Karnn Age
Karnn Age is a pretty fun XNA game. From the screenshots I was expecting a experience like the top down levels in Contra 3, or Alien Syndrome type game. Instead I got a twin stick shooter. That initially disappointed me, but diving in I found a pretty fun experience.
A twin stick shooter is a game that you use two sticks. One controls the movement of the character, and one controls the aiming of your weapon. Old arcade games like Robotron and Smash TV were kind of a big deal back in the day but the genre mostly died out since they could never be ported to console properly. There were some interesting attempts like Robotron 64, or Project Overkill for PSX. Even after dual analog controller came out it wasn’t until a certain XBLA release became popular that the genre was re-invigorated.
Since the release of Geometry Wars on XBLA twin stick shooters have exploded. There are several notable titles (Geometry Wars 2, Super Stardust HD, Everyday Shooter) but there’s also ALOT of clones and most of them not half a good as the originals (but just as expensive).
The demo was a good amount of gameplay to let you know if you should be interested in this game, it contains 3 full levels. The full game is 400 MS points ($5) and contains 9 levels.
The game starts off with a silly, yet humorous cutscene where the sun gets annoying at some characters walking on the sand and burns them to a crisp. This basically introduces the game mechanic STAY OFF THE SAND! The first level contains a grassy square in the middle surrounded by a good bit of sand, if you stay on the sand for too long you will die. Meanwhile tons of enemies are coming at you and it’s your job to take them all out to complete the level.
The second level is similar but with different enemies, and the third level is a boss fight against a train that sends a huge amount of enemies at you before opening its weak areas.
If you have friends also playing this could become quite a fun score chase. You can save you best replays to show off your skills too.
All in all, this was a fun, well done, xna game. Twin stick shooters are still coming out every single day, but for $5 I think you’ll have a good time, and hopefully the creator will go on to make a more epic game like the aforementioned Alien syndrome (BTW I meant the old Arcade/NES one, not that crap PSP/Wii version from last year)
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