Thunder Wolves has no time for drama or pathos. As the debut trailer makes abundantly clear, Ubisoft’s upcoming shooter is mainly looking to mix its distinct sense of humor in with a healthy amount of explosions.

Announced today for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC, the helicopter shooter wastes no time trotting out old standbys like, “Get to the ‘choppa!” But it’s fairly extensive list of features suggests that it may have some appeal beyond action diehards.

Among the promised features are a large range of offensive and defensive weapons, multiple mission types, and two-player co-op. Also included are recon, support, and attack-type helicopters, with eight machines available in all.

Hungary-based studio Most Wanted, which is mainly known for its tower-defense title Defenders of Ardania, is developing Thunder Wolves. Up until this point, it has mostly stuck with strategy and puzzle games. The Nintendo DS title B Team: Metal Cartoon Squad is one of the company’s few pure action titles.

Most Wanted’s game joins a selection of Ubisoft titles that includes a new Call of Juarez and Spartacus Legends (which Dean previews here), all of which look to push the traditional bounds of digital platforms with advanced 3D graphics and a substantial number of features. All three are slated for release in Q1 2013.

‘If it ‘aint broke’, the old chiche goes, ‘Don’t fix it’.

Everyone’s practically awaiting the Steam Summer Sale. I know I am. I have a bunch of games I’d like to try out, but not pay $30 something for them. During the Steam Summer Sale, there will be plenty of bundles on sale, especially indie bundles. There will be an Indie bundle each day of the two week sale. Of course, there will also be publisher packs on sale as well as franchise packs. Take a look below at the Indie game bundles and the confirmed packs. Indie Bundle Day 4 looks like a great one, despite I already have S:S&S EP. A lot of the indie bundles I already have one or two games out of each which I’m sure most people do as well if you constantly buy the plethora of indie game bundles out there. The rumor is the Steam Summer sale will begin on July 12th.

Indie bundles:

• Indie Bundle Day 1 – The Baconing, Edge, Anomaly Warzone Earth, Cave Story+, Lone Survivor ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 2 – Universe Sandbox, E.Y.E, Oil Rush, Botanicula, Splice ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 3 – Braid, Bit.Trip Beat, Runespell: Overture, Bunch of Heroes, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 4 – Atom Zombie Smasher, Sanctum, Blocks That Matter, Sword and Sworcery (includes soundtrack), A Valley Without Wind ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 5 – Audiosurf, Greed Corp., Gemini Rue, The Tiny Bang Story, Ys: The Oath in Felghana ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 6 – Defcon, AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome, SpaceChem, Trauma, Ticket to Ride ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 7 – Zombie Driver, Dungeons of Dredmor, Vessel, Avadon: The Black Fortress, Qube ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 8 – Wings of Prey, Hoard, Swords and Soldiers, Demolition Inc., Sol Exodus ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 9 – Zeno Clash, VVVVVV, Revenge of the Titans, Jamestown, Capsized ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 10 – Machinarium, Eufloria, Beat Hazard, Bit.Trip Runner, All Zombies Must Die ($39.99 placeholder)
• Indie Bundle Day 11 – World of Goo, Star Ruler, Hydrophobia, Orion: Dino Beatdown, Waveform ($39.99 placeholder)

General discounts:

