My Summarised Xbox Live Arcade Games Ratings:

Arcade Live Game Title ...Price in RM @ 0.04375 per pt
Game Type: My Ratings
Comments
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3D Golf ...RM35.00
Sports: 3.0/5.0
Mini golf with some variety, the play in space is unique with orbital gravity affecting the shots. However its way too easy due to option to retake shots. Nearly everyone is getting a hole in one, for offline play.
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Aegis Wing ...FREE
Shoot em up: 4.0/5.0
While it may seem like your typical horizontal scrolling shoot em up on single player, it changes once you play online with 4 other players. All players can merge into a huge ship, 3 controlling turrets, with the main player controlling the main weapon and the ship. Real good transformer fun! Must get as it's free!
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Alien Hominid HD ...RM35.00
Platform & shoot em up: 3.5/5.0
Good game, but graphics may sometimes camouflage enemy bullets, so takes lots of getting used too. Fun old school retro mini games though.
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Assault Heroes ...RM35.00
Shoot em up: 3.0/5.0
Above average shooter, where you can shoot from ATV or on foot, bosses and sub bosses are average, game play a little on the easy side, unfortunately with bad online coop optimization.
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Boom Boom Rocket ...RM35.00
Music: 3.5/5.0
A typical remixed classical music game, relaxing with nice fireworks, but short (only 10 songs) and easy for those skilled in this genre. The game is harsh on its performance rankings though, getting A* rankings in Hard is a nightmare for me!
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Castlevania Symphony of the Night ...RM35.00
Platform: 4.0/5.0
A well done remake of an excellent PS1 game which is in a class of its own, with enough difficulty, alas no Live coop or vs. Very satisfying once you have discovered all 200.6% of the locations in the game.
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Centipede and Millipede ...RM17.50
Shoot em up: 2.5/5.0
Basically a rehashed of the original title which I am a great fan. Was dismayed with the enhanced mode, it's overdone and reduced the size playing field, as a result to larger sprites, making the already difficult game nearly ridiculous to play in throttle monkey! Only serious fans of the original game should consider this.
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Eets Chow down ...RM35.00
Puzzle/Shoot em up variant: 4.0/5.0
Average puzzler main game (cross between Lemmings and The Incredible Machine), with a surprisingly addictive gem of a mini game, which is somewhat a mixture between Boom Boom Rocket and Geometry Wars. Seriously warrants a testing.
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Geometry Wars ...RM17.50
Shoot em up: 4.0/5.0
Very addictive, fun, highly replayable, yet easy to get into arcade game. Just try it out, but a word of caution, you might just not be able stop playing!
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Heavy Weapon ...RM35.00
Shoot em up: 3.5/5.0
Good basic horizontal left right scroller shooter with lag free 4 player coop, of which the action is intense and furious. Those skilled players can try finishing off the Boss Blitz mode.
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Hexic HD ...free with console
Puzzle: 3.0/5.0
An average game, with enough replay value, nuff said since most of you all should already own it and have tried it out.
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Jetpac reloaded ...RM17.50
Shoot em up: 4.5/5.0
Excellent remake with attractive selling price, good graphics, fun vs mode on Live too, addictive and easy to get into, but gets hard at the last few levels. The best remade classic game in any consoles or even pc, well at least to me.
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Lumines ...RM52.50
Puzzle: 3.5/5.0
Though fun, addictive, with accompanying catchy tunes and unique skins, I find it a little too pricey, especially if all add ons are to be purchased. PSP has the best version though, if you own that version don't bother getting it unless you plan to play on Live.
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Mad Tracks ...RM35.00
Mini Racing: 3.5/5.0
Easy, party wind-up toy game racer with 15 mini games darts, eight balls, flag race, etc, played from the view point of 12 toy cars on large real world environment,. It's extremely easy single player game and is a riot with 4 players.
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Outpost Kaloki X ...RM35.00
Strategy Sim: 3.5/5.00
Interesting limited resource planning game with varied scenarios. Stories are well thought of too, also the achievements are challenging, try finishing all scenarios in gold time and you will know what I mean.
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Pac-man ...RM17.50
Arcade: 3.0/5.0
Another original classic that I am a fan off. Initially I thought it was going to be difficult getting the achievement playing the game from the start, till I realise you could continue from your last level and have an option to increase your number of lives to 5!
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Pac-man: Championship Edition ...RM35.00
Arcade: 4.0/5.0
It's the first real 2d sequel from the creator of the original game. I did not expect much, but was pleasantly surprised after the demo. The mazes are well designed, graphics fitting the xbox, controller works excellent with the game and most important its great fun. Only downers are it lacks multiplayer and a little pricey.
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Pinball FX ...RM35.00
Pinball: 3.5/5.00
Well orchestrated pinball action with varied missions. Do try controlling the paddles via hand movements via the Vision camera, its much more fun than Totem ball. Full Live camera support with for up to 4 players to showcase your winning jig.
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Small Arms ...RM35.00
Shoot and Beat em up: 3.0/5.00
Great graphics, good multiplayer online, nice bonus game, but average game play. The one who runs, hides and take advantage of the locale especially ledges, normally wins.
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Soltrio Solitaire ...RM35.00
Card Game: 3.5/5.0
Comprises 16 variations solitaire games, with nice graphics. Addictive yet very frustrating, as some of the deals in Archway are impossible to solve. Its very pricey, only recommended only if you like solitaire games and extremely cool headed.
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Street Fighter ...RM35.00
Beat em up: 3.5/5.00
The best 2D arcade fighter period, its as difficult and fun as it was in the arcades. If only the online fights are lag free, I would have rated it much higher.
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Texas Hold'em ...RM35.00
Card Game: 3.0/5.00
Nice tournament play poker game, real fun when you go all in and win millions. Scenarios and tournaments for single play has appropriate AI. Its a little pricey though if you didn't manage to get it for free.
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Totem Ball ...Free download
Platform: 1.5/5.00
Bad camera control scheme only game, for an otherwise normal game. Very difficult to maneuver your on screen persona. If only there is a choice to use the analog sticks.
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Uno with Kameo add on ...RM21.88
Card Game: 4.0/5.0
Fun party card game, extremely entertaining with the Kameo add on and the new rules which comes with it. Full camera support for up to four players on Live.
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Worms ...RM35.00
Turn base strategy: 3.5/5.0
A tone down version of the worms franchise with roughly 22 weapons/utilites to use. For single play, a four on four match which increases in difficulty as you progress. However as with most XBLA games the real joy is when playing against online opponents, it truly rocks there!
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This post has been edited by yjtay: Nov 27 2008, 04:29 PM

