I can strongly recommend
Cochise – Audioslave (the bit where they guitars kick in at the start is just awesome)
Waters of Nazareth – Justice (this is really hard because of the fast beat all the way through)
Welcome Home – Coheed and Cambria (Very long and challenging – lots of tempo changes keeps it fresh)
Technologic – Daft Punk (nice build up, gets harder and harder as it goes on)

Angry Birds on the iphine is great!! I downloaded it thanks to iTunes suggesting it wa s one of the most downloaded it and it really doesn’t ddisapoint. It’s very similar to ( one might even say a rip off of) crash the Castle a flash and iPhone game in which you must time the launch of rocks from a trebuchet to inglict massive damge on an array of increasingly tough castles.

Angry Birds tasks you with killing pigs surrounded by fortresses by launching birds at them with a catapult.

It’s totally addictive and thanks to the graphics and sound it’s hilarious and charming too!

You can it now on the iPhone app store fr a mere 59p or you can play Crash the Castle for free on kongregate.

I’m also very aware that the XBLA tag in the tag cloud seems to be growing much faster than all the others…

Then, something happened on XBLA.  4 magical knights arrived on the scene, in the form of Castle Crashers.

Man, did that shut me up good and proper. Here it was, the jewel in Behemoths already sparkling crown. I was (as always) filled with doubt as I downloaded the demo from XBLA  as I had seen and heard about this 2d scroller beat em up from the team behind the great Alien Homimid, which don’t get me wrong I did enjoy but felt it lacked a certain something. But Castle Crashers totally exceeded my expectations. With a solid 5+ hours of gameplay which can be thoroughly enjoyed with 3 more friends either there in the room so the banter / insults can flow freely, or over XBL where the same thing can easily occur as you bond and test the boundaries with your new found cyber pals.
The gorgeous 2.5d cartoon animation coupled with genuinely funny moments make this  an absolute treat to play. Collect sandwiches to go all “hulk on yo ass”, an array of weaponry from a stick to something that looks suspiciously like a light sabre and powerups in the form of collectable creatures which float aimlessly above your head randomly raining down all sorts of fire and brimstone on your assailants.  If you want a break from slaying the vastly varied forms of enemies then you can head to either the arena to fight amongst yourselves or prepare for the button bashing spectacle in “all you can Quaff” which reminded me (and my thumbs) of a Mario party mini game.
Since its launch the team have added some downloadable content which gives you access to more playable characters complete with their own special abilities and while there a nice addition I only hope they add some more mini games or side missions.
For a mere 800 points, this is worthy of a place on your hard drive.

Seriously go check out the trailer, it’s amazing – the music and graphics are just out of this world no wonder it’s been nominated for Exellence in Visual Art by the IGF.

Wow that’s a lot of links!

Owlboy is due for release on XBLA and PC at some point…

While at a first glance Greed Corp appears to be fairly simple (compared to other games in it’s genre) with a limited number of units and fairly small maps, a closer inspection reveals a ton of hidden depth. The objective of each game is to be the last man standing and this is no small task as a result of a very interesting and unique gameplay mechanic that means the battlefield is constantly shrinking through the course of the battle.

Each map is a symmetrical arena designed for 2, 3 or 4 players. Each of the four armies, while different in appearance, has exactly the same units giving the game a boardgame like feel. Each turn allows you to move your units or build new ones. You can also build a few buildings – an armoury which lets you build more walkers (essentially your infantry), a canon (which can fire across the level) and harvesters.

It’s the harvesters that, for the most part, create this fantastic mechanic of the shrinking battlefield. For every turn after one is placed the height of the tile it is on and the tiles surrounding it are reduced by one. At the start of the round each hex tile has a height value. When that value is reduced to one the tile becomes critical and when it reaches zero the tile and any buildings or units on it are removed from the game.

Each tile reduced in height by a harvester is converted into currency used to buy new units and means that you must find a balance between gathering resource and ensuring your army still has somewhere to stand on! Additionally you also recieve a certian amount of money each turn automatically. This cash actually increases as the amount of available land decreases meaning that as the map gets smaller and smaller, the armies on it get more and more powerful.

Your armies consist of walkers of which you may have up to 16 per tile. They are cheap to build and can move 1 space in enemy or neutral territory or 3 spaces in your own territory. Moving them onto a space captures that space and any buildings on it. Spaces with enemy walkers on can also be taken provided you have an equal or greater number of walkers moving onto it. This means that if you both have the full 16 walkers the attacker has the initiative and, although they will be left with no walkers, they will take the space.

Of course, as tiles are removed from the game movement for your walkers becomes increasingly limited and that’s where the most expensive unit in the game comes in. Carriers allow you to move a full compliment of 16 walkers from where they are to any tile on the map. Sneaking behind the enemy or even landing right in the middle of his base means that even blocked off enemies are not safe. Furthermore, once you have taken a space simply placing a harvester on it can have devastating results as turn by turn your enemies base is reduced in height and eventually dropped into 0blivion with very little they can do about it!

The presentation of the game is very nice. Each army has a very unique look and W! Games have obviously put a lot of thought into the universe, claiming that Greed Corp is in fact the first of many to come to be set there.

Multiplayer is tense and a lot of fun. Games often seem to come right down the the last couple of turns with winners and losers decided only in the final moments. As such the game is fun, even for the losing party as there is always everything to play for rather that one team deciding the fate of the game in the first couple of turns.

Definitely worth trying out, especially if you have someone to try it with, the demo is available now.