A Double Fine Production generally means quality and something a little quirky. That is definitely the case with their new XBLA / PSN cutesy role-playing title “Costume Quest. In Costume Quest you play the role of a twin brother or sister (your choice, thank you Double Fine for NOT assuming the players gender) on Halloween night. You go out together and your sibling is kidnapped, it is of course up to you to get them back. So goes the story in Costume Quest.

Gameplay in Costume Quest is a simple affair with the addition of a cute collecting, upgrade and experience system that lends the game more depth. You play either sibling (male or female) looking for the other, as you collect candy and various costumes along the way. The action takes place in third person with cutesy graphics and characters. You also gain a little help, not only with party members, but also with the aid of different costumes and power-ups for each. Off you go around the neighborhood (and other areas I shall not spoil) collecting candy, knocking on doors to trick-or-treat, doing quests and kicking ass in some turn-based tomfoolery.

Prepare to Fight!
Battles in Costume Quest are – as just mentioned – a turn-based affair where the action cuts to the characters battling it out in ultra-stylized versions of the little costumes they’re wearing in the game. This is yet another charm ridden touch by Double Fine and one to be commended. Whatever costumes you are wearing in game dictates the animation of the super stylized versions you will see in the fight sequences, some of these are hilarious, so well worth trying them all out at least once. You can switch costumes at any time in game, other than when you are in battle.

Environments consist of quirky little neighborhood streets, beset with houses done up to the Halloween nines, with parks, sewers and more for the investigating. I won’t give away too many story elements, because the fun of Costume Quest is in discovering the charming story as you go along, later levels are set elsewhere. Audio in Costume Quest is good, though voice acting consists more of grunts and squeals than actual speech. Conversations take place via speech bubbles, so nothing is lost on the deaf or hard of hearing gamer. Needless to say being a Double Fine Production there is plenty of humor to be had.

Female Gamer Angle
As mentioned you get the choice whether to play the brother or sister, so you’re not stuck playing the usual hero brother model in search of his sister (yes I’m looking at you Limbo). As well as the lead character there’s also a plethora of amusing peripheral characters that are part of proceedings, but again, discovery is all part of the fun.

So is it worth getting?
Definitely. Costume Quest is a quirky little wonder, that whilst a little short, is also charming and different. Graphically it’s adorable with peculiar characters and worlds of wonder. The only real downsides to Costume Quest are its length of play (you can finish it in one sitting if you don’t mind a numb bum) and overall simplicity, though the latter may actually be an asset. Essentially Costume Quest is fun with a capital F and that’s what gaming should be about. There may be those who will find the repetitive aspects of the gameplay mechanic to be a little old hat, but these are probably the same people who dismissed Animal Crossing as mind numbing collecting. At the very least, try the demo for Costume Quest, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Image Credit: [Lesbian Gamers].

It’s not often an Xbox Live Arcade game is released that garners such huge acclaim that it could probably have made it as a stand alone release. Enter Shadow Complex, a new platform-adventure title developed by Chair Entertainment. Shadow Complex also has an interesting level of quandary to if for those gamers who are gay, given it is based on the works of one Orson Scott Card. Thumb Bandits isn’t a gay gaming site, but the politics of gaming are interesting so this review will also cover this quandary.

Shadow Complex is essentially an old style side scrolling platformer wrapped up in new graphics with a cool story. Rather than going full 3D the developers of Shadow Complex opted for what’s known as 2.5D, that is to say, the world itself is in 3D, but the player character only ever moves in two dimensions (up, down, left, right with no depth field). There is something magical about modern games utilizing this older styled technique and when it’s executed well, as it is here, it can be a gamers dream.

