Every Extend Extra Extreme
Score: 90% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Q Entertainment Developer: Q Entertainment Media: Download/1 Players: 1 - 2 (online) Genre: Action/ Shooter/ Rhythm
Graphics & Sound: Every Extend Extra Extreme is the second version of this rhythm-shooter that first came out for the PSP alongside Lumines 2 (also by Q Entertainment). The game's basic idea is to fire shots and destroy enemy ships by creating chained explosions; the twist is that your chains and explosions will be more effective the closer you are to being in time with the music. Both Extreme and Every Extend Extra have simple 2D graphics that play across a black background but with bright colorful ships and HUD items. Part of the game's appeal is its apparent simplicity. Your self-destructing ship is a small, brightly-colored flashy symbol and the various other enemies take on different, but equally simplistic designs. Since the game relies heavily on rhythm, it isn't all that hard to believe that music is a major aspect of this game. The music that comes with the game tends to have a techno or house feel to it, but you can also import your own music into the game via the S4 Wiz Ur Muzik mode. This is a nice feature that really helps to personalize the game and lets you share your newly created levels with other players across Live.
Gameplay: Every Extend Extra Extreme is all about maximizing your destructive force by setting off a chain reaction of explosions in time with the music. There are four modes of play, and each have their own feel. The main mode, E4 The Game Unlimited, has you self-destructing your ship over and over again just to rack up as many points as possible. Levels typically look like wave after wave of patterns flying across the screen (these are the enemy ships). After some time, bigger ships will appear and, depending on the level, may start flying around the screen. The object is to typically collect as many of the power ups that are released as possible in order to extend your power or time and set off a chain reaction at just the right moment. If you've gotten the timing right, then your explosion will kill off a lot of the smaller enemies, chain to the larger ones and create a bigger area of effect, thus killing off more ships. At any point during the chain reaction, you can cancel your explosion, which might be good if there are very few ships left, but you can do much more damage if you start a new reaction. The mode I found really enjoyable was E4 The Game Limited which is the same as the Unlimited version, except you have a clock ticking down constantly and you will need to pick up the time power ups in order to stay alive. Meanwhile, R4 The Revenge takes on a more standard shooter style across 100 levels of musical fun. The last gameplay mode is H4 Versus Live where you get to play against your friends over Xbox Live.
Difficulty: Like any great top-down shooter, Every Extend Extra Extreme feels simple, or at least it is easy to understand the rules and get a hang of the controls, but is ultimately really hard to excel in. I found many of the modes that E4 offers to be easy at first, but they all also quickly ramped up and became a lot more to handle. Another interesting aspect of games like this is that you will always find the game more challenging because every time you go back to play E4, you always want to beat your previous time or score. So even if the game itself doesn't necessarily get harder, you, the player, make it harder by always upping the ante.
Game Mechanics: Every Extend Extra Extreme's mechanics are real simple and easy to pick up. Basically, you guide your ship to your target area on the screen and when you're ready, just set the self-destruct. The trick to maximize your effects, and what really makes this game unique, is to release your attack in time with the music. If there is one thing I don't really play, it's rhythm games, and that's because I have no sense of timing whatsoever. Consequently, while I played the previous game, I didn't do well in it. In E4, on the other hand, I have done remarkably better, and I think that's due to the fact that the controller vibrates in time to the music. Where the PSP version didn't give any real tactile stimulus, Extreme's vibration helped me out immensely. E4 is a great casual game that belongs right at home on the Live Arcade market and any fan of this style of game will have fun with it. If you're in the mood for some musical, action-packed fun then at least download the demo, but I can almost guarantee you will want to spend the 800 points to play the full version.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
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