Developer Summary

Four Corners:

Use ninjas, witches, archers, vikings, samurai, and a slew of other units to destroy your opponent’s capitol and make yourself the superior season! You will have to conquer spires and golems as you battle and make them your own. Design custom maps, possess units for special abilities and auras, and discover all the secrets!

Scatha:

This campaign-based real time strategy game is completely unique from other games of its genre. You will be dealing with your units very closely as you battle through the varied types of levels of the campaign, leading Scathaedia to victory over the League of the Immortals!

What We Think: Welcome to the XBLIGR Double Stuff Review

Much like the revered and, yes, even groundbreaking, Oreo cookie, we here at XBLIGR are attempting to cram two ooey, gooey games in to one graham-cracker sandwich of a review. The pending dessert-which at hand is being produced specifically from two RTS games by Living Creature Studios. One half is the traditional, story driven RTS: Scatha, while the other half is the more simplistic yet accessible RTS/action game four corners. While each game brings something unique to the ever expanding realm of RTS games, the real question is: Do either of these games taste like the real deal, or do they leave a bad taste in your mouth like those god-awful no-name imposter brand cookies? (You can’t even dip those things in milk without them falling apart!)

What’s on the Surface?

Four Corners:

Four Corners is definitely the more lighthearted and whimsical of the two titles. There is pretty much no story to speak of other than you are a season at war with other seasons. But fear not, be you Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter, you’ll find plenty of interesting and creative characters that your kingdom can produce in order to help you become the one true season (I’m cheering for Summer). Actually if there’s one thing that makes this game endearing, it’s the plethora of stylish but simple creatures that the varying empires (seasons) can produce. Level design is fairly lacking though, with only a few dashes of design here and there to keep the areas looking like more than just a large flat color square. I can appreciate a cartoonish approach, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be completely devoid of detail. There are 5 pre-created levels in total, but many of them come across looking like the same basic locale with a slightly different color palette.

The characters do once again help though to add life to the scenery, with some nice, albeit basic animations and fairly well done sound effects. A variety of well crafted sounds also enhance the ambiance, which surprisingly does help to cover over the obvious lack of detail in the surrounding environments. Good sound design can do wonders, which is something that can seem like an afterthought occasionally with indie titles.

To everything (turn, turn, turn...)

Scatha:

In trying to express this game in the most modern-vernacular possible, it’s clear that Living creature studios is trying to go with a more “epic” undertaking with the episodic RTS Scatha. Artistically, Scatha does a much better job in crafting its settings than the overly simplified Four corners, and throughout the games 7 different stages you will find objects and details unique to each specific location.

Although the world of Scatha is more lovingly crafted, I didn’t find that I was as impressed with the character design as I was with that of Four Corners. Really there are only five creatures (Miners, Hoplites, Shrouds, Phalanx and Colossus) with a “light”(good) and “dark”(evil) version of each, and although they are fairly creative in concept, none of them seem to have much personality on the battle field. All of them apparently move the same speed and they all mostly attack just by (what seems like) running directly into the opposition and shoving them around (except for your shrouds, who use lightning bolts as a ranged attack). The design isn’t bad, it’s just nothing stellar and doesn’t help to immerse you in the story that the game is trying to provide. And at only 7 episodes (levels) long, The story is never able to get into much detail and is done before you know it. Mostly I would choose to have no story at all as opposed to one that ends up being contrived because it is so rushed. I much prefer Four Corners approach of you are a season, kill the other seasons. Simple, yet poetically profound. The music is definitely a high-note in Scatha though, with a variety of tracks that help to create a different feeling in each episode.

What’s in the Middle?

Four Corners:

The game play in Four Corners, much like its cartoony visual aesthetic, takes a highly simplified “bubble gum” approach to its RTS elements. It’s the low-fat, low sugar RTS. Basically you are given a kingdom that generates its own funds and is clearly self-sufficient when it comes to keeping itself running, no assembly or upkeep required. Your only responsibilities lie in how you choose to defend your castle and how you choose to attack the opposing factions. You basically operate as a glorified barracks. In this however is the where the strategy portion reveals itself which, although highly accessible, also has a certain amount of depth to it which in turn is quite engaging and can be fairly intense at moments. You can produce up to 5 different types of soldiers all with their own abilities (archers, magicians, esper-type creatures) and on top of that, you can set what type of mission you wish your newly born soldiers to perform, do you want them to engage in an all out assault on the enemy kingdom, hang around and pick off incoming baddies, or hell, why not go and possess a golem for a little added oomph to your attack.