The story of Shadow Complex is loosely based on the workings of Orson Scott Card, with his book “Empire” stated as the basis. After a small level introducing the story in which the Vice President of the United States is killed, you take over the character of Jason Fleming (who looks suspiciously like Nathan Drake from Uncharted and is voiced by Nolan North who also voices Nathan Drake). Jason is out on a first date with new love Claire and ends up on a rescue mission (to save her of course as to do it the other way around would tear a hole in the very fabric of space time and consume the Earth). This is the start of the story and we’ll press it no further so as to remain spoiler free, suffice to say, it’s good… very good.

Gameplay is old school. To say this title ‘borrows’ from various old school gaming classics is really downplaying the significance games like Super Metroid, Castlevania or Impossible Mission (Amiga version) have had here (amongst others). Simplicity on the surface is only a façade as the simple button presses for shoot, jump, swim etc may seem easy, but these are added to by the overwhelming size and scope of the Shadow Complex you must map and explore. Completist’s will be in their element as new areas open later on in the game when new – more powerful – weapons and skills for our hero Fleming are gained.

As far as political discourse goes Shadow Complex throws up questions of separating the artist from the art, at least for the gay video gamer. According to Cliff Bleszinski (one of the big names behind the game and most famous for Gears of War) it is based on the Orson Scott Card novel Empire. Card as you may be aware has some extremely strong homophobic views including same sex marriage as a “potentially devastating social experiment”. Card himself states he isn’t homophobic, despite also suggesting that laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books. This year (2009) Card joined the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage.

The complexity of the issue of art and artist is a tough one. To ignore the significance of Shadow Complex as a stand alone piece of digital entertainment that manages to recapture and in many ways recreate the 2.5D video game would be criminal. Given Card’s book Empire is the basis for the game however, this means gay gamers purchasing the title are essentially lining the pockets of a man who would just as soon see their personal rights stripped away based purely on their sexuality, and herein lay the quandary for the gay and lesbian gamer.

Female Gamer Angle
Female characters are few and far between in Shadow Complex, though there is the usual damsel in distress syndrome, as our male hero Jason Fleming searches the Shadow Complex for ‘new love’ Claire. Hardly surprising is it, one day we’re sure some developer will shock the living hell out of us female gamers and reverse this trend. For a game that on the one hand gleefully re-imagines a genre, it remains mired by gender roles and sexist notions of hero and weak maiden with regard to female character discourse. Needless to say there are no big queers in Shadow Complex, if there were and the game remained true to Cards alleged beliefs they’d probably be undergoing behavioral electro therapy somewhere deep within the complex.

The old skool / new skool fusion is superlative and Shadow Complex stands out – as a game in itself, political issues aside – as not only the best XBLA game so far released, but also as a re-imagining of a whole genre. Epic Games and Chair Entertainment should be patting themselves heartily on the back for bringing life back to this much loved genre. Older gamers will relish the retro charm of this title, whilst younger gamers will be drawn into to the simple yet depth filled wonder of those old skool classics. Regarding the issue of Card’s involvement, the purchase of Shadow Complex should be a personal decision and will be – we would imagine – based on the ability to separate art from artist.

Review by Angela

It’s not often we review XBLA titles here at Thumb Bandits, mainly because we don’t get them sent out for review and people are generally more interested in the big hitting premium release titles. So why does a Kingdom for Keflings get a full written review based purely on a personal purchase? Simple – it’s a little star and one I thought should shine on you.

A Kingdom for Keflings is a watered down God game. You play a Giant helping a little kingdom grow in populace and infrastructure. The Giant you play in game is your new Xbox Live avatar, so it’s essentially a little mini ‘you’ in game. Let’s not beat around the bush here, at a mere 800 Microsoft Points you should own A Kingdom for Keflings and you know what, 800 MS Points is a bargain.

The gameplay in A Kingdom for Keflings is a fairly simple affair, some may even use the word monotonous given its repetitive nature. Whilst saying a game has monotonous gameplay sounds negative, in this instance – however strange – it is not. Like Animal Crossing, The Settlers and the old quirky GameCube title Doshin the Giant, A Kingdom for Keflings hits upon gameplay that whilst full of repetition, remains enjoyable and challenging. Whatever that magic is, this Kingdom is sprinkled with it.

