Very very shiny but maybe not for everyone... Full Review
User Rating: 7 | Every Extend Extra Extreme X360
E4 (Every Extend Extra Extreme) I'm sure you know the title, I just liked typing it out for some reason. Ok, so, the game: It interesting and yet not at all. I'm not evens sure what I think about it, but this is the basic idea. You're a shiny star and you press A to detonate yourself among a whole bunch of other less shiny shapes, they explode and other shapes caught in their radius explode too. So you basically end up with big long chain reactions. There are things to collect from the devastated afterwards but they don't change this formula much. The best parts of E4 are that I just played it for 90 minutes straight and had to force myself to lose just so I'd be released from its clutches. It's shiny hypnotic and borders on intense when time is running low. The worst part is that's it. It's just that shallow. You have a 3 second shield after every detonation that allows you to pick up time bonuses (which you need like air) and if the game forced you to maneuver the field without the shield that might make things more interesting, but they don't. So long as you detonate in the middle of the screen with a bunch of dudes around you (and they all move to the center anyway) the chains will basically do the work for you. So your job is this: detonate before your shields are down (with the amount of enemies onscreen you're basically dead within an instant without shields) and move around like a maniac picking up what you need from the debree. Press B to stop the chain when you think the points its earning you no longer outweigh the time it is taking. Repeat. The sad thing is, there are about a million ways to make this formula more challenging, but they didn't. Timing is important and knowing what power ups to collect in your 3 seconds is about the only strategy present. All that said and done I must remind any reader of this (maybe 2 of you...) that I did just play the game for an hour and a half nonstop. It's mesmerizing and satisfying to get really long chains, detonate with good timing and just managing to collect enough time after each chain to keep going. I'm not kicking myself for getting it, I enjoy it enough and it's a novel and unique game. I just expected more depth from it and more from Q Entertainment as they have a great history of smart and unique puzzle games. If you need something different and want a game to chill to and soak up time with, really do give E4 a try. Otherwise, just go play Lumines/Geometry Wars (and if you don't own GW, shame on you)
peace
