Back in January, when the year was still daisy fresh, we gave you the first glimpse of Playbrains Madballs revivial. Now they’ve officially announced the game for Xbox Live Arcade and although the date is still be be confirmed, the official press release gives us a few more details including avatar support and extensive multiplayer / co-op modes :
“A gameplay rich, feature laden ‘casually hardcore’ action shooter, Madballs in…Babo:Invasion (MiBI) is that rarest of gaming commodities; a genuinely unique title. Featuring the recently re-released Madballs™ characters, Oculus Orbus™ and Horn Head™, from the popular 1980s toys best remembered for their outrageously bad looks and graphically colorful names. MiBI is an arena based 3D shooter where players are able to design their own combat maps almost instantaneously by placing a combination of map tiles to create a never-before-seen map before gameplay starts. Truly, no two games are ever the same. And with up to 16 player Multiplayer support, MiBI will boast the highest number of players over Xbox LIVE Arcade upon its release.
Offering players a satisfying and immersive experience in both single-player and multiplayer, Madballs in…Babo:Invasion has a plethora of features and game modes such as 4 player online co-op along with, never-before-seen in an Xbox LIVE Arcade title, being able to incorporate your Xbox LIVE Avatar into multiplayer combat via the Avatar Attack mode. Yes, Xbox LIVE Arcade combat just got personal.
- Single Player – Hours of repeatable gameplay through 10 epic levels
- 2-4 Player Online Co-op – challenge individual campaign levels with your friends or play the whole campaign in Enduro mode
- 16 Player Multiplayer – 21 maps to match all game sizes
- Invasion Mode – the signature mode of the game, players take turns placing map tiles to create a unique multiplayer map prior to each match
- Avatar Attack – Multiplayer combat with your Xbox LIVE Avatar
- Classes – 10 character classes (each with 2 special abilities) over two warring factions, with each faction having 5 unique weapons each with two distinct firing modes
- Madballs™ Characters – Oculus Orbus™ and Horn Head™ from the infamous 80′s toy craze as in-game characters
- 5 Archetypes – Assault, Heavy, Runner, Flyer, Support
- Deployables – active (rocket turrets) or passive (healing towers) can be placed in Invasion mode
- Unlocks and Secrets – 50 unlocks and 50 Secrets to find during campaign gameplay
- Action – emphasis on fast-paced, visceral action that is easy to pick and play, yet offers a real strategic challenge for hardcore gamers.”
Avatar attack? Has anyone actually seen this yet? Could be excellent, Invasion Mode sounds cool too. Don’t really remember Madballs to be honest, but this is interesting.
There are some pictures of the Avatar Attack mode on the official site http://www.playbrains.com/babo/
It actually maps your Avatars head to a Madball and lets you roll around and shoot one another.