Starvoid is an RTS game with some clear visual influences from another famous science fiction RTS, but this one has the brain of an FPS. Stick with me here: there are no actual FPS elements in the ludic structure of the game—it’s the matchmaking and pacing that are supposed to resemble the pick-up-and-play-ness of the first person shooter. The game looks like an RTS. Each player chooses a ‘commander’ for their forces. Through this commander, who has various specialties and bonuses, all of the player’s buildings and units are constructed. These units then wage combat over the valuable resources on the map, the Starvoid fuel. When the commander dies, he/she simply respawns. Even if all of the army’s units and buildings are destroyed, they can simply be rebuilt. Each match can hold up to 16 players at a time, all vying to collect the most Starvoid, and the matches are all active join, fully drop-in/drop-out style game play, like an FPS match. Each match is intended to be quick and casual, but playing enough will reveal a character progression, in which each player earns new items and bonuses for their commanders. It’s a neat idea, but I’m not sure who the audience is for this title.
If you’re the type who hungers for super challenging 2d platformers, it’s time to check out They Bleed Pixels. The retro-styled game has some beautiful pixelated art, a young lady with claws, and a story that deals with some eldritch stuff, which I hear people like these days. The real appeal here, however, is the spikes-avoiding, wall-jumping, enemy-flinging, platforming action—if you’re into that sort of thing, that is. The game-play and difficulty of the platforming reminds me of the popular indie title, Meatboy, except there is some brawler combat thrown in for good measure.
Rock Band Blitz is not a Rock Band game, not really. It’s a rhythm game, but it’s also a driving game, a paddle game, a pinball game, and a shooter—all at once. It doesn’t use any instruments, and it is only for one player. That one player is the whole band. Except really, he/she is just this one paddle that slides along the bottom of the screen, which is a road that the paddle is driving on in Rock City. This road is covered in music-making speed bumps which are on either side of up to five lanes, which are instruments, so each instrument only has two ‘notes’. The paddle can change lanes/instruments at will, but needs to hit the correct rhythm for wherever it is at the time, either avoiding the bumps to stay alive or hitting as many of them as possible for lots of points. While all this is going on, songs from other Rock Band games are playing in the background, and sometimes there are other objectives, like keeping a giant ball from rolling past the paddle or catching bonus thingies. No, it’s not a Rock Band Game, not really. It’s the nightmare that Rock Band games have when they’ve eaten too many rainbows right before bed.
Following is a full list of this week’s announced North American releases:
Windows
- Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII
- Guild Wars 2
- Knight Age
- Starvoid
- They Bleed Pixels
Wii
- Madden NFL 13
- Metal Slug X (
)
Xbox 360
- Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII
- Joe Danger 2: The Movie
- Madden NFL 13
- Rock Band Blitz
- WWE WrestleFest
PS3
- Damage Inc.: Pacific Squadron WWII
- Madden NFL 13
Vita
- Madden NFL 13
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