It seems that PixelJunk Shooter may have popularized a genre - the "puzzle-shmup" - and we can't complain, because Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet takes the "light on shooting, heavy on the puzzling and exploration" to Metroid levels of expansiveness, and also manages to paint an aesthetic that trumps that of PixelJunk Shooter by a wide margin. The look of Shadow Planet is stark, striking, and endlessly alive. Everything in its world seethes and moves...
Flying fists, ancient and deadly techniques, atrociously bad overdubs, and no-shadow kicks are but a few of the marvels found in the world of import martial arts flicks. Invincible Tiger: The Legend of Han Tao borrows liberally from this treasure trove of Kung-Fu nostalgia. And we love it for that. But before long, you just might stop throwing punches and start throwing controllers with this one.
We feel bad for all the people who will probably take one look at Ion Assault and write it off as yet another generic arena space shooter. They'll be missing out on what's probably one of the coolest mechanics we've seen in the genre. Harnessing power from the latent energy fields around your ship, you'll launch bombardments of charged ions at foes until they overheat, reach critical mass, and burst like big space pimples.
It was the fifteenth and final wave. Our base was in shambles with only a few percentage points of integrity left, and Arty and Big Willie were laying siege upon it with their massive weaponry. Crippled from a recent run-in with a swarm of suicidal Blitzers, we piloted our mobile trench toward further danger with little hope of self-preservation. With the sightline clear and just seconds to spare, we slammed down both the left and right triggers, letting out a maniacal yell as all six of our machine guns poured hundreds of bullets into the attackers’ flanks. Finally, our enemies erupted in a beautiful, electrified explosion of blue and white, spewing sparks and scrap in every direction. The words “Wave Completed” flashed across the screen, and though our hearts were still racing and our faces still frozen in deranged desperation, we knew we had held off the last of the monovisions and saved the fuel depot. But what we really cared about was the tiki mask we just looted for our comically macho uber-soldier...
Question: if Iron Man can fly, why has he stumbled into every pitfall of the superhero genre? His game is messy, confusing and, at best, about as good as Catwoman or Batman Begins. Which is not good at all.
In this game of the film of the comic, you are the titular Iron Man - disabled billionaire inventor Tony Stark - in his rocket-booted iron suit, out to thwart evildoers. At heart it’s a shoot-’em-up with a great deal of
Early on in the Iron Man 2 film, we're treated to a sequence in which Iron Man falls to earth from a plane, avoiding mid-air explosions as the camera violently jerks around the protagonist. It's a dizzying, uncoordinated viewing experience, but at least you're only observing - try adding interactivity to the mix and it might be akin to the Iron Man 2 game adaptation’s most maddening moments...
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