Dustin

I was a backer of this on Kickstarter, and pledged enough to help Michael design a "level" in the game. I'm incredibly excited to see how well this game will be received as it gets closer to completion - I really think it has huge potential. It's a simple concept, but unique enough to stand out. Hope everyone picks it up, whether now or later!

@Hoffer Yep, you can! I wish I would have bought all of the elements right from the start, because I've missed some doors, but nothing I can't go back through. Also, watch Amazon if you want more of the figures - they've been putting some on sale for $4.99 to compensate for when they're sold out of the more popular ones, which has been most of the week.

I have been loving this game since Sunday. I'm aware it's targeted at kids, but I'm a sucker for the 1-2-punch of the grinding and the toy collecting. The starter pack is actually a pretty good value, consider you're getting 3 figures, the Portal of Power accessory (which is well built and gets big cool-points), and the actual game. The other figures are $8/pieces, or in 3-packs for $20. The "Adventures packs" come with 1 figure, 1 "world" pieces, and 2 item pieces, making 4 toys total, for $20. Plus, Toys-R-Us has their buy-2-get-1-free deal going on right now, and the Skylanders figures are included, so you can get 3 for about $16. I've already succumbed to buy an additional 6, and now have at least one for each of the eight elements in the game. I was planning on collecting all 32, until I saw that TRU has an exclusive line of "Legendary" editions of each of the figures, bringing the total to... 64. Which is wallet-crushing. But gorram... this game has me hooked.

Question for Russ or another Joystiq peep: are there any internal guidelines for reviewing a game that's already been out for a while? Just curious, as it seems it's becoming a more common thing, thanks to the prevalence of mobile games and Steam games ending up on another platform.

Anyways, good review - it tells me I'm quite content with my PC copy. No need to buy a PSN version with inferior controls.

Love this. Nice work, Mr. McElroy! Just finished the game myself and it's definitely some of the most fun I've EVER had in a video game.

@Jakintosh It is scheduled to come out "early" 2012. It won't be out by this holiday, so we all have to be patient. Yes, it's 3 main developers working on the game, but they have a support staff of friends and colleagues. The main reason for the long development cycle is because they are being extremely careful with publishing the game. They're self-publishing on PSN, but MS has essentially told them that their game won't ever be on XBLA if they publish on PSN first. And considering they're using all of their personal savings while working on this game, they want to make sure they're making the right decisions.

Trust me... it will be worth the wait. I played it eight times this weekend, and it's my favorite game at PAX.

Been interested in trying these out!

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze Holy balls - how many thousands of times have I read your names and never knew that you were from Wichita?

I'm going to the show next week - I know it's just the WSU band, but tickets are cheap (start at just $20) and I don't feel like driving to KC.

One of my favorite indie games ever - thanks for covering this, Justin!

The XBLA version is great and all, but if you don't mind playing on a PC, and you have a duel-stick USB controller (wired 360 controller is best!), then go with the Steam version.

The first thing I do when I get new music now is to sit back and play through the album in Beat Hazard.

Also: play any version of Aerosmith's "Dream On" for a HELL of a ride in Beat Hazard. So epic.

Oh, and in case there's any confusion -- my comment is not insinuating that Massively isn't obtaining or reporting on enough information. What I'm saying is that NetDevil seems to be dropping the ball in a horrible way. I can't think of very many games that can get away with stringing along their fans for two years with nothing but forums, some mostly cinematic trailers, and a dozen screenshots to keep them satiated. We need more news! We need a beta!