Where it shines
A Kingdom for Keflings is an adorable title and one that is quite genius in its innocence. Unlike other God games, A Kingdom for Keflings is a relaxing jaunt, there is no imminent danger, no incoming disaster or warring nation, there is only peace, the changing of the seasons and tasks to be done. The Keflings – if you haven’t already gathered – are the name of your diminutive townsfolk. You can set your townsfolk to work by simply picking them up and placing them where you would like them to do so. They can chop wood, mine for rock, cultivate crystals, sheer sheep and also deliver different items from certain places to others, thus building up your game resources.

The way NinjaBee have structured A Kingdom for Keflings is nothing short of simple genius. They must be gamers themselves because they clearly understand the law of ‘sometimes less is more’. The game works so well because of its simplistic structure. It’s never bogged down in a multitude of menus, a timer or antagonist waiting on the periphery. It is this ease of play and gentleness that I loved, along with the steady growth of resources in the games structure.

You begin with only a blueprint to work from, using the workshop you build the appropriate pieces the next building needs. The blueprint shows you the position you place the pieces relative to one another for the structure to be built. Choose a place in your little area and begin. You open more blueprints as you play and also get given new mini tasks by the Mayor as He/ She becomes more powerful as the game continues.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer in A Kingdom for Keflings works seamlessly and offers 1-4 player co-op or 2-4 player multi-player. You can start a multi-player game with ease and meet a friend in game where you can both work together on building up the kingdom. It’s also possible to play the co-op game alone should your friends not be available. Strangely I couldn’t load my single player game and have a friend join, which was a tad annoying given I wanted help in our almost finished kingdom, so if you want help in the future, start a co-op game and save it.

Female Gamer Angle
The female gamer content in A Kingdom for Kelflings is you. Does it get any better than that? You can be the big friendly Giant helping your wee townsfolk on the way toward a better life. As far as non playable female characterization goes, half your Keflings are female, given every time you put love into a house you gain two new Keflings and they are inevitably one male and one female. Sure that’s lame, maybe a little popup menu so you could choose new Kefling gender would have been cool, but there isn’t one so we all have to deal with it. Maybe the next Kingdom for Keflings will have this option, you could make an all male or all female society, imagine an Amazonian kingdom, who wouldn’t love that!

On the upside there are no gender restrictions on what jobs your Keflings can do, stick a guy in the silk factory and a girl mining for stones, it makes no difference. Other than looks (the girls all in dresses *shudder!*) each Kefling does whatever job you give them, including the role of Mayor / Leader.

Overall I think A Kingdom for Keflings is an absolute shining star in a universe of much mediocrity on XBLA. It has come out of nowhere as a bastion of all that is relaxing and adorable in the realm of the old style God game. It won’t last you forever, but you will get way more gameplay out of it than some games that are ten times as much to purchase. We would definitely suggest you download the demo and check it out, but be prepared to purchase some MS Points because chances are you will want the full game.

Review by Angela

What a story! The niche web game comes good in the age of EA monopolies. Alien Hominid originally appeared free to PC users on the newgrounds.com website in the form of one of those highly addictive flash games we all know and love. But several hundred thousand hits down the line Hominid has crash landed its way to the multi-format console world and is beaming up interstellar accolades from a wealth of venerable games leaders. The crucial problem is whether the differences made in the transition are significant enough to warrant slapping a twenty five pound price tag on a downloadable freebie.

Gameplay
SNK’s excellent Metal Slug series has a lot to answer for, and thankfully Hominid is one of those things, the gameplay will instantly strike a chord with any Slug veteran’s, as well as the basic side scrolling shooter with delightfully OTT bosses (giant flying soviet robot anyone?), vehicle mechanics and gentle extreme violence, there are several happy nods in the direction of the classic shoot ‘em up series such as the ‘GO’ arrows that signal it’s time to move on.

