Every Extend Extra Extreme - Review

Added November 1st, 2007 by Justin McBride

Every Extend Extra Extreme, or E4, is the pseudo-sequel to Every Extend Extra that appeared on the PSP some time ago and is yet another in the long line of exhilarating games with a large emphasis on the audio and visual experience from Q Entertainment. After the lukewarm reception of the microtransaction heavy Lumines Live, Q Entertainment seems to have learned from their mistakes and has set out to deliver a more complete experience for much less cash and does quite an admirable job with E4.

In the Timed and Unlimited modes, you pilot your cross-shaped craft around the closed stage and blow yourself up in an attempt to destroy the hordes of enemies which flood the area. This creates chain reaction explosions, often creating hundreds at a time before the pieces of your craft disperse and you respawn. Destroying enemies rewards you with bonus tiles, in the form of score multipliers, time extensions in unlimited mode and the all-important “quickens”, which increase the number of enemies that fly into the area and thereby increase your potential for huge chain reactions.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, you’d be right. It doesn’t take long to get the basic concepts down, but as with most games that are so deceptively simple, there is a great deal remaining to master and that’s where most of the fun comes in. Merely detonating your craft and waiting until the chain multipliers end is a good way to score, but can be detrimental to your success.

The key to mastering this game is getting into a rhythm. As the music pumps in the background, so does a beats per minute meter near the bottom of the screen. Timing your detonations just as the meter fills is the key to scoring well. As the all-important tiles fill the screen, it’s important to know when to cancel your explosion in the midst of a chain reaction to instantly respawn and collect these tiles. As soon as you respawn, you have a few seconds to collect the tiles and detonate once more before your shield runs dry.

While the E4 Unlimited and Timed modes seem to be the crux of the single player experience, the highly entertaining Revenge mode is certainly not to be ignored. Taking gameplay cues from other shoot ‘em ups such as Geometry Wars and Asteroids, your goal is simply to shoot everything in sight until you’ve racked up a set number of kills, at which point, you take on a boss craft. At the beginning of the revenge mode, you have the choice of arming your craft with one of two weapons, one that spreads from the front of your craft or one that fires from all four sides of your craft. The music’s impact on the gameplay is lessened drastically, but that doesn’t stop it from being well suited to the type of fast paced and frenetic gameplay this mode pulls off quite well.

In a title such as this, I didn’t expect an enthralling slew of multiplayer modes, but what is here amounts to what is frankly an interactive leaderboard. The two players cannot see what the other is doing and are instead presented with text updates every time your opponent reaches a certain number of chains and picks up bonuses. Look at the top of the screen to see how far ahead or behind your opponent you are. The two modes, deathmatch and three minute timed marathons are incredibly similar. The only difference being the lack of a time limit in the deathmatch mode. What you have here is something you’ll probably play once or twice out of curiosity and soon forget.

E4 is very much an audiovisual experience and thus, is very attractive. Visually, this is probably the most psychedelic, artistic and vibrant game on the Xbox Live Arcade this side of Geometry Wars. You are literally bombarded with color, which isn’t a bad thing at all, and gives the game a distinctive style. To put it simply, it doesn’t set out with the sole purpose of throwing the full spectrum of colors at you, but those prone to epileptic seizures should stay far, far away.

The oft-mentioned music is unsurprisingly a major highlight of E4. The rhythm of the game times incredibly well with the music, even down to the massive chain reactions as you quickly notice that the explosions flow to the rhythm of the beat. The trippy, eclectic tunes you’ll encounter are perfectly suited for the gameplay and there are enough of them here to keep you entertained for quite some time.

In the event you do tire of the tunes included in E4’s many modes, you’ll find the “Wiz ur Muzik” mode to be well worth your time. In this mode, you’re able to import your own music into the game, which then analyzes it and automatically (though this can be done manually) finds the beats per minute. After this, you’ll be able to play as long as you like to the beat of your own songs stored on your Xbox 360’s hard drive, PC or MP3 player.

Every Extend Extra Extreme shows that big things do indeed come in small packages. While its core gameplay may not appeal to everyone, this is definitely one of the best values you’ll find on the Xbox Live Arcade. The four stages in the timed and unlimited modes may seem paltry, but they encourage endless replay. Add in the enticing 100-stage Revenge mode and even the so-so multiplayer and you have one heck of a deal for ten bucks. It’s undoubtedly one of the most unique experiences out there and well worth the ten dollar investment.