[XBox Live Arcade] Switchball is cool. Word Puzzle is..word puzzle.

1600Points

There used to be a XBLA post but I haven't been able to dig it up so here now is a new XBLA Thread!
The purpose of this thread is to help people wade through the growing library of Xbox live arcade titles by distinguishing between which ones are Online Co-op, Versus, Local Co-op, Single Player.

I would also like it if people would make a note of which games they find particularly fun on XBLA, if so I will go back and color code or mark out those particular games on the list as being recognized by people on these forums as solid games. If doing this becomes well accepted I will flesh out the levels which people recommend the games.

Color-Coding:
Green - Go for it, this game is highly recommended!
Yellow - Some people like it, some people don't, most don't care.(Worth checking out the demo)
Red - Probably want to avoid this!
White - No opinion formed.



Points:
400 Points - $5.00
800 Points - $10.00
1200 Points - $15.00

On with the games!


New Games Every Wednesday!
New Releases:
Switchball
Word Puzzle





* - Denotes 2 player online capability but only in the sense that you take turns playing.
! - Denotes ONLY LOCAL MULTIPLAYER
$ - Denotes Old game with revamped graphics

Games seperated based on multi/single player.


Multiplayer:

Alien Homonid - Sidescroller - 800 Points - 4 Player Support - 2 player local Co-op/Online Minigame Support
Aegis Wing - 2D Rail Shooter - Free - 4 Player support - Co-op
Assault Heroes - Top Down Shooter - 800 Points - 2 Player support - Co-op
Bomberman Live - Top Down Action - 800 Points - 8 Player support - Versus - Content Downloads
Cloning Clyde - Sidescrolling Action - 800 Points - 2 Player support - Co-op/Versus
Doom - FPS Action - 800 Points - 8? Player support - Co-op/Versus
Geon: Emotions - Companion Cube Action - 800 Points - 4 Player support - Versus
Heavy Weapon - Sidescrolling Shooter - 800 Points - 4 Player support - Co-op
Marble Blast Ultra - Marble Madnessesque Action - 800 Points - 8 Player support - Versus
Marathon Durandel - Motion Sickness FPS Action - 800 Points - 8 Player support - Versus/Co-op?
Small Arms - Fighting - 800 Points - 4 Player support - Versus
Speedball 2 - Sports/Action - 800 Points - 2 Player support - Versus
Wing Commander Arena - Space FPS Shooter - 800 Points - 16 Player Support - Versus
Bankshot Billiards - Pool - 1200 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus
Carcassonne - Board Game - 800 Points - 5 Player Support - Versus -Content Downloads
Catan - Board Game - 800 Points - 4 Player Support - Versus - Content Downloads
Hardwood Hearts/Spades/Backgammon - Card/Board Games - 400 Points - 2-4 Player Support - Versus
Spy Glass Games - Multiple Board Games - 400 Points - Various Player Support - Versus
Texas Hold'em - Poker - 800 Points - Various Player Amount - Versus
Uno - Cards (uno) - 400 Points - 4 Players - Versus
Soltrio Solitaire - Card Games - 800 Points - Various - Versus
Hexic 2 - Hex Puzzle - 800 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus
Jewel Quest - Match 3 Puzzle - 800 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus
Lumines Live - Drop Piece Puzzle - Variable Price - 2 Player Support - Versus
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords - RPG/Puzzle - 1200 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD - Fighting/Puzzle - 800 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus
Tetris Splash - Tetris - 800 Points - 2 Player Support - Versus - Content Download
Mad Tracks - Racing - 800 Points - 8 Player Support - Versus - Content Download
Novadrome - Racing/Battle - 800 Points - 8 Player Support - Versus - Content Download
Street Trace NYC - Racing - 800 Points - 8 Player Support - Versus
Yaris - Free - Bad
3D Minigolf Adventures - 800 Points - 4 Players Support - Versus
Band of Bugs - Strategy RPG - 800 Points - 8 Player Support - Versus/Co-Op - Content Download
Worms - Strategy/Action - 800 Points - 4 Player Support - Versus - Content Download
Contra - Sidescrolling Shooter - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Cyberball - Sports/Robots - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op/Versus
Defender - Arcade Shooter - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op/Versus
Double Dragon - Beat 'em up - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Gauntlet- Arcade/Action - 400 Points - 4 Player Co-op
Fatal Fury Special - 2D Fighting - 400 Points - 2 Player Versus
Golden Axe - Beat 'em up - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Jetpac Refulled - Arcade/Action - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op/Versus
Rush 'N' Attack -Beat 'Em Up - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Smash TV - Top Down Shooter - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting - 2D Fighting - 400 Points - 2 Player Versus
Super Contra - Side Scrolling Shooter - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 400 Points - 4 Player Co-op
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 -2D Fighting - 800 Points - 2 Player Versus
Yie Ar Kung Fu - 2D Fighting - 400 Points - 2 Player Versus
Sonic The Hedgehog 2 - Hedgehog + Fox Action - 400 Points - 2 Player Versus
Streets of Rage 2 - Beat 'Em Up - 400 Points - 2 Player Co-op/Crappy versus
Boom Boom Rocket - Rhythm Game - 800 Points - 2 Player support - Versus - !
Mutant Storm Reload - More Expensive GW:RE top-down Shooter - 800 Points - !
Track & Field - Arcade Sports - 400 Points - 4 Player Versus - $
Scramble - Arcade Shooter - 400 Points - 2 Player Support Co-op
Battlestar Galactica -800 Points - 16 Player support Versus
Mutant Storm:Empire - 800 Points - 2 Player - Co-op