There are a variety of not so cutesy methods of attack waiting those FBI agents or soviet soldiers who dare cross your merciless path: slice and dice with your knife; collect different ammo for your gun in order to burn, dismember and generally destroy your foe; and a variety of melee attacks which might entail biting off heads, throwing, or even burrowing into the ground and dragging those meddlesome kids down to the depths of a fiery hell. Each attack has been carefully animated and even the most gruesome attack is executed with an absolute charm that’s unique to this title. And you’re going to need all of them to defeat the bosses ahead.

And those bosses really make Hominid what it is, most follow a pattern which must be learned in order to be defeated, and include a giant seemingly mechanical bee and the now legendary ‘Instant Pudding Monster’. The former is located at the end of essentially the second level, and the fight itself takes place atop rows of cars gridlocked on the freeway, forcing you to jump along the roofs as each individual is destroyed and then ducking inside to avoid his giant sting.

The frenzied pace of Hominid make it fun if a little infuriating and you will often find that death is an unavoidable obstacle which seems a little unfair. The game is also quite short, but both the single and two player modes have a decent amount of replay value.

Graphics
Hominid’s selling point is the way it mixes that violence with its unusual visual style, which works wonderfully your little Hominid smacks of Disney’s Stitch, and it all adds to the cute murderous charm. The graphics have obviously been improved since its flash days although the animation has been left rough in places almost as a retrospective to its noble beginnings and perhaps more than a slight nod to the cyclic character animation of Metal Slug.

The backdrops, and characters all appear in bright, garish colors and it gives the whole game a child-like quality, that helps to protect your Hominid’s illusion of innocence. They also feature amusing landmarks and store titles which often hide a secret of their own to look out for places like the Hairy Nanny Day-care (hint, hint).

The whole visual style and the excellent way that the character movements are animated is what makes Hominid the unique title it is, and contribute well to the appeal and charisma of the title in full.

Sound
Hominid draws on an original score of mainly drum and bass style tracks, which contributes to the often frenzied nature of the action sequences, they are however limited and can become repetitive if played for any length which isn’t too likely given the short playing time of the game., and the game requires no subtitles since it has no dialogue so is accessible for the deaf or hard of hearing.

Female Gamer Angle
The cutesy, cutesy aesthetics and the comedy violence of the game make it enormously enjoyable for the female gamer who likes this cutesy style and the games difficulty in places make it just as enjoyable for the female gamer who likes a challenge. But the games content and lack of a defined story really make it suitable for all so it’s probably equally as genial to both the sexes.

Overall
Hominid is a very appealing title it’s not unique in its gameplay or in its take on the genre, but what it is unique in is its graphical style, like Viewtiful Joe it sets a precedent that it’s OK to make an individual, and good looking side scroller, though Joe had more originality and unlike hominid, unfortunately, could be considered a modern classic. Alien Hominid is a good title worthy of serious consideration, but does little to compete against its heavyweight contemporaries.

Review by Peter

Undoubtedly many gamers won’t keep themselves restricted to a certain game genre and will always try to expand their interest towards all types of games. Certainly you’ve got preferences and in my case Puzzle and Role Playing Games are on top of my “game genre list”. When Puzzle Quest, the game that is categorized as a mixed Puzzle / RPG game, was released on the Nintendo DS it was an absolute “must have” for myself, but how about you?

Some game concepts are copied from movies, books or other videogames. Some developers even try to combine certain genres into one game to reach a broader audience or provide a more varied gameplay. Role Playing Games already contain a lot of different activities such as fighting, puzzling, racing, exploring, but never was the sense of combining genres as strong as it is with Puzzle Quest. As Cooking Mama would suggest; take a big bowl and mix a traditional puzzle game such as “Bejeweled”, role-playing elements and a persistent storyline together to create a masterpiece.