• 1C Collection – Cryostasis, Men of War series, NecroVisioN, Kings Bounty series, Theatre of War series, Rig ‘n’ Roll, Space Rangers 2 Reboot ($39.99)
• 2K Pack 2 Bioshock 2, Darkness 2: Limited Edition, Duke Nukem Forever, Mafia 2, SpecOps: The Line (no price yet)
• Batman / Gotham City Imposters Bundle – Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City & DLC, Gotham City Imposters ($99.99 placeholder)
• Bethesda Collection – Brink & DLC, Hunted: The Demon’s Forge, Fallout: New Vegas & DLC, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim ($99.99 placeholder)
• BioShock Franchise Pack – BioShock, BioShock 2 ($99.99 placeholder)
• Bit Trip Beat Pack – Bit.Trip Beat plus soundtrack ($9.99)
• Bit Trip Runner Pack – Bit.Trip Runner plus soundtrack ($9.99)
• Blendo Games Pack – Airforte, Atom Zombie Smasher, Flotilla (no price yet)
• Carpe Fulgur Bundle – Chantelise, Recettear, Fortune Summoners ($99.99 placeholder)
• Civilization Collection – Civilization 3 Complete, Civilization 4 Complete, Civilization 5 plus DLC (not Gods & Kings) ($99.99 placeholder)
• Command & Conquer Franchise Pack – Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising, Command & Conquer 4 ($99.99 placeholder)
• Cyan Complete Pack 2012 – Real Myst, Myst Masterpiece Edition, Myst 5, Riven, Uru, Spelunx, Manhole, Cosmic Osmo ($99.99 placeholder)
• Cyanide Studios Compilation – A Game of Thrones, Blood Bowl: Dark Elves Edition, Blood Bowl: Legendary Edition, Loki, Pro Cycling Manager 2008, Pro Cycling Manager 2012 (no price yet)
• Dawn of War Franchise Pack – Dawn of War 1 series and Dawn of War 2 series plus DLC ($39.99)
• Deep Silver Compilation – Dead Island & DLC, Emergency 2012, Iron Front, Jane’s Advanced Strike Fighters, Lost Horizon, Nail’d, Risen, Risen 2, Rush for Berlin, Sacred 2, Secret Files, Secret Files 2, The Dark Eye, The Whispered World (no price yet)
• Duke Nukem Bundle – Duke Nukem Forever plus DLC ($99.99 placeholder)
• Europa Universalis 3 Chronicles – Europa Universalis 3 Complete, EU3 Divine Wind, EU3 Heir to the Throne (no price yet)
• Foreign Legion Bundle – Foreign Legion: Buckets of Blood, Foreign Legion: Multi Massacre ($59.99 placeholder)
• Gratuitous Battle Pack – Gratuitous Space Battles, Gratuitous Tank Battles ($39.99 placeholder)
• GTA IV Complete Pack – Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City ($99.99 placeholder)
• Indie Fright Pack – Burn Zombie Burn, The Path, The Scourge Project, The Void, Zombie Driver ($99.99 placeholder)
• Kalypso Collection – Tropico 3, Tropico 4, Dungeons, Dungeons: The Dark Lord, Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, SkyDrift, Airline Tycoon 2, Port Royale 3, Bang Bang Racing ($99.99 placeholder)
• Killing Floor Bundle – Killing Floor, Outbreak Character Pack, Nightfall Character Pack, Post Mortem Character Pack, London’s Finest Character Pack, Defence Alliance 2, Steampunk Mr. Froster DLC,Christmas Character Pack, Urban Nightmare Character Pack, Harold Lott Character Pack ($19.99)
• Majesty Franchise Bundle – Majesty Gold, Majesty HD, Majesty 2, Defenders of Ardania & DLC, Warlock: Master of the Arcane & DLC ($99.99 placeholder)
• Nordic Games Compilation – Agatha Christie games, Aquanox, Aquanox 2, Gothic, Gothic 2, Gothic 3, Gothic 4 Arcania & expansion, Aura, Aura 2, Chaser, Europa 1400, Painkiller games, Safecracker, Safecracker 2, Spellforce Platinum, Spellforce 2 Gold, The Guild 2, Guild 2 Renaissance, Guild 2 Pirates of the European Seas (no price yet)
• Paradox Collection – Crusader Kings 2, Defenders of Ardania, Europa Universalis 3 Complete plus Divine Wind, Gettysburg: Armored Warfare, Magicka Collection, Mount & Blade Series, Naval War Arctic Circle, Sword of the Stars 2, Warlock – Masters of the Arcane ($99.99 placeholder)
• Pendulo Adventure Pack – Runaway: A Road Adventure, Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle, Runaway: A Twist of Fate, The Next BIG Thing, Yesterday ($29.99)
• Perfect World Collection – Forsaken World, Rusty Hearts, Blacklight Retribution & Starter Pack (no price yet)
• Railworks 3 – Summer Sale Collection – Railworks 3 plus 27 DLCs ($39.99)
• Red Orchestra Franchise Pack – Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, Mare Nostrum, Darkest Hour, Red Orchestra 2 plus Digital Deluxe DLC ($39.99)
• Square Hit Collection – Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Deus Ex: Human Revolution Augmented Edition plus DLC, Hitman, Hitman 2, Hitman Blood Money, Just Cause 2 plus DLC, Lara Croft & the Guardian of Light plus DLC, Quantum Conundrum & soundtrack, Thief Gold, Thief II, Thief Deadly Shadows, Tomb Raider Legend, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Tomb Raider Underworld ($99.99 placeholder)
• Sniper Elite Franchise Pack – Sniper Elite, Sniper Elite V2 & Pre-order rifles ($99.99 placeholder)
• Space Marine Pack – Space Marine plus all DLC ($39.99)
• S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bundle – S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat ($39.99 placeholder)
• Stardock Collection – Demigod, Galactic Civilizations 2 Ultimate Edition, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion ($39.99)
• Strategy First Complete Pack – Dangerous Waters, Space Empires 4 Deluxe, Disciples 2, Iron Warriors, Space Empires 5, 688I Hunter-Killer, Fleet Command, Sub Command, Birth of America, Flatout, Flatout 2, Flatout Ultimate Carnage, Flatout 3, Ghost Master, Vegas: Make it Big, Making History, Making History 2, Ducati World Championship, Culpa Innata, Sacred Gold, Darkstar One, Jack Keane, Jagged Alliance 2 Gold, Exodus From the Earth, Perimeter 2, Ankh: Heart of Osiris, Ankh: Battle of the Gods, BC Kings, Port Royale 2, 9th Company – Roots of Terror, Puzzle Kingdoms, Patrician III, The Great Art Race, Bad Rats, Razor 2, Chocolatier: Decadence by Design, Cooking Dash, Diaper Dash, Diner Dash, Dream Chronicles, Emerald City Confidential, Wandering Willows, Wedding Dash 2, Zenerchi, DinerTown Tycoon, DinerTown Detective Agency, Nightshift Code, Nightshift Legacy, Fitness Dash, Parking Dash, Mahjong Roadshow, Trijinx, Valerie Porter, Gemini Lost, Ironclads Collection, Dimensity, Hazen, World Basketball Manager 2010, Dark Fall: Lost Souls, Zombie Pirates, Hotel Dash, Deep Black, Fireburst ($99.99 placeholder)
• Sword of the Stars Franchise Bundle – Sword of the Stars Complete, Sword of the Stars 2: Lords of Winter, Immersion Pack DLCs ($99.99 placeholder)
• Tale of Tales Complete Pack – The Graveyard, The Path, Fatale (no price yet)
• THQ Collection – S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Darksiders, Dawn of War 2 series, Space Marine, Nexuiz, Homefront, Saints Row: The Third, Metro 2033, Company of Heroes Series, Titan Quest ($99.99 placeholder)
• Victoria Franchise Bundle – Victoria, Victoria 2 & DLC, Victoria 2: A House Divided expansion pack ($99 placeholder)

