Good job! I average about that. I'm sure you'll blow past me, especially after Wednesday. Speaking of which...

I'm seriously considering taking the day off Wednesday and just Crashing Castles all day long.

Good Luck connecting to an online game in Castle Crashers. Failed matches, disconnects upon loading, and lock-ups galore!

Hopefully all of that will be fixed by the time I get online tonight.

I set my download going just now, guess I'll check it out tomorrow.

It got a 9 from IGN.

http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/903/903047p1.html

I'll probably buy it tonight.

IGN didn't mention anything about the severe online problems. They obviously didn't play over Xbox Live today.

playing it on PartnerNet is a very different experience than on Live. So that's why I rarely put stock in early reviews of titles with huge online components.

VGT's Castle Crashers review for anyone interested

Short Version:

Adored the visuals and the level design.
Enjoyed the RPG-Lite elements.
Above average achievements

Combat can be frustrating at times. (Not like Alien Hominid though)
Single player game is on the short side.
Busted multi-player kills replay value and makes the game feel overpriced in the current state.
After 4 months in MS certification, it freezes my 360!

Skip it until it's fixed.

Oh, your 60% is going to hurt the game's Metacritic score -- into the mediocre yellow it goes. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks very appealing to me -- a game that's fun to play and not just a high-score quest. Anyway, if the bulk of your problems are from the flawed online modes, will your score go up if they're corrected shortly?

I'll certainly attach an amendment to the review if the problem is fixed, but I'm not changing the score. Our scores aren't changed because a patch is released. It's based on the current condition of the game at the time of release.

Don't give in!

I've heard it is taking people between 5-6 hours to beat on their first play through. Is that how long it took you? If so, I'd hardly call that short for a XBLA Beat-em-up game.

Yeah, it seems a bit premature to "review" the game based on all of that info.

Premature to review it based on the fact it's released? I'm not sure what you're saying here. If the title is released, it should be ready for showtime...not wait for a patch before being critical of it.

There is no guarantee that they can even fix the problems in any sort of timely matter. The game has been released, so putting out a review is 100% appropriate.

5 hours is accurate. The pricing made it feel a bit too short.

I agree, if it's sold in a "finished" state, it's ripe for review. I especially don't want console game makers to start following the PC game practice of shipping a buggy, incomplete game just to meet the shelf date, then patching it a dozen times. I don't mind some minor updates, and I certainly don't mind improvements, but the game itself should be playable from day one (barring some really weird fluke bug that happens only in .0001% of cases). I could almost see judging the online component on the first few days rather than just the first day, but not much more than that.
An addendum when they do fix things, but the game and makers should be dinged for releasing a product that doesn't work upon release, and that shouldn't be forgotten.

If you say so. There are plenty of XBLA games that were way shorter (at least for the ones that have endings). Hell, there are $60 titles that are shorter. I can't imagine too many people complaining that a beat-em-up is only 5 hours long. Especially one with so much replayability.

edit: Oh wait, you only gave it a 1 1/2 on Replayability.

If the multiplayer doesn't work, does it have much replayability?

Local Multiplayer works fine from what I have read. The fact still remains you still have tons of characters to unlock, orbs and weapons to collect as well as the harder difficulty mode.

I agree it should get dinged for its Xbox Live Multiplayer problems, but I think that review is a bit too harsh. To each his own.

Local multi-player does work perfectly fine. If I had a clone army at my disposal this morning, perhaps the replay value would have been higher. Character unlocks are great, but it really feels repetitive and tiresome after you know exactly what to do on each level.

Anyway, just one guy's opinion. There will be plenty of them floating around in the internet tubes this week.

I agree with this, to an extent. If a game is totally broken online, Mr. Driller Online being a recent example, then a thrashing is completely in order. If it's a server issue, I would still make note of it, but might give them a couple of days to iron things out before a low score is set in cement.

Am I the only person not outraged that a 5 hour game would cost $15?

That's pretty damn long actually. Hell, I paid damn near $70 for Super Mario 64 and without the batshit boring "collecting all the stars" that game is short as hell (actually just beating it became a chore after a while).

I only played the demo, but I'll pick it up when I have some free time to play. I was relatively impressed with what I saw. I was a little worried by the simplicity of the move set but you quickly gain some new combos in the first couple of levels.

As for length, even the absolute greatest games of this genre (see Streets of Rage 2) could be completed in a couple of hours. Exactly like shmups, these games are not meant to take 10s of hours for a single play through. Frankly, if they did, it would be irritating. So again, like shmups, if you're not someone who enjoys repeated play throughs to score chase, experiment, unlock, earn items, or damnit, just have fun, well the game is not for you.

Regarding the review score changing thing.. well consider that if/when the game is patched it will basically be non optional, and anyone who has been able to buy the game will have access to the patch (cos you have to connect to live to buy the game). So to me, it seems quite reasonable to add a note to the review if the state of online changes (1UP does this to their reviews from time to time). If someone is reading the review a month from now, chances are they might be making a purchasing decision. So it doesn't do them much good to tell them the state of play from release day if that no longer applies.

A game announcement that caught me completely off-guard. I had no idea this was in the works. I enjoyed both DS versions but I wonder how this will play without the touch screen....

Meteos Wars Announced for Xbox 360
The award-winning, out of this world action puzzle game lands on Xbox LIVE Arcade!
August 27, 2008 - Take a ride through this intergalactic journey where you slide, stack and ignite your blocks to blast away the world-ending meteors! Only you can stop them from falling and crushing your planet. Master the combo links and power-ups to challenge your friends in intense multiplayer sessions. A puzzle game can't get any better than Meteos Wars, where the story, situation and environments formulate one explosive adventure!

Game Features:
Meteos Wars features several gameplay modes and tons of unlockables with a focus on both single and multiplayer play. The game has received an audio and visual facelift and picked up a few new features along the way, keeping the Meteos experience fresh and creating hours of excitement.



Planets galore: Defend over 20 planets, each with its own alien race, Meteos block styles, unique gravity effects and visual and audio style

All-new special techniques: Master four of the "Planet Impact" special attacks - Armageddon, Gambit, Sentinel and Tempest.

Massive modes: Test your quick-thinking action-puzzle skills in a variety of single-player modes, including Mission Mode, Attack Mode or Vs. Mode. Three challenges await you in Attack Mode – the 1-minute attack, 100-Meteo attack and the Challenge attack.

Multiplayer: Blast away your opponents over Xbox LIVE in Matching Vs. Mode and become one of the best Meteos Wars players in the community! You can also go head-to-head with your friend in Local Vs. Mode.

All-new accessories: Collect various accessories for your aliens by clearing certain objectives – accessorize your alien and give it some personality!


METEOS WARS
Developer/Publisher: Q Entertainment
Platform: Xbox LIVE Arcade
Genre: Action Puzzle
Release date: October 2008
Price: 800 MSP
# of Players: 1 ~ 2
Rating: TBD