I couldn't find any general Live Arcade Game thread where people can specifically comment, give reviews, tips or gather people for multiplay, so have created one for this purpose.

To start off, let me promote this gem of the game which I think many are skipping. This is my personal take of the game.

Jetpac Refueled Review

The game is a 2D, old school, scalable, single screen shoot em up.

Basically you are marooned on an asteroid/planet with platforms, equipped with a hydro jetpac and upgradeable lasers. You need to wait and hover about to collect fuel pods to refuel your space craft to proceed to the next asteroid while shooting down all hostile aliens before your energy runs out. On top of that, at every four asteroids you will need to assemble a new space craft. Random accumulative laser power ups, Emp bombs and bonus items are available at every level.

It starts out difficult, but with a reasonable learning curve. The fun part is whenever you thought you mastered the game, the difficulty level spikes up. The latter levels are really intense and the whole screen will be filled with hordes and hordes of never ending aliens! Luckily there are check points at every 4 levels, where u get your new space craft, else the 128 levels would be close to impossible to finish.

Packaged with it is the original 1983 game with all the glitches, but alas minus the slow downs making it more difficult than I remembered it to be. When compared with the update you will realise Rare/Ultimate had put in a great effort in modernizing the original game, yet retaining the basics. This should be the de facto benchmark on how any retro game is to be remade!

Even the multiplayer mode on Live or local, where players battle out is well thought up and actually fun. Its not just a score grabbing fest, instead 2 players, compete to assemble their space craft and fight it out for the six fuel pods required to launch the rocket within the time limit (5, 10, 15 or 20 min). Either player can shoot the fuel pod out of the other's hand and steal it to refuel their own craft. Due to the huge score bonuses given, the winner would normally be the one who launches the most ships.

Other than that this one of the few Arcade Live games which comes with free gifts.

For 400pts it's a real steal and may even beat many of what those 800pts titles are offering. Bottom line its one heck of a fun and addictive game, but not for people who gives up fast !

I personally give it a 4.5 out of 5. The 0.5 difference being due to the difficulty bar being set a little too high towards the end of the game, am still struggling to complete it!
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Speaking of Geometry Wars the last 2 achievements always seem to elude me, just can't seemed to pass the 1 mill barrier without losing a life or hitting 9X multiplier! I had managed to score up 3.5 million plus when online, but strangely the leaderboard is still only holding my 3rd highest score!