Possibles:

• 2K Games & Rockstar “Public Released” Pack (may not be a pack but recently updated) – no price yet – Bioshock, Bioshock 2, Borderlands & DLC, Bully, Civilization IV Complete, Civilization V & DLC, Civ V Gods and Kings, CivCity: Rome, Darkness II, Duke Nukem Forever & DLC, Freedom Force Pack, Grand Theft Auto series, LA Noire, Mafia II & DLC, Max Payne 1 and 2 (not 3 though), Manhunt, Midnight Club 2, MLB series, NBA series, Railroad Tycoon 2, Railroad Tycoon 3, Shattered Union, Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Sid Meier’s Railroads!, SpecOps: The Line, Stronghold Pack, X-ComCollection
• Activision Pack (may not be a pack but recently updated) – no price yet – Everything, including MW3
• SEGA “Public Compilation” Pack (recently updated but may not be a pack in the sale) – no price yet – MegaDrive / Genesis Classics Collection, Aliens vs Predator, Alpha Protocol, Dreamcast Collection, Football Manager series, London 2012, Total War series, Sega Rally, The Club, The Incredible Hulk, The Golden Compass, Universe at War, Vancouver 2010, Virtua Tennis 2009
• Ubisoft Public (probably not a pack, but updated in the last couple of days so who knows) – no price yet – Everything on Steam (6 pages of it, too much to list)

None Shall Pass!

High fantasy seems to be the soup de jour in the games industry nowadays with games like Lord of the Rings, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Game of Thrones, Kingdoms of Amalur, etc., etc., either having just been released or are just beyond the horizon. But something that hasn’t been beaten to death is the Tower Defense genre and since high fantasy lends itself to that discipline rather naturally (think castles and stone forts), enter now Defenders of Ardania ready and willing to fill the gap. This isn’t your typical Tower Defense title though as it interestingly mixes in some RTS elements that encourage you to think both offensively and defensively as well.

As the ruler of a prosperous fantasy kingdom, your wealth and resources has obviously attracted a horde of malcontents who wish to raze you for every last coin you may have. But by implementing some serious strategy, you can weather the storm of both human and demonic foes. To ensure your victory though, you must also march your army down the enemy’s throat with wave after wave of your own soldiers.

The ideas that Defenders of Ardania throws out there are all well and good, but like so many games that try to cross-breed game play types, a failed marriage between two or more elements can lead to a bigger disaster than had a single game play style been used and failed. The Tower Defense base works fine as you place ballista, spearmen, archers, and various other well equipped fortifications around the battlefield map. Even the magic spells in your inventory work to help even the odds as space runs out quickly on the field for you to place your towers. But the RTS element is woefully under-developed as each wave you create of soldiers must walk a clear path towards your enemy’s castle and they are as mindless as the towers you place. You let them go and forget about them. So although there is some strategy there as you must pick what units to send and what paths for them to take, you can mostly forget about them after you create them and hope they carry out their pre-ordained mission.

