>>Community Game Brief
Unlike most quality Community Games titles, which sell themselves on unique concepts, Bored Meeting focuses on uproarious multiplayer fun. It’s developer Steven Jones’ tribute to Sega’s Chu Chu Rocket. More specifically, it’s a flexible take on Chu Chu’s local multiplayer mode.
A Dreamcast classic, Chu Chu Rocket pits four players on a grid, directing hundreds of mice into a colored rocket by placing arrows. Bored Meeting keeps the basic premise, replacing rodents and rockets with marketing metaphors. One twist: players can create “marketing buzz” to destroy walls, a mechanic used to great effect in certain stages, where players dig through the level to reach their respective goals.
It’s a must-buy under the right circumstances, but there are a few catches. As a copycat, Bored Meeting isn’t a replacement for Chu Chu Rocket, as it simply isn’t as polished or fully-featured. More importantly, this is a four-player party game, and if you can’t get 1-3 other friends (and controllers) in a room, there’s not much of a game here.
Price: 80 points
Verdict:
TRY!
Go to Xbox Live Marketplace
Community Game Briefs are short but informative impressions on the ever-expanding Community Games catalogue on Xbox Live. These are not full reviews. The verdict comes in three flavors: AVOID, TRY, or BUY. Anything can be awarded an AVOID or TRY rating, whether I actually buy it or only sample the demo. You can be assured that any game awarded the BUY rating has been purchased and played extensively.