The Undead Syndrome (XBLIG, 2012)

The Undead Syndrome
Developed by MukagoSoftware Development
Released for XBLIG (7/2012)
Also on PC

The Undead Syndrome feels kind of like a B-horror movie turned into a video game, where the low-budget aspect of it really shows in the overall gameplay and presentation. It's hard to deny that there is a sort of charm to the sloppiness that is The Undead Syndrome, and I found myself wanting more whenever the trial expiration screen came popping up. The game is obviously inspired by Japanese horror classic Silent Hill and it retailed for just a buck (or 80 Microsoft Points). As a fan of horror games, this was a no-brainer for me and I must say this is easily Mukagosoftware Development's best work for XBLIG that I've played.

The Undead Syndrome opens with a cinema of a female character getting stabbed by a mysterious man. You then wake up in a sort of nightmare world playing as the same female you just saw get murdered. As you navigate the strange environment, which appears to be a Japanese-style house with many rooms, you'll end up having to backtrack quite a bit and regardless if you've cleared a room of enemies previously they'll respawn every time you re-enter the room. This isn't as bad as it sounds due to the fact that the game has a leveling system, so you'll be rewarded with XP for killing enemies. The objective of the game is to kill three boss monsters, but in order to reach them you'll need to do some exploring in order to find the keys to access the areas they reside in. You'll learn a bit more about your character's story as you progress, but the game leaves the ending on a "to be continued..." note. Thankfully the sequel was released and we'll cover that here in the near future.

After starting you'll soon unlock your offensive ability, which allows you to use ki to blast energy orbs from your hands. Using the attack will consume a meter and when it empties out you can't shoot anymore. Your ki meter will slowly recharge on its own and can be sped up by using ki recovery items. In addition to these, you have an inventory where you can store items to replenish health, antidotes, keys and stones. Your character has five slots where you can place these stones into implants, one in each hand, two in the chest and one in the head. Placing various stones in certain spots unlocks certain benefits and it's fun to change these around as you pick up more of them throughout the game. Some of them can give you a 25% protection from being cursed or poisoned and there's one that will increase your character's movement speed (a must use!).

You'd think with a title like the Undead Syndrome that you'd be facing off against flesh-eating zombies, but instead you'll encounter strange monsters that look as if they're from a feverish nightmare or another dimension. The enemy AI isn't the smartest, nor do they come in many varieties, but what's here decent and they're strange enough to make the game at least a bit unsettling. Similar to the Silent Hill games, whenever you enter a room with enemy presence it will be indicated by an eerie ambient sound. Your attack takes quite some time as it has to charge before you can aim it, making it a problem when the developers pack multiple enemies into a small space. There are safe rooms containing shops and beds you can use to save your game and replenish your meters which you'll want to use often as death can come quite swift and unexpectedly at times in the Undead Syndrome. There are also shops where you can purchase stuff like health and ki recovery items. The inventory space provided for your character is a bit small, which means you'll frequently have to mess with your inventory to make space for new items.

The graphics in the Undead Syndrome may not look so hot considering the console generation, but compared to your average 3D XBLIG game they're quite adequate. On the plus side, with the simplistic visuals the game loads up very fast, but the downside is that your character looks a bit like an action figure moving about. The inventory system, controls and combat are a tad clunky, but the game is short enough that it didn't have much of a chance to irritate me. While obviously low-budget, the Undead Syndrome can be fun if you don't mind a short and flawed game.

Final Verdict: The Undead Syndrome is a short but enjoyable horror title with a low-budget feel and strange environments that has quite a few problems, but horror fanatics might still want to give it a look.

Related Links:
Mukagosoftware Development - Xbox Overview
The Undead Syndrome - GameFAQs
The Undead Syndrome Review - TheXBLIG.com
The Undead Syndrome Review - Mash Those Buttons
Mukagosoftware Development - Official Site
The Undead Syndrome: Low-Budget Horror - YouTube

Leucistic Wyvern (XBLIG, 2010)

Leucistic Wyvern
Developed by Mukagosoftware Development
Released for XBLIG (10/2010)

Leucistic Wyvern is a poor-man's version of the Sega Saturn classic Panzer Dragoon. I had to look up the definition of "leucistic," which as far as I can tell isn't a proper word but it is close to leucism. Leucism is a condition found in animals that will cause their skin/fur to be pale due to a lack of pigmentation. What that has to do with our wyvern here I'm not sure as it doesn't really appear to be pigmentally challenged.

