XBox Live Arcade Must Downloads

Daemon_Aconis

I just got around to picking up a 360 (found an elite, finally), and I'm making a list of Xbox Live Arcade games that I'm going to download. So far I have the following in the list:

Boom Boom Rocket (800)
Catan (800)
Geometry Wars Evolved (400)
Uno (400)
Worms (800)

That's 3200 points so far, so two storebought points cards. What other games would you suggest, and why?

Renzo

I'd suggest Lumines if you like puzzle games. But at 1200 points, it's expensive. I also bought that top-down shooter game that's like Ikari Warriors, except it has a really generic name. It's fun, but I never felt compelled to finish it. Live Arcade isn't really my thing.

Six

I found the demo of Boom Boom Rocket pretty underwhelming. Your other choices seem solid.

Malvient

Everytime I play lumines I end up playing it for 2 hours straight. Fucking addictive game.

ben0207

Marble Blast is awesometacular, as is Robotron and Lumines

chasm

Double Dragon

LA:

Alien Hominid and Castlevania would be the only other ones I could think of.

Six

Marble blast is very great. The multiplayer never did much for me, but the single player game is well worth the price of admission.

DuskTwilight

I'm going to anti-suggest Boom Boom Rocket, unless you REALLLY liked the demo. The way the icons slow down when they get close to the line and sometimes aren't in beat to the music at all turned me off.

Aoi

I've really enjoyed the hell out of the Mini Golf game online with other players.

Daybreak

I really enjoyed the following games (in no particular order):

Pinball FX
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
TMNT Arcade
Alien Hominid
Lumines Live
Uno
Hexic
Outpost Kaloki X

I haven't played Catan yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what to say in way of recommendation for these games - they're all really solid, and I felt I got my money's worth from all of them.

Pinball FX is a solid pinball game that includes three tables (though I only play the racing one since I find it the most enjoyable). Castlevania and TMNT are classic games, and TMNT is cheap enough (400) to justify a purchase. Alien Hominid is cool looking while still maintaining old school arcade flavour. Lumines is a great puzzle game if you haven't played it on the PSP, but keep in mind that it's incomplete and the extra modes (like multiplayer) cost lots. Still, the base game itself is worth it. Uno is Uno, and Hexic should come for free on your HDD. Outpost Kaloki is an underappreciated strategy game, a Lemonade Stand in space. It's very fun and it gets quite challenging.

I played the demo of Boom Boom Rocket and don't think it's worth the $10.

EDIT: Oh, how could I forget Cloning Clyde, that's definitely worth a look

Zek

Castlevania. Buy this game if you haven't played the original.

Boom Boom Rocket is okay. I had enough fun with it to justify the price, and if you're desperate for a rhythm game it gets the job done. But IMHO it's frustrating more than anything that the icons pop up in random places, and the notes are synched poorly at times. Don't bother with it if you have Guitar Hero.

Jurassic Spaceprancer

Castlevania is a must-have. And at least demo Cloning Clyde. I love that game.

Nocren

I liked the music in BBR but I'm having trouble on what to spend my 800 points on as well.
I have Boom-Boom, Doom, Smash TV, Geo Wars, TMNT, UNO, Catan, SotN and the free HD game.

When is Castle Crashers coming out again?

Carnivore

swap alien hominid for boom boom rocket

Wordherder

Wait. Boom Boom costs $10? That's... a bit excessive for the kind of game it is.

And are there any plans to consolidate all the separate downloads for Lumines?

Nocren

cloudeagle wrote: »

Wait. Boom Boom costs $10? That's... a bit excessive for the kind of game it is.

II wouldn't say it's a value but it is nice. Free mode for the kids, decent challenge, nice musicly-interactive screensaver.

Ashendark

cloudeagle wrote: »

Wait. Boom Boom costs $10? That's... a bit excessive for the kind of game it is.

I thought so too but I bought it anyway and don't regret it. There are 10 tracks and multiple modes. I'd say $1 a track isn't too bad with as many times as i've played through them.

Anyway I'd take Assault Hero's over Outpost Kaloski, TMNT, Pinball FX or Alien Hominid on the list of must haves. Assault Hero's co-op is good fun.

Also Marble Blast Ultra is a definate must have. Single player experience here, co-op is pretty meh.

I guess to each their own. This is why trial games rule.

Shadowfire

There's a lack of Contra love in this thread.

I'm fixing that.

Get Contra.

FaceballMcDougal

I like how the music in Boom Boom Rocket is pretty much every public domain classical channel song from Test Drive Unlimited

skydogg

I've gotten way more than my money's worth out of Heavy Weapon...online with 3 others in survival mode, or even same screen, is a blast. Excellent choice when you have 15-30 minutes to blow up shit.

Smarmy Lech

Jurassic Spaceprancer wrote: »

Castlevania is a must-have. And at least demo Cloning Clyde. I love that game.

Seconded. That game is fantastic.

davidbarry

I'm frustrated that we have yet to hear any news about a new Geometry Wars. Perhaps we'll see it released along with PGR4?

fragglefart

Geometry Wars

Castlevania

Uno

And I'm gonna have to throw some love to Heavy Weapon, becuase I really, really enjoy playing it. 4 player is pure awesome.

Alien Hominid HD, Worms and DOOM are also worth a mention, you should know what you are getting there, I enjoyed them, but how "essential" they are is debatable on how much, and how recently, you've already played them.

vegeta_666

Guys, Smash TV. Seriously, good fun in co-op. Me and 2 other friends played that every time you lost all your lives we switched the controller, got to be very exciting and fun.

cemetery man

Luxor 2 is pretty cool. It's a lot easier to play that port vs playing Zuma where the control feels very wonky. Bejeweled 2 is good but I think everyone has already played that.

