Aegis Wing - New shmup coming to XBLA for free

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Sat May 12, 2007 12:41 am

http://kotaku.com/gaming/gratis-shmup/a ... 259898.php

This one comes from completely under the radar. I'm having trouble finding any details, but it's described as a 2D side-scroller. Made by Carbonated Games (basically, MS's in-house XBLA team, which did Hexic and Uno,) it'll be released next week on XBLA for free.

I'm guessing we're pretty much looking at a standard Euroshmup here, but who knows? I can't even find a screenshot yet.

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Sat May 12, 2007 3:23 am

A 360 shooter that's not and arena shmup, and it's free? Nice, but shame about the lack of screen shots available.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:47 pm

Kotaku release the first images of the game...

http://kotaku.com/gaming/freeeeeee%21%2 ... 260256.php

SuperGrafx · Post by **SuperGrafx** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:40 pm

Visually, it reminds me of a DC game.
All good to me. And free too!

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:09 pm

"Aegis Wing" will be available for download in North America only.

That's nice of Microsoft.

DJ Incompetent · Post by **DJ Incompetent** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:48 pm

Ceph wrote:
"Aegis Wing" will be available for download in North America only.
That's nice of Microsoft.

You guys got Xyanide Resurrection. Hush.

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:55 pm

Hehe, Euroshmup straight outta US. Doesn't look like it'll revolutinize the genre but well...it's free after all and it screams AMIGA! Ah, those were the times...

brianon · Post by **brianon** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:18 pm

Its a North American release only

Post by **system11** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:45 pm

The NA release only has generated 300 comments on Major Nelsons blog, and he /has/ noticed and allegedly asked why.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Tue May 15, 2007 9:53 pm

SuperGrafx wrote:Visually, it reminds me of a DC game.

Hehe, me too.

Actually, first words that sprang to mind were: Border Down.

Not saying it´s going to be anything like that game, it´s just that visually it really reminds me of that.

And the game being free is actually a VERY nice gesture here.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Tue May 15, 2007 10:04 pm

Here's a bit of background on where the game came from:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... rns15.html

thesuperkillerxxx · Post by **thesuperkillerxxx** » Wed May 16, 2007 1:55 am

Gamespot in the mix too...

Click Me

pixelcorps · Post by **pixelcorps** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:12 am

3 months development time?? hmmm.. thats less than a mobile game nowadays, doesn't sound promising....

Biteme · Post by **Biteme** » Wed May 16, 2007 7:48 am

If its free Ill take it. Looks like a decent game.

Necronom · Post by **Necronom** » Wed May 16, 2007 8:47 am

3 month? I think Kenta Cho stated in an interview one time that it usually takes him 3 to 6 months to come up with a new game and that most of the time is spent on testing.
Sounds like a rather efficient team. The backgrounds have definitely a certain Border Down vibe but the shipdesigns seem to be straight out of some average 90s Euroshmup. Anyway, if it plays nice then I guess that's a real treat for the 360 users. Keep the shootey stuff coming MS

tuoma · Post by **tuoma** » Wed May 16, 2007 10:46 am

Anyone tried it yet? Im not at home right now but curious on how the game feels.

PepsimanVsJoe · Post by **PepsimanVsJoe** » Wed May 16, 2007 12:34 pm

Haha currently #1 in the leaderboards..though that won't last I'm sure.

Multiplayer is loads of fun, especially since you can link up with three other people like Voltron/Terra Cresta. You're a slow moving easy to kill behemoth.

Already beat it on normal and "insane"(Normal you get four lives per stage, insane you get one life..unlimited continues but your score resets if you do so)

Playing on insane will surely net you a higher score than on normal since there are more enemy ships but obviously much riskier since it's very easy to lose.

Multiplayer is the star of the show though, tons of fun.

EDIT: Ouch got kicked down to #3. The guy at the top played on Insane to boot. eh well.

jp · Post by jp » Wed May 16, 2007 12:40 pm

I just got it and beat it on Normal (I'm #10 in the world, woo...).

I'll say this, its a free shmup. Stages are kinda boring, enemy design is kinda boring, special weapons are neat though. I'll definitely play through again on Insane at some point, but eh... I dunno, if I had paid money for it I'd be pissed. As is, its a neat little free game.

Vexorg · Post by **Vexorg** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:10 pm

I got a chance to play this last night, and I'll have to agree that it's probably about in line with most Euroshmups (no fancy bullet patterns, only a few types of enemies) and probably isn't going to get a lot of play once people have finished it off for achievement points. Then again, it's not bad for something put together in 3 months by 3 people (especially in this environment, where it seems like they put program managers on everything, although I don't know how similar operations over at MGS are to where I work.) I also haven't had a chance to try this out in multiplayer yet...

ForteMP3 · Post by **ForteMP3** » Thu May 17, 2007 6:48 pm

Multiplayer's actually pretty damn fun, especially with four people. The linking up ships for more firepower is actually a pretty cool game mechanic, that said...

I want to play a game with some of you guys! =P

Biteme · Post by **Biteme** » Thu May 17, 2007 8:01 pm

I beat this game on Normal and was ranked #644. Big whoop but at least its in the top 1000. Beat it by myself and on multiplayer.

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Fri May 18, 2007 10:15 pm

Haven't had much time to play it much but seems decent, especially being free, 3 month development cycle ect.

