Official Xbox Live Arcade Thread

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Secks4Food said:
I've never really been interested in the arcade, but I got 1600 points recently, 800 of which went to SOTN. What should I buy with the remaining 800? I liked the trials for PoP Classic, Geometry Wars, Pacman CE, Lumines, and Carcassonne a lot, but any other suggestions would be helpful :)
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Eets: Chowdown
Exit
Lumines

Can't go wrong with those if you're looking for a good puzzle game. Geometry Wars is kind of overrated, but Prince of Persia, Alien Hominid, Worms and Pacman: Championship Edition are also worth their money. Oh, and I'd definitely recommend Jetpac: Refuelled, though the trial demo for it sucks quite frankly.
 
Secks4Food said:
I've never really been interested in the arcade, but I got 1600 points recently, 800 of which went to SOTN. What should I buy with the remaining 800? I liked the trials for PoP Classic, Geometry Wars, Pacman CE, Lumines, and Carcassonne a lot, but any other suggestions would be helpful :)
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Space Giraffe!
 
aku:jiki said:
Also, the game kinda spoiled me forever. The way you can smoothly link moves before the previous animation ends to create a naturally and beautifully flowing chain of moves has me frustrated that pretty much no other game lets you do that.
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I agree - a lot of people dismissed the added moves as pointless, but I saw them as ways to make your runs much more slick and sometimes even quicker. While I almost felt like a ninja hopping and flipping through each level without missing a beat, I felt like it could have been done even more seamless. I hope they focus on that more than anything if they decide to revisit the classic version. And unlike 90% of the people out there, I thought the combat was done almost perfectly - using the triggers made for some pretty intense battles, parrying back and forth going in and out of slow motion. All this talk is making me want to play it again.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm pretty sure I'm going to either get Pacman CE or PoP classic, though Exit's pretty fun now that I've replayed the trial (the first time it was boring as hell).

Also, wtf is with Alien Hominid? I tried playing the trial, but the main menu wasn't there, just a blank PDA screen. The only time the options appeared was when I pressed the guide button to see who was online, but when I pressed it again the menu went back to blank. Help?
 
robot said:
I agree - a lot of people dismissed the added moves as pointless, but I saw them as ways to make your runs much more slick and sometimes even quicker. While I almost felt like a ninja hopping and flipping through each level without missing a beat, I felt like it could have been done even more seamless. I hope they focus on that more than anything if they decide to revisit the classic version. And unlike 90% of the people out there, I thought the combat was done almost perfectly - using the triggers made for some pretty intense battles, parrying back and forth going in and out of slow motion. All this talk is making me want to play it again.
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Well, I don't mind most of the new moves, but the way they are context sensitive can really mess you up. For instance, the normal way I use for getting the life potion on level 11 makes me fall to my doom, because the prince decides to grab a ledge which makes him fall to his doom instead of doing the full jump to safety.

Overall, I actually prefer the original Prince of Persia. This remake is good, but I think the controls works better in the original and I loved the original style of the animations (most of the new ones in Classic are extremely unrealistic which doesn't do the original animations justice).

I'd fap all over the developers if they remade Prince of Persia a similar way Street Fighter 2 HD is being made. That would be pure heaven.
 
Secks4Food said:
Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm pretty sure I'm going to either get Pacman CE or PoP classic, though Exit's pretty fun now that I've replayed the trial (the first time it was boring as hell).

Also, wtf is with Alien Hominid? I tried playing the trial, but the main menu wasn't there, just a blank PDA screen. The only time the options appeared was when I pressed the guide button to see who was online, but when I pressed it again the menu went back to blank. Help?
Click to expand...


Alien Hominid is a 2-d platform game that has some very old-school styling.
 
Sectus said:
Geometry Wars is overhyped in my opinion. It's a fun game but it feels very limiting, it has only one mode which gets impossibly difficult too soon. So I don't think it's worthwhile considering it doesn't offer that much playtime.
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I bought GW in February and I still play it. Pacman CE is great and highly recommended.
 
Sectus said:
Assault Heroes is the best 2D topdown shoot'em'up game I've ever played. Definitely recommended if you have a friend to play it with.
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Wow. Really. I mean, really? I can understand someone liking it. But the best? You know there are literaly hundreds of games in this style and I could probably think of a hundred better than Assault Heroes. Even some of the very first like Robotron I like more. Then you've got Raiden 2, Smash TV, etc etc. The list is quite massive, and the quality unbelievable.

