INC - 8bit Madness

INC, a relativley new but still awesome platformer. Developed by Orange Pixel, it showcases 8-bit graphics, a nice sleek design and unique gameplay.

A challenging comic book styled arcade game - INC ; from the creators of Meganoid and Stardash comes another awesome action game

"INC is the best and most accesible platformer that OrangePixel has released upto now" - 9.2 Androidgaming.nl

"Orange Pixel definitely are producing an army of titles that are tickling this very spot & this is the best so far." 9/10 XperiaGamer.com

The year 2135, the world is ruled by Corporations, humans are slowly being replaced by robots and machines, and the most powerful humans are now looking for ways to transfer their souls into robots, for eternal life.

Fight your way thru four stylish worlds, surviving a large variation of different robots and machines that only have one mission, stop you from reaching your goal: save Dr Robotus!

The unique graphical style, cool retro music and sound effects, and our well known hard-but-fair gameplay turn INC into an entertaining action adventure.
Four worlds, 40 levels, multiple layers of gameplay for casual and hardcore gamers, what are you waiting for!

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Super Mario 3D Land - Rise From The Slump.

The levels of Super Mario 3D Land are much more linear and compact than the other 3D titles, more along the lines of the sidescrolling games. Levels have a time limit and even feature flagpoles, a staple of the original Super Mario Bros. and the New Super Mario Bros. games, rather than Power Stars, as the level goals. When Mario is defeated, the "Too Bad" banner from every 3D Mario platformer since Super Mario Sunshine is displayed, but a circle covers the screen instead of a Bowser face. To enter pipes, the player must press L or R.. The graphics of the game greatly resemble those of the Super Mario Galaxy games, while the levels show visual similarities to the New Super Mario Bros. titles. Unlike the 2D Mario games, the level themes in a world tend to be more generic like the galaxies of Super Mario Galaxy 2 compared to the world, instead of focusing on a particular setting per world.


While giving examples of how the Nintendo 3DS enhances gameplay, Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that hitting blocks from underneath in 3D Mario games would be easier with stereoscopic 3D.Blocks are more prevalent in the title, unlike past 3D games, where blocks were more few and far between. Star Medals that have a similar design to the Comet Medals from Super Mario Galaxy 2 are found in each level, with collecting all three being part of the level's challenge, like in the New Super Mario Bros. games. Plus Clocks can be picked up to give the player more time to complete the level, the latter a mechanic only seen previously in Super Mario Galaxy 2's Speedy Comet missions. Mario himself returns with some of his trademark 3D abilities, such as the Wall Jump, Long Jump, and Ground Pound, and is now capable of performing rolling, which is done by crouching while moving. By rolling and jumping at the same time, the player can do a somersault during the long jump. Mario's health system is now based on the side-scrolling titles rather than being a numbered meter: one hit shrinks Mario to a smaller size and removes his cap, while power-ups give him an extra health point. These power-ups include the Super Mushroom, the Fire Flower, the Star, the Boomerang Flower, the Statue Leaf and the Super Leaf, the last of which has not been seen since Super Mario Bros. 3. Notably, the Fire Flower, unlike its previous 3D appearances in Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, no longer has a time limit imposed on it and is retained until Mario is hit, as in the side-scrolling games. When Mario dies, he respawns in Super Mario form, not his Small Mario form, unlike previous titles. When Mario dies twice in one level, a flying Roulette Block appears. The lives counter in Super Mario 3D Land extends beyond 99, unlike in the previous Mario games.

There are at least four returning tracks from Super Mario Galaxy: the Airship theme, the Sweet Sweet Galaxy theme, a remixed version of Ghostly Galaxy's mansion theme and the Cosmic Mario theme. There is also one track returning from Super Mario Galaxy 2: the theme used on Bonus Planets.(The Peewee Piranha boss theme was also present during the battle with Boom Boom at the E3 Demo as placeholder music. The track is nowhere to be found in the full game). The "tick-tock" that is heard when a timed Ground Pound Switch in the Super Mario Galaxy series is activated is used for when a P-Switch has been jumped on.

The actual game in itself is a magnificent platformer, arguably the best ever, and this is Nintendo's chance at showing us what they can really do. This is Nintendo's Rise from their current position(Pretty Low).

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Rayman Origins - Platforming Legend Reborn

 "The best 2D platformer not called Mario" 

Rayman Origins is a platforming side-scrolling game with many elements of the classic Rayman involved. It was published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita.

Plot:

In the Glade of Dreams, a world created by the mysterious Bubble Dreamer, Rayman, his best friend Globox, and some Teensie friends are chilling out. However, their snoring disturbs an old granny from the Land of the Livid Dead, who retaliates by sending an evil army of horrendous creatures and the Darktoons across the world, capturing the Electoons and Nymphs that inhabit the world and turning it into chaos. It is up to Rayman and his friends to rescue the Electoons, defeat the evil creatures and set everything right.

Gameplay:

Rayman Origins is a side-scrolling platformer, simultaneously playable with up to four local players who may drop in or out at any time. Players can choose to control either Rayman, Globox or two Teensies, with additional costumes available as the game progresses.

Players travel through each level, fighting enemies and rescuing imprisoned Electoons. As the game progresses, players gain new abilities such as running up walls, gliding in midair after jumping and shrinking in size which will allow them to reach new areas. Certain segments also sees players riding a mosquito, where players can shoot enemies or suck them up and fire them. If a character is hit by an enemy or obstacle, he will inflate into a ballooned state until another player can bring him back into the game by slapping him, similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, although players can collect hearts that will protect them from one hit. However, if all players are inflated simultaneously, or if a character is hit during single play, play returns to the last checkpoint. Throughout each level, players can collect gold-coloured Lums, and when a character collects a "King" Lum it temporarily doubles the smaller Lums value.

In order to progress through certain parts of the story, players need to free Electoons. Each level has hidden puzzle-like segments where players must solve varying difficulties of puzzles in order to free the caged Electoons at the end. More Electoons can be earned by collecting a certain amount of Lums within a level, with players being awarded a medal if they collect all the Lums. After certain levels are completed, players can access a time trial mode in which they must race through the level as quickly as possible to earn more Electoons, with trophies available for the fastest time. Players can also unlock special 'treasure chest' levels, in which they must chase a runaway treasure chest across a dangerous course. Completing these challenges gives players ruby colored "teeth" which, when players have collected all of them, grant access to an additional world, called The Stars of the Livid Dead Tour.

The game is the first title to use UbiArt Framework, an in-house graphics engine. These development tools allow artists to easily create content and then use it in an interactive environment. The artists only have to pose the model and edit the silhouette - UbiArt software takes care of image distortion automatically. The main aim of this engine is to allow artists and designers focus on the art itself, without having to worry about technical aspects of game development. According to Yves Guillemot, only five people were working on the game when it was first announced. Ubisoft has acquired a financial subvention from French government dedicated to supporting art for developing UbiArt tools. The engine is optimized for HD resolutions, allowing games to run in full 1080p HD at 60 frames per second.

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