All Articles: Hybrid

Hybrid Review: When Scribblenauts Attack!

Developer 5th Cell is best known for fun, family-friendly games like Drawn to Life, Lock’s Quest, and the truly innovative Scribblenauts. So it was quite the surprise when they announced their next project would be a violent third-person shooter, with Maxwell going postal after collecting one too many of those damn starites. Well, not quite (though that would be awesome); instead, they have created the sci-fi-themed Hybrid, featuring unique cover and mobility mechanics that differentiate it from the crowded shooter genre. (more…)

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XBLA Today: Hybrid

Developer 5th Cell has (temporarily) left the kid-friendly Scribblenauts series behind to delve into the frantic multiplayer action of Hybrid, their Xbox Live Arcade-exclusive shooter.

The game, which has been priced at 1200 Microsoft Points ($15), is the fourth title in this year’s Summer of Arcade promotion. Also of note, in addition to the purchase price, Hybrid requires an Xbox Live Gold subscription to take part in the fight:

Hybrid is a multiplayer third person shooter in which two factions fight for world domination on a persistent world map. Take control of a soldier fighting for the Paladins or the Variants as they race to control the world’s most powerful resource; Dark Matter. Your victories on the battlefield directly affect the course of the war!

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Summer of Arcade 2012 begins July 18; all games priced and dated

We already knew that Deadlight, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Hybrid, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, and Wreckateer would be included in this year’s Summer of Arcade. But now, thanks to Major Nelson, we know the promotion will begin on July 18 as well as the release schedule and how much each game will cost.

Ready? Here we go…

  • July 18: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (1200 Microsoft Points)
  • July 25: Wreckateer (800 Microsoft Points)
  • August 1: Deadlight (1200 Microsoft Points)
  • August 8: Hybrid (1200 Microsoft Points)
  • August 15: Dust: An Elysian Tail (1200 Microsoft Points)
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Summer of Arcade 2012 includes Tony Hawk HD, Hybrid, Wreckateer, Dust, Deadlight

Microsoft has announced the games that will make up this year’s Summer of Arcade and the fifth iteration of the annual promotion is already looking like a contender as one of the best:

Deadlight (Tequila Works/Microsoft Studios): Deadlight is a puzzle platformer, where the player must take advantage of the main character’s agility to solve obstacles, and dodge zombies, manipulating the many interactive elements of the scenery. With more walking corpses than bullets, the feeling of danger is constant.

Dust: An Elysian Tail (Humble Hearts/Microsoft Studios): As the mysterious warrior, Dust, your action-packed journey will take you from peaceful glades to snowy mountaintops and beyond. Battle dozens of enemies at once with an easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master combat system, and uncover the story of an ancient civilization on the brink of extinction as you fight to uncover your own past in a gorgeous hand-painted world.

Hybrid (5th Cell/5th Cell): Hybrid is a pioneering third person shooter set in the near future, where global conflict exists between a species known as the Variant and a rebel human faction known as the Paladins. 5TH Cell strives to give players a completely new gameplay experience never seen before in the genre.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD (Robomodo/Activision): Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD takes the best elements of the classic THPS games and gives them a fresh update to create an all new skateboarding experience. Tapping into fans’ muscle memories, and combining sharp visuals with the best controls ever in a Tony Hawk game, the feel is cutting edge yet timeless.

Wreckateer (Iron Galaxy/Microsoft Studios): Wreckateer uses Kinect to put you in control of a massive castle-wrecking ballista. With the help of Wreck and Tinker, travel the land and destroy 60 castles using six magical projectiles, and explore the infinite ways you can wreak havoc with Wreckateer’s fully-dynamic destruction.

A release schedule wasn’t announced yet, but Microsoft typically starts the Summer of Arcade by mid-July. As in years past, if you purchase multiple Summer of Arcade titles, you’ll receive a bit of a rebate. This year, players who purchase three or more Summer of Arcade titles will receive 400 Microsoft Points.

Hit the jump to see the funky Summer of Arcade 2012 trailer. (more…)

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Hybrid trailer features frenetic, zero-gravity shooting

What do you get when you take the aesthetics of Portal, mash it up with Vanquish‘s frenetic cover-based shooting, in zero gravity, and online gameplay for XBLA? You end up with a downloadable game called Hybrid. Quite a fitting name really.

After watching this trailer, Valve’s Source Engine and the development team behind Scribblenauts (5th Cell) could be a winning combo. What do you think? We’ll all find out together this Summer.

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5th Cell details XBLA shooter Hybrid

5th Cell, the developers of the ultracute Scribblenauts and its equally cute sequel Super Scribblenauts, will be branching out in 2011. The developer is hard at work on Hybrid, a “revolutionary” third-person shooter for the Xbox Live Arcade.

Before today, Hybrid’s storyline was a pretty closely guarded secret. But now we know just what the game’s about:

“Hybrid is set in the post-apocalyptic year 2031, after an extinction-level asteroid collided with Earth wiping out billons. A single-celled alien bacterium buried deep within the asteroid spread into the atmosphere, infecting half of the survivors and turning them into the Variant, a genetically altered race. Six years later the Variant began a new world order and waged a massive global war against the immune populace, known as the Paladin.”

Players will be able to take up arms as a Paladin or a Variant in a “persistent online world war.” As players win battles for their faction, territories and countries on the game’s world map will turn Paladin blue or Variant red.

Hybrid will also introduce a gameplay mechanic called “Combat Focused Movement.” 5th Cell didn’t explain what that means for shooter fans, but they did promise to reveal more during the 2011 Game Developers Conference, which runs from February 28th through March 4th.

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