When Xbox 360 launched last fall, Microsoft said they would have more than 50 titles available by the end of June 2006. If you go by what's on store shelves, it looks like they'll fall short by at least a dozen games. But they won't have to admit any forecasting mistakes thanks to Xbox Live Arcade, the system's unique online video game marketplace that lets people purchase a wide variety of casual games starting at a mere 400 Microsoft Points (which translates to about US$5—a far cry cheaper than any boxed game). Some of these titles are thoroughly entertaining and some, well, not so much with the entertaining thing.

Here's the lowdown on the first 21 games this innovative console service has managed to churn out, including notes on how likely you'll be to earn a few quick achievement points if you decide to spring for any of them.

(For the uninitiated, "achievement points" are awarded each time you perform one of several set feats in any Xbox 360 game. They're part of Microsoft's clever method of motivating you to keep buying and playing, imparting the feeling that you can't put the controller down until you have more points than your friends and rivals. Think Brownie Badges for gamers, or, in a stretch, bragging rights amongst The Big Lebowski's "Achievers." Whatever the analogy, the achievement points lure works like a charm—even on the jaded.)


Astropop
Fun factor: Medium
Easy achievement points: In your dreams
The short version: Had it not been designed by a sadist, it could have been one of the best games in the Xbox Live Arcade portfolio.

So picture this: you have a great concept for a casual game that's got something for everyone. It has shooting, a bit of strategizing, a smidgeon of puzzling, multiple characters and powers to unlock, and you can learn how to play in less than five minutes. Sounds great, huh? Now, what's the best way to go and ruin it? Make it impossibly hard. Actually, that's not cruel enough. Let's get sadistic and make it really fun for twenty or thirty minutes—just enough time to get people hooked—and then crank up the difficulty to inhuman. Yeah. Now let's call it Astropop.


Bankshot Billiards 2
Fun factor: Medium to high (depending on your love of billiards)
Easy achievement points: Only if you have a few dozen hours to kill
The short version: As pool sims go, it's pretty darned good. Still, it's a pool sim...

Every once in a while we all get the urge to shoot some stick, but do we want to do it video game style? Playing pool in a hall isn't exactly the hippest activity in the world (though it does come in and out of vogue as often as bell-bottoms), and playing pool on your Xbox 360 somehow seems even less cool. That said, as pool games go, Bankshot Billiards 2 is top notch. Whether you're into standard billiard matches, such as 8-ball, 9-ball, or snooker, or you prefer to play less formal pool games like cutthroat or golf, Bankshot has it all—even online play. And all of these modes are supported by spot-on controls and ball physics. Billiards lovers can spend their 1500 Microsoft Points on Bankshot 2 with confidence.


Bejeweled 2
Fun factor: Medium
Easy achievement points: Nope. Not even if you were a professional Bejeweled player.
The short version: It's been a flawed game on every platform it has appeared, and nothing has changed with the Xbox Live Arcade version.

Bejeweled is a bad puzzle game, and all the sparkly, high-definition graphics in the world can't change that. There are millions of players out there who may disagree with this claim, but here is the key supporting evidence: you can lose without having done a thing wrong. Whether or not your game ends is often just pure luck... how the jewels happen to fall. And the Xbox 360 version—even though it offers up several interesting play modes, including Classic, Puzzle, and the deceptively titled "endless"—suffers from the luck problem just as much as its predecessors.


Coin-op Classics: Joust, Gauntlet, Robotron 2084, Smash TV
Fun factor: Medium to low
Easy achievement points: No
The short version: Unless you happen to have fond memories of playing these coin-op classics as a kid, you'll likely find little joy playing any of them now.

So far, the Coin-op Classics genre in Xbox Live Arcade stinks. It features four antique games from Midway—Joust, Gauntlet, Robotron 2084, and Smash TV—and none of them have aged gracefully. They're from the arcade age of gaming, when games were purposefully made maddeningly difficult so kids could only play for a minute at a time before dying and being forced to jam the rest of their allowances into the machine's coin slots to continue. At least with Xbox Live Arcade we only have to pay once, but that doesn't make these games any more enjoyable. Flapping around trying to lance other bird-borne knights in Joust gets old after about three minutes. Robotron and Smash TV are essentially the same game, and, as such, deliver similar levels of frustration with their increasingly difficult scenarios involving hordes of attacking foes. And the once-loved role-playing game Gauntlet, with its twitchy game play and odd mazes, now appears downright foolish compared to the scores of great 2D RPGs that have been released since it was in vogue. It might be worth revisiting these crappy old games if we could at least earn a few achievement points along the way, but none of them give up points very easily. To reiterate, keep away from the Xbox Live Arcade Coin-op Classics... at least until Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting is released later this year.


Crystal Quest
Fun factor: Medium
Easy achievement points: Yes
The short version: A pleasant distraction, but don't expect to spend more than thirty or forty minutes with it before losing interest.

No shooting. Forget about shooting. Think dodging. Avoidance is the name of the game in Crystal Quest, which requires players to maneuver a silver sphere around a rectangular board collecting crystals while dodging all manner of "nasties", including mines, mushrooms, and various other unnamed, difficult to describe things. It's not terribly compelling, but it can be fun in measured doses. Plus, it's an easy way to pick up a few achievement points—if you're any good you can expect to earn between 70 and 100 achievement points in the first hour or two.


Feeding Frenzy
Fun factor: Zilch. Nadda. Unfun. Negatory on the funness.
Easy achievement points: Sure, if you can bear to invest enough time into it
The short version: A game about aquatic food chains. Yippee.

Not sure how this one made it through development and into release. A game that involves moving a 2D fish around a 2D environment and bumping him into smaller fish to eat them seems…well, lame at best. And the only thing worse than playing a lame game about fish eating fish is when that game is poorly tuned. Often times your fish won't devour another fish on contact, as he should. Rather, players have to make him completely cover the target fish before the game registers its consumption. The only place Feeding Frenzy should exist is as part of a kid's exhibit at Marine Land, where the children who play wouldn't be forced to spend more than a few minutes with it.

Also See:

• The definitive guide to Xbox Live Arcade (Part 2)
• Xbox Live Arcade hits its stride (new!) (aka Part 3)

 
 

It's true: Quality kids games are hard to find. Sure, there's lots out there, but few that are both good and genuinely kid-friendly. Fortunately, GamersGate online games portal has an entire section dedicated to quality family fare. Go ahead, check it out!