The worst part of this is that once you create a sound enough defense, as the old sports adage of “defense wins championships” was taken to heart it seems in the game design, your enemy has typically done the same and you can’t muster the proper offense you need to win as your mindless drones march to their doom over and over again, often resulting in long drawn out matches on even the easiest difficulty settings as you try to force your way past a virtual stalemate. One nice thing about the game though is the multiplayer as when you insert human error into the equation, there is a better chance for a match to progress at a decent pace, or if a stalemate does occur, for one player to get tired and give up.

The sound is irritating as well as your narrator and chief advisor sounds like an awful Sean Connery impersonator and he may be the best of the voice actors you come across as you move through the levels. The visuals are at least bright and vibrant enough to offer some distraction from this, but there are a lot of pretty games out there I’d rather devote my thinking power to.

When all is said and done, Defenders of Ardania was a nice concept, but poorly balanced execution and a tired, unoriginal story keep this from being anything special aside for maybe some Tower Defense diehards who have been waiting for something to come along in the genre.

SUMMARY: The marriage of RTS elements with a Tower Defense base fails to work as smoothly as necessary for this game to be anything memorable.

• THE GOOD: Beautiful, stylized high fantasy setting
• THE BAD: RTS and Tower Defense elements don’t blend as smoothly as necessary
• THE UGLY: Bad Sean Connery impersonator serves as narrator

SCORE: 5.0

Defenders of Ardania is available on Xbox 360 (XBLA), PS3 (PSN), PC, and iOS. Primary version reviewed was on Xbox 360.

It’s been a bit of a Yin and Yang week on the Xbox LIVE Arcade and if Shoot Many Robots was the wild and reckless, beer guzzling, party animal then it’s time to say hello to Defenders of Ardania, the chinstroking, thought provoking, slower paced, tactician.

Defenders of Ardania enters that already well-saturated market known as tower defence and hopes to have enough about it to make it a worthwile addition for gamers with a number of similar titles at their fingertips.

So, the important question is – how does it shape up?

And that all important answer is, well, so-so.

A quick rewind first though. Before completely writing off Defenders of Ardania itdoes have a new trick up its sleeve. Alongside the traditional tower defence, players are also treated to a bit of tower offence.

This twist on the gameplay means that alongside defending yourself from the marauding troops you now have the power to build your own units and send them off to wreak havoc on your enemy.

It’s a very nice addition to the play and keeps things a little more lively than is the norm in tower defence.

There is also a long-winded story threading each new scene and encounter in Ardania together. This tells the tale of how you are leading the human forces against the undead and also threw in some dwarves and elves for good measure. All the script is voice acted and although it’s full of very solid performances I personally just found it a bit of an irritation at times, it was just a wee bit too long and predictable.

The opening tutorials will put players on the right track and do go into great detail about the many facets of the game but, if you happen to be taking your first baby steps into the world of tower defence then it could seem frighteningly over-complicated, even if you’ve played a few before there’s still an awful lot to take on board.

You get to send out five units at a time to assault the enemy base and these units all range in speed, armour and attack capabilities, at the same time you need to ensure your own base is well protected, this is done via the placing of defensive towers which open fire on attacking intruders. There are the usual upgrades on offer as the game progresses and little tactical pieces to take note of to gain the advantage, such as placing a tower on higher ground vastly improves it’s capabilities and blocking off certain routes to ensure the enemy forces have to pass your strongest defences.

When you’re finally ready to head out alone the game does a lot of good things. The screens are vibrant and full of detail and the game moves along at a steady pace and finding the right balance between defence and attack takes some serious amount of strategic thinking.

Unfortunately there are also a number of annoyances and problems along the way. The graphics although looking the part also, at times, make it difficult to see what the hell is actually going on. It’s almost impossible to differentiate between your own towers and those of the enemy. The levels themselves seem to fluctuate between being either far too easy or reaching a mind-numbing stalemate situation. There were times when I felt I was just robotically sending out the same units over and over until eventually the enemy base fell, this consisted of pressing one button five times and then waiting a while before pressing it again (this could have just been my own lack of tactical nous though.)

Pleasingly Most Wanted Entertainment have seen fit to give players some action over Xbox LIVE, and this may just be the game’s saving grace.

The multiplayer is a far more challenging, rewarding and fun place to stay when in Ardania. Upto four players can duke it out in 2v2 or free for all modes and facing off against players of a similar ability makes for some superb and engaging battles. Of course this requires that little ingredient of there being other players online, but with this genre having a solid fanbase and Defenders of Ardania being a decent title hopefully this won’t become an issue.

