Developer: Mattini Games
Genre: Action, Shooter
Price: 80 Microsoft Points
Countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
Languages: English
Players: 1 offline

Developer Summary

MSA Julie features a novel combination of two-stick-shooter and motorbike racing game. While helping the French agent Julie Cevoir on her hunt for super villain Dr. Kreutzer you have to master bike physics while clearing the way off enemies. In twenty increasingly challenging missions preceded by an extensive tutorial the story is told in professionally recorded dialogs and comic stills.

What We Think

Though the gameplay graphics won’t win any beauty contests, the action and presentation make MSA Julie a tough title to leave in the dust.

No, you do not get full Air Miles if you survive

Stunt Girl Interrupted

Still nursing her wounds from her last failed mission, Julie has left being a motorcycle-riding super agent in the dust, deciding instead to pursue a career as a stunt woman. She was the best there was at what she did (bub), so it’s no surprise when her old military commander contacts her to propose bringing her back into the service.

Julie wants to decline, but when she learns that she might finally get revenge for her shameful trouncing several years ago, she dons her machine pistol, hops on her bike, and rides out, guns a-blazing.

The Perilous Ride to the Right

Immediately, MSA Julie feels like a cross between Excite Bike and Line Rider. The player accelerates to move Julie across the screen, hitting ramps to jump. The left stick will control the path of the bike, and will spin it when it takes to the air. To maintain momentum, it is vital to land all jumps with the back wheel down. Though a quick tap of the X button will bring Julie back upright, it will cost valuable seconds. If the player is unable to reach the checkpoint before running out of time (or hit points), the level will have to be restarted.

The mountains are on fire. I left LA for this?

This gets trickier once combat comes into the picture. The right analog stick controls the direction that Julie will fire her machine pistol. Enemies (flying and ground-based) and mines will have to be taken out if Julie is going to reach her goal before time runs out. Controlling the jumps while targeting enemies makes for a decent challenge.

Combine enemy destruction with as many consecutive flips as possible for huge bonus points. Each stage is graded upon completion, so big combos matter!

Drooly for Julie

Completing a stage will present a new cut scene, furthering the story. The voice acting and comic book graphics are extremely well done, even if the writing can be a little hokey at times. Players may find themselves trying stages numerous times just to get the next snippet of dialogue.

Julie bringing a gun to a nuke fight

Kickstart My Heart

MSA Julie eases players in, but unloads hell as the stages progress. The game features an amazing(ly hot) stunt woman taking on impossible odds, a combat system that rewards skill and creativity, and some expertly executed cut scenes. It costs a scant 80 Microsoft points, so get rolling!

Get Motorbike Stunt Agent Julie at XBOX Live Marketplace!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Developer:

Developer Summary:

As Opac, you will will climb, blast, glide, and dash through an ancient network of caves. Search for six hidden relics that unlock new abilities, and collect roots to upgrade them. Think you can platform? See if you can reach the surface to fulfill Opac’s Journey!

What We Think:

Journey from the Center of the Universe

Buried deep in the center of the…. perhaps maybe just “a”… planet, there lives an ancient race called the VOS, a slumbering tribe that have been awoken by a disturbance on the surface, and as such they have called forth Opac, a dark hero with a fate that is not quite known to him. Spurred on by the cryptic disembodied messages of these unknown mystics, Opac is called forth to ascend from the depths of an endless expanse of caves so that he may reach the surface and realize his destiny.

Much like the protagonist, the story itself seems to be born in shadow and acts more as a precursor to upcoming titles in the series rather than an actual story itself. As you progress through the twisted trail of caves small hints about the VOS themselves and even other characters whose paths you will eventually cross are revealed, but none of it ever see’s the light of day (yes…. again… pun intended… because they’re in a cave…) . Consider this a prologue to possible upcoming titles filled with enticing enigmas and prolific possibilities.

But the real question: Should this shadowy soldier see the sun, or should he just stay buried?

Tunnel Vision

First off, this is a pretty, almost picture perfect nod to earlier platformers that may have been seen on systems like the NES and even early Sega Genesis titles. Where it’s background design and tile sets seem to be set in the style of Early NES (sparse, simple and repeated), the character sprite (yes there’s only one character) and animations are advanced enough that they would seem right at home in a first generation Sega Genesis titles. I felt like I was caught in a weird time-warp between Castlevania I and Castlevania Bloodlines, which is by no-means a complaint. Ophidian Wars: Opac’s Journey is really one of the first games that I’ve played in a while that managed to mimic the early style of those games all while managing to maintain a graphical motif of their own.

That being said I would like to have seen as much originality put into the level design (aesthetically, not structurally) as there was into the character sprite. There are different surface tiles, and different colors assigned to the various stages of the caves, but a few more background touches would have helped to mould and differentiate the environment a little more.

Opac himself looks fantastic though; a solid cross between Ring-Wraith and beetle, there’s a definite believability in both his look and his animations. He runs, glides and strides with tremendous style and while calling him a beetle may seem like an odd decision, it’s actually a perfect persona choice for a character being summoned from the depths of the earth, which could add greatly to the upcoming story if I am in fact correct.

