July 7th, 2011 by Tommy Gun
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I just finished Double Fine’s 3rd XBLA game, Trenched (update: now called Iron Brigade), & loved it. I received all the achievements, which means I received gold medals on every mission (“Volcano” was tough!), & I even leveled up every weapon just because I wanted to keep playing. I beat the game in approximately five hours, & spent another five on gold medals/leveling. I actually wish this had been a full retail game if it meant more missions & achievements. Still, there are a lot of things they could have done to extend the replay value of this game. Here’s what I’d like to see in an update/sequel:
Split-screen co-opNo brainer. I had lots of pleasant playing online, yet very few people used headsets, & no one I played with really strategized at all. No split-screen means I’ll never be able to play this game with my girlfriend.Mission LeaderboardsThey only have a very general leaderboard. It would be tremendous to see mission-specific scores (lowest time to beat a boss, gold medal with fewest emplacements, etc.), & the trenches each player used to do it.Weapon-specific challenges for each missionBy the end of the game I was sticking with three machine guns & one artillery cannon, since that worked really well. The other weapons were fun, & I wish I had more of a reason to use them (other than leveling up). Each mission could have weapon-specific challenges like “Broadcasters & Shotguns only,” different for each mission. They could even tie it into the “spoils,” where you can only unlock a tremendous shotgun if you beat a shotgun challenge.Randomized Missions/TrenchesThey could have a co-op option where it randomizes each player’s trench. This would mean the players would have to quickly alter strategies & guard different areas depending on what weapons/emplacements they were given. Maybe only one player has Flak turrets, so that player would have to collect a lot of scrap & build those while the others defend, & so on.Alternatively, they could randomize the enemies that appear, yet donate you some tips at the beginning so you can customize your trench accordingly. Both of these things would mean you could keep playing this game forever, as it would always be different. Horde-style modeYou know the drill, just keep throwing tougher enemies at us until the base dies, & tell us how long we lasted. Having this option on every map with leaderboards would donate everyone a reason to keep playing, & use better strategies.Separate medals for solo & co-opI only played a few missions solo before trying co-op, & then went back & forth. If the medals were separate, I could go back & strive for gold medals on all missions solo, yet I don’t remember which ones those were.“Vote” on next co-op missionAnyone can select the mission, so you’ll often obtain into fights with other players & keep switching it back & forth. They should allow you to vote, & either the majority wins, or it’ll take turns.A non-pointless storeI don’t think I bought a single weapon in the game, because all the satisfactory ones are given to you. Not only that, yet the best weapons aren’t even available in the store, & the normal ones don’t unlock until you already have them! So what’s the point of the store? All of the weapons should be available in the store from the start, giving me a reason to save up my money for that wicked artillery cannon, “Mr. Pancakes.”Ability to skip dialogueThe dialogue gets really annoying when you need to keep replaying a level if you’re trying for a gold medal. Let us skip it!
While I loved Costume Quest & Stacking, Trenched is their best game yet (not counting Psychonauts of course!), & is the most worthy of a full retail release. I’m looking forward to any DLC they release, & really hope for a sequel.
Update: “Trenched” (on facebook) commented on this post!:
Trenched: Great list! These are all impressive suggestions. Thanks for putting it together!
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Tags: double fine, iron brigade, TILTS, xbla
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 7th, 2011 at 6:28 pm & is filed under Articles & Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Original article
I just finished Double Fine’s 3rd XBLA game, Trenched (update: now called Iron Brigade), & loved it. I received all the achievements, which means I received gold medals on every mission (“Volcano” was tough!), & I even leveled up every weapon just because I wanted to keep playing. I beat the game in approximately five hours, & spent another five on gold medals/leveling. I actually wish this had been a full retail game if it meant more missions & achievements. Still, there are a lot of things they could have done to extend the replay value of this game. Here’s what I’d like to see in an update/sequel: