Free game coming to Xbox Live Arcade

[Wingman709]

Read this on IGN today.

Freebie for Xbox Live Arcade
Sponsored game on tap for this week.
by Erik Brudvig
December 15, 2008 - A free game will be put up for download this week on the Xbox Live Arcade. This one is sponsored by Doritos and is titled Dash of Destruction. This game was the winning concept behind a previous promotion called "Unlock Xbox" where the winning game idea submission would be created. Hopefuly this one is better than the last sponsored game, Yaris.

Check the Xbox Live Arcade on Wednesday to download Dash of Destruction for free.

Game details can be found here.
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/d/do...de/default.htm

[Imran]

Have you tried this Wingman? Is it any good?

[Retodon8]

I downloaded it an hour or so ago, played it, and unlocked all 200 points within 30 minutes.
In other words, it's a nice, free Gamerscore booster at the very least.

I played the original Flash concept game right after it won the contest back then, and remembered it was similar.
Just now I tried the concept game again, and it turns out it's not very similar at all; they greatly improved the concept.
(Search for Doritos on Kotaku (or click my link) to see some of the game's history.)

Basically it's a top-down frenetic action game, which reminded me of GTA at first few glances, playing as the truck.
(Speaking of which, both GTA and GTA2 are free downloads now, if you're interested.)
Moving your stick up is always "go North" though, so easier controls than GTA.
The game is a bit hard to follow with all the debris flying around small characters, and driving over pickups can be really annoying sometime when you're on the clock and you just keep circling around something so small.

You can play as a truck that delivers Doritos, all the while evading a T-rex.
Later you get competition from other trucks (loose "time-limit"), and more than one dino appears.
As a dino you need to eat the trucks (multiple), and after a while you get competition from other dinos as well.
You can walk through, and destroy buildings, and that barely slows you down.
Both the truck and dino get upgrades, but since there are only 6 levels for either truck or dino anyway, it doesn't really "do" much.
I got stuck on dino level 4 for a bunch of tries, but raced through 5 and 6 in one try... so...

This game won't hold my attention for very long.
I'll see if I can find someone to play multiplayer with/against, but apparently there is no online play.
I did connect a second controller just so I could get the last Achievement... which I guess is cheating, but which really is just me being to impatient to wait a (few) day(s) for another player.

Anyway, it's free, offers 200 points that require some time, fast reflexes, and a bunch of luck.
It's sort of hard to follow sometimes, feels somewhat random, so I did get a bit annoyed a few times, but it was all over in a flash anyway.

In conclusion: Everybody should try it.

[dyl]

I played the flash one just now for a minute and in the first 15 seconds I think I got a taste of the entire game lol. Maybe I should become a game designer and confront Frito-Lay about a deal.

[tibbon]

Meh, you get what you pay for. It's a neat idea, but I'd rather pay $10-15 for killer games like Megaman 9, Geometry Wars 2, or Braid... than waste my time with a sub-par 'free' game covered with advertising/branding. Maybe its just me, but my time is well worth the small amount spent on a good game.

[Retodon8]

(Although I disagree about Megaman 9) I do agree that developers deserve to get paid for making good games.
I'll happily pay money for a game I love, knowing that I helped support that, and future games.

Still, this game isn't comparable to Yaris.
This one is actually somewhat fun to play.
It's not a "That is 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back" kind of deal.
Maybe I'm too lenient, but I like to stay positive.

The advertisement didn't bother me either, I only noticed the word "Doritos" a bunch of times, as well as some triangle-shaped things.
If I didn't know what they were, I would've figured Doritos were some kind of food, but would have to look them up to know for sure.

It probably won't entertain you for very long, but like you said, you get what you paid for, so I'll keep advising people to give it a try.
Everybody has the right to my opinion.

[sinfuldamasta]

Their is a free game sponsored by Doritos, and it is very easy, as are the achievements.

[Wingman709]

Originally Posted by Imran

Have you tried this Wingman? Is it any good?

It is a lot better than Yaris. Its not bad but I don't see anyone playing it after they get all the achievement points in the first 15 minutes.

[Dvader83]

Yeah, I burned through the achievements pretty quickly and this one will just gather dust at the back of my played games list.