Just so you folks know, I usually do my TRIAL OF THE WEEK!(A trial game from the world of XBOX LIVE COMMUNITY GAMES) Every Sunday, but Halfbrick: Echoes is SO GOOD; I couldn't wait.
So what is Halfbrick: Echoes. Well, it's not what you would expect. In fact, I think I might have downloaded it on accident. Here is the gameplay, you are a hat that collects crystals in a set arena. Every time you collect a crystal it creates an echo of your path to that crystal and a little blue enemy appears and if they hit you using that path you lose a life. That's it... Of course you are timed and there are different configurations of arenas. And there are some additional unlockable modes for people who purchase the game.
The game is SO addictive that once you start you are all most compelled to try every single level until you have at least a bronze trophy to move on to the next unlockable arena. Sometimes in the VERY well designed arenas this can be even more the case.
You knew it was coming... I did OBVIOUSLY purchase the full game. So here are the other modes and their coolness. The first is Survival where you need to collect as many exploding crystals as possible to keep the time going. Explode enough blue enemies while your at it and get a big combo. Then there is clockwork where the enemies don't move and you can move the whole screen to get to the crystals you need to reach. This mode is very hard but it's fun. And of course, there is multiplayer, wait what? I know it's crazy but there is even multiplayer mode in this game. I'll let you discover that one. This IS called TRIAL OF THE WEEK after all. All modes have trophies tied to them that you can see in the trophy room on the main menu screen. Which is pretty cool, considering it also tells you what you have to do to get said trophies there.
This is probably the greatest example of a amateur built game that could easily be moved over to the Nintendo DS, PSP, or the iPhone! As it stands, in it's current form it is probably the BEST XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAME out there with the exception of MUCH bigger products like the Penny Arcade games, Castle Crashers, and Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. But this is some VERY NICE company to be in. You can purchase the FULL GAME for only 200 Microsoft Points. Unlike the others that start at around 1200 Microsoft Points.
In closing, I can't recommend this game highly enough. This is just another example of how a reasonably priced game can easily outshine even the MUCH higher priced competitors which in today's XBOX LIVE Marketplace environment where some companies are trying to sell HD video for 800 points it's a really refreshing development. I do understand that the developer of this title, Halfbrick; is making some more games, you might see the commericals during your trial as I did. Well, if they are half as good as this game; BRING THEM ON!
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