Anyway, I wonder if I should post the review I had written of this early Live arcade game or leave the honor to someone else? Ha ha!

Or btw those with Jepac who wants to contract the "Infection" achievement just add me and invite me when you see me online and I will glady spread it to you!

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Added on April 19, 2007, 12:29 amFor fans of Pac-man:

Microsoft Corp. and NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. is teaming up to hold an Xbox 360(tm) "Pac-Man" World Championship, from April 25 to May 9, via Xbox LIVE(R) Arcade.
There will be one finalist from each of the following geographic areas: Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Japan and Mexico; and two finalists from Europe and the United States.
The finalists from participating countries around the world will be flown to New York City for the finals on June 5, with the winner being crowned the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Champion by Toru Iwatani, the creator of "Pac-Man."
The winner of the finals will receive 26 years of free Quiznos toasted subs (one sandwich a week for 26 years, a $13,520 (U.S.) value), 100,000 Microsoft Points and a one-of-a-kind Xbox 360 featuring a special design inspired by "Pac-Man."
For further details go to Gamescore blog.

Also,"To help Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship participants get even more into the "Pac-Man" spirit, Xbox LIVE is also launching the animated series "Pac-Man" on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Xbox LIVE is the only place in the world where people can watch this popular cartoon and Warner Bros.-owned series that ran in the United States from 1982 to 1984. The series has been pulled out of the archives in honor of the Xbox 360 "Pac-Man" World Championship and will be available in the U.S. for 160 Microsoft Points per episode starting April 25 at 12:01 a.m. GMT (April 24 at 5:01 p.m. PDT) on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. "

I wonder where the winner would be from, but I guess 1 country the winner might not be from is Malaysia

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Added on April 27, 2007, 3:06 pm
Eets chowdown main game is an average lemmings/the incredible machine puzzle like game.

However, to me the mini game Marsho Madness, is where the download really shines. For all you fans of Geometry Wars/ Boom boom rocket this mini game is a must get.

In the mini game you are stuck in the middle and must correctly hit the combination of buttons highlighted on top of the approaching 'marshmellows" to shoot it down. Successfull shootings could also result in chain type reactions hitting all nearby 'linked' enemies.

Sometimes there are power ups appearing which you can obtain to use on enemies as well. So long you don't miss anything the combo builds up and you get multipliers just like geometry wars. Up to 4 person can play locally. If only they had optimised it for Live, the game would surely had rocked!

Anyway am not sure whether the mini game is in the demo if it is do try it out, but don't say I didn't forwarned you its extremely fun and addictive. Trust me when you get past 200k, all hell breaks loose and you will need all the help you can get. That 1 mill achievement would definitely be harder than the 1 mill of GW!

In fact, to me I feel minigame by itself to me should should be the main game, not the other way round. Anyway because its 'hidden', I guess most people might miss it.

Next mini review pinball F/X, that is once I figure out all the 3 boards.

This post has been edited by yjtay: Jun 11 2007, 02:27 PM

Thanks for your advise Acougan, am still a noob with board postings.
Yeah Arcade Live games are pricey for us here, lucky they all come with demos so we can try and only purchase those that meet our taste.
To me arcade game are easy to get into and finish especially while waiting between the yet to be released "A" titles.
Btw I don't think, I should rename this into something with an official in it, as I prefer the casuality of this thread, but I have renamed it accordingly.


Anyway back to the core of what I wanted to post:
Finally finished reviews of some of the arcade games I have tried out, below is a summary with ratings, for your reference. Do feel free to comment. If you need tips on any of the games or with some of the achievements or just want a read of my full reviews, just ask and I will obliged. Ha ha All feedback be it positive or negative are welcome!


________________________________
Update:
Ratings edited and moved to first post.

This post has been edited by yjtay: May 8 2007, 04:10 PM

Just my personal opinions and ratings of some of the XBLA titles I have tried out with the prices on Live in RM instead of the usual live points, for ease of reference.

The tip for passing that level or any other level is to grab and hold on to a ship part/fuel pod and go round gathering for power ups till you upgrade to the 3 way laser before focusing on reloading your ship. After that, always stay on the ground and only hover up only to collect fuel pods. Don't worry the game doesn't get very much harder than 17, with exception of the last few levels.
For those who didn't know, should you get hit by the enemy while holding down to a ship part/ fuel pod, you would drop the item instead of losing a life. So just try to immediately pick up whenever that happens and you will be 'invulnerable'.

At the moment am still struggling with the Centipede/Millipede game, its real tough especially the throttle monkey mode, but it brings back fond old memories.

