More Xbox Windows Phone games drop Nokia exclusivity
Less than a week ago we reported that two former Nokia exclusive Xbox games: Dream Track Nation and Tiny Plane become available to all Windows Phone users. Several more former exclusives have just followed, right in time for the weekend: Vampire Rush from A-Steroids, Storm in a Teacup from Cobra, and The Sims Medieval from Electronic Arts. Okay, The Sims Medieval actually went non-exclusive a little earlier but we’re just getting to it now.
With three more Xbox games available to all Windows Phone users, the list of Nokia exclusive Xbox titles grows ever shorter. Head past the break for details, Store links, and an updated list of the remaining exclusives!
Vampire Rush
Windows Phone 7 or 8 – 137 MB – $2.99 – Store Link
In Vampire Rush, players take on the role of Captain Greg, a British swashbuckler. Only Greg can stand between the gates of the city and armies of the undead in this mix of tower defense with hack-and-slash action.
You’ll run around each map, hunting down vampires and their kin on the map and swording them into oblivion. Sometimes they drop gold, which can then be used to build and upgrade turrets or purchase character upgrades. Just don’t let the enemies reach the gate or Greg and the village will meet an untimely demise. Check out our full review for more details.
Vampire Rush features both a campaign mode and survival mode, the latter of which was added in an update. That same update fixed a broken Achievement, but failed to fix another broken one. A-Steroids has told us they would like to get the final Achievement working, but only time will tell if that actually happens.
Storm in a Teacup
Windows Phone 7 or 8 – 32 MB – $2.99 – Store Link
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The game stars a little boy named Storm who hops around in a teacup through fanciful levels dreamed up by his brother Cloud in this touch screen platformer.
Storm in a Teacup is extremely simplistic in the graphics department – the backgrounds don’t even use parallax scrolling, which they sorely need. And yet the frame rate is somewhere in the 10-15 FPS range. It’s like Gameloft’s 3D Windows Phone 8 games, only nothing complex is even going on under the hood. Blame Cobra, whose port of iBomber Defense also runs quite poorly.
Still, if you can tolerate crap graphics and love platformers, you might be able to put up with this one. I’d definitely play Sonic CD and Little Acorns first though.
Sims Medieval
Windows Phone 7 or 8 – 139 MB – $4.99 – Store Link
With all the love we’ve given The Sims FreePlay lately, it’s a shame we haven’t reviewed Sims medieval yet. Don’t worry, it’s coming eventually!
The Sims Medieval is much closer to Windows Phone 7 launch game The Sims 3 than FreePlay. Players control a single Sim as he completes quests and lives his life in a rural fantasy setting. This medieval Sim will perform traditional Sims tasks like fishing and decorating his house, but he also takes part in a story-based adventure.
The mix of Sims gameplay and light role-playing elements should appeal to players turned off by FreePlay’s real-time-based gameplay.
Nokia exclusives update: current exclusives
Here’s the full list of Nokia exclusives.
- DaVinci Pinball - Released: April 23, 2013
- FIFA 13 - Released: July 8, 2013
- Mass Effect: Infiltrator - Released: May 22, 2013
- Monopoly Millionaire - Released: April 23, 2013
- NBA Jam - Released: May 22, 2013
- Real Racing 2 - Released: May 22, 2013
- Tiger Woods 12 - Released: May 22, 2013
Former exclusives
- Bejeweled Live+
- Blobster
- Connect 4
- Dream Track Nation
- Flight Control Rocket
- The Game of Life
- iBomber Defense
- Jet Set Go
- Mirror’s Edge
- Parking Mania
- Picnic Wars
- Risk
- The Sims: Medieval
- Spy Mouse
- Storm in a Teacup
- Tiny Plane
- Trivial Pursuit
- Vampire Rush
- Yahtzee
- Zuma's Revenge!
Paul Acevedo is the Games Editor at Windows Central. A lifelong gamer, he has written about videogames for over 15 years and reviewed over 350 games for our site. Follow him on Twitter @PaulRAcevedo. Don’t hate. Appreciate!