Enter the world of Etheria, a land quickly becoming over-run with evil. Help protect the kingdom of Bartonia from the undead invasion and seek out the source of these vile creatures to ensure the safety of your countrymen. Battle the enemies standing in your way by defeating them on the battle grid (aka puzzle field). Travel the world gathering and completing quests, helping the helpless, defending the defenseless and befriending the friendless to gather strength against the evil forces plaguing the land. Are you the chosen one to save the world of Etheria from evil by engaging lots of battles fought by means of competitive, head-to-head “match-a-minimum-of-three” style puzzle games?

When starting your quest adventure it’s necessary to choose a character with one of the four available professions; druid, knight, warrior or wizard. Each class has two female and male characters and be wise choosing which class as it influences the character’s strength or abilities during the game. A warrior for example is stronger in battles than a mage, but a mage’s ability to cast spells is stronger than a knights. After the character / class selection, step into an adventure that takes you to odd places, meet strange but also powerful citizens, and different kinds of enemies. By crossing varied locations, you’ll certainly get involved in the battles / puzzles. The Battle Grid is the main part of the game and is cause for some highly addictive gameplay.

The battle Grid is an 8 x 8 grid that holds blue, green, red, yellow mana gems, skulls, +5 skulls, stars, golden coins and wild cards. The battle takes place by connecting 3, 4 or 5 of these items in order to gain specific effects from them. Connecting mana gems will give your character mana of the matched colors which can be used to casts spells, skulls and +5 skulls connections does direct damage to your opponent, connecting stars increases your character’s experience points used towards gaining new levels, coin connections add money to your inventory and wild cards multiply the colored gems they’re combined with. After each successful match of items, they’ll disappear from the grid and all of the gems above fall down to replace the empty spaces. If you’re lucky or act with a strategy in mind extra connections are created and even extra turns become available!

Each battle participant has a certain amount of health points which needs to be reduced to zero to either lose or win the battles. Victory advances a player’s customizable character, magical arsenal, creature companions and more. It’s a rewarding and addictive gameplay experience, especially when hearing and reading that you’re victorious each time an enemy is defeated. Level your character when enough experience is gained and wear the proper clothes and equipment to stand strong in battles. Knights and warriors should be equipped with a good weapon for attack but a wizard uses the spells wisely in proportion to the gained mana; no mana, no spells to deal damage or to protect your character. A useful addition is to gain control over a creature by clearing the Battle Grid completely in the capture puzzle. The creature can be essential for the story and gives you the ability to use new spells.

An extra feature to earn some extra gold (which is tradable to level up) is to siege cities. The city can become yours by winning the battle on the battle grid and each time visiting it from that point on is profitable. In the beginning you start with your own citadel with varied buildings such as a dungeon to capture and hold enemies, the mage tower to learn spells from the captured enemies and a stable to train mounts that your character can ride on. Not that you’re going to move faster over the land but it provides an extra spell in battle. Many more buildings need to be built as soon as possible to take full advantage of the gameplay.

From a female point of view it’s quite remarkable to see that a lot of strong female characters participate and I’m not just talking about my character, a famous female wizard. When starting the game you can choose one of the eight available female characters, each with their own profession (druid, knight, warrior or wizard). While exploring the realms you’re going to meet Queen Titania, Queen Gwendholyn of Bartonia, Princess Serephine and the list goes on and on! Most of us girls enjoy spending some quality time on a good puzzle game and it would be a shame if you didn’t give this one a chance.