I finished Assault Heroes with a friend on the hardest difficulty, and while my friend loves the game. I just found it kind of boring. But, each to their own.

Edit: Also, I'll be getting Switchball day 1 too. Looks great.
 
Mar_ said:
Wow. Really. I mean, really? I can understand someone liking it. But the best? You know there are literaly hundreds of games in this style and I could probably think of a hundred better than Assault Heroes. Even some of the very first like Robotron I like more. Then you've got Raiden 2, Smash TV, etc etc. The list is quite massive, and the quality unbelievable.

I finished Assault Heroes with a friend on the hardest difficulty, and while my friend loves the game. I just found it kind of boring. But, each to their own.
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Well, I've never been a big fan of those "arena"-style shoot'em'ups ala Smash TV. I prefer side-scrolling ones like Assault Heroes and Tyrian, they seem to be a lot more varied.
 
Sectus said:
Do you simply prefer the general gameplay of MBU, or is there something really flawed about Switchball which makes it inferior?
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Yeah, that's the ticket. Not hating on Switchball at all, as I did enjoy both the gameplay and the very 'cozy' (for lack of a better word) atmosphere it presented with the pretty graphics and soothing music.

Sectus said:
Edit: Regarding Assault Heroes, note that I said 2D topdown shoot'em'up (which is pretty specific). So within that subgenre I think it's the best one I've played, if you've got a better example I'd love to hear it.
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Like Mar said, it's a pretty gigantic genre. Thousands of games in it, and hundreds better than AH. I mean, it's pretty fun, but it doesn't hold a candle to classics from Cave, Raizing, Psikyo, Konami, Treasure, and so on, including both the western and eastern homebrew scenes (especially the japanese homebrewers are just simply amazing at creating shooters -- they rival and often completely crush commercial products).

If you get curious, this site has a database of PC homebrew (or very smallscale commercial) shooter titles. Most of it is completely freeware, and almost all of the ones that aren't have demos.

Secks4food said:
Also, wtf is with Alien Hominid?
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I heard about that, it's some recent bug that popped up out of nowhere. Second XBLA game I hear of just randomly breaking for no reason. (First one was Crystal Quest, where the DLC people had bought just stopped working for a lot of players, even if they hadn't had to repair or exchange their consoles. Very strange.)

Anyway, I believe the problem has a patch out if you decide to get the full version.

Sectus said:
For instance, the normal way I use for getting the life potion on level 11 makes me fall to my doom, because the prince decides to grab a ledge which makes him fall to his doom instead of doing the full jump to safety.
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Not saying this to be an ass at all, but if you keep dying your normal path is clearly wrong. All the paths I use are buttery with the prince's moveset.
 
aku:jiki said:
Not saying this to be an ass at all, but if you keep dying your normal path is clearly wrong. All the paths I use are buttery with the prince's moveset.
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Well, I did change my path after dying, but it's just something I found rather annoying. I feel it can be a limitation to have that kind of context sensitivity which I don't have control over. Flashback has the exact same move but they tweaked the controls so it was up to the player when it's used (and that's with controls which has only one action button). The move I'm talking about is the running jump+grab ledge by the way, there's certain places the prince will do that when you only wanted to do an ordinary running jump.

Thanks for the shoot'em'up link. A bit daunting to look at now but I've got it bookmarked.
And I had no idea there exists a hentai subgenre of shoot'em'ups. >_>;
Perhaps saying Assault Heroes is THE best topdown shoot'em'up was an exaggaration, but it's still one of my favourite XBLA games.
 
Sectus said:
Well, I've never been a big fan of those "arena"-style shoot'em'ups ala Smash TV. I prefer side-scrolling ones like Assault Heroes and Tyrian, they seem to be a lot more varied.
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Tyrian was fantastic I'll give you that and huge props for mentioning it however as good as AH is, its NOT the best. Thats a pretty huge boast dude. I mean...Wow. heh. :D
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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Pinball FX
Pacman CE
Marathon
Geometry Wars
Uno
Catan
Exit
Lumines Live
Mutant Storm Empire
Puzzle Quest if you don't have it for another platform, Super Puzzle Fighter HD if you do.
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Geometry Wars
Castlevania
Marble Blast Ultra
Assault Heroes
Small Arms
Alien Hominid

are the ones I've thought worth it so far(of the ones I've played). Only one I really regret getting is Contra.
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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Symphony of the Night
Puzzle Quest
Exit
Eets Chowdown
Cloning Clyde
Pacman CE
Settlers of Catan
Worms
Street Fighter II
Mutant Storm Empires
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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Symphony of the Night
Catan
Puzzle Quest
Marble Blast Ultra (soon to be replaced with Switchball)
Exit
Bomberman Live
Assault Heroes
Pinball FX
Mutant Storm Empire
Eets Chowdown
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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In order of preference:

Pac-Man CE
Lumines Live (plus DLC skin packs)
Catan
Puzzle Quest
Symphony of the Night
Super Puzzle Fighter HD
Bomberman Live
Geometry Wars
Marble Blast Ultra
Worms
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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Marble Blast Ultra *******
Pac-Man CE
Doom
Heavy Weapon
UNO
Jetpac Refueled
Castlevania : SOTN
Puzzle Quest *******
Puzzle Fighter
Zuma

******* my extra special favourites

Honorable Mention - Time Pilot doesn't get enough love.
 
I love playing all of these (if they have online they rock too)

Ill bomb of 10:

Geo wars
Heavy Weapon
Worms
Uno
Catan
Puzzle Quest
Alien Homnid
Assualt Heros
Bomberman
Pinball FX

And I could go on

try the demos and see what you like
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
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Jetpac: Refuelled
Eets: Chowdown
Exit
Alien Hominid HD
UNO
Worms
Switchball (next week)
Prince of Persia Classic
Pac-Man: Championship Edition
Mutant Storm Reloaded (haven't tried Empire yet)
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Catan
Geometry Wars
Jetpac Refuelled
Lumines Live!
Marble Blast Ultra
Pac-Man C.E.
Pinball FX
Puzzle Fighter HD
Puzzle Quest
UNO
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Pacman: Championship Edition
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Prince of Persia Classic
Streets of Rage 2
Jetpac Refueled
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Band of Bugs
Eets: Chowdown
 
My top ten in no particular order:


Exit
Lumines Live - with a couple of packs thrown in
Mutant Storm Reloaded
Pinball FX
Pacman CE
Prince of Persia Classic
Castlevania: SotN
Alien Hominid
Worms
Bomberman Live

There are still a few I haven't tried much but these are either the ones I keep returning to or that have given me many hours of gaming pleasure.
 
Tempy said:
I can't seem to find the relevant page on the Spanish site :(

The forms do say it should be valid in Spain though.

Edit: There's an article on Todos Juegos about it, but I'm not sure when it was posted.
http://www.todojuegos.com/noticia-5...ox-360-y-Microsoft-os-regala-10-juegos-Arcade

They link to a form on their own site, but it might be invalid/outdated/not official:
http://www.todojuegos.com/img/xbox_360/Cupon-ParticipacionFGF.pdf

Plus they have different dates for the promotion (Nov1-Jan29)
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Here is the spanish site:
http://www.xbox.com/es-es/10juegosacadauno

FYI, the full details and country list: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943296/en-gb
 
My top 10

Bomberman
Super Puzzle Fighter
Catan
Pac-Man CE
Carcasonne
Assault Heroes
Streets of Rage
Street Fighter 2:HF
Zuma
Uno
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...
No particular order:

Puzzle Quest
Cloning Clyde
Assault Heroes
Mutant Storm Empire
Heavy Weapon
DOOM

Then grab a buch of oldies (Streets of Rage 2, etc.)
 
Catan
Pac-Man CE
Mutant Storm x2
Bomberman Live
Assault Heroes
Alien Hominid
Exit
Heavy Weapon
Prince of Persia

Although it's hard to know whether recently released games (Mutant Storm Empire and Exit) will hold up over time.

