#xblig

[fishmech]

RE: Get to Schol on Time (Xbox 360/iOS/Windows, 2011/2012)

[wanyo]

Shutshimi [2014] Artist - Pixels, Co-designer

[hardcore-gaming-101]

Streets of Fury EX

To properly explain the surprising level of quality in Streets of Fury EX, it becomes necessary to describe a few factual statements about the game. The game itself is a highly enhanced remake of a game previously seen on XBOX Live Indie Games, a service that typically featured small, shareware-esque games, often made by a singular person. The characters on screen are digitized actors with varying levels of martial arts training, many of whom are likely friends and family of the developers. The divisive internet personality The Nostalgia Critic is an unlockable playable character. All these factors should result in a game that should be awful, and yet by some total cosmic fluke, it all results in a surprisingly solid, even deep brawler. 

Read more...

[hoorayretsupurae]

[chiegaming]

Press X to Not Die (XBLIG/Steam/itch, 2015)

Following me beating Not For Broadcast last time on where I used to log these, I wanted to look into more FMV games, at least the less known ones. Enter me finding a notably well-received indie game at a lowly 75 cents and one half-hour playthrough later and here we are! I'm, really not sure what I was expecting.

So Press X to Not Die prides itself on being this ode to 90s FMV games but in a weird twist of fate or, whatever, it feels a lot closer to being representative of the micro-niche Xbox Live Indie Game FMV games or just most of XBLIG in general. Only, it managed to slip through the cracks and get a PC port so as to not let it fade into obscurity with all the other stuff that was being dumped on there.

This might need a bit more context actually. XBLIG was a service for the Xbox 360 that saw a lot of very, particular kinds of jank games.

remember what they took from you... I almost want to compare it to a weird fusion between Newgrounds Flash games and the bootleg asset flips that seemed really prevalent on mobile services during the 2010s, it's such a particular vibe that really hasn't been replicated anywhere since, even just for the sake of a gag.

note: none of these are the X button.

So Press X to Not Die really stands out to me from the perspective of someone that grew up watching YouTubers playing these things that seemed to be created in complete isolation by amateurs. It's almost surreal to be actively playing something that actually started from there (that isn't by Silver Dollar anyway) The button prompts are the same kinda gross looking X360 buttons, most of the dialogue is so ludicrously outdated, I had sincerely thought the game was originally made in 2013. These guys were really out here making Hunger Games and Twilight jokes in 2015, it really feels like it was written by a redditor that got frozen in time. Even the protag is just this really average dudebro, there's dialogue choices on occasion but there's nothing to really dictate his behavior outside of the occasional chance to get 'lolrandom' with it.

The changes between shots are super rigid and it gets particularly bad during 1-on-1 fights that take more than a couple prompts to proceed. Not that I can really blame the devs because the first-person nature of the filming and how it's being used was going to make it very shaky regardless.

Pictured: this game's attempt at a Punch-Out!! fight. Now imagine this but violently shaking I dunno if it's enough to lead to motion sickness or anything but it does make scenes where anyone's up close to the camera incredibly awkward (as I hope you can tell). Aside from one choice that is Very weird, the game's not offensive or anything, it just tries really, really hard, harder than even most XBLIG games I remember. Half the time I couldn't help being kind of enamored by it because it's just so desperate, the Awesome Sauce is just leaking from it like a gross, oily sludge.

The plot's at least kind of interesting. Most of the population becomes incessantly violent (so vaguely zombie-like but not really) as a result of a government science experiment gone wrong and it's only the Gamers of the world that aren't affected (yes really) It ties directly into the core gameplay loop which is literally just pressing whatever combination of buttons it demands at the given moment. It's easy to assume it was just an excuse to justify the game's existence but it does get pretty close to almost being commentary on the perception of games as a whole. It's the absolute minimum of what can be considered a game to a lot of people, there's fail states, quite a few, actually. They're even neatly categorized in the extras menu after you beat the game to ensure you this is not just a movie that you gotta press buttons to resume!

But yeah, this was certainly an uh, experience? Writing this did lead me to discover there's actually quite a few XBLIG games that have made it to Steam so that's pretty cool. Aside from that uhh, yeah, I dunno. I'm gonna go back to playing Tekken or something. Steam itch

[everygame]

Tempura of the Dead (Xbox 360)

Developed/Published by: 8bits Fanatics Released: 09/11/2010 Completed: 22/05/2021 Completion: Finished it! Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Wayhey! Here’s a good one, an Xbox Live Indies game that you actually can’t get anymore so maybe reading a review of it in 2021 or later isn’t that helpful, but I mentioned this a while back on the Insert Credit podcast and it made me go back and finish it, because I’ll be frank, as much as I love all the weird Xbox indies they were definitely the kind of thing where you downloaded it for a buck, played it for a while, went “that was a laugh” then didn’t actually stick it through.

Tempura of the Dead comes from 8bits fanatics, who released this and then Aban Hawkins and the 1001 Spikes on Xbox Live Indies and then made the sad mistake of partnering with the bad bad no good publisher Nicalis who went on to release 1001 Spikes on a few other things while claiming the credit and (likely) ripping them off. They did go on to create Steel Sword Story which is up on Steam, but like a lot of indies on Steam it seems to have gone totally overlooked, unfortunately (I’ll be honest, I’m literally only aware it came out while researching to write this up.)

Anyway. It’s a bit of a shame this has gone forgotten, because while it’s definitely not, like, a top-top tier retro-inspired title, it’s a cute shooty-platform-me-do that’s got a neat juggle mechanic and a silly story that definitely worked a lot better on release than it does now--maybe that’s why they haven’t been arsed to revisit it. Plus I assume not making any money from 1001 Spikes or Steel Sword Story.

If there’s a serious issue, it’s that input is a bit sluggish (really annoying to fall off a platform because you can’t quite push left and jump at the same time…) and that there’s not a ton of variety, but man… I played a few levels of this at a time, enjoyed the challenge, enjoyed levelling up Obama Thompson and Sujimoto, and then beat it. It’s like… a really good example of a classic indie, to be honest. A wee twist on a classic formula, doesn’t outstay its welcome. Shame you can’t buy it!

Will I ever play it again? Would be really cool if this had multiplayer, actually, and if it got re-released with some tweaks, sure, I could play it again. I should check out Steel Sword Story, honestly.

Final Thought: I also took the opportunity to play Bloody Checkers, which I may (or may not?) write up soon because I’ve finished the main story but am completely at a loss how to get any further. I found only one (incomplete) solution online, but I think it's actually been deleted! Anyone want to write one? Or play online with me so I can turn all these useless diamonds and stuff into actual money, if that's what that does, because otherwise I'm stuck grinding against enemies and hoping they'll walk into traps that make me a profit over the cost of the traps, the mechanics of which are... ach this can wait for the write-up.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi.

[randomisedgaming]

Explosionade was one of the many indie titles available on the XBLIG service for Xbox 360. Now that the service has closed you can still purchase it on Steam. This is very much an old school single screen arcade game mixed in with modern run and gun twin stick gameplay. Think Bubble Bobble meets Contra/Metal Slug and you have a good idea of what Explosionade is all about, only with with added mechs.

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[randomisedgaming]

XBLIG feature updated

So our XBLIG feature is in the progress of being updated, currently we are slowly adding, what other platforms these games are available on now. Not every game is available on another system and some are now gone for good.

Hopefully, however, this will act as a guide to where you can still pick up some of these great games. It’s also been added to the Features Article List so you can easily find it.

If you missed out on the service before it closed be sure to checkout our three part video series on the subject: