Xbox LIVE Arcade Recommendations

[MarioVsDK]

I've been seeing alot of threads like this on many different forums, so I just thought I would try this with the XBLA

What games would you recommend to download on XBLA?

I would personally recommend Marvel Vs. Capcom 2
Great 3 on 3 fighting game, over 50 Characters (Which amount to over 3000 combinations!) and the online mode has no to very little lag! But the best thing about it is it is more or less an EXACT port of the Dreamcast version, only with an added Xbox LIVE mode.

Another Great Game is Street Fighter II HD Remix. Call me crazy, but I think its the best version of SF2. New HD Sprites, All the classic characters and an Online multiplayer mode! What more could you want

[Betagam7]

Rez HD - A Dreamcast classic in beautiful HD. A simply wonderful game that everyone should take advantage of at such a low price.

The Maw - A short but sweet slice of original 3d platform gaming, sort of like Nibbler from Futurama meets Katamari Damaci.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Betagam7

The Maw - A short but sweet slice of original 3d platform gaming, sort of like Nibbler from Futurama meets Katamari Damaci.

Since Braid's announcement, The Maw and 'Splosion Man are pretty much the only two XBLA exclusives left that I want to come to PSN.

[dk_xcalibur]

I have Peggle and love it. I don't care for Puzzle Quest Galactic and wish that I wouldn't have got it.

I have yet to play it but I hear lots and lots of great stuff about Shadow Complex.

Other games that I want to play but have not are: Trials HD, Castle Crashers.

Also, I'm not sure if this counts, 1 Vs 100 is awesome!

[neuzd]

Trials HD is fun as hell, but tracks start to get very difficult also in the medium category.
It looks to me that you need to be a real trial master to be able to even just complete those tracks.

Alien Breed Evolution is a great game.
Though the single player campaign has little to share with the original series in terms of action, the atmosphere is superb and levels are big enough to let you enjoy and crap your pants while trying to complete them.
About the multiplayer I just tried it locally, so I don't know if lag can be a problem or not.
Anyways, this mode looks a lot more similar to the original Alien Breed(s), because of the impressive amount of enemies thrown at you.

On a different topic, I would NOT suggest with such excitement 0 day attack on earth.
I personally like this shooter a lot, but the gameplay isn't vary at all (hopefully there will be DLC) and Internet multiplayer suffers from very bad lag, so much that one game I couldn't play AT ALL. Another game went someway smoother but I struggled a lot trying to anticipate the reactions of my ship and the environment.

Rez HD is a title I'd suggest too, if it wasn't that I don't know this HD version at all, because I own the PS2 version, and so I don't know the real differencies, but being 3D I'm confident the graphics could just have gotten sharper.

[PoisonRamune]

Carcassonne is a great XBLA board game and my go to game when I get too drunk to do anything remotely actiony. It's a good mix of strategy and statistical luck.

E4 (Every Extend Extra Extreme) is a game that's hard for me to recommend, since it's a very niche game. And I think part of the reason I like it so much is because I smoke funny things. While not quite as good as REZ in terms of "trip shooters," it is a decently fun concept of self destructing to create explosion chains.

[Ouenben]

Well if metroid is your thing Shadow Complex is the closest thing to the perfection of Super metroid. It's got a great campaign, lots of replayability, online leaderboards for times, kills, headshots etc makes it more competitive.

Geometry wars 2 is a great arcade smash tv style survival with some of the best integrated leaderboards

[RMA]

There are some great games on XBLA although no HD Zombies remake makes me sad ;-D

Battlefield 1943 - great value shooter, though limited variety in the maps.

South Park - great tower defence game, excellent extras.

Castle Crashers - awesome golden axe homage

Peggle - superb puzzler with loads of content and variety.

Outrun - for the old school racer fan this is a great conversion and a big plus is all of the old music!

Soulcalibur - a perfect conversion of the DC classic, loses points for some of the additional modes being absent.

Brain Training - nice Dr Kawashima-alike, very challenging.

Braid - unique platformer.

Shadow Complex - I know a lot on here a big fans of Super Metroid, well...if you miss the 2d perfection of the SNES classic this is an absolute must for you!

Ikaruga - awesome, VERY challenging shooter. If you get further than the 3rd level you have my utmost respect!

Rez HD - pitch-perfect conversion of the classic, including techno techno techno beatz!

Honorable mentions for Streets of Rage 2 and TMNT 1989 Arcade...still great after all these years...


The only time I've felt ripped off by XBLA was with Fable 2 Pub Games - outrageous con.

[Earl_Wiggles]

Two words guys; Death Tank.

[PoisonRamune]

Just checked it out... I used to like Gunbound back in the day... Is game totally just arena/deathmatch mode or is there some sort of story/campaing mode to this?

[Jorbet the Sorbet]

the ionly good xbla games are they oens they stole from wii like mega man (even tho that games too hard tho)

[Mango the Hare]

Braid & Battlefield are far better on PSN.

[Jorbet the Sorbet]

i dont even know what those are buyt they sound dumb. braids? lol

[Earl_Wiggles]

Originally Posted by PoisonRamune

Just checked it out... I used to like Gunbound back in the day... Is game totally just arena/deathmatch mode or is there some sort of story/campaing mode to this?

Just deathmatch, but the insanity that ensues completely makes the game. You can play with bots, but that's no fun, smoke a few funny things and watch the hours slip away

[kawaiipikachu]

Remember don't download anything over 200MB unless you got cable .
You might have broadband but ADSL won't be able to cope with anything much larger than 200MB .

[PoisonRamune]

I'd really like to see your proof or at the very least sources on this... Since I've had several first hand examples of this being 100% untrue.

[Ouenben]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

Remember don't download anything over 200MB unless you got cable .
You might have broadband but ADSL won't be able to cope with anything much larger than 200MB .

We get it you have **** internet, most of us dont, infact I think I'm going to go download some demos which run up a few gigabytes, shouldnt take more than 3 hours if servers aren't slow.

[dk_xcalibur]

Originally Posted by Jorbet the Sorbet

the ionly good xbla games are they oens they stole from wii like mega man (even tho that games too hard tho)

Did they steal Shadow Complex, Trials HD, 'Splosion Man, Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars, The Maw, and Toy Soldiers.....should I keep going. I believe most of the games I listed above are only on XBLA.

Ionly wish I knew which oens you think they stole from the Wii

[Ouenben]

Originally Posted by dk_xcalibur

Did they steal Shadow Complex, Trials HD, 'Splosion Man, Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars, The Maw, and Toy Soldiers.....should I keep going. I believe most of the games I listed above are only on XBLA.

Ionly wish I knew which oens you think they stole from the Wii

You do realise they're trolling on purpose so responding like this isn't going to achieve anything.

It's well known that XBLA trumps PSN and Wiiware for quality games. Though has the poorest retro selection compared to PSN/VC.

Also Geometry wars is on Wii/DS, but that came after the XBLA version which itself was a sequel to the game you could play on project gotham racing games.

[Mango the Hare]

Originally Posted by Ouenben

You do realise they're trolling on purpose so responding like this isn't going to achieve anything.

It's well known that XBLA trumps PSN and Wiiware for quality games. Though has the poorest retro selection compared to PSN/VC

PSN rulez!!!

Who's trolling btw, that Ice-Cream guy?

[dk_xcalibur]

Originally Posted by Ouenben

You do realise they're trolling on purpose so responding like this isn't going to achieve anything.

It's well known that XBLA trumps PSN and Wiiware for quality games. Though has the poorest retro selection compared to PSN/VC.

Also Geometry wars is on Wii/DS, but that came after the XBLA version which itself was a sequel to the game you could play on project gotham racing games.

Sorry, I was ionly trying make a point that XBLA has more then oen good game.

[Mickeymac]

I really am tired of puzzle games. And remakes and half-assed sequels. Are there any recent original XBLA games that are any good without involving flippin' puzzles?

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

I really am tired of puzzle games. And remakes and half-assed sequels. Are there any recent original XBLA games that are any good without involving flippin' puzzles?

Super Meat Boy is the best game on XBLA.

[Mickeymac]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Super Meat Boy is the best game on XBLA.

Crap, why did I forget about that game? Thanks man. I'll check out the demo to see whether or not I'll get crushed by the difficulty.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

Crap, why did I forget about that game? Thanks man. I'll check out the demo to see whether or not I'll get crushed by the difficulty.

You will. But everyone does. You need to keep trying. Try some levels 200+ times. At least each attempt usually only takes a few seconds.

[Alfred]

Hello gamers, I would like to recommend Blacklight: Tango Down on XBLA. It's 1200 MSP, But on the 14th of February 2011 it's going on deal of the week for only 600 MSP (50% Off). I highly recommend this game to anyone. It has over 130,000 ranked players on the online leaderboards. It's 16 players online. Set in the future in a Eastern European country. Great music, guns, game play and looks great. Loads of people still play online. See you online.

[Diebythesword]

Well.

I recommend people buy the games on sale this week. And another 'sale' that isn't part of the Deal of the Week is on the Yugioh game, I recommend that also.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

I'll be picking up Geo Wars 2 for $5 this week. I heard rumours that Pac Man CE DX might be going down to $5 later this month, too! That'd be another great deal.

[Clayfrd]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

Crap, why did I forget about that game? Thanks man. I'll check out the demo to see whether or not I'll get crushed by the difficulty.

I think the PC version is better, if you have a capable system (which isn't asking much). You'll get the level editor down the road, and there are more achievements, if that matters to you. One dealbreaker may be the requisite keyboard controls if you don't have a wired 360 controller (or other gamepad). There's a way to make the wireless 360 controller work, but I believe it involves money. Anyway, take my suggestion as you will. I may be too late anyway.

Edit: Just to be clear, the game is absolutely superb. You won't be disappointed regardless of platform.

[Ouenben]

Level editor sounds nice if you're into that kinda thing.

Xbox users are treated to the exclusive 'The Internet' chapter that has a bunch of free DLC chapters however.

[Clayfrd]

Originally Posted by Ouenben

Level editor sounds nice if you're into that kinda thing.

Xbox users are treated to the exclusive 'The Internet' chapter that has a bunch of free DLC chapters however.

Not exclusive. Check the Team Meat Blog. The same thing is coming out on PC in the coming weeks once they finish the level editor. To quote supermeatboy.com

"Q: Will Pc users get this content?
A: Yes, once the level portal and editor are finished and released we will upload both new chapters to the Pc level portal."

So... there you go.

[Mickeymac]

Originally Posted by Clayfrd

I think the PC version is better, if you have a capable system (which isn't asking much). You'll get the level editor down the road, and there are more achievements, if that matters to you. One dealbreaker may be the requisite keyboard controls if you don't have a wired 360 controller (or other gamepad). There's a way to make the wireless 360 controller work, but I believe it involves money. Anyway, take my suggestion as you will. I may be too late anyway.

Edit: Just to be clear, the game is absolutely superb. You won't be disappointed regardless of platform.

I ended up getting the PC version. It works with my PS2 controller adapter, although the configuration's weird. I haven't gotten very far yet, but I'm loving it so far. Thanks for the recommendations, all.

[Ouenben]

Beyond Good and Evil is a very very good game! Highly recommended!

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Not only that, but Torchlight is coming out this week. Console exclusive. And it's not a straight port of the PC/Mac version.

[neuzd]

Yesterday I completed the third chapter of the revived Alien Breed franchise and I wanted to spend some other words in favor of this game (yes, it's a single game split in 3 parts).

Also it may fall appropriate since Team 17 should be releasing (or it already was, but I didn't see it anywhere) a packaged version called Alien Breed Trilogy containing all three episodes.
Even more appropriate, the first two games are currently 50% off (400 points each) on the XBLA marketplace.

So, once again, I'd like to focus your attention on the atmosphere of these games, which is very heavy and full of tension.
It doesn't really play as the original Amiga classics (although several "features" are exactly the same, particularly if you played Tower Assault), posing the accent more on the arcade/adventure part, albeit still very simplistic, as it should be.
This turns out to enhance the exploration aspect of the games as well as creating a greater tension then the originals, and you'll find yourself a lot more worried when there's no sign of aliens around.
Shooting is still of course your main job, and all the weapons are useful and fun to use, with 2 of them being different in each episode, giving a nice sense of satisfaction for fragging the breed.

Last considerations (because this is not a review and I just wanted to put the spotlight on a series that in my opinion deserves a lot more attention): the demos of the games, which for every episode is a separate 'Prologue' small level, do not pay justice to the full games. The only exception is the demo of Alien Breed 3: Descent, which plays a bit more like the actual missions. The other two "Prologues" are way too simple and not tense enough.
So if you're considering to try them out, try this last one, and keep in mind that the actual levels are a lot bigger and with more stuff to do...in a word: better.

I hope to have sparked some more curiosity about these games (or 3 parts game) in at least some of you.
If you're a dark-sci-fi enthusiast you should really play it. You have no excuses.