Single Player:

Crystal Quest - 1987 Action - 400 Points - Content Downloads
E4 - Every Extend Extreme Extra -Puzzle Rhythm Action Game - 800 Points
Feeding Frenzy - Fish Action - 800 Points
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved - Top Down Shooter - 400 Points
Pac-Man: Championship Edition - Pac-Man but Better - 800 Points
Mutant Storm Reload - More Expensive GW:RE top-down Shooter - 800 Points
RoboBlitz - Robot Adventure - 1200 Points - Content Downloads
Space Giraffe - Technicolor Shooter (coat) - 400 Points - Custom Soundtracks
Wik and the Fable of Souls - Puzzle - 800 Points
Pinball FX - Pinball - 800 Points - Content Downloads
Astropop - Break brick - 800 Points
Bejeweled 2 - Gem Puzzle - 800 Points
Eets: Chowdown - Puzzle/Adventure - 800 Points
Hexic HD - Puzzle - Free
Luxor 2 - Puzzle - 800 Points
Zuma - Puzzle - 800 Points
Outpost Kalaki - Business Sim/Adventure - 800 Points - Content Downloads
Dig Dug - Arcade Action - 400 Points - $
Centipede/Milipede - Arcade Shooter - 400 Points
Frogger - Arcade/Action - 400 Points - *$
Galaga - Arcade/Shooter - 400 Points - *$
Missle Command -Arcade/Action - 400 Points - *$
Ms. Pac-Man - Top Down - 400 Points
Gyruss - Top Down Shooter -400 Points - Custom Soundtracks - *$
Pac-Man - 400 Points -*$
Paper Boy - Arcade/Action - 400 Points -*$
Robotron - 2084 Arcade/Shooter - 400 Points - $
Root Beer Tapper - Arcade/Action - 400 Points - *$
New Rally-X - Racing - 400 Points - $
Time Pilot - Arcade Shooter - 400 Points - $
Xevious - Arcade Shooter - 400 Points
Ecco The Dolphin - Dolphin Side Scroll Action - 400 Points
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - 2D Action/RPG - 800 Points
Prince of Persia Classic (remake)- 800 Points
Sonic The Hedgehog -Hedgehog Side Scroll Action - 400 Points
Exit - Puzzle/Side Scroller - 800Points

Camera Game(s):

Totemball(camera as control)
Uno
Bankshot Billiards
Hardwood Hearts
Hardwood Spades
Hardwood Backgammon
Bomberman Live
Texas Hold 'Em

Notable Upcoming Games:

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
Castle Crashers
Talisman
N+
Rez HD
Ikaruga
Undertow
Street Fighter II: Turbo HD Remix

Thread is not yet complete , It will continue to be refined etc.

Xenogears of Bore

needs more SOTN.

1600Points

As mentioned as people point out particular titles they like I will begin to highlight or bold or star or whatever those titles to draw more attention to them.

Also the thread will continue to be refined. I just happened to get 2 emergency calls while writing it.

Mr_Grinch

Prince of Persia is only 400 points? I still have 400 points on my account. That's being bought AND completed tonight. I still need to buy Bomberman and Speedball 2 too.

1600Points

Sorry it was a typo, 800 on PoP

Mr_Grinch

You've now made me a very sad person.

Gdiguy

In terms of puzzle-type games, for me the list goes: Geometry Wars > Puzzle Quest > Geon > E4 >>> everything else... I highly recommend all 4, they're all amazing games

Mr_Grinch

Also, with Prince of Persia getting a remake, I would LOVE to see Flashback and Another World pop up on XBLA. I would literally explode with delight.

