Tag: Xbox 360

Weekly Game Music: Jinjo Theme (Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new music.  One thing that’s always exciting about sequels are its attempts to modernize previous tunes.  From that perspective, the marching composition, Jinjo Theme from Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, absolutely exceeds expectations.  And no wonder: series veteran, Grant Kirkhope knows too well how to make an amazing cartoon theme to fit this comical re-imaging of a popular Rare series.

Banjo-Kazooie starts with one disappointing beginning: Banjo and Kazooie’s arch nemesis, Grutilda, hobbles out of the crushing boulders to get her revenge on the bear-and-bird duo.  As duty calls, our heroes slowly rises up from their television, and grunts all the way to where Grutilda (now only a skull) is squawking.  Before things become more anti-climatic, however, Lord of Games (LOG) appears, declaring this game series as stale and no longer profitable.  He throws the three into a parallel universe, refits them to their athletic conditions, and orders them to resolve their conflict through a new and unorthodox means.

As LOG dictates, Banjo-Kazooie is a mission-based game revolving around cartoon battle vehicles with various collectibles.  His mighty missions that Banjo and Kazooie must endure includes battles, races, and collecting items.  Despite these drastic changes from the previous game, though, the Almighty had the smarts to retain the series key feature: collecting a ton of stuff to reach to the next level.

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released on Xbox 360 in 2008.

Extra!

Title: BanjoLand Theme
Game: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Composers: Robin Beanland and Grant Kirkhope

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Weekly Game Music: Morning, Thinker (Armored Core series)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new music.  Lets explore yet another genre I haven’t explored yet: mecha combat.  Here’s a remix of Silent Line: Armored Core and Armored Core 4 music, Morning, Thinker by Mattias Häggström Gerdt and Deia Vengen.  It’s an aggressive techno, best depicting the chaotic, yet strategical nature of piloting a bipedal tank.

The Armored Core series revolves around power-hungry corporations frequently throwing war at each other.  It seems only natural, then, that Silent Line: Armored Core begins after much destruction of the human population.  While humanity is slowly regaining its former glory, scouts discover a portion of the globe where seemingly all communications are lost.  You’re tasked to investigate this mysterious location, the Silent Line.

All Armored Core games revolves around customizing and experimenting with your mech, and putting your construction into practice.  As expected from a future war game, the walking tanks you create must gun through numerous vehicles, artillery, and other mechs.  Special in Silent Core, parts can be damaged individually, and retains its damage between sessions.  This requires the player to constantly replace its weapons and upgrades per session.

Silent Line: Armored Core was released on Playstation 2 in 2003.  It was later ported to the PSP in 2010.  Armored Core 4 was released on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2007.
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Strange Free Games: Achievement Unlocked

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new game. You have a new Achievement Unlocked! What, hate that notification? Well, surely you’ll like this game, a parody of the achievements system first introduced in the Xbox 360. This fun Flash game requires you to achieve a few, obscure goals in a static level.

Achievement Unlocked can be played at Armor Games.

Achievement Unlocked, as you would expect, have absolutely no story. Instead, as an elephant, you have to complete a bunch of vaguely named tasks that appears on the right side of the screen. The game is “completed” when all achievements are, well, unlocked. A funky and surprisingly addicting game, for what’s clearly a parody and an insult to the achievement concept.
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Weekly Game Music: Tetrobot (Blocks That Matter)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. Here’s a soothing chiptune-like music from the puzzle game, Blocks That Matter. Tetrobot is the title character’s name, who’s theme is composed by Yann Van Der Cruyssen — the same composer as Cave Story+. It’s relatively non-serious tone sets stage for a hilarious indie game about two kidnapped game designers, and their robot to save them.

Blocks That Matter has a self-referencing story: in the magical land of Sweden, renowned game developers Alexey Pajitnov (of Tetris fame) and Markus Persson (of Minecraft fame) were working on a project that, decidedly, was not game related. Lo and behold when a bunch of darkly hooded men with guns kidnap them to an unknown location, and it’s the role of Tetrobot, their secret project, to go save them.

Blocks That Matter is a 2D puzzle game that borrows ideas from Minecraft, i.e. digging blocks to move them to a different location. Unlike Minecraft, however, our robot can only place the blocks it carries in a Tetris-block formation. You know, the usual stuff. The game levels, of course, progresses in a predictable manner: go through a pre-set level, and reach to the black-hole-like portal.

Blocks That Matter was released on the PC, Mac, Linux and Xbox 360 in 2011. It’s available for download on Steam and Xbox Live.
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Weekly Game Music: Prisman Holiday (de Blob 2)

Posted on by Taro Omiya

New week, new music. We’ve been talking about PC games for the last 3 weeks, so let’s go back to colorful (pun-intended) console music. Here’sPrisman Holiday from de Blob 2, composed by John Guscott and performed by The Bamboos. It’s a soothing music to compliment the artful game.

de Blob 2 starts when Papa Blanc rigs the general election at Prisma City, so he can win. As his name implies, the new president wipes out all the colors from the city, turning it gray and more gray. Cue De Blob to the rescue, as the ink-absorbing character spreads color back to the city.

de Blob 2 plays like a 3D puzzle-platformer. As De Blob, you must first absorb color inks, then slap you body onto a surface. Frequently, there will be missions that requires De Blob to mix different colors before coloring a certain object. As an example, to color a museum purple, De Blob first needs to find a blue and red ink before slapping himself to the building. Occasionally, De Blob will find secret corridors that will act like classic 2D platforming stages, which has its own set of switch-hitting puzzles.

de Blob 2 was released by THQ in 2011. It’s available on the Wii, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo DS.
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