One very interesting, and for me useful technique in this game was the ability to “possess” any one of your adapted army and control them directly. I found it helped to involve me a little more in the action and I found it broke up the tedium of simply producing unit after unit and then idly watching while they did their thing. The Controls themselves don’t do anything innovative, but they don’t do anything wrong either. A simple game with simple controls is just fine with me.

Scatha:

Scatha is almost note for note, a typical RTS game, with just a few subtle changes. As in many games of its genre, the actions will boil down to things such as: mine for money (currency), produce offensive units and do research to help you build things that you might not already know about, oh and of course do battle with neighboring “evil” factions. One unique addition is the ability to combine your lesser (grunt) type warriors into something called a phalanx, but even after creating these creatures the game ends of becoming just a “go there, kill this” stroll through a couple of different levels. Also there is definitely an issue with the games pathfinding AI, so much so that in the tutorial they even have to tell you that you may have to click a couple of different areas on the map if you want your selected unit to reach its destination. Or in other words, the characters may be too dumb to find their way around objects. This sadly occurred fairly often especially on some of the more cluttered levels.

Don't laugh; after the find a way around this pyramid, they gon beat'ya ass

There was a chance for this game to be more than it was, but I found there was surprising lack of things to do in it. After I had completed the game once I found almost no reason to go back and play more of it. It doesn’t really do anything wrong, but at a fairly short 7 levels (8 if you count the last level or climax, that’s inaccessible from the opening menu) and disappointing lack of innovation in terms of mission type, there wasn’t really enough to hold my interest to make me want to go back for more.

The games 3 difficulty levels don’t really do well to work on a curve either, the “not bad” setting involves your enemies only “attacking when attacked” which was way too easy, while the next setting “slim chance” sees waves of enemies decimating your kingdom within minutes of starting the level. There was a “you won’t win” setting that I didn’t even want to experience, although I can only assume that the title was accurate.

What’s in the Bag?

So, did these games come close to being the real deal, or a mere third-rate no-name brand?

Four Corners:

Though simple on the surface with a fairly childish facade, this game does just what it needs to do to feel like a successful indie title. Cute characters and stylish sound effects really help to cover over the sadly bland looking world maps, and there is enough innovation within the game play to warrant a second visit or two. Add in local multi-player and the ability to build your own custom-maps (a VERY basic editor but a nice edition none the less) and you have a fairly well crafted title.
Final thoughts: Tasty, Almost the real deal, I have room for one or two more.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Scatha:

I find what happens with many indie games is that they strive for a little too much and end up falling a little flat. While there is clearly more visual/audio polish on Scatha, the actual game play, storyline and character AI is slightly underwhelming. Though fundamentally sound in terms of RTS features, a few more mission types and a slightly more “fleshed out” story could have made this a stronger title, but as it stands it is currently short and forgettable.
Final thoughts: No-name brand. A little stale. One was enough.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

Four Corners and Scatha are both available at Xbox Live Marketplace for 80 Microsoft points each.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Developer Summary

The lord of insanity, Cthulhu, has lost his powers and the only way to regain them is by becoming a true hero! Join him on an epic quest of courage, romance, redemption, and insanity!

What We Think

The team behind Breath of Death VII is back with another unlikely team of heroes. This time, the great Cthulhu, high priest of the Great Old Ones must rise to the challenge.

Line 'em up, knock 'em down

To Pronounce it Properly I Would Have to Rip Out Your Tongue

After a long slumber, Cthulhu awakes and is prepared to dominate the Earth. Suddenly, a robed stranger appears and strips him of his powers by means of an arcane incantation. It seems ol’ Squiddy’s days of dominance are not to be. However, by listening in to the description delivered by the game’s narrator, Cthulhu discovers that all of his evil potency will be returned to him…but only if he can first become a true hero. Deciding instantly that this will be an easy task, Cthulhu sets out to round up an adventuring party and save the world…so he can then destroy it.

