Reviewed: Project Sylpheed and Space Giraffe

Wired has a good review of two new flying games for the 360...Project Sylpheed and Space Giraffe (for XBOX Live Arcade). Here's some of what they say about the former:

I enjoy spaceship-based videogames because it's easy to pretend you're actually piloting a spaceship. After all, who knows what vehicular controls will be common in the future? Maybe, by an odd coincidence, they'll be exactly like a wireless Xbox 360 controller! And maybe the cockpit will be shaped like an Ikea couch!

Although the space combat genre isn't really my cup of tea, I did try the demo, and it's very responsive and graphically impressive. So if you're into that kind of game, it's probably worth a look.

As for Space Giraffe, let's just say that even though I was a big fan of the original Tempest (as well as some of the other vector-based games like Major Havoc), I think I must be outside the target demographic for Space Giraffe. Between the psychedelic trails from the old-school vector graphics, and the thumping soundtrack, I wasn't able to last more than a couple of levels. For similar graphics, I prefer the interesting title Boom Boom Rocket, which has similar play style to Dance Dance Revolution, but instead of dancing on a step pad, you're using the 360 controller to fire off fireworks in time with the music. BBR is made by the same folks who made Geometry Wars, a minigame included with Project Gotham Racing 2, as well as the updated Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved for XBOX Live Arcade.

Here's part of what Wired has to say:

Game designer Jeff Minter shot to fame with the cult classic Tempest 2000 and has been riding that game's psychedelic coattails ever since. His latest release, a downloadable Xbox 360 game called Space Giraffe, sticks closely to the formula: shooting action patterned after retro arcade games, with stylized graphics and a pulse-quickening techno soundtrack. But Giraffe's frenetic action requires a nuanced strategic approach.

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