fumanstan

That N+ description looks interesting. Haven't heard about it before.

Decker

I'm kinda pleased to see some licensed kid's games in the arcade. Many will bitch about the games being crap, but as a parent, I much prefer buying a crappy Shrek game for 800 pts in the arcade than spending $50 for it in the store. If the kids enjoy it, that's enough for me.

KurrptSenate

if you want to get them to level 20, its really not hard at all. Once you seige 2 towns next to each other, make sure you are mounted on a rat, and you can get about 4,000 in less than 5 minutes just going back and forth, back and forth. At this points, it's easy to see how fast you can finish off your citadel, and begin to level up your characters attributes.

going along with this outline, make sure to only use your leveling points in the categories your characters is good at (or costs the least i.e. 1 point only)

If you want to get the experience to gain access to better spells, just repeat missions like the catapults at the beginning that give you 200 experience at a pop. Leveling up your character as stated above, those matches take about 1-2 minutes to finish.

It's reasonable to say you could have 4, level 20 characters in less than 10-15 hours

GatorDeb

Yeah, but for me that wouldn't be finishing it. I'd have to have 1 of each with ALL quests done and at level 50 with all points spent.

I'm giving up on forging a G-d-like weapon. All achievements-1 is good enough for me

Michael Corvin

FREE Pinball FX table

UncleGramps

Very cool. Pinball FX is a lot of fun, and a free table is pretty sweet.

Save Ferris

Is there any rumor of Star Control coming to the XBLA? I heard something of this awhile back and cant find anything on it anymore...

pinata242

God that would be awesome. Esp if it was also SC2 and not just Melee or that strategic game from SC1.

fumanstan

I caved in and bought Pinball FX today, especially since the free board coming would make it a bit more valuable to me. I agree with the complains that the other two boards aren't that great... Extreme seems kinda crappy, Agent is just ok.

And then i checked the leaderboard and brianluvdv's score is insane!

Spiderbite

Thanks for noticing. I had a good day that day.

Michael Corvin

With the new table being free, I might finally cave in and pick up Pinball.

Mok

I also noticed they also added one new achievement to Pinball FX, it has to do with the new table.

Spiderbite

Just downloaded the Buccaneer table for Pinball FX and it is better than the other 3 tables. 4 flippers with several chutes which are easier to shoot for. The table is nice and long and stuff isn't cramped impossibly together (Extreme table, anyone?).

Well worth the free download and it makes Pinball FX an easy buy now for 10 bucks. Three good tables and one bad make it a recommendable time-waster/passer.

The only drawback about Buccaneer...the camera floats no matter what setting your are on. You can set the came to completely still on the other tables (which is what I prefer) but this one floats no matter what. I am sure they could fix this with an update. What's strange is that it stopps floating if you get multi-ball but goes right back too it once you are down to one ball. So you landlubbers who get sea sick may have a queasy time with this one.

If anyone is able to make set the table still, let me know as I may have missed it but every setting I went to had it floating on Buccaneer. Great pinball table and reminds me of a real table you would likely play in a real arcade.

Spiderbite

An update on my Arcade Live games and impressions. I have come a long way in a month since I just had 3 games the last time I posted my impressions on the first page (Hexic, Pac-man CE, & Pinball FX).

See my post above for the new table on Pinball FX. Makes it worthy of 10 bucks now. And after spending more time with the table, my initial disappointment with Pinball FX has gone away.

My new additions:
Aegis Wing: C+. Yeah, I know it's free but it is decent to play. I am not very good at it but the graphics are nice. How's the co-op play?

Astropop: This one has grown on me but I still suck at it. Hovering at the bottom of the leaderboards makes me wonder...how the hell do you guys get so many points on this game? Any tips would be appreciated. B- (probably cause I suck)

Frogger: C. Only reason I have this is I got it free with a joystick purchase along with Astropop and Time Pilot. It plays like the original but with updated graphics. It's okay but not a favorite of mine (but Frogger never was back in it's heyday as well). Is it just me or was Frogger always this hard? I haven't even made it to Level 4 yet.

Galaga: A+. God I love this game. Thankfully no updated graphics. Plays just like the original and it is perfect. Everyone should own this game.

Ms. Pac-man: A+. Another game I truly adore. Again, no updated graphics. Plays just like the original and it is truly a lot harder when you don't start with super speed and 5 extra men like so many in the arcades adjust for nowadays. Buy it and beat my high score (which isn't really very impressive).