Oh for fans of Alien Hominid HD, do click Behemoth Trophies and check out the effort Behemoth had put in for the creation of the trophies and they real nice, hopefully I will be able to get one ha ha.

This post has been edited by yjtay: May 4 2007, 10:47 AM

Yup thats the 3 way laser. Once you get it, stop collecting power ups and focus on building and refueling your space craft only. Its very difficult to pass a level with the thick horizontal laser. Only collect the powerup after you finished refueling and feel that you can collect the power up and take off without losing a life, else just leave it.

Have moved my ratings to the first post as advised.

Have not purchase Catan yet. It seems too easy for me at the default AI, ie am still confuse with the rules and gameplay, yet managed to beat all opponents 4 out of 4 times I played the demo. Rest assured will give a full review once I master the rules and buy the full version.


Oh btw, anyone interested in getting any online achievements for any of the arcade games I have reviewed, just sent me an invite and I will gladly help any of you all out.

Was looking for the arcade thread when suddenly I realised that it has become a sticky, thanks Private John.

Lots of nice XBLA games are expected to be out very soon:
Prince of Persia (a must buy, hopefully it comes out this Wednesday June 13 and does not hit the 1200pts level),
Carcassonne (a board game thats a little like Catan, suppose to be out last week),
Bomberman (another must get, multiplayer mode looks good),
Space Giraffe (new Shoot em up, sequel to Tempest),
Band of Bugs (Ninjabee's strategy game),
Spyglass Board Games (Chess, checkers, reversi and mancala) and
Undertow (action shooter with up to 16 online players).

Guess there are some good games coming at all directions whether retail, virtual/live arcades for all consoles this coming month.

On a side note, I have updated my ratings on the first page (in purple) with a few more titles. Maybe for my next update, if all goes well, I will include some hints and tips to complete some of the games and maybe how to get 180 to 235 achievement points.

Btw, anyone who wishes to chip in ratings or reviews do feel free ya, then maybe we can have pooled ratings like, ha ha Famitsu reviews and direct gamers to the better arcade games!

This post has been edited by yjtay: Jun 11 2007, 04:05 PM

Band of bugs is one of the quality XBLA I am looking forward too after POP and Bomberman! For more details of Ninjabee and Band Of Bugs click on Lunarduality Blog, its very informative and with a candid view Ninjabee's work culture from another Xbox360 gamer.

As for POP, I believe they have simplified the game with save points at all levels and you even get an optional butterfly guide to show you where to go. Hopefully it will reduce the frustration level and make it friendlier to a wider audience!

Anyway I liked the original game which took me a couple of weeks to finish, which is long for a supposedly 1 hour game, hopefully this update will bring back fond memories. I will definitely post a full review instead of just a rating, once I finish it.

This post has been edited by yjtay: Jun 13 2007, 12:28 PM

For owners of Lumines Live, there will be new downloadable contents available from today. If you download the Tokyo Club Mix Pack (dubbed the SOS Charity Campaign Pack), between June 27th and July 17th you can even do your bit to combat against Global warming. Q Entertainment will be donating a portion of its proceeds from that content to The Alliance for Climate Protection.

Details of the new downloadable contents are as follows:



For lots of other details click Lumines Live Charity Pack.

In other Arcade news, Carcassonne will be released today for 800 MS Points hopefully it will be as good, if not better than Catan.

Oh Band of Bugs was good simple fun for me too, my only gripe is that its a bit too easy (achieved 200pts already too) . I have always favoured turn based over rts. Maybe I should sent an invite to PJ for a challenge and find out who is the better bug ha ha ha.

Wing Commander Arena is expected to be released this Wed, 25/07 for 800MS points and the nice folks at EA has came out with a colourful manual for it. For a copy, right click on WCA Manual and "Save Target As ..." to your hdd.
Reading the manual brings back sweet memories . Hopefully the game plays as good as the manual looks!

Yup , that is if you don't try the frustrating nearly impossible to complete games of Archway or Matrimony, in the set !

puzzle fighter is not available in Asia! Guess will need to redeem another of my spare ms point cards to get the game. Will update you all on any changes in policy of the cards on the US marketplace, but Singapore definitely has no problem as i just redeemed one yesterday.

Update: The cards still has no problems on the US marketplace. Puzzle Fighter is living up to it's hype, the HD graphics are crisp and NICE !
Oh btw do try out Street of Rage II its good and a steal at 400 points!

This post has been edited by yjtay: Aug 30 2007, 09:51 AM