Less than a month since the release of 0 Day Attack on Earth, Square Enix, the game’s publisher, has dropped some DLC for us titled “London Map Pack.” The 560 Microsoft Point expansion allows you to battle invaders among the cityscape of London, adding to the included Tokyo, Paris, and New York. Also added is new invaders, the ability to select a higher difficulty setting, and a boss battle.
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I’m not the biggest fan of remakes, but there are enough classic games out there to justify companies like Team17’s decision to bring them back. They are best known for the Worms series, but they also created a popular Aliens inspired PC game released in 1990 called Alien Breed.  The top-down shooter had you fighting through a space ship taken over by aliens as you try to discover exactly what happened in the abandoned craft.

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Wow! What a turnout we had for our Call of Duty Classic contest! Seriously, thank you to each and every one of you for leaving your mark on the site, voicing your opinions and letting us know all about what you agreed with or didn’t agree with. Modern Warfare 2 is indeed a hot topic of discussion, and it’s exciting to see all your different opinions and viewpoints. Still, we could only choose one winner, even though you’re all winners in our books for visiting the site and showing your support in a number of ways.

The winner has now been chosen!

You will be contacted shortly with your code. Enjoy the game and please keep coming back to Spawn Kill for all  your gaming needs! Thank you to each and every one of you for participating and we hope to see you back here again soon.

A while ago, I stumbled upon a gem of a game called Puzzle Quest for the Nintendo DS. An intriguing concept, the combination of role-playing game with puzzle was immediately addicting. Not only for me, but for my Dr. Mario addict, casual gamer of a wife. Though my affections for the little portable system have since diminished, the RPG and puzzle game mashup has been purchased, and played through again, for my 360.

Earlier this year, when Square Enix announced that, in collaboration with PopCap, they would be releasing a puzzle-RPG title that would use elements from Bejeweled Twist, I knew Gyromancer would find its way onto my Xbox. PopCap plus Square Enix definitely equals “yes, please” in my book. Obviously, one cannot help but compare the game to the excellent Puzzle Quest, but how does it stack up?

Immediately, it was apparent that this title was a lot shinier than Puzzle Quest. Though it still has the cardboard illustrations for characters that are just there for illustrative purpose, the atmosphere of the game, the cleanness of the illustrations, the music, the experience was impressive.

In fact, upon boot up, I was addicted. The story was interesting, in the beginning, and the gameplay was crack. Seriously, if you haven’t played Bejeweled Twist, the puzzle backbone of Gyromancer, try out the flash version here because it is really fun. By just looking at a screenshot you might mistake Twist for the original Bejeweled. However, the mechanics of the game change significantly based on how you move the jewels. To create matches of three or more jewels, you do not swap the gems, but instead rotate a group of four clockwise. At first, it was really frustrating that you could only rotate in one direction, but I got used to it and, later in the game, it was infuriating when the rotation direction was changed.

But this is a puzzle-RPG game, and it cannot survive or be successful based on the puzzle aspects alone. You are Rivel, a mage that is chasing after a rebellious group called Temperance. This group is led by a man named Qraist, who is essentially the bad guy of the story. However, that’s about it for narrative. It is dull, uninteresting, and brought me out of the game. The story is a tacked on element to Gyromancer and truly makes the RPG element of the game weak. Not only was the story tacked on and dull, it was annoyingly superficial. For example, one of the characters dies, and comes back to life, three times. Eyes were rolled. Three times.

So, is the puzzle aspect the only saving grace of Gyromancer? Not exactly. Though the story elements are extremely weak, the questing and gameplay are interesting and fun. You want grinding? Gyromancer has it. You want random battles? It’s there. You want adventurous journeys? Yep. How about the ability to summon badass creatures with unique abilities? Well, read on, because Gyromancer does do some of these things right.

There are ten basic levels, one final boss level, and a challenging endurance level called Challenger’s Door. In the basic levels and boss level, you are given a bit of the story at the beginning and then you play. The story does not come back into the picture until you have beaten the level. In the beginning you are given an overview of the map, a shot of where you are trying to get and then, finally, you are shown your begin point. You move your character along a path and you will encounter monsters along the way. Some of the monsters will be stationary on the map, some will move as you move, and some will be hidden in treasure chests (“monster-in-a-box!”). As you move on to increasingly difficult levels, the creatures will advance as well.