Cherrn

I gotta say, I really can't understand why people like Alien Hominid. It's just a very, very poor man's Metal Slug, and although I love Metal Slug, I can't get into AH at all. It just feels really badly designed overall. It doesn't feel as though it has evolved beyond flash at all.

MasterDebater

My friends and I have an excessive amount of fun with Heavy Weapon.

knigge

I've played Geometry Wars more than any other game I've gotten on Arcade. Right when I think I'm finished with the game I come back a few weeks later and try to beat my score. Which is, of course, typically futile. But I love it. Contra's decent, but it's no NES version. I liked Alien Hominid, but I felt like there wasn't anything beyond the week straight that I spent on it. Aside from those games, nothing else has really made an impact.

spookymuffin

I had a blast playing Small Arms, it's basically Smash Bros with guns. Some of the levels are Power Stone-y, where you have to move along with it or you die, but that adds some fun to it. Playing inside of a tornado while jumping from a trailer home to a cow is pretty interesting.

Samphis

I've gotten a lot of play from RoboBlitz. It may not be worth $15 to you, but I enjoy it.

Kemal86

Cloning Clyde, this game did not get the attention it deserves.

Alien Hominid is hard as fuck but awesome.

Marble Blast isn't quite as hard, and is pretty fun. But if you have skillz, it's not that long either.

mspencer

chasm953 wrote: »

Double Dragon

Indeed -- Ars Technica seemed to hate it but I can't get enough of it. Partly this is because during the "poor white trash" phase of my childhood there was a Double Dragon cabinet in the unremarkable laundromat (Warsh House I believe, in Bowling Green, KY) which was also our school bus stop. I would frequently get a quick game in while waiting for the bus. They never seemed to turn the difficulty up on that cabinet, either, so I could get to mission 3 or sometimes 4 before losing all my lives. When you're poor, your arcade entertainment consists of finding a single game you're good at and can play for many minutes on one quarter, and then play nothing but that game. X__X

So here's the secret to this game: elbow smash (punch + jump) constantly, and try to block/intercept enemies who want to surround you. The elbow smash has a window of attack: there's a pretty large fraction of a second where your elbow is sticking out there and anyone who walks into it gets hit.

For the elbow smash to work reliably, especially on the tougher enemies, you can't just stand next to them while waiting for them to stand up again. They have counterattacks that compensate for that -- they'll frequently just wait for your move to finish (in that crouching position) before standing up and hitting you.

To compensate for that, each time you knock an enemy down, offset yourself from them up or down a little bit. Enemies can only attack sideways, so if you're a little below or a little above them, they have to take time moving up or down to get to you. And they can't move up or down and attack at the same time. Combine the above elbow smash fact (that the elbow sits out there with a window of time) and the strategy should seem obvious: you move a bit out of the way, wait for them to get up, and then throw the elbow and let them walk into it. That works VERY reliably with only one enemy, but if you have two or more enemies and they manage to surround you, there will be trouble. So try not to let them surround you.

jimenex

Am I the only one who likes Assault Heroes?

manwhich

While alot has been mentioned I want to chime in that I think Centipede/Millipede is an awesome game. Sure its kinda simple but if you have a nice hdtv the colors really stand out in this game alot like Geometry Wars. For five bucks its not bad really. I mean I spent 20 for it back on the Atari 7800.

Zombiemambo

I would say the only definite "You must buy this" XBLA game is Geometry Wars. It's a 400 point game that holds more fun factor and replay value than almost any game on there, regardless of price.

Most of the high-quality games are ports of others, so I wouldn't put them on the list.

jclast

Heavy Weapon is a must buy. It's easily my favorite arcade game.
Download Aegis Wing tomorrow. It's hard to go wrong with free.
Boom Boom Rocket is a great game if you enjoyed the demo. I picked it up and enjoy it every time I play.
Assuming you can ever connect to friends, Catan is great and everybody should at least try the demo.
TMNT 1989 Arcade. Seriously, it's the Ninja Turtles Arcade game. I'm pretty sure you're obligated by law to love it.
Past that, I have Pinball FX, Hardwood Backgammon, and Eets: Chowdown. If you're into pinball, backgammon, or puzzlers that get really hard, check out the demos.

Actually, just check out every demo on the marketplace. Freely available demos are the best advertisements and indicators as to whether you'd like a game you can ask for.

Daemon_Aconis

jclast wrote: »

Heavy Weapon is a must buy. It's easily my favorite arcade game.
Download Aegis Wing tomorrow. It's hard to go wrong with free.
Boom Boom Rocket is a great game if you enjoyed the demo. I picked it up and enjoy it every time I play.
Assuming you can ever connect to friends, Catan is great and everybody should at least try the demo.
TMNT 1989 Arcade. Seriously, it's the Ninja Turtles Arcade game. I'm pretty sure you're obligated by law to love it.
Past that, I have Pinball FX, Hardwood Backgammon, and Eets: Chowdown. If you're into pinball, backgammon, or puzzlers that get really hard, check out the demos.

Actually, just check out every demo on the marketplace. Freely available demos are the best advertisements and indicators as to whether you'd like a game you can ask for.

I picked up Heavy Weapon (I used to have a copy on my laptop by less than legitimate means). All I can say is Boss Rush gets really, really frustrating with the one hit kill bosses.

Also, as for the download everything, thankfully I got the elite. I'm already over 20gb used.