After spending some time with Leucistic Wyvern, I'm pretty determined to declare Mukagosoftware Development (the developers) the kings of kusoge on XBLIG. Wyvern is by all means a bad game, looking like a budget title that would have released for the PlayStation 2 or Dreamcast back in the early 2000's. The textures are pretty ugly, the rendered objects are made of up low-count blocky polygons and there's pop-in all over the place. In a strange way all of this works to the favor of Leucistic Wyvern to make it a unique experience. It's one of those games that's so bad it's good. The controls are reasonably responsive and your wyvern shoots giant purple balls making it quite easy to shoot down your targets. There are even bosses to shoot down at the end of the stages and after every few stages you'll get a bonus stage where you can rack up extra points by flying through rings (careful though, you can smash into the sides of the rings and die here too!).  The game features a high score table and even a credits system. In the trial version I played, I was given three credits and once you've used those up it's back to the beginning. I found Leucistic Wyvern to be a fun but poorly designed title, almost like a lost PS2 title that got dug back up and released.

Final Verdict: Leucistic Wyvern is the kusoge version of Panzer Dragoon but it seems almost self-aware of this and is actually somewhat fun to play.

Related Links:
Leucistic Wyvern - GameFAQs
Mukagosoftware Development - Official Site

Dark Storm Blast 360 (XBLIG, 2013)

Dark Storm Blast 360
Developed by MukagoSoftware Development
Released for XBLIG (8/2013)

Upon booting up Dark Storm Blast 360, I was under the impression this would likely turn out to be a mediocre twin-stick shooter. It is indeed a twin-stick shooter, but the developers decided to try something a bit different, thus the game has the player in a vehicle with tank-style controls. If you pull in the direction you want to go on both sticks you'll move that way, however to turn you'll have to invert the sticks from each other. It's a bit funky and I never reached a point in the trial where it felt natural. The game has the same mediocre graphics you'd expect from a MukagoSoftware title and some of the color usage is questionable. The game is totally playable, there's just nothing very remarkable about it. Enemies will occasionally drop weapon power-ups to give you a hand. When you die you'll have to restart the stage you're on and the difficulty ramps up pretty high, though the difficulty was mostly the controls giving me a hard time lining up my shots. While not a terrible game, Dark Storm Blast 360 is quite unremarkable and once the indie games store shuts down this one will likely be completely forgotten.

Final Verdict: Dark Storm Blast 360 is a twin-stick shooter with a clunky control scheme that makes it tough to play. Don't bother with this one.

Related Links:
Dark Storm Blast 360 - GameFAQs

Bioerosion (XBLIG, 2011)

Bioerosion
Developed by MukagoSoftware Development
Released for XBLIG (1/2011)

Bioerosion is a third-person shooter where you go around shooting what I assume are supposed to be aliens. The game features some pretty crude 3D graphics that definitely have that Mukagosoft feel to them, meaning they look like something from a budget PlayStation 2 title at best. In the first stage, you're tasked with walking around a city trying to find five balls that are floating in the air. Once you find a ball, you'll have to kill the enemies surrounding it and then shoot the ball until it explodes. Bioerosion's controls make aiming an absolute chore. The vertical and horizontal sensitivity are drastically different, making something as simple as lining up your shot an exercise in frustration and there is no option to make adjustments to this. You have two different modes of fire, a single and triple-shot, both of which will build up a meter and will overheat your gun if fired too frequently. Bioerosion could have been a fun kusoge title to play but the aiming is so awful your patience will be tested and you'll likely shut it off before the trial even expires. If you're looking for Japanese developed games on XBLIG, I'd recommend you check out some of MukagoSoftware Development's other more playable titles, like Leucistic Wyvern and the Undead Syndrome.

Final Verdict: Bioerosion is a lame third-person shooter with terrible aiming controls. Don't bother with this one.

Related Links:
Mukagosoftware Development - Xbox Overview
Bioerosion - GameFAQs
Mukagosoftware Development - Official Site

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.