To destroy these monsters, you have in your arsenal three creatures of your own. Once you are in a level, any damage to your monsters is permanent until you leave or beat the level. As I battled it out with my enemies, I began to feel a disappointment with the gameplay. It took me a few battles to realize that I was missing the competition of Puzzle Quest. In Puzzle Quest you make a move and then your opponent moves. Not so in Gyromancer. You make your moves and try and build up the levels for your monster to cast spells automatically (yes, you don’t select what happens) to place ability gems. Opponents will spew out their own bombs to screw with your attack. They do not make moves, attacks are just placed based on your moves. Once their attack gem has been placed you have to get rid of them within so many turns or they will do damage to your creature.

While in battle you have the option to cast spells that you collect in your travels. There are only four spells in this game. All of the spells effects last for one turn and they will allow you to do things such as change the direction in which you rotate your gems, place your ability gems immediately, and unlock locked gems. The bad thing about this is, once you are out of whatever spells, you have the option to buy them from the marketplace for a mere 40 Microsoft Points each. Microtransactions indeed.

You level up after winning so many battles. Your creatures level up with you, even if they weren’t used in the battle. Your creatures will eventually reach their level caps and you will need to summon new creatures in the Summoner’s Den to continue on successfully. You find new creatures on the map in the form of gyro codes. Your found codes can be used in the Summoner’s Den. You must pay to summon the new creature and you must get rid of one of your three to make room for your new warrior. Each creature has an affinity color or a color from which they gain power. Ideally, you want to have a variety of colors in your array of warriors.

This is where the grinding comes in because somewhere near the middle of the game, you must do some serious leveling up to continue. It was in this grinding that I became bored with the game. I wanted every battle to feel like it meant something. However, it seems like every battle was a vicious little reminder that there was another game out there. A better game.

All in all there are plenty of worse games out there. In fact, Gyromancer isn’t a bad game at all. Only a few moments of grinding were tedious for me. The battles were addictive and challenging. The creatures were interesting and fun to unlock. I think it’s the fact that I wanted so much more. I wanted a good story. I wanted less randomness in the battles. I wanted a game that I would want to come back to.

Title: Gyromancer Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix and PopCap Games Platform(s): XBLA (Reviewed), PC Release Date: November 18, 2009

Doin It RIGHT: -Addictive and Challenging Gameplay -Interesting Creatures -Graphics and Music Create an Awesome Atmosphere	Doin It RONG: - Paper Thin Story - Unnecessary Grinding to Advance - No Real Enemy to Strategize Against in Battle
FINAL SCORE: 7.5 / 10

Modern Warfare 2 not doing it for you? We understand. Single-player may have been a blast, but are you fizzling out on the multiplayer aspects? Or are you happily putting in several hours a night? Personally I’d rather stick to Call of Duty 4, but to each his own! No matter your opinion on the matter, any gamer can appreciate the original Call of Duty that made a splash in the gaming world only a few short years ago.  We’re giving one lucky reader a chance to nab a code ready to redeem on Xbox Live to download the groundbreaking FPS and to relive those many merry memories!

All you need to do is listen to the latest podcast (find it here) and comment this post with your thoughts regarding our staff discussion about Modern Warfare 2. Please register with a valid email and remember to speak coherently in full sentences. Otherwise, your entry will not be considered. Do not beg for a code and do not enter multiple times. One entry apiece, please. The winner will be announced December 12th at a time of our choosing, and the winner will be contacted via e-mail.

So what are you waiting for? Go listen to that podcast and enter to win!

The popular XBLA game, Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers, will be releasing two more expansions and expanding to PS3 and PC in 2010. Wizards of the Coast just released their first expansion to the LIVE game in October and scheduled the next to for spring and summer of next year. Like their first expansion the next two expansions will include new planeswalkers, cards and challenges.

The PC and PS3 releases won’t be simultaneous. The PC version is planned for the summer of 2010, and the PS3 version for the fall of 2010. The PC versions also comes with a special gift that is currently unannounced. So if you don’t own a Xbox 360, but have been interested in Duels of the Planeswalkers Wizards of the Coast won’t disappoint! You’ll be seeing more content and new platforms very soon.