All in all Defenders of Ardania is a solid and worthwile addition to the tower defence market. It isn’t as ground breaking as I would have hoped but, especially online, it still has the power to entertain for a few hours or more. The graphics look good but occasionally interfere with play, the dialogue is fine but often overlong and the gameplay is entertaining without being special.

Fans of the genre will almost certainly find much to enjoy here, moreso if they’ve a few friends to enjoy it with, but those after a more casual gaming fix or about to take their first plunge into tower defence it might be best looking elsewhere. Ardania is no place for newcomers.

This review first appeared on the Yoda-like Xbox site: http://www.thisisxbox.com/360/

I’ll be honest with you. I did not finish Defenders of Ardania for this review — and I don’t intend to. Nothing short of a loaded bazooka to my head will make me go back to this ugly, boring mess of a tower-defense strategy game.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Um…well…let’s see. Some (just some) of the voice acting is adequate. And the “on paper” ideas (tower defense with some real-time-strategy elements, such as the ability to create and send out troops to attack the enemy, spells and upgrades for your entire team, and hero units) behind Ardania are well-intentioned. Oh, and the game didn’t blow up my Xbox 360.

Otherwise, I’ve got nothing. Seriously.

WHAT YOU WON’T LIKE

Bad teacher

The first few levels were incredibly painful to play — and those were the tutorials! The narrator has a tendency to start the match without any warning, giving your computer opponent a big head start. (Perhaps they’re secretly in cahoots?) You might be sitting there, awaiting your next lesson, when you suddenly notice the enemy has built towers right up to your doorstep before you’ve even laid down your first one. The narrator will also try to teach you a new feature while the real-time action is in full swing; I’ve had to restart a few missions just because I missed some instructions.

Sometimes, Ardania will show you something but neglect to tell you that it won’t work yet. Early on, for example, the game reveals that you can have your troops attack opposing towers (instead of passing them by on their way to the ultimate goal: the enemy home base) by setting a rally point. I placed flag after flag, and I couldn’t get my guys to take a single swing. I gave up on this particular strategy, chalking it up to a bug, and then learned later that only certain units can attack buildings — ones I don’t unlock until further into the campaign. Why the game even mentioned this feature before anyone could take advantage of it is beyond me.

Long stalemates

Unlike most tower-defense games, in Ardania, you can spend money on offensive units that vary in power, health, armor, and skills (such as the aforementioned ability to attack structures, which the tutorial likes to keep a secret, apparently). These lemmings will mindlessly march to your foe’s base, getting picked off by enemy towers along the way.

This is not a new concept in the genre: PlayStation Network’s Comet Crash did this as well (much, much better, mind you). Unfortunately, in order to win, you have to destroy the opposing castle with your troops, and because both sides are building up powerful defensive structures, very few will actually make it through. Oh, you will eventually get there if you really put some time and effort into each match. I did, for the sake of this review. And I hated nearly every minute of it.

The problems begin, again, with the tutorials. In the very first level, the advisor never gives you a good indication of which units you should be sending out, so you have to experiment with them. That in itself is not a big deal, until you learn that really only one of your early army types can even survive the gauntlet: your “tank,” a high-health, high-armor, self-healing cleric. Most others will die along the way.

While a few non-clerics may sneak in here and there, you’re pretty much throwing your money away with them. It took me a while to realize that for this first stage, I should’ve been spamming out nothing but these clerics, who just happen to be the slowest moving and least offensively powerful within my army. Before that realization, it was a soul-sucking stalemate as both sides were spewing forth endless streams of cannon fodder that rarely reached the opposite castle. After I switched to an all-tank offense, I was still struggling to keep my brain out of a comatose state as I watched troops crawl across the map to slowly chip away at the enemy base like a handful of termites attempting to take down a giant redwood.

Even later, when I had more strategies to work with, such as more unit types (including fliers), it was always an excruciatingly long and drawn-out process to win any match.

Poor interface

It’s very difficult to tell your own towers apart from the enemy’s, even when both are sitting right next to each other. You can figure out a few tricks to help you out, but they’re very impractical (put your cursor over a tower because only your own will show a circle indicating the attack range…or constantly switch views for health bars to only reveal your own). More obvious team colors would have helped.

And when buying a new building, a window showing its stats pops up and obscures a huge portion of the playing field beneath it, including smaller range circles. In other words, you can’t even see exactly how far some of these towers can shoot until after you’ve built them.

Did the developers even try playing their own game?