Pac-man: A. The original. No updated graphics and plays just like the original. Again, another one that might challenge you and is a lot harder than I remembered (I have stuck to Ms. Pac-man over the years). A must buy it.

Time Pilot: A-. Another of my beloved from the 80's. They updated the graphics but it plays almost exactly like the original. Good game and a fun time-waster.

Uno: A+. Digital crack I believe they call it. I only have messed around with ranked games so there is likely a whole other world of Uno out there. I just can't seem to quit ranked games to find it. A must own! Great way to wind down a day or after some heavy duty Halo games.

Xevious: A-. Yet another one of my arcade favorites on Live (thank you Live). No updated graphics and plays just like the original. Actually it seems to run a little smoother than the original and the ship seems a little faster (I know this because I keep missing with my bombs at the tanks & huts). Great game that seems none of my friends own.

Yaris: F (and that doesn't stand for "Free"...which it is). Clunky gameplay and uninteresting maps. No fun at all. I still keep it around and play a game from time to time to see if I am being to harsh. I haven't been proven wrong yet.

Some I am considering buying: Paperboy, Joust, Exit, & Defender.

I love having the friends leaderboards and being able to look at the scores to compare and try to challenge myself to take a game to the next level. If you are not on my friends list and have any of the games above (or buy them) and like to compare as well, send me a friends invite. But I have given up on ever beating Sith Draven's score on Pac-man CE.

Michael Corvin

Decker

Anyone get Mutant Storm Empire yet? I dl'ed it today but ran out of time before I could play it -- damn work getting in the way of my playtime!

dan30oly

Going by your love of Galaga and Xevious, I believe you won't be at all dissapointed with Paperboy, Joust and Defender.

They all play like the original arcade games,with the exception of not having a bike steering wheel for paperboy

And, yes, Frogger was always that difficult. I don't think I've ever made it to level 4 either on my arcade game or on the 360.

PixyJunket

I have to go to work before the sun rises, but I should be playing it in a couple of hours.

Spiderbite

By the way, the Mad Catz joystick that people were buying at Target for $20...don't. It is a piece of crap. I am going to take it back even though I have downloaded the included games. I believe they owe the games to me for my trouble.

I have given it plenty of chances but it is just too loose & sticks constantly. Playing a Pac-man game is a nightmare. I wasn't going to take it back since the included some free Arcade games but it is so crummy that I don't feel they deserve my money for making this accessory. Stay away from it. It will only cause you grief.

I would be interested to see if anyone here uses it regularly. The stick on the Xbox controller is not perfect but it works far better than this joystick.

Spiderbite

Good to hear. I downloaded all those demos and liked them all but have yet to pull the trigger. They updated the graphics on Defender but they keep the awesome sound effects. No game in history sounds as cool as Defender.

Glad to hear that about Frogger and that it is not just me. Have you looked at the achievements on Frogger? They are damn near impossible unless you are a Frogger championship player (if there is such a thing).

PixyJunket

Are we really in 2007 and people still don't know that all Mad Catz products are trash?

Really?

fujishig

I can't really understand returning it after downloading the games... unless you return it as opened and they don't try to resell it (I know the packaging makes it relatively easy to pop it back into the package and make it seem brand new. Otherwise, you're doubly screwing the next guy that buys it (he doesn't get the free games AND he's stuck with that crappy joystick).

It is pretty crappy, though the concept is neat. But hey, it's MadCatz after all. The d pad is improved, but you can't really use the dpad all that well. And it's apparently on clearance at Best Buy for as low as 10 bucks, in case anyone else is morbidly curious.

forsho01

frogger isn't that bad at all. the only achievements that i still have to get are beating level 5 and reaching 30000 on coop (i have 160/200 of the points). i'm not a pro or anything, but you just have to keep on trying and watch for the patterns.

Decker

I posted elsewhere, I like it (Mad Catz Arcade Stick) for Time Pilot and Ageis Wing. The loose controls actually work for those games. The D-pad is alright for Pac-Man CE, but the controller is uncomfortable to hold and a hassle to plug in. It's not a good controller, but for $10 at BB it's worth a try -- the games included are worth 1600 pts, so you really can't lose. Still that spinner is shockingly bad; I can't imagine any tester thinking that it worked remotely correctly. It's mind-numbingly awful.

The Bus