As you may have noticed, I’ve used the word “addictive” a couple of times in this review and this stands for a positive warning! While having the intention to play only for a couple of minutes to kill time, a couple of hours later you’re still playing. This review could have been written and published much earlier, if the game hadn’t been so addictive while testing / playing it. Time went by without even noticing it! The story and characters are humorous but the battles are the main driven factor … okay one more time … ADDICTIVE factor in this game. Whether you’re victorious or beaten, both are motivations to keep on playing. The puzzles seem easy but with the variety of enemies and spells, it can become a real puzzle battle! Not only can you play against the characters or siege cities but it’s also possible to battle your friends in a multiplayer game that pits your character against theirs, allowing you to use everything that you’ve learned and gained on your quests to your advantage. Conclusion: Puzzle Quest is a challenging, rewarding and time consuming game with a remarkable mix of puzzle and role playing gameplay.

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.

Ikaruga is an old styled fashioned scrolling shooter set in 2D, against a rich 3D backdrop which has been released for the GameCube. A typical game for science fiction shoot-em-up arcade fans who like to take control an experimental fighter plane, the Ikaruga, to shoot all the crazy enemies away from the screen. Besides the action and the visual overload, the game includes a story as well. Let’s take a look.

Story
It originates in the land of Horai which used to be a small island nation. But several years ago, one of the the most powerful men of the nation , Tenro Horai, discovered the the power of the Gods. This energy emanated from an object he dug up from deep within the earth and gave him powers of unimaginable strength. Soon after that, Tenro and his followers began to conquer other nations one by one. They saw themselves as the chosen people and carried out their conquests in the name of peace. Meanwhile a freedom federation emerged to challenge the Horai. By using figher planes they fought with the hope of freeing the world from the Horai’s conquests. But all their efforts were in vain and lost battle after battle and were wiped out completely. Miraculously, one young man survived and his name was Shinra. Refusing to accept defeat (sounds familiar to gamers), Shinra set off again for Horai to wage another battle. But this time he was shot down and crashed in a remote village called Ikaruga, inhabited by a group of aged people who had been forced into exile there as Horai’s conquests. The village leader and the other inhabitants pulled Shinra from the wreckage of his plane and nursed him back to a healthy man. Once he regained his strength, Shinra announced that he was determined to continue battling Horai. The villagers entrusted him with a fighter plane that they had built themselves called the Ikaruga.

Gameplay
The Ikaruga is the plane the gamer should control till the end of the game and it’s the first fighter plane which integrates the two energy polarities, black and white. It is also capable of successfully switching between the two. This changing is necessary during battle as the enemies are “spitting” black and white energies (bullets) at you. If the enemy is shooting with white energy, you should switch your plane to white, to be able to absorb the white energy. If you stay in the black polarity, make sure to avoid the white energy attack as it will destroy your ship. In the meantime you try to destroy every enemy ship on screen in a certain game feature. Three A couple of gaming modes are included, from practice to conquests to ranked online play. A tutorial is included as well to give you an impression of how the game should be played. In total five levels containing 18 stages, needs to be cleared to finish the game including some amazing styled end bosses. If you conquered them all you can play the game over and over again to become an Ikaruga mistress, in your imagination…But there’s also a possibility to play the game in slow motion to spice up your skills. Multiplayer game mode is also possible if you’re not capable of clearing the levels by yourself and need the help of a co-player which takes the role of Kagari ( see female gaming angle)

Controlling
In writing the controlling is actually pretty simple. To move your ship you use the control stick or the control pad and the B button is to fire. With a single A button press, you can change the polarity from white to black and visa versa. As you can absorb enemy bullets, your energy release power will increase. Once the power gauge reaches a certain level, you can release all of this energy at once in the form of homing lasers. It may sound simple but while playing it’s much more difficult and quite confusing with all the action presented on screen. The screenshots hopefully indicates the chaos visualized on screen.

Graphics
The graphics in this game are great. The ships and stages all have great lighting, great coloring (neon), and a sleek look. The enemies all have their specific details and sometimes don’t even look like a ship. The bullets and gun effects all look flashy, with beams and blasts and all kinds of that. You can also change the screen display in several vertical and horizontal modes, whatever is preferable.