CONCLUSION

I’ve reviewed around 800 games in my lifetime, and rarely has one so completely obliterated my will to play it through. Yes, I’ve reviewed some legendary duds — Mortal Kombat Advance (Game Boy Advance) and Superman 64 (Nintendo 64) come to mind — but in twisted way, I enjoyed playing those in that “so bad they’re good” sort of way.

Defenders of Ardania is so bad, it’s bad — and I don’t make that statement lightly. It’s filled with idiotic design decisions and gameplay imbalance. I had an utterly miserable time with it, and I never, ever want to touch it again. You can find plenty of infinitely better options, like the aforementioned Comet Crash, Defense Grid: The Awakening (Xbox Live Arcade, PC), Dungeon Defenders (multiple platforms), or sitting on your ass and doing absolutely nothing.

But hey, I’ll try to be an objective reviewer here for every type of gamer imaginable. So for those of you who enjoy “games that don’t blow up my Xbox 360,” these handful of points are for you. Score: 13/100

Defenders of Ardania was released on March 14, 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PC and was previously released for iOS. An Xbox Live Arcade download code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Below you’ll find a listing of every GamesBeat game review to date. They are listed in reverse chronological order with the latest review appearing at the top. Note that the dates listed are for when the review was posted, not necessarily the actual release date for the game. That information, along with platform tested and more, can be found in the actual review.

2013

5/20

• Resident Evil: Revelations

5/13

• Metro: Last Light

5/6

• Star Trek

4/24

• Monaco

4/22

• Dead Island Riptide

4/19

• Defiance

4/18

• Cut the Rope: Time Travel

4/13

• Shootmania Storm

3/25

• BioShock: Infinite

3/22

• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

3/21

• Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

3/18

• StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

3/14

• Lego City: Undercover

3/8

• MLB 13 The Show

3/7

• God of War: Ascension

3/6

• Dollar Dash

3/5

• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow — Mirror of Fate

3/4

• SimCity

2/26

• Star Wars Pinball

2/25

• Tomb Raider

2/19

• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
• Crysis 3

2/18

• Serious Sam Double D XXL

2/12

• Aliens: Colonial Marines

2/5

• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
• Dead Space 3

2/4

• Ni No Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch

1/31

• Omerta: City of Gangsters

1/30

• Skulls of the Shogun
• Fire Emblem: Awakening

01/22

• The Cave

01/18

• Temple Run 2
• Tokyo Crash Mobs

01/15

• Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable

01/10

• Noble Nutlings
• Anarchy Reigns

01/07

• Seduce Me

2012

12/17

• Black Knight Sword
• Middle Manager of Justice
• Mass Effect 3: Omega

12/11

• Uncharted: Fight for Fortune

12/10

• Guardians of Middle-earth

12/04

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim – Dragonborn

12/03

• Far Cry 3

11/30

• Portal 2 In Motion
• Writer Rumble

11/29

• Crashmo

11/28

• The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left ends with a literal bang

11/27

• Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d You Steal Our Garbage?!!

11/26

• Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified

11/25

• King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North

11/21

• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

11/20

• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Persona 4: Golden

11/19

• Wii U launch title review roundup

11/18

• ZombiU
• Hitman: Absolution
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

11/16

• When Vikings Attack

11/15

• Nintendo Land
• New Super Mario Bros. U

11/13

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II

11/12

• Angry Birds Star Wars

11/06

• Paper Mario: Sticker Star
• LittleBigPlanet Karting

11/02

• Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus

11/01

• Halo 4

10/31

• Pid

10/30

• Medal of Honor: Warfighter
• Assassin’s Creed III
• Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted
• WWE ’13

10/24

• Just Dance 4

10/18

• Skylanders Giants

10/16

• RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D
• Borderlands 2: Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty
• Mark of the Ninja (PC)

10/15

• Happy Wars
• The Unfinished Swan
• Fable: The Journey
• Dance Central 3

10/13

• The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner

10/12

• Forza Horizon

10/10

• Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise

10/08

• Nights Into Dreams HD
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown
• Dishonored

10/05

• Sonic Adventure 2 HD

10/03

• FIFA Soccer 13

10/01

• Resident Evil 6
• Pokémon Black and White Versions 2
• Bad Piggies

09/25

• Hell Yeah: Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

09/20

• Torchlight II

09/18

• Borderlands 2

09/13

• Joe Danger 2: The Movie
• Tokyo Jungle 

09/12

• LittleBigPlanet Vita

09/11

• Fractured Soul
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2

09/10

• Avengers Initiative, Chapter One

09/7

• Mark of the Ninja

09/3

• Legasista

09/2

• The Walking Dead Episode 3: Long Road Ahead

08/30

• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

08/17

• Persona 4 Arena

08/14

• Darksiders II
• Papo & Yo
• Sleeping Dogs

08/13

• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Hybrid

08/10

• Sound Shapes

08/06

• New Super Mario Bros. 2

07/30

• The Dark Knight Rises (iOS)
• Deadlight (XBLA)