Only true bad-asses walk with one hand trailing behind them

Complete with gorgeous concept and box-art, an elegantly animated character and thoroughly welcomed nostalgic nuances, graphically there’s nowhere for this series to go but up. I’m sure as the developers manage to flesh out their story a little further in future iterations, we’ll see a much more grandeur game with increased variety, but seeing as the game retails for only a dollar it makes sense that the production values currently seem light. I would like to suggest that they keep working in the 2d realm as well even if they do plan on pushing into the 3d world.

And though music and sound effects don’t shine as brightly as the graphics, they are by no means an afterthought. The music creates a tense but driving atmosphere while the few sound effects used do well to develop the subterranean environment and don’t take anything away from the overall feel.

I Don’t Want to Say Metroidvania But…

Okay… I guess I can’t really help it, but this game does clearly take a nod or two from the game play of early platformers such as Metroid or Castlevania, but really only in the exploratory sense as there is actually no combat to be found in the game.

You begin the game with the bare minimum of abilities, you can run and jump… That’s. About. It. But as you traverse the small portion of cave which is initially available, you’ll come across ancient relics (offered to you by the VOS) which will give you new abilities. The abilities boil down to 6 different categories: the ability to glide slowly, Cling to walls, extend your view in any direction (a good way to scope the current level you’re on), blow up crumbling parts of walls, double jump and lastly gain a burst of speed when you walk over a certain plant. You can also find roots scattered about the various caverns which allow you to upgrade your newly acquired attributes, some upgrades are vital such as boosting your ability to cling to walls up to the very handy talent of being able to climb straight up them.

Ha! I thought herb slowed people down.

All the various skills you learn are quite helpful and you’ll notice after awhile that the gaps don’t seem quite so treacherous and before long you’ll be bounding about with little concern. Though a noticeable augmentation of character features in a game is a welcome addition, in this game it’s both a blessing and a curse.

First the blessing: This is clearly a game that has been carefully laid out. If there is one thing that this game excels at in terms of game play design, it’s the flow. Platforms are placed just so, so that you have exactly the right amount of time from landing on one surface to jumping to the next. This is definitely a plus as there are few indie platformers I’ve played that get this aspect right, and it is much more of a talent that people realize. Also you will know exactly which direction you will have to head in once you have acquired new powers, and though you are buried deep beneath the surface of the earth, you never really feel lost.

Now the Curse: Though the platforming feels great, once it becomes too easy this game offers little else to hold your attention. There are no enemies to vanquish, and there is literally nothing else to impede your progress as you barge towards the surface.

On top of that it seems as though the skills you attain may be a little too powerful. Of the 6 Skills that you are able to acquire I needed only 5 of them to actually finish the game. I completely bypassed the “dash” ability and was still able to surmount the game’s final time-based challenges (though just barely) in only one attempt per challenge, which sadly made the otherwise enthralling exploration feel oddly anti-climactic.

I can ignore the lack of combat (though I think it would add a little more to the mythos behind the game), but when a game is a dedicated “exploration-platformer” you should definitely have to use all of your abilities to explore it fully. I also have to note that I wasn’t able to pick up the “dash” relic due to what seemed to be a bug of some sort, I found the relic however when I walked over it nothing happened. If there are some stipulations involved in acquiring abilities the designers would do well to let you know what they are.

Also the game crashed as soon as the final credits were done, which isn’t really a big deal but something that could stand to be fixed.

At the end of the tunnel…

When all is said and done, this is a game well deserving of its miniscule one dollar price tag. I’ve paid triple for indie games that didn’t contain a fraction of the style, swagger or skill that’s been put into this brief but beautiful platformer. It’s over quickly, but for the most part, it’s deftly crafted.
Though some more care could have been taken with the necessity of each upgrade, and some light combat elements would have been the cherry on top, there’s more than enough game here to justify taking this inexpensive underworld excursion.

There’s definitely light at the end of this tunnel.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Developer Summary:

Adrift is an arcade style action oriented 3D game. Players control boats loaded with weapons and command a squad of ai assisted boats. The campaign tells a story of a young Somali pirates climb through the ranks of a deadly pirate organization based in the Gulf of Aden. Invite your friends to join you in co-op story play or fun packed party mode.

What we think:

Pirates of the So-mal-i-a…n….

When I think of a pirate game, some of the first things to come to mind are ummm…parrots…eye-patches…cannons…planks… swashbuckling, I could say more but I would only be serving to further the cliché. I guess what I’m getting at is there are very few games that have ever delved in to the more current pirate genre. Well Adrift is here and they’re swapping cannons for AK’s and planks for….. well… more AK’s.

You play as a nameless Somali pirate who is trying to shoot, steer, and steal his way up through the ranks of a powerful pirate organization who is currently at war with multiple other pirate organizations but mostly against those dogs the Gode (shakes fist in anger)….I honestly never knew that pirates were so organized, but I stand corrected. Along the way you encounter other characters who ask for your help as you amass stronger ships and raise your reputation.

But the question is, did I want to sail into the sunset, or throw myself overboard?

Rainbow Ships Ahoy!

