Remember when Arcades were the treat you got to see when you visited a relatives home by the seaside? No? Well then you are far too young to even know what I am talking about, but if you answered yes, then you would of sighed with nostalgia and heard within your mind the instantly recognisable tones of some classic Sega arcade games which almost always seemed louder than their rivals, all of which were asking for your hard earned fifty pence pieces.
Now we live in a new era of "Arcade" which isn't really an Arcade at all, more of a snappy title to label the interesting downloadable titles which are coming out thick and fast and more often than not provide far more enjoyable experiences than the full price retail boxed offerings as of late.
Microsoft are number one when it comes to promoting the best of the best Downloadable "Arcade"games with their Summer of Arcade promtion, releasing them when things go quiet in July so us gamers who blast through games have something to keep us occupied as we feverishly dream of the new, the shiny and the unexplored games.
Last week saw the release of Bastion from Super Giant Games, a company formed of just seven people who once worked at EA Games in Los Angeles. Bastion is a modern take on 16-bit action RPGs which will no doubt tickle the fancy of many older, experienced gamers as well as young and less jaded gamers. After finishing it I can safely tell you it's well worth the 1200 points.
This week see's the return of a genre which has somewhat fallen out of favour with the industry but as Telltale proved with the point and click genre; if you do it right, you will sell many copies. The "god game" genre returns with Ubi Softs From Dust game which pits you in the seat of a god who is able to manipulate the elements of a planet which resembles planet Earth in order to save the lifes of the natives folk who are faced with many natural disasters such as Volcanos and Tsunamis. From Dust will be 1200 Microsoft Points.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet arrives next week for 1200 MS Points and just by virtue of looking original and fun to play it made me excited to get my hands-on with it. You play as what seems to be a UFO flying around, you guessed it, an Insane Twisted Shadow Planet. The backgrounds provide the detail, colour and all round twisted look while the foreground resembles Outland where everything is sihlouetted. Expect Metroid-esque exploration and weapon upgrading in order to open new areas and battle new types of enemies.
On the lighter side of videogaming for Kinect owning crowd we have a game which I am not entirely sure what to expect. Fruit Ninja Kinect will be available Wednesday 10th August for 800 MS Points, go check it out as words won't really do this game any justice at all.
Last but no means least is a sequel to many peoples' favourite Tower Defence game; Toy Soldiers. Toy Soliders: Cold War is definitely more of the same but with new features including the ability to rewind back to a failed wave rather than fight your way through fifteen minutes of gameplay which you were previously succesful. A feature sorely needed in tower defence games, if you like it that way!
And before you know it, you'd of bought all these games and enjoyed them and then the big boys come back out to play with Deus Ex: Human Revolution in late August. If, however, you did purchase all of the Summer of Arcade titles you are rewarded with a free game in September. Crimson Alliance is a fast-paced action RPG and is being sold for 1200 MS points. A bonus indeed.
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