Cowbomb

It's weird how they still havn't brought Doom 2 out, I'd snap it up if they did.

Oh, and I want Sonic 3 & Knuckles too, to save me having to hook up the Mega Drive.

PatboyX

I tried playing the E4 trial and completely have no idea what the hell to do.
It seemed like Fantavision + Geometry Wars.

Anyway, Carcassonne was one of the first games I bought on Live and I play it pretty much every day. It's a great board game. Takes like two seconds to learn and you can build up a decent strategy within your first few games but luck still determines how much of your ass is going to be handed to you. And there seem to be a good range of people playing online.
Fun!

Szechuan

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

needs more SOTN.

Oh lord yes. Missed this gem when it first came out, and now it consumes me.

Gdiguy

PatboyX wrote: »

I tried playing the E4 trial and completely have no idea what the hell to do.
It seemed like Fantavision + Geometry Wars.

The main game is actually basically a timing-type game, with some frantic picking up power-ups every once in a while; the idea is basically to time the explosion of your ship right to get a bonus, blow up as much stuff as you can using chained explosions, pick up powerups that dropped, and repeat... there's a geometry wars clone in there too, which is reasonably entertaining (though not as good as the original)

I dunno, maybe I just like flashy lights and music.. :P I wouldn't say it's the deepest game ever made, but it's reasonably fun for what it is

1600Points

Started color coding, as I see people's reactions to games I will adjust colors.

Obviously no color means no opinion!

New games will be moved to the master list and coded the week after they are released.

Einhander

XBLA is awesome, but devs are pretty much using it as a test bed to see how far they can push the microrape envelope.

Here are my thoughts on some XBLA games:

SotN is a very, very good expenditure of $10. I bought it even though I own PS1 and Saturn versions (+1 to epeen), but being able to play it in high def is awesome, and the achievements aren't bad either. Casting spells is a serious pain in the ass due to the shitty 360 D-pad.

Yaris is the shittiest shit to ever be shit from anything. It's not even worth the 200g you can get if you are an achievement whore.

Sonic 2 is awesome. It's pretty much Sonic 2, and it's got achievements, and it's only $5. Multiplayer is kind of lame, since I can beat most zones in no time, and so can just about everyone else I've played, so it's either an extremely close match where you're going to win, unless you fuckup because one fuckup means you lose, or the other person fucks up and then finds a warp and switches you and you lose. Or, you're playing against someone who doesn't know the zones like the back of their hand, and you win every time.

Doom is fun. It's Doom. But, it doesn't support widescreen. It's Ultimate, though.

Aegis Wing is a decent sidescrolling space shooter. It's free. It's simplistic, but a fun time killer.

Fatal Fury, MK3, and Street Fighter all pretty much suck because the 360 has a really shitty D-pad (which hurts SotN a bit as well). They're fun to play, but it's hard to be competitive.

Namco can suck my dick for greeding up XBLA with three fucking versions of Pac-Man, and slapping a 190 point price tag on a fucking picture pack. Also, New Rally X is shitty.

Worms is awesome (it's Worms), but speaking of greedy you have to spend a bit more than the $10 to get all of the level options and sound effects, which is horseshit.

And, on a side note, how is $4 for a new release video rental in SD that is nuked 24 hours after I play it supposed to be a good deal? And $6.50 for a "high def" (read: compressed as hell, and limited to 720p) version? And the movies that would most benefit from HD versions don't feature them. The TV shows are ok, but I'm sure as hell not paying $2 per episode for some shit that is considerably cheaper on DVD, that also feature extras and the ability to be played on any DVD player I want.

Shadowfire

You may as well make Catan a green, and Boom Boom Rocket a yellow.

JHunz

Categorizing things is great, but it would make a lot more sense if you had games in each category that they belong in. You seem to have done that for Mutant Storm and nothing else. And doesn't crystal quest belong in the re-releases?

Hexic should be green. It's a great little puzzle game, especially for the price.
Heavy Weapon should at least be yellow.

LewieP

Anybody with a 360 who doesn't get Rez HD and Ikaruga either has no soul, or owns them on another system.

RainbowDespair

Complain all you want about there being three version of Pac-Man, that doesn't change Pac-Man: Championship Edition from being one of the best 360 games out there. So much better than any version of Pac-Man to date (with the possible exception of Pac-Man Vs.).

Oh and Heavy Weapon is full of win. Very fun in 1-player mode, insane in 4-player online mode.

Einhander

LewieP wrote: »

Anybody with a 360 who doesn't get Rez HD and Ikaruga either has no soul, or owns them on another system.