I don't like the music though. I think a driving techno-ish soundtrack would have suited the game better than that boring symphonic music.

ForteMP3 · Post by **ForteMP3** » Sat May 19, 2007 3:01 am

No_not_like_Quake wrote:Haven't had much time to play it much but seems decent, especially being free, 3 month development cycle ect.

I don't like the music though. I think a driving techno-ish soundtrack would have suited the game better than that boring symphonic music.

This is why I mute the ingame music and play the Gradius V soundtrack off a flashdrive. XD;

monoRAIL · Post by **monoRAIL** » Sat May 19, 2007 4:17 am

If you're outside North America you can just create a silver live account and set it to USA region so you can download this game. Then log back in with your main Live account to unlock achievements and play online.

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:24 pm

while at first I didn´t like the game particularly, I´ve tried multiplayer a few times in the meantime, and I have to say it DOES revolutionarize the genre, although I couldn´t have expected in the least. First of all, it´s the first shmup ever with a multiplayer worth its salt, don´t even bother playing single player, this game is designed for multiplayer first and foremost. Which other shmup can even claim that? Giga Wing 2? Don´t make me laugh. Ok, there is Heavy Weapon, which is nice, but not nearly as refined in multiplayer as this one.
Aegis Wing´s multiplayer, however, is surprisingly good. It´s not only done thoughtfully, with a proper difficulty (and NOT unlimited continues), it´s also fun, strategic, has a long learning curve (wherein you don´t only have to learn the level design, but efficient cooperation as well) and lots of variation. There are 4 weapons, but everyone can only carry one at a time, so while it is possible to always try and grab all power-ups, it doesn´t make sense. Chances of beating the game rise when people work together, however, there is the chance to score higher by grabbing all the best weapons and depriving other players, so there´s a little tease in there keeping things interesting.
If people do work as a team, everybody specializes on one weapon, and each weapon has its specific uses. For example, the basic weapon only shoots straightforward, but sometimes enemy ships appear at weird angels where you can´t hit them easily because background is in the way, that´s the time to use the homing missiles. Then there is the strong laser, which has multiple uses, like damaging a boss heavily, destroying background to clear a path, or to kill dangerous enemies quickly, sometimes a whole formation of them with one shot. The shield requires some practice, but can be devastating when used in the right way. It only reflects bullets towards the enemies, it doesn´t protect against enemy collisons and such. But if a boss shoots a tight pattern, the shield player can clear the pattern for his fellow players to survive in it, so everybody can stay in the pattern and keep shooting the boss. The "disruptor" kind of weapon is comparatively useless, So there is always some competition as to who gets left out with it (except for when you´re playing with 3 players).
The game does not grant unlimited lives or continues. Each player has a few lives, but the game is rather hard, especially on insane, but as it would be no fun to drop out of the game halfway, the system works in a way that you can be resurrected on your last life by another player. When you lose your life, it takes maybe 10-20 seconds until an icon appears, which other players can pick up to ressurrect you. However, if everybody but one dies at a boss, the remaining player has to survive long enough to resurrect the others one after another, which can become rather exciting

All of this also works online, very well too, I might add, and to me it´s exactly the kind of fresh air I needed to become interested in this genre again. I´ve been playing World of Warcraft for about a year now, which is in many ways a very team-oriented gameplay experience, and of course there are team-oriented first person shooters, but I had never expected to find this in a shmup, even less to find it well done. For people who like to spend weeks and months on refining their hiscores, it´s certainly the wrong game, but for others with a more casual attitude, it´s almost the best thing ever.

ubersaurus · Post by **ubersaurus** » Tue May 29, 2007 9:53 pm

How easy is it to find decent partners on live?

I've been playing halo 3 too much to really put any time into Aegis

segasonicfan · Post by **segasonicfan** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:10 am

I played through the game yesterday on my friends 360 and it was surprisingly lame :/ Yeah, it's free so I can't complain too much, but I haven't seen a shmup this bland and unoriginal since the early 90s. The game has only 4-5 diff enemies and constantly uses the same meteors thrown at you and the same patterns. I would have stopped playing after the first level if I wasn't slightly intoxicated...lol.

oh well, at least it's free. For a real 360 download semi-shmup, get Geometry Wars. That game is tops.

-Segasonicfan

raiden · Post by **raiden** » Wed May 30, 2007 4:20 am

How easy is it to find decent partners on live?

of course I can´t tell for sure, but for me it took 3 attempts. The good news is the game is still being played quite a bit, no trouble finding games like in older XBLA games. Also, it´s pretty easy to tell whether your party rocks or sucks, if all but you are on their last ship at the end of stage 1, you might just as well quit immediately.

No_not_like_Quake · Post by **No_not_like_Quake** » Wed May 30, 2007 6:59 pm

Generally, alot of players have become quite decent at playing the game. As you said, Raiden, the team effort is really nice and it's great when everyone sticks to a certain weapon.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Thu May 31, 2007 10:44 am

Just downloaded this, played through Normal by myself and cleared it on my first attempt (not an amazing acheivement, the game is damn easy). I have to say they took a LOT from border down. Some weapon and enemy types are taken right out of BD. Too bad they didn't put in some sort of interesting scoring system. Backgrounds are pretty nice, but the levels get tedious after awhile.

Anyway, it's fun for 30min or so, and it's free. So no real complaints from me.