07/18

• Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD

07/14

• Dyad

07/13

• NCAA Football 13

07/02

• Spelunky (XBLA)

06/28

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard

06/22

• Lego Batman 2: DC Heroes

06/21

• Quantum Conundrum

06/18

• Civilization V: Gods and Kings

06/13

• Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown

06/10

• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

06/2

• Gravity Rush

05/31

• Go Ninja

05/29

• Mad Riders

05/28

• Dragon’s Dogma

05/19

• Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II

05/15

• Max Payne 3

05/14

• Game of Thrones

05/10

• Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
• Toy Soldiers (PC)

05/07

• Lone Survivor
• Awesomenauts

04/30

• Fable Heroes
• Naval War: Arctic Circle

04/29

• The Walking Dead: A New Day

04/24

• Bloodforge

04/18

• Trials Evolution

04/16

• Skullgirls

04/11

• Fez
• Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir
• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend (PS Vita)
• Street Fighter X Tekken
• Ridge Racer Unbounded
• SSX
• Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations
• Asura’s Wrath
• The Darkness II
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning

04/06

• Anomaly: Warzone Earth

04/02

• Kinect Star Wars

04/01

• Xenoblade Chronicles

03/31

• Kid Icarus: Uprising

03/21

• Sine Mora

03/20

• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
• Waveform

03/15

• Defenders of Ardania

03/14

• Shoot Many Robots

03/12

• Mass Effect 3

03/11

• I Am Alive

03/10

• Microsoft Flight

03/06

• Unit 13

03/03

• Nexuiz

03/03

• Journey

02/29

• Soulcalibur V

02/28

• Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

02/22

• Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational

02/21

• Uncharted: Golden Abyss

iPad’s Innovative Tower Defense/Offense Game Consorts with Consoles

GDC San Francisco – March 7th, 2012 - Paradox Interactive and Deep Silver are preparing to unleash the next wave for Defenders of Ardania, a new multiplayer tower defense game, and the publishers’ first release for the iPad tablet. Defenders of Ardania, which made its iOS debut in December, has successfully defended its tablet territory with much critical acclaim, and now seeks to conquer the lands of Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on March 14 and on Windows PC likewise.

The game challenges players to not only manage their defenses against waves of marauding fiends, but to fight back and deploy their own armies against cunning AI opponents – and other players online.

Defenders of Ardania presents a deep, immersive game world to play in, featuring three unique races and the themed environments they inhabit. The strategic tower defense gameplay will challenge players to make use of 24 different upgradeable towers to stop the invading foes, along with 24 varied units to send out for counterattacks. With an interactive environment, an arsenal of magic spells, and multiplayer battles included, Defenders of Ardania has more than enough to intrigue the most seasoned defenders of towers everywhere.

Defenders of Ardania is available now for iPad, and will arrive on Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 and Windows PC on March 14.

Watch a brand new gameplay trailer here:

We gave out a ton of codes for the last Podcast and now we’re fresh out. But check out all of the awesome things YOU did to win the games. We never said it would be easy but you guys came out and sent us some really great stuff! @iTz_Dustin (pictured above) even broke his toe in the process of trying to win a copy of Ms. Splosion Man and he got his early christmas present today!

Our other winner in our Twisted Picture contest is @GearsofMush who didn’t have a camera so he decided to photoshop our logo on what he thought was the most twisted, his  Daughter.

Congrats little Ms. Splosion Man you’ve made your dad a proud Papa!

We also had a Castle Crashers haiku contest and we had a ton of entries on our Facebook wall.

Our two winners were Michael Fields with

“It’s so colorful
all of the crashers’ sword swipes
a gory rainbow”

and Mikey Higgins with

“Getting the Crystal
That is our quest today
Knights crash that castle!”

 

Finally all of our Defenders of Ardania winners got EVERY answer correct in our Trivia contest! @JesseBLoud, @BitTripFan and @rogXue answered all three of the following questions correctly.

1. What is Emmerich’s Sisters name in Metal Gear Solid? Emma Emmerich Danziger

2. What is the name of the Divine in Oblivion who is no longer a Divine in Skyrim? Talos

3. What is Sonic the Hedgehogs favorite food? Chillidogs

Thanks to everyone for entering! We had a great time giving out a ton of games and hope everyone has a Happy Holiday and all that. Also Thanks to Paradox Interactive, The Behemoth and Twisted Pixel for giving out the goods. Not only could we not do it if they didn’t make the games but they were the ones who really gave away the games. We’re just the middle men.

