Are you one of the many gamers who have fallen in love with Castlevania music over the years? If so, you’ll want to check out Jake “virt” Kaufman’s score for Wayforward’s new downloadable title Bloodrayne: Betrayal.

It’s no coincidence how much the music has in common with Castlevania as Kaufman reveals that early versions of the game used tracks from Symphony of the Night as a placeholder. Three months later, Kaufman finished his original score based on this inspiration combined with his own flavor. Then he made an 8-bit version as a bonus (unlockable after finishing the game). Why not? Everybody knows NES music is the coolest.

But rather than run it through a filter, all the music was painstakingly recreated in FamiTracker for the 8-bit version. This retro conversion process has created some sort of crazy neo-nostalgia that will no doubt threaten the space-time continuum.

Until that fateful moment when reality collapses in on itself, you can get both versions of the soundrack (that’s 30 tracks!) for the low, low price of free. Of course, if you are the kindhearted type and would like to reward an artist for the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the album, you can pay any price you want via Bandcamp.

Buy the Album: Bandcamp

You know that moment in gaming where you’re no longer making conscious decisions and instead find yourself relying on pure, razor fast instinct? This is how I felt for almost the entirety of the time I spent with SkyDrift. Much like the fantastic Split/Second, SkyDrift‘s brand of racing puts you on the verge of death constantly, and everytime you manage to narrowly escape certain doom at the hands of the track’s terrain or your opponent’s weapons it feels like a miracle.

It’s amazing how much the concept of flight changes how a racing game plays. The added verticality of racing in an airplane instead of a car allows for a sense of freedom that really makes every race play out differently. This is also helped by some really superb track design. There aren’t a ton of tracks, but the ones that are there are filled to the brim with branching pathways, a ton of variety, and plenty of extra dangerous obstacles that reward players willing to take risks.

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Hot off the heels of their Back to the Future game, Telltale is back with another license close to the heart of my youth: Jurassic Park. It takes risks, leaving behind the traditional point and click interface of their past games for something a little different.

The first of the two demos I played was exclusively an action scene. Several of the game’s protagonists were stuck on a roller coaster and I had to prevent them from being eaten by a pack of dinosaurs. The solution? Successfully complete a lot of quick time events including button presses and quick flips of the analogue stick. You could sum up the entire action demo simply by saying “Space Ace”.

But there was a weird layer of detachment added to this scene. The character whose actions were affected by my inputs constantly changed. This made me feel less involved with what was happening on screen since no singular character represented the player. Occasionally I’d fail and watch a death scene before snapping back to the last checkpoint. I watched my cart go on the wrong track into a pack of dinosaurs, a young girl falling out of the car to her death and more, all while my death counter rose.

If this was all the game was, I’d be pretty sad. Thankfully the second demo I played was far more interesting, though still different than Telltale’s previous games.

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How many airplane racing games can you think of off the top of your head? Any? Without resorting to Google, all I could come up with was one third of Diddy Kong Racing. This is exactly why I was instantly fascinated by Digital Reality’s SkyDrift. It’s in a sub-genre that’s rarely explored.

You could call it “Mario Kart in the sky”, but that really isn’t fair to the game. SkyDrift may be a weapons-based racer, but it’s far more deliberate and skill-based than any racing I’ve ever done in the Mushroom Kingdom. The fact that you need a second analogue stick to control your plane’s knife position is proof enough that the game is deeper than some of its contemporaries.

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As a fan of the genre, I’ve seen my fair share of modern scrolling shooters or “shmups” as they’re often called. Yet, after the magnificent Gradius V back in 2004, I haven’t seen very many that actually look modern. Even some from this year tend to look like something you might’ve seen in the arcade as much as a decade ago.

That’s the first of many ways in which Sine Mora sets itself apart. The game is gorgeous. There’s a real sense of depth to the environments that manage to strike an effective balance of being attractive without being distracting. Colors are often vibrant, environments are varied, and giant bosses are real spectacles to behold thanks to art direction from Grasshopper.

And yet, as great as the visuals were, it was the unique mechanics developer Digital Reality put into the game that kept me coming back for another try. Sine Mora is not about one hit kills or traditional health systems. Sine Mora is about time (in more ways than one). While you’re playing, the clock always counts down. Killing enemies will send the clock backward a bit, while getting hit drastically reduces your time. When the clock strikes “00″, you die.

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“The reader clicked on the post, then went over to Bandcamp and bought the soundtrack.”

After constant begging from fans, the agonizing wait is finally over. Indie developer Supergiant Games has released the phenomenal soundtrack to their debut game Bastion. $10 will get you a digital copy in the format of your choosing while $15 will get you a digital and physical copy signed by composer Darren Korb himself. Not too shabby for what could quite possibly be the year’s best game soundtrack.

Korb’s self described “acoustic frontier trip-hop” begs to be heard. If you happen to be at PAX Prime (August 26-28), be sure to stop by Supergiant’s booth where he will be signing early copies of the Bastion soundtrack (regular physical release is September 2nd).

Source: Supergiant Games Buy the Album: Bandcamp

Remember when everybody begged and pleaded for a reboot of the 1982 Atari classic, Yar’s Revenge? Neither do I, but here we are. Much like the upcoming Kid Icarus: Uprising, the new title looks like it has less to do with the concepts of its predecessor and has more in common with games like Sin & Punishment, Panzer Dragoon, and Star Fox.

It’s this genre change that had my interest piqued. The move to a third person rail shooter, regardless of its franchise branding, seemed right up my alley. After all, games in this genre aren’t particularly common, especially now. But sadly, the only thing waiting for me in the new XBLA Yar’s Revenge was disappointment.

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It’s almost time! In less than a month, you’ll be able to shoot and dodge uncountable quantities of missiles while collecting fruit as a giant robot in Treasure’s insane but loveable Bangai-O.

On May 4th you’ll be able to grab Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury on XBLA for 800 Microsoft Fun Bucks ($10). The game features over 100 levels to start and includes a level editor to expand the game even further.

Aside from HD visuals, Missile Fury also improves the control scheme by switching to twin stick input so you no longer have to face the same direction you want to fire. Additionally, there’s a new combo system to powerup your counterattacks and even a co-op mode.
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As part of the Play For Japan campaign, Twisted Pixel has teamed up with Microsoft to auction off a Comic Jumper themed Xbox 360 with 100% of the sale going towards the Play For Japan fund and the American Red Cross.

This particular unit, which you can bid on right now, was part of Microsoft’s permanent collection of customized game hardware.

To sweeten the deal, it also comes with a token for every XBLA title published by Microsoft Game Studios that is still currently available.
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For this review, please imagine me hunkered over, holding my back with one hand while propping myself up with a cane with the other. My trousers are held up with suspenders, my plaid shirt is tapered, and my face wears a constant scowl. Got all that in mind there? Ready? Ok, good. Ahem.

In MY day, games were hard as hell, and we liked ‘em that way! Didn’t need no too-tour-ree-alls, or yer fancy shmancy fast time situations or whatever ya have. Ya hit start at’n the title screen, ya played the game, and ya got yer keester whipped. And that was just fine! … … … AN’ ANOTHER THING! There ‘as no ten minute cuttin’ scenes or surround sound dij’tal Dolby an’ all that nonsense. Only had there 256 colors, at best, and we LOVED it! Why in my day, yadda yadda yadda… I think you get he point.

So many games these days are too complex, too stuffy, and frankly too easy. And I’m from the late NES era. Just imagine what the arcade era thinks! Ahh, but thankfully, before I really do turn into that old man and make my grandchild hate visiting me, there’s Super Meat Boy.

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