Sound
The sort of RPG background music (upbeat orchestra tune) is very nice and well suited for this shooter game. A robotic, digitized voice guides you through the menus and the game itself, explaining you what to do or which stage you’re in. But the sound effects blows you away during the battles. The amounts of blasts and explosions that occur are excellent, especially if an end boss has been conquered. Most of the time though, you will “ignore” the sounds as you totally need to concentrate on the game.

Female gaming angle
Although the story is the lowest important factor in the game, it includes a lady called Kagari. She’s Shinra’s new partner and was once a Horai assassin. But she decided to fight along with Shinra. She only becomes available in cooperation mode (2nd player). Another female gaming angle is the question raised how many girls have ordered this game and how many made it to the end … I guess that the more older female audience which have played equal games in the arcades in the early years will find this game appealing or worth giving it a chance.

Conclusion
Stress, pulling hair out of your head, smashing the controller to the TV and screaming “I don’t get it, this is way too difficult” are normal reactions while playing Ikaruga. It is indeed very stressful and if you think that the easy mode is an option for a newbee, you’re partly wrong. The difference between easy, normal and hard is the number of bullets you have during a level. Easy has for example 500 shots available, Normal 300 shots and hard contains 100 shots to fire and destroy your enemies. It is very important to switch your polarities in time to save your ship, to build up energy for extra power and to use the homing lasers. If you have enough experience, knows how to conquer the enemies and the levels and are very handy with the switching of polarities, you’ll certainly get disappointed about the length of the game. It’s not a long game when you have practiced a lot. It contains only five levels with 18 stages and if you know you’re way you could play it within two or three hours! But don’t forget that a lot of game time needs to be invested before you actually finish the game and the difficulty is very hard. Most gamers won’t even make it to the end due the difficulty level, no matter how motivated you’re to finish it. Patience, perseverance and progress focused are the three main abilities a Ikaruga gamer should have, otherwise it’s just not the shooter game for you!

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.

As a recent proud owner of Microsoft’s Xbox 360, I’ve moved all my other videogame consoles to one side, and game time is now thoroughly absorbed by two titles—one in particularly and quite unexpectedly. The main reason for my purchase of the next-gen console was, besides recommendation from friends, Rockstar presents Table Tennis game (click here for the review), but what happened after discovering the Xbox Live Arcade, and here I’m referring directly to a game called UNO?

As an Xbox 360 newb, I started to check its possibilities and, within no time, I was downloading the UNO demo from Xbox Live. Close friends had already told me that it was an excellent card game that offered great multiplayer enjoyment, and was absolutely worth checking out. So, seeing as a free demo was available, I figured I’d give it a chance?

Originally UNO is based on a classic party card game—but I’d never heard of it before. As no difficult rules are involved it’s a suitable game for both young and old(er) gamers who would like to play a simple and very enjoyable game of cards.

Every player starts with a deck of seven cards and the main goal is to get rid of all of them before anyone else has the opportunity. When you’re playing the second last card it’s very important to call “UNO!” by pressing the ‘X’ button, otherwise another player will challenge it and you’ll get two extra cards. The challenging player has to be fast because when the next player plays his/her card it’s too late for a challenge. To avoid any possible challenges it is important to yell “UNO!” while holding the last card in your hand / playing the second last card. When you play the final card, you’re the winner of that round and all players’ cards will be summed up and addressed to you on the player’s overview. When someone reaches 250 points the game is over and the final winner is official.

Winning, winning, winning! Sorry, I’m just a fanatic card player. Of course there are lots of other rules applicable to UNO, and the above paragraph doesn’t really explain how the game needs to be played. Each player has a deck of seven cards and one card is lying in the middle. Basically there are four different coloured cards (blue, green, yellow, and red) numbered from zero to nine. The player, at their turn, can only lay a card on the table when it has the same colour or number as the card lying in the middle (or later, on top of the pile). For example, if a green number five card is on the table, you can play either another green card or another coloured number five. Other types of cards are also included in the game to change the pile’s colour, to change the players’ turns direction, to let the next player skip a turn or that he/she needs to take two, four, or even six additional cards, as well as also determine the pile’s colour. These types of cards make the game more interesting and exciting.

