More than two and a half years after Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was released on Xbox Live Arcade, a sequel has been released. And from the time I’ve spent with the game so far, it was totally worth the wait.

Rather than just the Evolved game mode from the first game, there are now six game modes (including Waves, which was the version of Geometry Wars included with Project Gotham Racing 4): Deadline (score as much as possible in three minutes), Evolved (the classic mode; play until you run out of lives), King (you can only fire while in certain areas of the level which move around), Pacifism (you can only destroy enemies by running through gates), Waves (enemies come in waves across the level), and Sequence (a series of levels with preset enemy layouts — including a MONSTER wave of green enemies that simply blew my mind).

There’s also a new multiplayer mode for up to four players locally. Online support would have been great, but with a game of this nature it would probably have been extremely difficult to compensate for lag, so I can’t kill Bizarre over the omission.

It might be early to say this, but so far the game has met and exceeded all of my expectations. 800 Microsoft points ($10) is the price, and in my honest opinion, it’s worth every cent.

Geometry Wars has been on Xbox Live Arcade since day one with no sign of any real sequel on the system. Geometry Wars: Waves, which was included in PGR4, was a mini-sequel at best, and Galaxies only came out for Wii and DS. But Geometry Wars 2 looks like it might be right around the corner, if the game’s achievements popping up are any indication.

MyGamerCard.net has the full list if you’re interested in particulars, but I’m just really excited that it looks like a new Geometry Wars is potentially imminent. Can you say “E3 announcement”?

XBLA Hors D’oeurvres are a weekly feature where I play the latest Xbox Live Arcade game – in trial form – for no more than 10 minutes, and then summarize my impressions of the game based only upon that.

I had never heard of the board game Ticket to Ride before the Xbox Live Arcade version was announced. I just don’t play many board games anymore, so my knowledge of the subject is, for the most part, limited to Monopoly and Life. A quick glance at the screenshots for Ticket to Ride and even my first two or three minutes with the trial version of the game had me prepared for a real snorefest, but as it turns out, this is a surprisingly fun and extremely approachable game.

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Project Gotham Racing has always been published by Microsoft and developed by Bizarre Creations, who was also responsible for Geometry Wars. When Bizarre was acquired by Activision this past September, the recently released PGR4’s future — as well as that of the series’ — became unclear. We’ve seen some installments of downloadable content since then, including a new game mode and a variety of cars. But a post on Bizarre’s forums has revealed that we won’t be seeing anymore DLC for PGR4, or at least not from Bizarre.

Sorry but you won’t see any more PGR4 DLC from Bizarre Creations. We’ve handed over the reigns to Microsoft now. It’s possible that they may create some more content in the future, but we haven’t heard of anything in the pipeline I’m afraid.

It’s rather disappointing to see support cut off so soon, but don’t underestimate Microsoft’s interest in trying to get a few more dollars out of PGR4’s DLC scene.

via Xbox 360 Fanboy

The Club
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: Sega
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Category: Action
ESRB Rating: M for Mature (Blood, Strong Language, Violence)
Release Date: February 19, 2008

When I first heard about The Club and it’s concept of combo-fueled killing, I was actually a little refreshed. In these times where video games are seemingly under constant scrutiny by the public for their violent content, here was a game that decided to ignore all that and make the gameplay about nothing but the killing. It sounded like a great way to take the third-person shooter genre back to basics and focus on nothing but the action. Unfortunately, I soon realized just why few games these days take such a simple approach. My full impressions after the break.

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Heads-up for any Project Gotham Racing 4 owners out there: the new Free Challenge and Premium Challenge packs are now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. You’ll be able to get new modes, cars and events, with the premium challenge pack’s asking price at 400 points or $5.

You can read all the details in my story from Monday, which will breakdown exactly what you get in both DLC packs.

Sometimes it seems like we live in a world that expects video games to be nothing but toys that cater exclusively to children and avoid controversy at all costs. In times like these, it’s actually a little refreshing to have a game like The Club coming out soon. In this game, the focus is less on story and more on killing tons of enemies as quickly and stylishly as possible. By now, most of us have played the demo for the game, but we’ll still have to wait until next week to see the full product. To get some more insight on what went into creating The Club, we decided to go to Bizarre Creations’ Community and Web Lead, Ben Ward, for some insider info. Full interview after the break. Read the full article

PGR4 is set to receive a hefty dosage of downloadable content this Thursday, February 14. Two new DLC packs will be released; the Premium Challenge Pack, which will run you 400 points ($5), and the Free Challenge Pack, which is free(!).

The free pack includes seven new achievements and two new modes, as well as the 2007 Peugeot Flux. Tourist Mode allows players to drive around aimlessly throughout an open city, where the winner is the person with the most kudos. It’s just intended as a sandbox, however, which was apparently a mode that users requested. The other new mode the free pack includes is Free Roam Cat & Mouse, which is just what the title suggests – cat & mouse in an open city.

If you opt to plunk down the points for the premium pack, you’ll also get seven new cars, three new bikes, another new mode – World Challenge – and three more achievements.

Looks like PGR4 fans are in for a whole lot of new content whether they decide to pay for more or not.

You can view all the details after the break. Read the full article

Sometimes, I find some really interesting lots for sale on eBay. Doing a little searching today, I came across a lot of 400 video games for $3,199.99 + Shipping (US $250, Canada $400). That works out to about $8.62 per game if you have it shipped to the United States. Keep in mind that a majority of the games are for the PS2 and original Xbox. I’m not sure what a collection like this would cost you at a store like GameStop for example, but I think the price would actually be pretty close. I wouldn’t classify this as a great deal, but it would be sweet to have all these games in your collection. If the price were closer to say $2,000 for all 400, I’d consider buying it myself.

Auction Link

The exact games included follow the break:
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I’ve been a fan of racing games for some time now. Everything from the Gran Turismo Series to Project Gotham Racing 4 is on my shelf. I have been sticking to simulation style racing for years and was never really interested in an arcade style racing game. I was speaking with Daniel, our marketing guru and he told me that he loved the instant action he was experiencing with Burnout Paradise. I paused for a while and realized that this was the first time Daniel had said something exciting about a racing game. He normally hates racing games. I knew that I had to go ahead and check out Burnout Paradise. Over 800 miles of racing later, I am completely hooked.
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