I love game collections and compilations. It’s fun to feel like you’re getting a good deal on a bunch of games at once, even though sometimes you’re not. A while back, Microsoft released the XBLA Triple Pack, a collection of three of their best-selling Xbox LIVE titles. I wanted to get it, as I haven’t tried the games on it (except a demo of one of them). But I wanted to wait until it went down in price. Well, it finally went down to 20 bucks, so I snagged it. So here’s a brief rundown and impressions on each of the three games found on this pack. This one’s got Trials HD, Limbo, and ‘Splosion Man. And yes, this is a filler blog, too. Nothing much going on gaming-wise right now, really.

Trials HD

This is a physics-based motorcycle racing/obstacle course game. The graphics may be 3-D, but the game runs on a 2-D plane. It kinda sorta reminds me of Excitebike, although there’s more to it than that. It’s all about accelerating and braking, and leaning your bike forward and back to make the most of jumps and landings to get the best time and not crash. There are several obstacle course tracks for you to get a best time on, as well as a selection of other crazy challenges. You can also design your own levels and share them with other players!

Trials HD isn’t really my cup of tea, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. I mainly got this game because I thought my brother Jeff would enjoy it. I’ve seen him play this game when one of his friends came over with their Xbox hard drive, so I know they like it. Sometimes I buy games not just for myself, but for others to enjoy, too. Because I’m nice like that. Another neat thing is that I noticed that Trials HD just got a sequel, called Trials Evolution. Jeff says it has multiplayer now. I don’t know if he’ll download it, but I think it’s neat that the game got a sequel for fans to enjoy. Me personally, if I wanted to play a game like that, I’d go with Joe Danger (which I hear is also pretty good).

Limbo

I’ve heard people just rave about this 2-D puzzle platformer, so I wanted to give it a try. Unfortunately, I have to say that I wasn’t very impressed with it. I guess I just don’t ‘get it.’ I do like the atmosphere of the game. The black and white graphics give it a really creepy vibe, and the game itself doesn’t tell you at all who you are or where you’re going. All I know is that you play as a boy who wakes up in a spooky forest and must travel left to right, avoiding a mean spider and some other kids who set traps for you. I think I learned more about the game’s story from the description on the back of the box than in the game itself.

But a creepy atmosphere and neat graphics aren’t enough to make a game for me. Limbo has a lot of trial and error gameplay to it, enough so that it gets a little annoying. You’ll die a LOT trying to figure out how to get past the obstacles, and many times it’s not because of the challenge of the game. While the black and white graphics help give the game a neat vibe, it also makes it hard to see what you can and can’t use to solve puzzles and bypass obstacles. Limbo reminds me a lot of other puzzle platformers like Out of this World, Flashback, or Abe’s Oddysee. All of which are games I never cared much for. I prefer my platformers more colorful and hoppy boppy, like Kirby, Klonoa, or Mario. Limbo is also surprisingly violent. Your little boy character can get skewered by a spider, crushed by rocks, and ripped to shreds by bear traps. And who wants to see that? I know I don’t. Luckily, there is a gore filter, but I still wouldn’t let any little kids play this one.

‘Splosion Man

I do like this one better than Limbo, but I’m still not a super big fan of it because while it’s more akin to my kind of platforming gameplay, I don’t like games that are hard just for the sake of being hard. And ‘Splosion Man is nothing but a big difficult obstacle course. But again, not my cup of tea, but certainly not a bad game. ‘Splosion Man was made by Twisted Pixel, and I’m a big fan of theirs ever since I played The Maw (which is still my favorite Twisted Pixel game). ‘Splosion Man came out right after The Maw, so since I was already a fan of Twisted Pixel, I downloaded the demo of it. But I didn’t like it enough to get the full game. So I’m glad it’s on this collection.

Later on, I got to review Ms. ‘Splosion Man. So I’m also glad to get to play the full version of the original game, even though the sequel is much more improved (and even harder than the first game). I also heard that The Maw makes a cameo appearance in ‘Splosion Man, although I doubt I’ll get to see him. I have to say that whoever designs the characters for Twisted Pixel games deserves a raise, because they are just as memorable and fun as big name game characters from companies like Konami, Capcom, and even Nintendo! I bet they could even make a kart racer with all of Twisted Pixel’s characters! They wouldn’t really do that, though. I also think it’s cool that Twisted Pixel is located in Austin, TX. I used to live there when I was in college. Now that Microsoft owns Twisted Pixel, I hope they can continue to make great games in the future. I’m a little worried since I haven’t heard anything from them yet, but maybe they’ll announce something at E3.

Conclusions

And that’s all that’s on the Triple Pack! I think that ‘Splosion Man comes in first place, Trials HD second, and Limbo in third. I know I asked this before when I talked about the Capcom Digital Collection, but what XBLA or PSN games would YOU like to see in a collection. As I said before, I’d love to see a Twisted Pixel Pack with The Maw, Comic Jumper, as well as ‘Splosion Man and Ms. ‘Splosion Man. I’d also like to see a collection of Double Fine’s downloadable gems like Stacking and Costume Quest (which I still haven’t played, yeah I know, shame on me). Let me know what you’d like to see in the comments section! Later! –Cary

Tags: Game Reviews