Reviews written by jigsawhc

I'm enjoying Pellmell. It is a classic side scrolling shooter, but I like the speed mechanic where the further right you are on the screen the faster you move. It is well done. On the harder difficulty things get really frantic and challenging but still really fun. The game looks nice and I enjoy playing it for 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

SQONG is an interesting game. I really enjoyed it but a lot of the time I had no idea what I was doing. I mean I get that I'm hitting the ball and trying to hit the bricks. But, there are no instructions for the game so I was not sure how the timer works or if I need to try and catch he falling bricks. Plus, I never did figure out how multiplayer works.

However, I still really am enjoying it. The ability to tilt the paddle is a nice chance and the leaderboards are nice touch since most XBLCGs don;t have them.

The game is well polished and I think once I figure out more about how the multiplier and timers work it will be even more fun.

I enjoy a good puzzle game but Gel is just an average one. The graphics are really nice looking cartoon style, but the controls are frustrating. I played the tutorial and it explains them well, but in the actual game I found that I was throwing blocks the wrong way a lot. Even when I tried to slow down and keep things aimed where I wanted it still did not seem to throw blocks where I expected.

While this is essentially Flight Control but with Boats it is still really fun. Graphically it looks really good and the controls work well.

While other levels layouts would have been cool they are not really necessary.

The one thing I would like to see would have been support for custom soundtracks so I can more easily listen to my music and not have the in game sound effects. But really that is not a huge deal.

I can see why people like this but to me it seems easier to look up recipes online. Still, graphically very nice. Just be careful which of your drunk friends you let use your Xbox 360 controller.

This is one of the better looking games on XBLCGs. Even the menu looks well done. The game itself is a simple concept, but is really interesting as you progress through the levels how your strategy has to change and evolve.

Colver has some great music and graphical style. It is fun to play, but I got tired of all the reading after a while. I have to play it in short spurts but still fun!

I really like how this game is challenging but not overly impossible. The graphics look good and the concept of the game is fun.

I like how they have a penalty for messing up but you don't have to completely replay a level.

The demo is a bit short, but just play though it a couple times to get a hang of it if once it not enough.

This is a Peggle clone, but one I'm quickly getting addicted to.

The game feels a little more like Pinball than Peggle does with the ball moving a bit faster and with larger pegs that need removed.

A couple other fun twists are that there is a black "cursed" ball that if you hit it will put back pegs that you previously had set to be cleared, and on some levels you can control the free ball bucket. Also breaking from Peggle's style many of the levels the ball launcher is not at the top of the screen.

The one thing I had a little trouble getting use to is that the aiming cross hairs can be moved anywhere on the screen and not just left/right. I think as I play it more I'll get use to it more though.

Overall, as a Peggle addict, I really like Orbyx.

I love what they've done with Space Invaders. The update graphics are nice but still with a retro feel. The way that power ups and bonuses are earned is really fun and adds a fun level of strategy.

I like Arkanoid type games but this one was not that great. Nothing specifically wrong with it, but nothing to set it apart either.

I'm a big fan of Arkanoid style games with power ups but this one is really bad.

First, there is a time limit both for the level as a whole and for each ball. If the ball does not get to paddle soon enough it just disappears and says ball timeout. The game designer wants you to launch multiple balls at once to beat levels within the time limit. LAME

Second, the graphics and sound effects are really lousy. The 'click' sound it makes when you hit non-breakable parts is really grating. The backgrounds move and sway on some of the levels which is really annoying and in a could cases almost bad enough to make me sick.

Finally, there are a lot of bad power-ups that drop that hurt your playing but very few that help. For the most part I was trying to avoid them while hitting the ball and not trying to get them.

Stay away from this one.

There are much better 2 stick shooters available on XBLA AND XBLCG. The graphics and sound style are really grating.

I like the game play, but it is really hard on my eyes. I wish it had a less neon graphical style because it is fun to play otherwise.

I like the idea of the game but found it pretty repetitive after a while. Still, it is a fun puzzler.

This is not really my style of game but it is pretty fun. If you like action puzzle games there is tons of depth and modes in Load Runner. Plus a level creator that lets you share levels you create.

I tried this out for my kid, but he did not really like it. Maybe a girl would like it better since teddy bears are soft and king of more girl slanted.

It is an interesting idea for a game but I just did not like it that well.

I really like the puzzle aspects of this. The game looks great for an XNA game and requires both mental and physical practice to complete a level perfectly. You have to figure out angle and power to launch, but then control the ship in flight to get all the astronauts without crashing. It is challenging but not so hard it is frustrating.

I spent a good part of the afternoon playing FLOCK and I'm enjoying it for the most part. The game looks and sounds great. There is a lot of replay value trying to get all gold metals. The only issue is that the controls feel a little sluggish to me. That may be intentional since you're flying a space ship, but since levels are timed I want the the ship to feel quick and snappy.

A great take on a classic style of game play.

I started off really liking Solar, but I quickly got bored with it. The dark background gets tiring to look at too.

I love tower defense games and this is one of the most strategic that I've ever played. Everything in the game requires thought and planning...unit placement, gold spending vs saving, which units to use, which to upgrade.