On the surface (pun intended) this is a good looking indie game. The core graphical element and the environment that you spend all of your time navigating is the ocean, and Adrift does a fine job of recreating your watery warzone. A simple shimmering effect on the ocean’s surface as well as the appearance of a slight cloud-cover overhead help to give the ocean a sense of depth, and If you sit still long enough you can watch tiny ripples scatter about in the sun and your ships rise and fall with the tide. There’s also a nice variety of day-time/night-time missions and although the water is the exact same (just different color) in each setting, It’s a solid enough paint-job to make you feel like you’re in another location.

The sea... she’s angry tonight.....

One slight graphical mis-step comes as your boats carve through the water, at first glance the wake that your cruisers create is well handled and it helps to bring about a sense of speed as the tide extends back further the faster you go, however at times while you’re not really moving, or are just circling about, giant blotches shoot out from your ship for no reason and it looks as though your vessel has been equipped with a Photoshop smudge tool.

However the rest of the game sees enough care in other aspects such as a variety of ships types in various colors, each, although simplistically modelled, are varied enough to do a good job of alerting you to what type of ship you’re commanding or consequently what type of enemy you are encountering. Textures are also solid on the boats, water, and even small islands that you come across. The mission briefings are also highlighted with some really well drawn character sketches.

Overall the game doesn’t have a stand-out artistic aesthetic, but the core mechanics are solid and do a good job of creating a consistent environment. My major gripe with the games presentation however is in the games audio.

Aflac, Poor Yorick:

I think what started as a minor irritation is slowly turning into a pet peeve for me, and that pet peeve is this: Even though people may have more access to Pro Tools and a microphone, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be voice acting your games especially when the voice acting is painful at best. This is unfortunately the case with Adrift. Each mission is briefed to you by one of three different voice acted characters; the bad-ass female pirate, the wise general, and of course… the fat crazy Russian…? Each one however sounds as though they are reading word for word from a script, complete with awkward pauses and fumbled words, leaving it somewhere below the original Resident Evil, without the campy horror value (No! Don’t open that door!). Don’t get me wrong, I like the ambition behind it all (and again I know it’s fun to hang out with buddies and read scripts), but if you are going to be selling your games to people, you should make sure that whatever you put into it is quality. The in-game voice clips were so bad they had me laughing at first, and then wanting to mute my TV shortly afterwards.

I think I can sum it up this way: I would rather read Hamlet in peace and quiet than have Gilbert Gottfried screech “Alas, poor Yorick” in my ear.  In short, there is no shame in using a scrolling text box.  I used to love old RPG’s simply because I could create what the characters sounded like in my own head and not have to cringe at the poorly delivered Japanese translations.

On the other hand, the in-game sound effects work fairly well , with a variety of boat sounds and water crashing to keep things lively out at sea. The gun sound-effect could be a little more convincing though, especially as you level up in weapons power, but for the most part the sound effects help to add a layer of immersion to the often pretty looking scenery. The music is also really well done and deserves a nod.

It’s a Pirates Life for Me… and Three Friends.

Apparently the life of a pirate is nothing if not dangerous. Adrift absolutely backs this theory up in it’s initially punishing difficulty level right out of the gate. Upon starting the game I found myself trying desperately to destroy enemy ships only to be sent plummeting down to Davy Jones’s locker time and time again. No matter what I did, whether it was trying to stay back and fire from a safe distance, or juke and jive with finesse around enemy ships, their sticktoitive, magnetized AI and higher powered weaponry always seemed about 20,000 leagues out of my reach.

The good thing about adrift however is you get to keep whatever loot you make after each run and in turn use this money to upgrade your fleet’s weaponry, speed and shields. As I was able to gradually beef up my ships offence and defence, encounters became less intimidating and much more fun. I found myself luring ships away from the stashes that they were guarding and into open waters where gun fights now became a test of skill and positioning. This is the ultimate compliment that I can give to its game play, where as in many top-down shooters the action just boils down to a chaotic fire-fest, I actually found myself trying to strategize my enemy encounters instead of just launching myself in all willy-nilly. As you become more and more powerful, you may find yourself taking on more and more opposing ships at once, however it’s never a good idea to just launch yourself into a full-fleet of angry Gode as you’ll more than likely find yourself bunking with the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down...

There’s a healthy mixture of mission types in this game as well that range from simple loot and pillage runs, to defending your base from enemy onslaughts, to craft retrieval and escort missions. I found that each level did a good job of making me play the mission with slightly different tactics, with only the looting/pillaging and territory defence scenarios feeling vaguely familiar to each other and in turn repetitive. The big bonus to all this though is the ability to play any of the missions with up to 3 friends (quad split screen) or local multiplayer VS games.

At Least it’s not Water World.

Upon listening to the initial mission briefing, I feared the worst for this game. I almost didn’t want to give it a chance, however after trudging through the games frightfully difficult opening level and putting some time into the game play itself I grew accustomed to my new sea-legs. Though a few moments of repetitive game design, and the unfortunate use of voice acting made me, at times, want to abandon ship, the game play itself made it worth taking this skiff out to sea if only for a couple of hours.

Who knows?  Costner may have a script for this one yet.

Rating: ★★★☆☆