Joust
Added January 16th, 2006 by Serenity Now
Joust, originally released in 1982 in arcades around the sphere, makes its way to the Xbox 360 in the form of an Xbox Live Arcade title. Yeah, you’re right, Joust doesn’t really need to be ‘’introduced.’’ It was an instant success in the 80s because of its radical gameplay, cool graphics, and neat concept. Video games have now evolved into something much more; ergo Joust in current-day culture can’t rely on its visuals to win the hearts of gamers, rather it has to prove itself by supplying addicting, simplistic challenges. And by George, it does just that.Joust is a peculiar game. You play as a bird-like creature and the object of the game is to jump on top of your enemies’ backs so they spew forth little tiny things that appear to be ‘’collectable dots,’’ but are actually eggs that will hatch if you don’t achieve them quick enough. After attaining a predetermined amount of points by collecting these eggs (or eliminating enough enemies), you will progress onto the next wave of pests. As you can almost certainly tell, Midway was on some darn fine stuff when they came up with the idea for Joust. Either way, this is an ingenious concept that will provide gamers with hours of enjoyment.
Online play over Xbox Live is included in the package, but I must warn
you: make sure you have friends that have this game as well if you’re
planning on playing. There simply aren’t enough people on, at least
there aren’t when I’m in the mood for a match. When you do have people
to play, whether they’re your friends or your archenemies, Joust’s
online play is exceedingly entertaining. You can either partake in a
round of co-op where you and another will fight your way through wave
after wave, or you can play versus where you’ll each be competing for a
high score.
Going into this game, I obviously wasn’t anticipating much of a visual display or a live orchestra score. Because of my optimistic approach, I was neither letdown nor disappointed. In fact, I was a little flabbergasted concerning the graphics. This version of Joust gives you the option of playing with the original, extremely-outdated setup, or the slightly-enhanced, sleeker version. The improved adaptation adds refined environment detail and better character modeling. However, I tended to stick to the original graphics simply because I can’t reminisce the 80s with mind-boggling, near-90sesque production values constantly being shoved in my face. I mean, gosh, I thought I was playing Sonic with the updates.
Summary:
You’re going to get a great deal of bang for your buck here, there’s no question about it. For a mere five dollars, you acquire a cult classic with online play and a flopping thirty achievements for your unlocking pleasure. Just think, with this purchase there will be no more wasting (can I really call it wasting, though?) quarters at Dick and Larry’s Retro Arcade just to get your Joust fix.
Going into this game, I obviously wasn’t anticipating much of a visual display or a live orchestra score. Because of my optimistic approach, I was neither letdown nor disappointed. In fact, I was a little flabbergasted concerning the graphics. This version of Joust gives you the option of playing with the original, extremely-outdated setup, or the slightly-enhanced, sleeker version. The improved adaptation adds refined environment detail and better character modeling. However, I tended to stick to the original graphics simply because I can’t reminisce the 80s with mind-boggling, near-90sesque production values constantly being shoved in my face. I mean, gosh, I thought I was playing Sonic with the updates.
Summary:
You’re going to get a great deal of bang for your buck here, there’s no question about it. For a mere five dollars, you acquire a cult classic with online play and a flopping thirty achievements for your unlocking pleasure. Just think, with this purchase there will be no more wasting (can I really call it wasting, though?) quarters at Dick and Larry’s Retro Arcade just to get your Joust fix.