I've only finished off 4 of the 12 levels so far and none of them perfectly. I'm looking forward to many more hours of playing to perfect my strategies.

They really got the small things done right too. Like, you can pause a wave to upgrade units or place more. And, each unit's strengths and weakness vary greatly.

While Uno Rush does use the Uno deck of cards mostly and follows some of the same rules it does not play anything like Uno. It is a fast paced mess that relies n you being luck enough to have your cards somewhat in order and hope that you have ones that play. The most annoying part is that the game focus on having your cards arranged in the best order but then lets your opponents mess up the order all the time. Not really very fun.

Overall I like BeatBlox, but I found the controls a little frustrating. I kept trying to use the right thumb stick instead of the buttons to move blox around. Also, it would be cool if there was a little noise when a block moves and when there is an explosion to help you know hear what is happening as you're playing. Overall though it is a pretty fun action puzzle game with a nice unique twist.

I'm not very good with this type of control scheme, but the game itself is well made. It would be nice if it has online play but getting 4 people together one 1 xbox is fun too.

I like tower defense games....there I said it.
This one is pretty fun. The upgrades are easy to add and not overly expensive. They have towers that chains attacks together which I absolutely love.

The graphics are not that my preferred style, but they are not really be or anything. Overall a pretty good tower defense game.

With the recent price drop this really is worth checking out. The tutorial is long so you may need to play the trial twice to get a feel for it, but this game is great fun with friends.

Quite possibly the most addicting XBLA game so far.
Fun both alone or with friends.
The levels are challenging as the progress, but never feel impossible.
Can be played with some strategy for completely mindlessly hoping for lucky shots.
I would write a longer review but now I want to go play more Peggle instead.

Pretty fun platformer mechanics, but I had a lot of trouble with the jump mechanic. I was regularly falling off the edge when I was trying to jump. Very cool concept with the graphics though.

This is not that good. I found the controls frustrating and un-responsive.

No reason to spend money on this. You might as well just make fart noises with your mouth.

Does what it says with lots of puzzles, but lack of co-op or verses is not cool

Pretty fun two stick shooter. I like some of the others better but it is pretty good. Biology Battle has better graphics but the core game is fun.

If you don't own Rock Band 2, but you have a Rock Band drum kit this is a great little game to let you just mess around on the drums.

Pretty fun but there are tons of tetris type games out there and this one is not that different.

Pretty fun mechanics, but the graphics could use some polish. Still there is a lot of game to play here but I found the graphics to annoying to keep playing it.

Pretty addictive little gem. The controls work well and later in the game it can be a long while between saves, but I love it.

Blow is a lot of fun. The levels get progressively harder at a good rate, but even when I'm stuck it is hard to get frustrated because the game is so mellow. The music is great and the puzzles are hard but not impossible. Great game.

If it were not free I would not have downloaded it, but it is free so I checked it out. It is a pretty easy game and somewhat fun for a short time. Fortunately after about 20-30 minutes you'll have it all finished.

This game is great fun. Lots of levels that keep getting harder and harder. Well worth checking out.

Pretty fun scrabblish word game but man the color scheme is bad.

I tried PowerUp Forever and it is ok. but nothing great. Has a Geometry Wars feel but seemed a bit slower to me. Nothing really special to set it apart from the other two stick shooters on XBLA.

With the v1.1 update this game is well worth the cost. Finally Euchre on Xbox Live!

I'm a big fan of Tower Defense games. Maybe even slightly addicted to them. Tower Revolution is a pretty fun one. The graphics are not great, but tower defense games are not about graphics. They are about strategy, and Tower Revolution gives you lots of strategic options. Each tower type can be upgraded a multiple different ways and there is the use of magic and walls. I can see a lot of replay value as I try to prefect my strategies. My only big complaint is that there is no option to restart a level other than to quit out and then start the level again. Overall a nice simple tower defense game with good replay value.

I like the bonus gold cards that give you an extra bonus if you win the hands. The to play up to 4 players is nice.

A couple minor frustrations:
1 - You can't speed up or slow down the animation speed
2 - There are only a few increments of money you can bet. $1, $5, $10, etc but no way to do like $15 or other ammounts.

Like I said these are minor things. Overall a fun 4 player blackjack game. Great for playing with a few friends.

Visually this game is nice and clean and bright, but the controls are pretty frustrating for me. You press can only control the speed of the ship and then change the angle the plain is flying by pushing left or right, but the controls are always related to the nose of the ship and not the angle it is currently flying. So, when flying left/upside-down the controls are basically backwards from when you're going right. I tried for a while to get the hang of it but it just got to frustrating and I gave up.

If you can get a hang for the controls the game has potential to be fun.

It is nice to play with HD graphics, but the VBAS doesn't work well for me. I think I'm so bad that the scale doesn't go low enough for me. Still fun once you get use to anchor shots.

Classic game is still fun to play.
The graphics looks great.
The Remixed mode is lame.
Even with their "improved" net code the online can be laggy, but not too bad most of the time.

I tried the trial 4 times trying to figure this out and I just don't get what the cursor on screen does. Other than that is is a pretty simple game. You pick if you want your unites to attack, defend, or harvest and then they go out an do that automatically. The description says it is a "simple RTS", but they should have emphasized SIMPLE a lot more.