Edit:
I think Catan and Pac-Man CE are the best games on XBLA.
I really hope they eventually make Seafarers and Cities and Knights, whether as expansions for Catan or as separate games. I would pay a lot of money for those.
 
wayward archer said:
Question to the XBLA savvy: if you were going to buy 10 games today, starting from a blank slate, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Bomberman Live
Catan
Puzzle Quest
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Carcassonne
Worms
Streets of Rage 2
 
The official word:

http://gamerscoreblog.com/team/archive/2007/11/05/554363.aspx

Two great new titles arrive on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. Switchball is absolutely gorgeous (check out the screen shots on our Flickr page) and Word Puzzle is wonderfully addictive for "word nerds" like me.

From the media alert:

The traditional pen and paper word search game is taken to a whole new level this week as InterServ brings Word Puzzle to Xbox LIVE Arcade. This brain-busting game features intricate 3D boards, exploding word bombs and a whole host of synapse melting challenges and special effects. With five unique game modes, LIVE support for up to four players and Xbox LIVE Vision Camera support, Word Puzzle will keep you playing with friends and family for hours. The game will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.


In Switchball players conquer breathtakingly beautiful labyrinthine mazes as they manipulate the unique physical properties of an ever-changeable ball to solve clever puzzles. Morph into the Metalball and ram objects out of your way, charge the Powerball to dash up ramps and jump over obstacles, switch to the Airball to float over physics based death traps or use the Marbleball for speedy rolling around action. Created by Sierra Online, Switchball empowers players to harness the laws of physics and triumphantly roll their way through five elegantly detailed 3D environments or they can join friends in 2 player co-op or 8 player competitive racing fun through Xbox LIVE. The game will be available worldwide (with the exception of Korea) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.
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Shard said:
Anybody remotely considering the purchase of Word Puzzle?
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From the looks of it it doesn't seem interesting, but the same could be said about some other XBLA games that turned into classics (Pinball FX). So demo first.
 
Indeed. Anyway, a bit of a milestone note, with the release of Word Puzzle, this will bring the game tally up to 98. Therefore either next week or the week after, depending on the release schedule, we shall finally see that 100th XBLA game. Also, in two weeks time it will have been
two years since the XBLA went live. Not sure if Microsoft plans to do anything special for the occasions, they may or may not do so in form, but stll it is something to keep abreast of.
 
My top 10, in order of awesomeness:

1. Castlevania: SotN
2. DOOM
3. Geometry Wars
4. UNO
5. Lumines LIVE
6. Worms
7. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8. Mutant Storm Reloaded
9. Prince of Persia
10. Marathon: Durandal
 
Wowowow Switchball.

Insta-buy!

PR E-mail said:
Boost your brain power with “Word Puzzle,” a new spin on the classic word search game, and make Sir Isaac Newton proud as you embrace the laws of physics with “Switchball” on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Both games will be available this Wednesday, November 7, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PST).

The traditional pen and paper word search game is taken to a whole new level this week as InterServ brings “Word Puzzle” to Xbox LIVE Arcade. This brain-busting game features intricate 3D boards, exploding word bombs and a whole host of synapse melting challenges and special effects. With five unique game modes, LIVE support for up to four players and Xbox LIVE Vision Camera support, “Word Puzzle” will keep you playing with friends and family for hours. The game will be available worldwide for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.

For more details on “Word Puzzle,” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/w/wordpuzzlexboxlivearcade/default.htm


In “Switchball,” players conquer breathtakingly beautiful labyrinthine mazes as they manipulate the unique physical properties of an ever-changeable ball to solve clever puzzles. Morph into the Metalball and ram objects out of your way, charge the Powerball to dash up ramps and jump over obstacles, switch to the Airball to float over physics based death traps or use the Marbleball for speedy rolling around action. Created by Sierra Online, “Switchball” empowers players to harness the laws of physics and triumphantly roll their way through five elegantly detailed 3D environments or they can join friends in 2 player co-op or 8 player competitive racing fun through Xbox LIVE. The game will be available worldwide (with the exception of Korea) for 800 Microsoft Points and is rated E.

For more details on “Switchball” please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/switchballxboxlivearcade/default.htm
Click to expand...
 
radjago said:
Yes, pending the demo.

Also, Bookworm Adventures can't come soon enough. Online play would be awesome too.
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Is Bookworm Adventures on the way? (I presume it would require the messenger kit?)
 
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