Sometimes the XBLIG channel can seem to be filled with so much generic crap that it’s almost unbearable. Let’s face it, there’s not a large variety on the service and more often than not you’re going to come across just a handful of genres. But, believe it or not, there are the occasional games on the channel that really break the mold, so to say. Today’s example being Ancient Trader.

Ancient Trader is a turn based pirate game with a combat system that’s largely based on the old “rock, paper, scissors” archetype. But don’t let that dissuade you because, despite the rudimentary combat, the actual game has plenty of depth along with number of features that’s sure to peek your interest, at least in the short term.

But first let me explain the game a little bit. Ancient Trader is, in so many words, a turn based version of Sid Meier’s Pirates. That’s the best way I can describe it. You sail from port to port upgrading your ship, buying/selling cargo, and accepting various quests. At the end of each turn the other players (computer or human) each take their turn as well. Sometimes they’ll attack you, sometimes not.

The point of the game is to gather all the unique artefacts [sic] and defeat the guardian of the map. You do this by generally just sailing around, exploring, and upgrading your ship. There’s no direct path to reaching the end goal.

The game comes with a series of maps varying in difficulty, but also the ability to just create a random small, medium, or large map to ensure maximum re-playability. Additionally, there are four different multiplayer options: hotseat (one controller shared between friends), local, system link, and online. While I’m not too sure how populated the online game will be (it wasn’t available in the trial) the notion that it was included in the first place is kind of nice.

Still though, what Ancient Trader most impressed me with was its high quality artwork and sound. Everything has a 15th century map look to it that really makes the entire game have a character of its own. Very few XBLI games have this kind of presentation so it was certainly a nice surprise.

Ancient Trader is 240 MS points, which isn’t a terribly large amount for a game such as this, especially if you can really get yourself into the gameplay.

[This is not a review. This is a write up based solely on the trial version of the game.]

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Stick with me on this. I know it’s not “technically” a game, hence lending more credence to my old article about a possible name change, but it’s still an interesting title with some useful applications in learning some German vocabulary.

As mentioned above, German 101 isn’t a game, not even a little bit. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t any good. In fact, of all the games I downloaded for today’s “XBLIG Thursday” German 101 is by far the one that peeked my interest the most.

First let’s get the pink elephant out of the room. If you do not like the German language, or have no desire to learn German then don’t download this “game.” In fact, don’t even look at it. It’s not for you, not even in the tiniest, littlest bit.

On the flip side, however, if you are interested in learning the language, or want to brush up on words you may have forgotten in the past, then maybe this will work out well for you. You see German 101 is a simple flash card quiz game. You pick how many words you want to be quizzed on — out of 1000 — and then the game will randomly pull those words from a pile of flash cards. You’ll have three answers to choose from. Get it right and your percentage score goes up, get it wrong and the controller shakes violently (exaggeration!).

My only problem with the game is that it doesn’t actually pronounce the words for you. Now, I’ve taken some German classes before, so I know some general pronunciation, but to anybody who has not it will be incredibly difficult for them to correctly sound out some of these words, especially if presented with an umlaut.

Still though, the game is only 80 MS points, comes with a 1000 word dictionary, and applies itself in a manner that’s not boring or mundane. If you’re looking to spruce up on some German, I’d highly recommend this over the $200 Rosetta Stone will set you back.

[This is not a review. This is a write up based solely on the trial version of the game.]

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So to kick things off in this new feature on DIYGamer.com, I booted up my Xbox 360 and literally started downloading anything and everything that caught my attention. No matter what the user review score was. I’m not picky, I’ll play anything!

It just so happens that I picked Crazy Wizard in Creepy Castle as my first title; an odd platformer with many faults, but also a bit of charm as well.

Crazy Wizard in Creepy Castle is a typical platformer. You press “A” and you’ll jump, you press “X” and you’ll shoot a little blue fireball, and your ultimate goal is to simply get from the beginning of the level to the end. There not much more to it than that, I’m afraid.

Still though, I’d feel bad if I didn’t at least mention that, as an incredibly generic and flawed — we’ll get to that in a bit –  title, I actually had a bit of fun with the game. At the end of my game trial I was thoroughly bummed that I couldn’t continue. I mean, it offered nothing special. No quirks to make it unique, no specialness to set itself apart from the rest of the platformers out there, but maybe that is what makes it unique. It kind of reminds me of the way platformers used to be in the early 90s.

Although, let’s be honest, the game is not without its own flaws either. Aside from being pretty generic (and boring) the game did two things that really irked me:

1. Hit detection was a huge problem. I’m assuming this game relies solely on tiles (as opposed to pixel collision) to react to you because there would be times where I’d be no where close to a spear, or flame and yet would still get hurt just by being in close proximity. This could get especially annoying in some of the more difficult areas to navigate.

2. If you die, you start over from the beginning. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge issue. I mean, the levels aren’t terribly large from what I experienced. But with the terrible hit detection this made the entire process a little more mundane, especially when you’re on your third or fourth run through of the same level.

The game is only 80 MS points, so it’s not like there’s a high barrier for entry. Still though, if you have a half way decent PC I can point you towards countless free platformers that are leaps and bounds better than Crazy Wizard in Creepy Castle.

[This is not a review. This write up is based entirely on the trial version of the game]

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So you know how some offices have “casual Friday” or “crazy hat Monday?” Those days that are designed to increase morale and thus increase productivity? Well, in the interest of raising my own morale, I’ve decided to start something similar, here at DIY HQ! No, nothing stupid like the aforementioned ideas — I think being a blogger is about as casual as one can get — rather something interesting, something unique, and something that will appeal to you, our community. Something I’m tentatively calling “XBLIG Thursday.”

XBLIG Thursday, starting today, will be a day where I do nothing but play XBLIG games and then write about them. Previews, news, spotlights, maybe an interview or two. Seeing as how so many games get released to the channel each and every week, I feel like this could be a beneficial for not only you (the gamers) and the developers, but also for me… because now I can get a full day devoted to playing games for a living. Awesome, right?

Anyway, sit tight, because as I’m finishing this post up, I’m literally turning my Xbox 360 on to start the first ever XBLIG Thursday.

Oh and feel free to subscribe to our RSS feed to follow everything as close as possible.

Thursday is a tentative day and may change in the future.