In the good effort of trying to add new monthly or weekly features here, I present to you with the jggh Top 5 XBLA. Each month we will highlight 5 games from a particular genre from the XBLA. Tell you why we like them, break down the game for you and hope you will have the opportunity to play some of these games if you may have missed them. With the recent burst in the Side Scroll/Platform genre and the way these games are scattered across the XBLA. I thought that it needed some attention. So with no further adieu, I give you our Top 5.
#5 Shadow Complex – The game tells the story of Jason Flemming, who in hopes of rescuing his girlfriend stumbles on an underground complex and from there you must uncover secrets about the group running the complex. This game is really great. When we were discussing what should be number 5 we were talking Contra and Hard Corps, but honestly with Unreal 3 powering this game and the great system the game puts in place, it’s hard to leave this game off the list. It has great elements of stealth combat as well as the great boss fights you have come to expect from games of this nature.
#4 Comic Jumper – Comic Jumper tells the story of Captain Smiley who has lost his fan following in the comic world. Captain Smiley is forced to guest spot in other comics to gain his popularity back. Along the way you visit different styles of comics as well as break the fourth wall the whole time. This is one of two of Twisted Pixels appearances here on our list. With Comic Jumper if the very unique art styles don’t hook you the incredibly genius writing by Twisted Pixel will. One of the hardest platformers on LIVE, but not one to miss. This game features some of the most varied level designs I have seen in a game and offers lots of extras to players like a premium theme and even DLC.
#3 The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile – The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile continues the story of Yuki gathering her revenge and is the follow up to Ska Studios first game in the series The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. When talking about this list I really wanted to stray away from new releases as they seem to gather enough attention, but we just felt that this game deserved a spot on this list. Telling two separate stories and having the full multi-player experience with online co-op as well as full on MP. Also the art style and combat in this game are simply put, amazing. It’s not a game to be missed and I feel that this one as well as it’s predecessor are underestimated as worth while games on the XBLA.
#2 ‘Splosion Man – This game lets you take control of ‘Splosion man, a science experiment on the run trying to escape. You also have the ability to make yourself explode to get past obstacles and barriers as well as defeat enemies. This game is one that many people forget about and is also the second appearance on our list by Twisted Pixel. This game also features in game reward as Comic jumper. It’s also one of the best Platformers I’ve ever had the privilege of playing. As with most Twisted Pixel games the humor is excellent and makes you enjoy the game that much more. The game is also a game that can be a pick up and play by most any gamer and still be a blast for anyone. If this is a game you missed I suggest giving it a try and you will not regret it.
#1 Castle Crashers – Castle Crashers follow a group of Knights on a quest to rescue Princesses from an Evil Sorcerer. The Behemoth is a great developer and if you need proof of that you can just play this game. There are so many reasons to play this game and love that I can’t name them all here. The game takes a very animated and odd approach at the art style and it seems to work, very good at that. The humor in the game is bordering toilet humor at some parts and at the same time you realize when you play that no other type of story telling would work for this game. The game also features full on 4 player co-op and the story is pretty fun and has a good length of time to it. Also you can keep earning new characters every time you play as a different character so the replay value is through the roof. This was one of the first games that I ever bought on the XBLA that made me say, “that was worth the money”. That was almost 3 years ago and still to this day it still holds it value. That’s why at the current time we here at jggh feel that in this genre of games that Castle Crashers is the best game you can buy on the XBLA.
