14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft and independent developer Torpex Games deliver you the first title created using the XNA Game Studio platform. Named Schiziod, it is presented as the "most co-op game ever" and promises to create a new category in the action gaming genre - the survival teamwork. We must admit that it sounds pretty interesting and we're going to give it a try. If you're interested in Schizoid, too, just turn on your Xbox 360 console and get it for XBLA.
In the game, you will have to protect your back and that of your partner's while striving to destroy hordes of glowing scorpions and all sorts of strange enemies. Things are, in the end, pretty simple and the concept is really nice, truly making you depend on the skills of your partner. There are two types of enemies, blue and red ones. You can only kill one type of enemy, even though, naturally, the red and the blue ones can decimate you. So, if your partner is not paying attention, you'll both get the "game over" message pretty quick. Awesome, right?
"Schizoid is a landmark co-op gaming experience, unlike any other game. It's a new experience that you've got to try," says Bill Dugan, Torpex Games' president. "And although it has been reported that Schizoid will 'make your brain melt and ooze out of your ears', I want to reassure gamers that in our testing we found no evidence of actual brain liquefaction."
If you are a loner and you consider that single player is the best way to play games, you are allowed to do that too, either by controlling one ship in the easy mode, while the AI controls the other, or by picking up both ships and hoping for the best. Of course, nothing is as fun as the multiplayer mode which can be played on the same console together with your friends or live on XBLA. And just the fact that it's the first XNA game makes it worth all the trouble!