‘Will Puzzle for Princess’ A Braid (XBLA) Review!

‘Is this a dream?’ you ask yourself as you examine your surroundings. There’s a giant picture frame, a cannon shooting out clouds, and castle off in the distance. Making your way there, you notice some discarded puzzle pieces. Perhaps the pieces belong to the person in the castle… Venturing onward you see a local approaching. Short in stature, you notice he has no body, just a head and feet. Sticking to political correctness, you don’t bring his size up but instead ask him if he knows where you are. He speaks no words and continues to walk straight toward you. It becomes clear he’s not going to stop. You leap in to the air to prevent him from shoving into you, but you were never athletic is a boy. Gravity returns you to the ground, meanwhile stomping the strange dwarf into oblivion.

Now that you’re a murderer, your stroll toward the castle becomes a sprint. Before you reach the castle door, a friendly looking Dinosaur approaches. He’s no doubt witnessed your cold blooded act. Before you can decide whether to make him ‘Number 2” or not, he speaks up and says “Press X to Unlock the Full Game”. With the potential of getting some answers, you press X. Welcome to the world of Braid.

House of the Dead Overkill (Wii) Trailer

Shown off at Leipzig, the newest House of the Dead game will use the Zapper to guide you through a B-Movie style Zombie atmosphere. Judging by the media released of the game so far the game should match the feeling evoked by the stylish trailer.

They came for brains; You’ll give them bullets.

Look forward to giving them just that in 2009.

KLind

My Rhombus could beat up your Decahedron! A Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (XBLA) Review!

In the older days when life was simpler, a pro level race car driver could take a pit stop and play an arcade game that came with the garage. Who needs expensive race cars, globe trotting, and whatever the heck Kudos points are, when you have a great twin-stick shooter? The follow up to Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved sure doesn’t!

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts Preorder includes XBLA Banjo Download Code!

Beginning today you can pre-order the upcoming Rare title Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts at retailers. A cool incentive to do so was announced today, which should help putting a minimum, advanced payment down that much easier. If you preorder the game, you’ll be able (at some point in time) to receive a download code for the original Banjo Kazooie game 2 weeks before it’s available to the masses on the Xbox Live Arcade!

Still need sold? The game is 40 dollars, and (based on the video below) looks fantastic.

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts will be available on November 14th.

KLind

Final Fantasy IV (DS) Review

Final Fantasy. This very name has not only captivated the imaginations of literally millions worldwide since 1987, propelled a game company (Squaresoft, now known as Square-Enix) from the bottom to the top, but continues only to get better as the series goes on. Twelve titles later in the series and Square Enix has decided to start remaking some of their previous games for the handheld systems. So far they’ve remade I, II, IV, V, and VI for the Gameboy Advance; the first two Final Fantasy games for the PSP; Final Fantasy III and now, most recently, Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS.

Is that a Hero in your pocket, or do your pants normally Shred like that? A Guitar Hero On Tour (DS) Review!

The stage is set. You grasp the pick firmly, as the band starts the beat. You hit the audience hard with a power cord so powerful their entire perception of reality is shifted. But this stage is different. It’s not the living room you’ve become accustomed to plucking out Penta-colored ballads. No, you’re in the drivers seat of your 20 miles-per-gallon jalopy. You’re On Tour.

The Guitar Hero franchise can be best compared the process of aging. Guitar Hero was the infant stage which grew up to be the healthy lovable child that is Guitar Hero 2. Guitar Hero 3 were the awkward teenage years, and it’s now becoming in adult by marrying drums and singing in Guitar Hero World Tour. As an adult, Guitar Hero’s begun the next step of it’s life by having a child.

Thinking in those terms, the child (Guitar Hero: On Tour) of course will remind you a lot of it’s parents, while having it’s own quirks and things that make it different from them. On Tour has 26 songs (one of which unlockable), ranging from the rockabilly sounds of the Stray Cats to the face melting jams of…Smash Mouth? One of the issues with the game is that the set-list doesn’t quite match up to it’s parent’s games. Guitar Hero does make songs that you ordinarily wouldn’t listen to fun to play, but in this instance there aren’t enough songs that make me want to go back and play as frequently. I still will go back and play certain ones time to time (Daughtry- What I Want, or Incubus- Anna Molly) though. The follow-up Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades looks to have even more good songs that I look forward to plucking out.

When Guitar Hero announced she was going to have a baby with the DS, video game gossip sites began theorizing on what the little guitar would look like. The little one ended up being a pocket-friendly grip with 4 buttons. While it takes away the full size guitar, the Guitar Pick Stylus does help replace some of that feeling. The note placement in certain songs makes you strum back in forth which also helps emulate the guitar feeling.

A tap on the passengers side window tells you that the person you’ve driven to pick up, is ready to go back home. You pause the game (which sets you back just a bit, to not interrupt the rocking too much), and let the person in. You make sure to finish the song before taking off anywhere. Even a portable rockstar doesn’t leave their fans hanging!

Guitar Hero: On Tour retails for 49.99 and is on sale now.

KLind

Wallace and Gromit Grand Adventures Debut Trailer

Telltale games opened up the official hub site for their upcoming Wallace and Gromit episodic adventure series Grand Adventures, and with it they offer up a ‘first look’ trailer. They really nailed the look of clay, and overall creativity that the Wallace and Gromit shorts exhibit. I’m really looking forward to this game.

In other Telltale news, Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1 Homestar Ruiner will be available on WiiWare and PC on August 11. Telltale must be spying on me, because they keep making games out of everything I like!

KLind

XBLA Invades August with Hit After Hit!

It’s been a warm summer, so many of you gamers have likely retreated to the air-conditioned gaming sanctuary, and are ready to make praise of some awesome summer games. Overall the industry seems to have broken the “Save it all until Fall” line of thought, and many fine games have already released with many more on their way. On the Digital Download front, the same is going down. Xbox Live Arcade releases new titles every Wednesday, but the summer lineup they’ve prepared is probably the best they’ve done yet. 5 weeks, 5 games, appropriately titled “The Summer of Arcade”.

You’re probably already playing the first offering of “The Summer of Arcade”, Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2. It’s currently available for 800 Microsoft Points. Look for Buttonbasher.net’s review in the coming days.

The next title is called Braid. It’s a puzzle/platformer that has a hand painted art-style. You have to solve puzzles using time, in order to save a princess. The game looks stunning. Braid will be available for 1200 Microsoft Points on August 6th.

On August 13 you can let the nostalgia bug into your chilled gaming chapel with Bionic Commando: Rearmed. The classic Bionic Commando we all remember on NES, has been upgraded with new bosses, new HD graphics, and a fantastic soundtrack. It will be available for 800 Microsoft Points.

If the nostalgia bug sticks around for another week, he’ll be glad he did because on August 20 the first true sequel to Galaga, Galaga Legions will be released. Why should you be excited? It’s being handled by the team that handled Pac Man CE. Yeah, that game was awesome. No price point was set at time of post.

Finishing off the “Summer of Arcade” is a title that’s been highly anticipated by many a gamer. Castle Crashers is a 4 player co-op brawler from the people that brought you Alien Hominid. Again no price has been set at time of posting but look forward to joining up with 3 friends to save a princess on August 27.

These titles should help tide you over until the fall floodgates open up. Stay tuned to Buttonbasher for our reviews of the coming games!

KLind