From the beginning, Cthulhu Saves the World establishes that it is not meant to be taken as a serious JRPG. Much like its spiritual prequel, this game is parody first, and game second. Chtulhu will frequently jump on the lines of the narrator, insisting that game elements like defense and cool-headedness are for the weak. As a protagonist, Cthulhu shines over even BOD’s semi-silent protagonist DEM. The avatar pics are hilarious (Cthulhu with anime style smiley eyes? Brilliant…) and feel a lot less “borrowed” from the works of Toriyama this time around. When clearing out a town infested with zombies, Cthulhu is torn, considering the shambling mindless masses to be “noble creatures”. He reluctantly decides that his hero mission is tantamount, and instructs his party to only kill as many as necessary.

Breath of Insanity

The game play is almost identical to BOD. You’ll still see the enemies all grouped on the screen during battles, though they now have spiffy background graphics to break up the monotony of all-black backgrounds from the previous game. When leveling up, you’ll still have a choice from two upgrades, ensuring there is still an element of party customization. Also, winning a battle quickly will result in more magic points being regenerated. Once you know which beasts require a strategy to take down, you can make them a priority, and can then mash the “Attack” command to pick off the strays.

Cthulhu Saves the World introduces the concept of 1UPs: get taken down in a battle, and use a 1UP to take another stab at the same fight that wiped out your party. These come in handy if you haven’t remembered to save your game in a while, but they are consumable, so use them wisely. “Insanity” based attacks can stun opponents, or can make them stronger. I couldn’t always detect any real difference in insane enemies past the secondary sprite that appears. They aren’t particularly effective as a tactic, but it is a nice nod to the mythos of Cthulhu. Combine magic attacks with another party member to unleash more powerful spells. Each party has a potential combined attack with all other teammates, so be sure to scope through the list during big battles.

Really, zombies are just misunderstood.

Three difficulty levels can be selected from the start of the game, with a fourth one waiting to be unlocked upon game completion. There are also a variety of new play modes to tackle. Plenty of weapons and armor pieces can be found by those willing to stray from the quickest path to a boss battle, so if you think you can handle a few more random turn-based encounters, it’s worth your while to investigate all parts of a dungeon.

Squid Pro Quo

Cthulhu Saves the World is another great parody of JRPGs from the good folks at Zeboyd Games. Once again, the soundtrack is solid and the graphics are deliciously 8-bit. While you can’t help but notice how similar it is to Breath of Death VII, it really isn’t a bad thing at all. There are also enough subtle improvements to prevent this from being thought of as BOD VIII. Packed to the tentacles with insane humor, action and extras, it’s 240 Microsoft points well spent.

Rating: ★★★★½ 

Get Cthulhu Saves The World at XBOX Indie Marketplace now

Developer:

Developer Summary

Learn to think in a whole new way as you zig and zag through 101 puzzles filled with obstacles. Try to reduce your moves and reach target scores to unlock additional characters. Get your brain ready, while the puzzles start out simple every new element presents a new challenge.

What We Think

This Way That Way is an enjoyable puzzle game with inventive control restrictions. Your goal is to navigate This Guy -a charming little ghost/marshmallow thing- one square at a time from the point of origin in each stage to the exit square while avoiding enemies and deadly obstacles.

Move Every Zig-Zag (For Great Justice)
This Way, That Way switches things up, making it so that once you deviate from a direction, you can no longer move in that direction until you make at least one move in all other directions. For example, you can course left as many squares as you like, but once you move up to avoid a block, you can’t move left again until you’ve moved down and right at least one tile each. It may sound simple, but getting accustomed to it takes practice.

That Guy's name is Richard. His friends call him...

Just when you get a handle on the mechanics, the player is introduced to That Guy. That Guy hates This Guy, as evidenced by his angry eyes and bared teeth, so you’ll want to stay out of his way. As you progress to later stages, there will be more and more That Guys (Those Guys?) to avoid. They move in discernable patterns, but there will be times when there are at least a dozen That Guys on the screen. This makes planning a route essential, though you’ll still need to be on your toes.

Clearing a level will net you points, and amassing enough points will unlock other stages. Revisit cleared areas, and try to pass them in as few moves and as little time as possible to unlock additional points. You’ll also be able to unlock other playable characters.

Gamers looking for challenging puzzle will enjoy the complexities of the later stages of the game. You’ll think you have the game figured out, and a new type of obstacle will be introduced, forcing you to step back and re-think your moves. Ultimately, trial-and-error will serve you best.

This Way, That Way has a simple feel to it, though I found it a little plain-looking. A wealth of levels and a grab bag full of unlockables add to the game’s replay value. Overall, it’s well worth the scant 80 Microsoft Points.

Rating: ★★★½☆