Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Review
- Thread starter Slycne
- Start date
I had a lot of fun with it. My only issue with it is the 2 achievements I need to unlock in the little mini-multiplayer challenge mode. Essentially you can join 3 other players and you have to drag lanterns down a gauntlet that is randomly generated with a select number of pre-defined obstacles in each playthrough, as a massive shadowery juggernaught closes in behind you.
Now it's a really fun concept. My only problem is that it's...well...too hard for the everyday common idiot. A group of 4 skilled players working together can tear it up and have a blast, I'm sure. But after several hours of attempts, I STILL haven't made it to the end of the gauntlet due to most people being pants on head retarded.
To give one single example, at the end of certain sections, the screen opens up and it becomes a battle scene. You can't progress until you kill all the enemies, or the juggernaught catches up to you so that it's right on your ass. When this happens, the wall in front crumbles, but not completely. Some of the rubble needs to be cleared away before you can squeeze through with your spaceship. I always seem to land in games with people who just try and fly through anyway without clearing enough, get lodged in and block the passage, causing us all to die or at least lose a large amount of time which you can't really spare.
That's one example of many. The game's great fun...I just wish people were smarter, I guess
Now it's a really fun concept. My only problem is that it's...well...too hard for the everyday common idiot. A group of 4 skilled players working together can tear it up and have a blast, I'm sure. But after several hours of attempts, I STILL haven't made it to the end of the gauntlet due to most people being pants on head retarded.
To give one single example, at the end of certain sections, the screen opens up and it becomes a battle scene. You can't progress until you kill all the enemies, or the juggernaught catches up to you so that it's right on your ass. When this happens, the wall in front crumbles, but not completely. Some of the rubble needs to be cleared away before you can squeeze through with your spaceship. I always seem to land in games with people who just try and fly through anyway without clearing enough, get lodged in and block the passage, causing us all to die or at least lose a large amount of time which you can't really spare.
That's one example of many. The game's great fun...I just wish people were smarter, I guess
Yeah, I believe the song you hear in the background of the review is "Fear and Wonder" by Dimmu Borgir.
Is the rest of the music in the game done by them?... or Is it just the one song?
Is the rest of the music in the game done by them?... or Is it just the one song?
Haven't played it yet, but the gameplay makes it look like it would benefit greatly from a well-done PC port. Just looks like a lot of the aiming was meant to be done with a mouse pointer rather than tilting the analog stick and hoping you got the angle right.
Thank you, Justin, for this review. I really appreciate you guys reviewing so many XBLA titles, because my primary source of gaming reviews is a magazine that only comes out once a month. And they spend most of their time exploring triple-A games or niche titles that most people haven't even heard off. This all leaves fairly little room or time for the plethora of XBLA titles that I would really like to hear about.
As for this game...meh, I'll just buy From Dust and Bastion
As for this game...meh, I'll just buy From Dust and Bastion
Why are all the interesting looking platformers and arcade-like games released on XBLA nowadays ('splosion Man, that weird bullet-hell thing with two light and dark energies, this one)? Where's the love for the PC-crowd who grew up with Commander Keen, Dangerous Dave etc.?
Or are these titles also being released on the PC with a delay?
Or are these titles also being released on the PC with a delay?
I enjoyed my time with this game, but it left me wishing it was the game I saw in the trailer from about a year ago. The game that showed up on XBLA had much slower and more sparse gameplay than the old trailer suggested. It was a great experience, but the world felt slow and almost barren despite how lively the graphics are. Challenge is just as sparse in the single-player.
I'm guessing the cleaning up of the art style cut the areas/levels down and changed the 'plot' progression. Maybe the old game was just as sparse as the release version but much longer, maybe not, but that old gameplay trailer kinda ruined this game for me because it showed how it could have been so much better.
Seriously, compare the two official trailers for this game and you'll see a notable difference between level design and graphic style.
I'm guessing the cleaning up of the art style cut the areas/levels down and changed the 'plot' progression. Maybe the old game was just as sparse as the release version but much longer, maybe not, but that old gameplay trailer kinda ruined this game for me because it showed how it could have been so much better.
Seriously, compare the two official trailers for this game and you'll see a notable difference between level design and graphic style.
Kinda getting the Outland vibe here. It's games like this that make me want an XBOX, but what's keeping me at bay is the fact that the XBLA games are the only ones I'm really interested in. I really wish there was more to draw me in, I feel like it wouldn't be worth the purchase price for the few XBLA titles that I really would like to play. Kind of sad, really. Some PC, or preferably PSN, love would not go amiss here.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet: It's P (I absolutely had to)
This game looks really fun! It's been a long while since I got an XBLA title...I think I should go fix that
This game looks really fun! It's been a long while since I got an XBLA title...I think I should go fix that
Pfff,XD controller chucking hard? My little brother passed each guided missile bit without fail.