Ikaruga is going to fucking rule. My 360's LCD monitor won't display a 640x480 signal properly, so I have to tilt my giant-assed 19" CRT sideways to get TATE over VGA on the DC. Having a version on the 360 with multiplayer and a much easier TATE option and HD support to boot is going to be pretty much the best thing ever. When that hits we're gonna have an Ikaruga GT swap thread if I have to make it myself.

Rez is going to be a blast. Here's hoping they code in support for the Trance Vibrator over USB. If that happens, I'll import one immediately because I know a girl who I could talk into that sort of thing.

Also, Quake Arena (which everyone is assuming is just Q3:TA for XBLA) should be pretty damned awesome for multiplayer.

1600Points

JHunz wrote: »

Categorizing things is great, but it would make a lot more sense if you had games in each category that they belong in. You seem to have done that for Mutant Storm and nothing else. And doesn't crystal quest belong in the re-releases?

Hexic should be green. It's a great little puzzle game, especially for the price.
Heavy Weapon should at least be yellow.

I'll be putting the re-release, arcade etc stuff into the 3 multiplayer, single player etc.

I just got a bit overwhelmed at work tonight while doing it, will fix this before i hit the hay.

Pej

Are those two seriously the only two XBLA games with local multiplayer? I really wanted to pick some up I could play with my girlfriend and figured there'd be a least a few more than that. I could have sworn Carcassonne was one for instance.

syndalis

Pej wrote: »

Are those two seriously the only two XBLA games with local multiplayer? I really wanted to pick some up I could play with my girlfriend and figured there'd be a least a few more than that. I could have sworn Carcassonne was one for instance.

a ton of the arcade remakes are local multi.

He missed quite a bit in that category.

Vashin

UNO should be greened!

that game is addictive as hell, i dont see why its not..

1600Points

Ok, made some changes before going to bed.

I cleared up the confusion in regards to local co-op/online co-op.

Added some things to denote which games don't have real "2 player" modes.

Added some colors here and there.

Going to bed, if you have issues I will continue to mold the thread as necessary.

*Uno greened!

acidlacedpenguin

Carcassonne is most definitely local.

If I had my way Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD should be like, double greened. It too has local multiplayer and an epic shit-ton of awesome.

Dan as last boss made me shit my pants with laughter

Every Extend Extra Extreme also ownsed my bones, though it kind of lost all meaning when I got to 2.5 trillion points and a half an hour in so I decided to end it on my own... Will probably do the exact same again today.

Shoegaze99

PatboyX wrote: »

Anyway, Carcassonne was one of the first games I bought on Live and I play it pretty much every day. It's a great board game. Takes like two seconds to learn and you can build up a decent strategy within your first few games but luck still determines how much of your ass is going to be handed to you. And there seem to be a good range of people playing online.
Fun!

I snatched this one up, too, and have played it a lot. I agree with every word in your post.

Haven't gotten the new expansion yet. but it looks tasy -- and 300 points isn't that bad. (200 would be better, though.)

Highly recommended for board game lovers, and moderately recommended for strategy game lovers.

JHunz wrote: »

Hexic should be green. It's a great little puzzle game, especially for the price.

Seconded. Hexic really took me by surprise. Since it was the freebie throw-in, I figured it'd be garbage. Turned out to be a lot of fun with some decent depth. Good stuff.

Lunker

I have a huge hard-on for trancey shmups, and in this regard XBLA has been the best thing since sliced bread.

My must-haves:
• Geometry Wars -- it's everyone's favorite, but still: daaaaaaaang.
• Pac-Man: CE -- this is so far beyond "New levels for Pac-Man" as it was marketed. Combine Pac-Man with Geometry Wars and a timed bullet-hell shmup.
• Heavy Weapon: Not so trancey of a shmup, but it's still ragingly fun. The demo is really deceptive, since the game doesn't start ramping up until after Level 5 or so -- brutally hard and just full of destruction.
• Bomberman Live: Obviously.
• Streets of Rage 2: I actually don't have this, as I foolishly bought the Wii VC version, but Live co-op and a cheaper price make this the better version.

Maybes, depending on your tastes:
• E4 (Every Extend Extra Extended): Holy shit, do I love this game. It's like a trance-electronica shooter mixed with an MP3 visualizer that rewards you for staying to the backbeat and provides audio feedback in time with the music. It wins especially because you can play your own songs over it, once the game learns the song's BPM -- I spent about an hour yesterday playing this to Radiohead's "15 Step" over and over and over again.
• Space Giraffe: Note that the game's entire purpose is to overload your senses. Play through the tutorial and you'll get a sense of how to actually score well.
• Puzzle Quest: I didn't snap on this as I own the DS version and feel the game works best on a portable, but if you don't have this already you need to buy it and love it as the crack-laced chocolate-coated drug that it is.

Wordherder

I'll have to second the love for Puzzle Fighter. It's just so goddamn fun.

I have a bit of a hard time dropping $10 and above on some of these games... something meaty like Puzzle Quest, sure, but I just can't justify $10 for Pac-Man when something equivalent like Geometry Wars is $5. Ah well.

Then again, I snorked up Lumines at its $rape price. What can I say, I'm a whore for the Rez guy. By the way, if anyone else got Lumines Live and is a gold member, there's two free skins to download assuming you do it before November. And the price for Lumines dropped slightly (less than a week after I bought it, natch).

powersurge

So I hit gametrailers up.... Battlestar doesn't look as hawt as I hoped it would be It looks just like the Wing Commander game on XBL which wasn't so great. And why is the 360 version 8 players and the PC 16 players? It doesn't look like the most demanding game.

Jules

Wing Commander needs to go in the red for sure. Please save as many people from buying this game as possible. It sucks. It is not the Kilrathi war saga love story that you remember from your youth! Stay away from it!

I agree with the green on Lumines if you don't already have it on a certain other system.

urahonky

Add small arms to the games to be avoided list. I promise you'll not like the game.

UnbreakableVow

Uno - Green
SOTN - Green
Prince of Persia - Green
Super Puzzle Fighter - Green

I don't buy shit XBLA games, so I don't know about any of those. But these four are great.

Puzzle Quest is great too, just haven't gotten around to purchasing it yet. Any news on when Rez and Ikaruga are coming?

MC Mystery

Wait. WAIT. WAIIITTT.

When was Rez HD announced? WTF

Lunker

UnbreakableVow wrote: »

Any news on when Rez and Ikaruga are coming?

Last I had heard it had a tentative early '08 release window. I have a perfectly servicable Ikaruga GC but I'll buy it again all for digital distribution and, well, just because. Same with Rez, although having it in silky-smooth HD with 5.1 surround, the game will literally have sex with all of my senses at once.

Vashin

urahonky wrote: »

Add small arms to the games to be avoided list. I promise you'll not like the game.

hold the phone here!

me and my friends love this game, its smash bros with shooting... how could you not like it?

id say it deserves a yellow but definetly not a red

darleysam

powersurge wrote: »

So I hit gametrailers up.... Battlestar doesn't look as hawt as I hoped it would be It looks just like the Wing Commander game on XBL which wasn't so great. And why is the 360 version 8 players and the PC 16 players? It doesn't look like the most demanding game.

yeah, i saw a video for that and just thought "oh.. that's taken all the life and fun out of the game". It doesn't even need to be in space, you could just swap the ships for little dudes and make the environment just some kind of arena, and it'd be exactly the same. Whoop-dee-doo.

urahonky

Vashin wrote: »

urahonky wrote: »

Add small arms to the games to be avoided list. I promise you'll not like the game.

hold the phone here!

me and my friends love this game, its smash bros with shooting... how could you not like it?

id say it deserves a yellow but definetly not a red

Oh boy. I don't want to have to fight it out, but sir... Get out your fisticuffs! We're dueling right here!!

I bought the game, when it was on sale for 250MS points, and it wasn't worth that. It feels too slow, the levels are incredibly repetitive and the shooting is really boring... Nothing about the game is special.

To each their own, of course, but if you play the demo (I did first, and slightly enjoyed it) and REALLY liked it; You might be okay.

durandal4532

Zuma is very very simplistic, but also very very fun. I got it for 400 points on sale a while ago, and it's given me and my roommates about 10-15 hours of entertainment each. It's just so very addicting.

Also, Aegis Wing is awesome and Puzzle Quest is awesome.

Renzo

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is anticipated

So is Undertow

fragglefart

Heavy Weapon - Green

4 player win. Arguably my favourite game on the Arcade, alongside;

Geometry Wars. It bears repeating.

Bomberman Live. So much fun.

Space Giraffe. For sheer WTF drunken awesome. It has been accurately described as digital Marmite, so YMMV. Many hate, hate, hate it. I love it. Before the scoreboard was reset, I was ranked #13. That was higher than Jeff Minter. And I have no idea what caused that score, when I got it I was so wasted I can't remember how it was managable (random weirdness?). Still, awesome.

Roshin

Space Giraffe needs so to be limed. At 400 pts it's a no-brainer.