UPDATE: Totally forgot the other prizes. Sorry guys it’s like this close to christmas (which also happens to be my birthday) and I’m kind of in a cookie, fudge and chex mix coma.

HigginsFTW won this awesome Triforce Fuse Bead set (that I made myself thank you) and it’s currently on the way to his house. He correctly guessed that the reflection lines in the triforce itself isn’t going the way way as the rest of the Emblem.

JesseBLoud guess a mistake that I didn’t even notice. Apparently the left bottom wing is missing the 3 orange beads that the other side does have. *shrugs* Can’t be perfect. I’m sending him a special Mario fuse bead Christmas Tree ornament just because I’m feeling good.

Thanks to everyone that entered!

It’s that time of year again when we all get together and be merry and give presents and we can’t think of anyone better to give presents to than our readers. Thats why in this podcast we have not just one but three contest for games, DLC and even the fuse bead triforce pictured above. To download the Podcast just click on the links below and then download from MediaFire. More info about the contest in the Podcast and in the info after the break!

Destroy This Podcast – Episode 3 – MP3

Destroy This Podcast – Episode 3 – M4A – For iTunes with Markers

How to enter the 3 contest.

Defenders of Ardania Contest:

Prizes: 3 Steam Beta codes (but will be full retail when the game releases)

How to win:
Follow us on twitter at @HalfEmptyETank
Answer one of the Trivia questions thats asked in the Podcast correctly and send it to us on twitter.

Who ever answers first correctly gets the code for that question. We’ll update here to let you know who the winners are (and what’s still available).

UPDATE: 

Congrats to @JesseBLoud he’s our first winner for getting all three answers correctly. So we’re going to just let anyone who gets any of the other three correctly get the last two codes! 

Congrats to @BitTripFan who is our second winner and also got all three answers correct. One last code left and who ever answers any of the questions correctly will get it. 

Congrats to @rogXue who is our last winner and for Defenders of Ardania but you can still enter to win Castle Crashers or Twisted Picture contest! Those contest end on Dec. 22nd! 

Happy Holidays from everyone at Half Empty Energy Tank, Thanks to Paradox Interactive for the games and thank you for listening to our Podcast!

Castle Crashers PSN contest by The Behemoth!

To enter this contest you need to write a Castle Crashers themed Haiku and put it up on our Facebook wall. This contest will be judged. The best two entries by Dec. 22nd will get the codes.

1st line: 5 Syllables
2nd line: 7 Syllables
3rd line: 5 Syllables

We wrote one as an example.

Red Green, Blue Orange Pink
Castle Crashers is awesome
Bearded King is Best

The Twisted Pixel Contest!

Take a picture of you with the Half Empty Energy Tank in it somehow, any way you like it. Make sure the picture is twisted though. Take it as you like. You can make it literally twisted or you can go figuratively how ever you like. Oh yea and it needs to be in public. No Porn. The best most creative photos get Ms Splosion Man for XBLA (we have two codes for that).

But we still have codes for those who get it done the fastest. You want DLC codes for a Ms Splosion Man Table in Pinball FX2? The first people to upload a picture of themselves in public with a Half Empty Energy Tank logo in it somehow will get the Pinball FX codes. Keep in mind you do need to own Pinball FX2 to be able to play the DLC. So when you enter let us know whether you have the game or not. That way we know your entering to be judged for just the Twisted Picture contest.

This is a literal example of a Twisted Picture. You should make yours a lot better than mine.

To enter the Twisted Picture contest you need to upload your picture below or have a link to it in the comments.

Also if you can tell what is wrong with the Triforce Fuse Bead in our header image, tell us in the comments below and if you’re the first. It’s yours! Make sure to leave your email address or some way to contact you so we can get your physical address and actually send it to you.

UPDATE: We now have a winner of the Triforce emblem in our header. User HigginsFTW correctly found the mistake in our header image. The light that the white beads representing the reflection in the beads are pointing in the wrong direction in just the Triforce part of the emblem. 

Iron Brigade (Formally Trenched) is the best current example of what you can do with the series. It’s the most complex and immersive TD game I’ve ever played. The amount of customizable content is also a big plus! The humor is a little lacking for your common Double Fine game but that means it’s still better than most.

Jelly Defense hit cute on the nail. Then it drived into through the coffin of awesome. While most TD games deal with fantasy or military based games. I really liked that I could play another cute TD game and the claymation look was fantastic. It does play a bit more safer when it comes to gameplay but it’s not bad in the slightest.

Defenders of Ardania is a new comer on the block by Paradox Interactive. Just being released yesterday I’ve only had some time to play with it but if your a fan of Magicka and have an iPad or PC, I instantly recommend it.