To increase the excitement even more there’s the opportunity to make certain challenges. As already explained, someone who forgets to call “UNO!” can be challenged by any other player by using the ‘Y’ button. The player who forgot to claim the UNO gets two additional cards. One of the trickiest cards in the game is the one comparable to a joker, perhaps even better. This card can be played any time and the next player needs to decide whether you are bluffing or not—because you may have played a right coloured or numbered card. If a player challenges but you weren’t bluffing, then the reward is that the challenging player must draw six additional cards. But if you were bluffing, you’ll receive those six cards! Of course, there’s also the possibility to accept the card, avoid a challenge, and therefore receive four additional cards instead of getting six.

If you don’t like the automatically applied rules, then you’re free to customize a game; apply your own House Rules; create a two-against-two player battle, or install a rule that if a player cannot play a card on the table that it’s ‘Game Over’ while the other players can keep on competing. Also, tricks with the extra cards are possible. For example, if you play a ‘draw two additional cards’ and the next player plays the same type of card, the next player will have to draw four cards. In a ‘normal’ game you’ll win after reaching the 250-point limit, but this can also be changed. House Rules cannot be changed while playing a multiplayer ranked game, but they can be used in each single player or a non-ranked multiplayer game. If you download the UNO anniversary edition, another rule comes into play: whenever the special ‘35’ card is on the pile, the next card must be either a number three or five card. If the player at turn cannot comply, he/she has to draw a card and perhaps skip a turn.

UNO is a very colourful game and it’s presented in a perfect way. The player at turn has a white blinking border around their avatar, and possible playing cards are highlighted to make it easier and faster to pick a card and to keep the game moving at a decent speed. The white arrows around the pile (in the middle of the screen) indicate in which order players are to take their turns. Yellow, blue, red, and green cards are ‘flying’ above the table with a smooth light blue background. Whenever it’s time to call “UNO!” it’s visualised on screen. Also, the buttons with available action functions are also visible on screen—‘X’ to call “UNO!”, ‘Y’ to challenge, ‘A’ to put a card on the table, and ‘B’ to draw a card. If you’ve chosen to play the anniversary edition then you’ll find yourself in a party-styled game with a golden background and party poppers flying around whenever a ‘35’ card is played. Very cheerful theme.

The music in the normal game is very relaxing and comforting. A Spanish guitarist is playing easy tunes and sometimes it’s hard not to be hypnotized by the music—especially while playing UNO late at night, or when you’re a bit tired and talk-friendly players aren’t around. If you’ve selected the anniversary game, the party is going to start with some Samba music. If you cannot stand the original music, you can turn down the in-game music and sound. However, it’s preferable—via the Xbox 360’s internal hard drive—for you to use and listen to your own music. Although I recommend keeping the sound volume on to hear the UNO tone to keep you alert (while chatting with other gamers in multiplayer game mode or while being hypnotized by the music).

UNO is a very cool, simple, and extremely addictive videogame. Download the demo now via Xbox Live Marketplace, and make sure you’ve got a spare 400 Microsoft Points on hand as you’re going to need them to download the full game, the extra anniversary edition, and for playing against real opponents on Xbox Live. The ratio between female and male gamers is quite equal, although it seems that the male gamers I met do talk more than the girls. And, who knows, maybe in the near future the Xbox Live Vision Camera can also be used to see the (bluffing?) faces of opponents. The camera option is already included in the menu, now we only have to wait until the camera is released. In the meantime, I do hope to meet you all in the near future for an encouraging and fun game of “UNO!”

Review by Wencke
Thumb Bandits European Correspondent & manager of GGU.