Poker Smash (360; 800 MS Points- approx. $10; Rated E; xbox.com)
With all of the “Bejeweled” and “Puzzle League” rip-offs clogging up the internet and ho-hum puzzle games available over the Xbox Live Arcade, it’s hard to think that a color-matching puzzle game could come along that would actually be engaging, fun, and dare-I-say-it inventive.“Poker Smash” accomplishes this, and does so by being developed by only two guys.
In the same vein as “Puzzle League,” rows of colored blocks rise from the bottom to the top, players attempt to eliminate the blocks, and once they reach the top- the game is over. In “Poker Smash,” the colored blocks are also card suits, and so instead of matching colors to eliminate the blocks, players also need to try to make the best poker hand. The better the hand, the bigger the points.The genius behind “Poker Smash” is that the even the player with the least amount of card-sharkery can still play and have a great time- matching colors to create three, four, or five-of-a-kind will keep the player engaged long enough to feel fulfilled. But when players want to, ahem, up the ante- full houses, flushes, and straights are all there to be made for points. Thinking three steps ahead is what separates the great player from the casual player- if your eliminated blocks cause other blocks to be eliminated, chains build up for massive point multipliers, called “smashes.”
These “poker smashes” are the key to winning multiplayer battles of “Poker Smash,” either online or split screen. Players will battle to take “chips” away from opponents, and the key to doing so is in the “smash.” Even a player who is almost broke in their chips can battle back to victory with a few well-played chains.Its perpetual single-player mode, brain twisting puzzle mode, and multiplayer modes are all incredibly satisfying for those who are in the mood to have a quick pick-up-and-play. Online and off, “Poker Smash” is one of the best values on the Live Arcade.
Rez HD (360; 800 MS Points- approx. $10; Rated E; thatgamecalledrez.com)
Hey kids: ever wonder what it would be like to trip out on Ecstasy in a German discothèque all night long, come home, and design a video game before majorly crashing? Well now you have the opportunity, and all without ever leaving the comforts of your own couch.“Rez HD” is an updated version of the classic PlayStation 2 release from Tetsuya Mizuguchi, who’s company “Q Entertainment” has been blurring the lines between gaming and music-making since 2001. With games like “Lumines” and “Meteos” and “Every Extend Extra,” Mizguchi has carved out a trippy niche for himself in terms of gameplay and design- all of which can be traced back to “Rez.”Now available for download over the Xbox Live Arcade, “Rez HD” is an updated version of a game that was way ahead of its time when it was originally released. Now with 16:9 aspect ratio, full HD graphics, and 5.1 digital surround sound, “Rez HD” is probably a truer form of the game that Mizguchi wanted to make, but was limited by the technology of the times.Players enter into a “supernetwork” akin to the settings of “Tron,” and float through a cyberspace in an attempt to hack deeper and deeper into the mainframe. Players float through the mainframe on a predetermined path and have to shoot down enemies that try to stop player’s progress.
What would seem to be a very basic “on rails” shooter, turns out to be a sensory-overload experience- each shot fired and each enemy hit contributes to a beat or effect of music that adds a melody to the trance music that forms the backbone of the trip through the mainframe. Soon, as more action takes place on screen, and more enemies are being shot down, the music evolves and intensifies- leading to a very effectively enveloping soundtrack. Music swirls all around you, and the vector-based graphics feel like they are pulling you into the television.Sights and sounds aren’t enough, “Rez HD” also pulses the controller in your hands to the beat, and up to three other Xbox 360 controllers can be synced to also pulse with the beat. Where those controllers are placed to feel the full effect of the “trance vibration” are completely up to you.
“Rez HD” is a short game and easy to get through in one sitting. There are only four levels, but the experience of “Rez” is what will get gamers coming back for more. Maybe this isn’t the type of game that you play constantly, but it is the type of title that you will return to periodically, if nothing more than to remember how video games have the ability to create an experience unlike any other medium.
Burnout Paradise (360, PS3; $59.99; Rated E10+ for language/violence; burnout.ea.com)
Criteron Game’s “Burnout” series has always been my type of racing game- I don’t concern myself with customizing my ride, modifying my engine, or finding the perfect racing lines. What I like to do is hop in a fast car and blaze through oncoming traffic at speeds so fast that you have to use The Force to navigate.As a racing simulation, “Burnout Paradise” is anything but; as a fun arcade racer, “Burnout Paradise” is the ultimate- a pretty amazing accomplishment, considering that “Burnout 3” was one of the most solid and addictive racers ever.“Paradise” strays from the series’ traditional menu-based racing structure by dropping players into an open world, all of which is instantly accessible from the very beginning of the game. Paradise City (complete with the Guns ‘n’ Roses track as its theme song) has a congested urban center, long winding mountain paths, a coastal highway, quarries, airports, railways, and anything else that sounds remotely fun to push pedal to metal. All of which hide hundreds of different shortcuts and back-alleys that make getting from point A to point B a quicker, but a heck of a lot more dangerous.Getting into a race event in “Paradise” is as easy as driving up to a stoplight and mashing down on the gas and brake buttons. That’s right: every stoplight in Paradise City is a different driving event; and whether your driving in a flat-out race for first place, a “Marked Man” competition where all drivers are gunning for you, or a “Road Rage” competition that requires you to take out as many enemies as possible in certain time, all of the races will end at one of eight finish lines throughout Paradise City. Those finish lines, designated by the eight points on a compass, mean that it is totally up to the player to figure out the fastest way to finish- because unlike previous “Burnout” titles, there are no invisible walls or blinking arrows telling players where to go. The amazing sense of freedom in “Burnout Paradise” is what makes playing the game so addicting. After finishing a race, you are only a short drive to the next stoplight for another event across town; “Just one more” can last for a couple of hours.“Paradise’s” single-player mode only scratches the surface to how rewarding the seamless online play is. A quick button push launches players online and racing up to seven friends. If those friends have the Xbox Live Vision or PS3 Eye cameras plugged in, every time you cause one to crash and burn, the camera will snap at the moment of defeat for your pleasure. Let’s just hope you game with friends who wear pants.
The host of the online match gets to set all the rules, designating what challenges all of the players perform or what type of races everyone enters into. Because of the flexibility, the host can either pick a pre-determined race path, or create his own- but please don’t make your players circumnavigate Paradise City five times, those twenty-minute laps will just make you hated by everyone.The only downside in hopping online into a quick match full of strangers is that you run the risk of having a host that doesn’t know how to keep the momentum of the game going. Bad hosting just means that players continually try to smash into each other without any real challenges or races being played. That may be fun for the first five minutes, but gets old quickly. If you are a host, just set races up regularly for your group, they’ll thank you for it.These features, combined with the “Showtime” crash mode that keeps your car bouncing down the street as a steel wrecking ball in order to set a high score, and the ability to set speed records for every street in Paradise City and upload the record online for the world to see and beat, means that “Burnout Paradise” is one city you’ll want to visit over and over again.