[Source: IGN]

Puzzle Bobble, also known as Bust a Move, has been a staple of my puzzle gaming regimen for many years now. Though there’s absolutely nothing to learning the game’s basics, this deceptively simple facade has been the downfall of many gamers who have fallen prey to the “just one more level” mindset. Case in point — at 4:45 am, I finally downloaded the game for review for a quick peek. At 6:00 am, I decided that sleep might be a good idea and turned off the 360, subsequently losing all of the progress I had made. The funny thing is, I didn’t mind at all. That just meant I could conquer those levels again. That, my friends, is the mark of a fantastic puzzler. Bust a Move Live! deserves that honor as well as your hard-earned cash.

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Keeping in step with their recent publishing rights of more casual-core games,  Square Enix has gone one step further and has partnered with the proprietor of all of our souls, PopCap, in order to create a game that will likely anchor us to our computer chairs and sofas once more — you know, like we all did with Peggle. Don’t act as if you weren’t obsessing over those last few stages. This collaboration is known as Gyromancer, and according to an official press release via Square Enix, it looks as if the conditions are quite favorable for giving the revered Puzzle Quest series a run for its money.

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Let’s face it – Star Wars titles, while The Old Republic looks to deliver profusely, are beginning to stagnate. LucasArts must be well aware of this, as they have unveiled what looks to be quite the fanciful platformer in the vein of critically-acclaimed Braid of 2008. Simply entitled Lucidity, the indie-inspired title featuring warm color palettes and simple (hence the title) character designs should be arriving on the Xbox Live Arcade later this month.

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Fighters are always strange beasts. They come in many different forms with different physics, enormous rosters of characters, and some of the most difficult moves to pull off, especially if you’re without one of the coveted fight sticks that many die-hard fans have sprung the cash for. Personally I like to dabble in various fighters just to get my feet wet and to find the series where my allegiances will lie in the future. I still haven’t decided on just one yet (and I of course don’t have to) but I’ve been investigating the Fatal Fury franchise quite a bit lately, and have recently jumped into Garou: Mark of the Wolves, a recent Xbox Live Arcade incarnation of the Neo-Geo classic. Is it worth a purchase? You’ll have to read on to find out.

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Gamers (and the general public) absolutely eat zombies up. If it’s even remotely related to the hordes of shuffling undead, then consider it a hot seller. Market it as a casual Xbox Live Arcade title, and you’ve got it made in the shade, as far as sales go. Unfortunately, one of the latest treks into undeadland disappoints in its execution.  Zombie Wranglers is one of the latest efforts in keeping the zombie craze alive. While indie devs Frozen Codebase had high aspirations for this casual venture, it unfortunately falls flat. Still, in its earlier stages, you can have a lot of fun! What’s the full verdict? Read on to find out!

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The Xbox Live Arcade is the premiere source for 360 gamers to acquire their fix of updated retro classics, indie darlings blessed with an HD makeover, and all-new titles that are suited best for digital download. Though there is a vast library of games to choose from, there are many still missing in action. There are some deserving titles out there that would fit quite nicely into the scheme of things. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of five games I’d like to see available on the Xbox Live Arcade.

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The Xbox Live Arcade is home to many different puzzle games, most of which are not worth the purchase. They’re cheap ports that pull in a ridiculous amount of sales due to the uneducated casual gamer who is perfectly fine with dropping 800 Microsoft points on absolute garbage. Unfortunately, some of the most entertaining puzzlers are overlooked in the wake of these many other wastes of time. Droplitz, published by Atlus, contains some of the most simple premises that you could imagine, yet it just works. For a good time with some mind-bending puzzles, it just might be what you’re looking for.

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There is a genre of gaming that has seen little light over the past few years as far as in a mainstream sense, with most big hits today filled with flying bullets, high body counts and forgettable plot lines. After getting a chance to sit down with one of these alternative titles for a while I believe I know the reason–its simply not very fun to play. I speak of the point and click adventure game, a dying breed held over from the original days of PC gaming culture. More specifically, I speak of Sam and Max Save the World, the Xbox Live Arcade port of the furry duo’s episodic PC exploits.

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