel of sorts, hence the change of the title, and would introduce some new features including co-op gameplay.

Final Verdict: One of the toughest games on XBLIG, Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes presents a ruthless challenge wrapped up in a very appealing 8-bit package. A must for challenge junkies and retro platformer fans!

Related Links:
Aban Hawkins & the 1000 Spikes - GameFAQs
8bits Fanatics - Official Site

DELTA (XBLIG, 2014)

DELTA
Developed by hermitgames
Released for XBLIG (9/2014)

DELTA is rather strange game released exclusively to XBLIG. The game has you flying down a narrow corridor while dodging the rectangular objects blocking the path. The graphics are super-psychedelic and this game should definitely be avoided by anybody prone to seizures from flashy images. There are triangle shapes floating about that can be flown through and when collected will slightly alter the games audio & visuals. The game presents itself as a racer, with three different CC races to choose from (one available in the trial). I didn't get much of a racing vibe from the game but I suppose I do see something reminiscent of old arcade racers, where you'll find yourself feeling the need to give it just one more go to see if you can progress just a little further. The visuals in DELTA are impressive, but at times were so busy I had a difficult time keeping tabs on the action. It's definitely an interesting title and the type of unique game made possible by a service like XBLIG. Retailing for $2.99, I'd definitely recommend giving the trial a chance to see if it's something you'll really enjoy.

Final Verdict: DELTA is a psychedelic arcade-style racer of sorts. If that sounds cool to you give the trial a whirl!

Groov (XBLIG, 2009)

Groov
Developed by Funkmasonry Industries
Released for XBLIG (1/2009)

Groov is a twin-stick shooter with a musical twist. You play as the composer with your shots fired as well as enemies destroyed all making up the music as you go along. Every enemy type will make a different sound when destroyed and it sounds cool once the track picks up some steam. Graphically the game isn't going to blow anybody away, with your ship and enemies looking like shapes and weird abstract objects placed against a star-filled backdrop. The game definitely compensates in the audio department which was the focus, so I would say the developer succeeded by giving you minimalist-style visuals to help accentuate the audio. Groov is a fun title while it lasts, which would be my gripe about this title: it all ends too soon. That's a compliment to the game designer in a way, since the game did leave me wanting more. It's a bit of a shame that this would be the only release from Funkmasonry Industries as I would have really enjoyed a sequel to this one. Twin-stick nuts and maybe even audiophiles give this one a look.

Final Verdict: A unique twin-stick shooter with a music twist, Groov feels original and is worth a look for twin-stick shooter fans!

Vidiot Game (XBLIG, 2012)

Vidiot Game
Developed by GZ Storm
Released for XBLIG (4/2012)
Also on PC

Vidiot Game is an oddity released for XBLIG in 2012. The "game" is composed of several random screens that change up when complete until you inevitably make a wrong choice and are forced to restart. The game really seems to go out of its way to try and be as strange as possible, and I would say in some regards it is successful at this. However, there seem to be very few segments that are actually interactive and could be considered a game, as most of them seem to revolve around you selecting an option out of three possible answers. If you're a big fan of wacky random humor, you may get a few laughs out of Vidiot Game. The art is all well composed and you can tell some effort was put into the game, but this style of humor just didn't really resonate with me personally.

Final Verdict: Vidiot Game is more of an oddity than a game, so if you're the type who appreciates wacky random humor you may get some fun out of this one.

Related Links:
GZ Storm - Developer Page
Vidiot Game - GameFAQs
Vidiot Game Review - XBLIG.co