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Has anyone tried any of them?
Ars has a review of 6 of them:
Ars has a review of 6 of them:
The New Xbox Experience has arrived today, along with the Xbox Community Games Platform. This new portal will offer countless games from independent developers that are moderated by the community, rather than Microsoft. We had a chance to play around with the Community Games prior to launch, and we have liked what's out there so far. Let's take a look at just a few of the games that you can scoop up at launch.
The Good
* Bloc (200 Points, $2.50): The best game to hit the Community Games is bloc, an inventive shooter that mixes up the oft-reproduced Geometry Wars formula in a neat way. Players control a floating circle that is comprised of four different colored pie slices, each corresponding to a face button on the Xbox 360 and a different gun that shoots a like-colored blast. The circle can also be turned to shoot any color in any of the four cardinal directions, and when you press a face button—say B for red—your circle shoots a ball of the same color in the direction of that color's pie piece. The goal is to destroy floating colored blocks by hitting them with the right color. If it sounds complicated, it is; but the game is also quite addictive and has a great co-op mode.
* Lines (200 Points, $2.50): A Lumines look-alike, Lines combines a chic aesthetic and widescreen play field with the pathway-linking action of Pipe Dream. Each block has a pathway of "liquid" that traverses its body. When these lines are properly connected across numerous blocks, the pathways combine. Getting five or more pathways linked results in a clear. But, for big points, holding off on making five by separating blocks from each so you can get bigger combos is key and, to mix things up, some blocks are unturnable. This is a solid mix of two popular puzzlers in one seamless package—and at a great price.
The Bad
* Cubage (200 Points, $2.50): The Rubik's Cube has stayed relevant for so long because the mental pleasure derived from solving the physical puzzle is a timeless satisfaction. Cubage takes the Rubik's Cube experience and makes it a digital one, but clumsy controls and an awkward interface make this downloadable title a bit of a hard sell. Anyone who is this interested in playing with a Rubik's Cube will likely buy a real one.
* Space Combat (200 Points, $2.50): First-person space shooters are a rarity these days, but Space Combat isn't exactly the most impressive entry in the genre. The game's simplistic cel-shaded wouldn't be a problem if they didn't make for a dizzying experience with little to no natural landmarks to help gamers keep their bearings. And while the actual combat is relatively basic, the controls are needlessly complex, requiring Herculean dexterity just to steer the ship.
The Strange
* Drift (400 Points, $5): One of the most expensive titles at launch isn't even really a game. Drift is a $5 interactive visualizer that hints at the potential future for non-games on the platform. The music is as trance-inducing as the vector graphics, which can be adjusted and played with in a Zen-like way. A neat application, but not exactly the most compelling buy at this price point.
* Being (200 Points, $2.50): On the other end of the spectrum is Being, a decidedly old-school, sprite-based platformer that looks like it was ripped out of the pages of the Nethack community. The game's art style and platforming action are incredibly simple, but there's something strangely attractive about the game's oldest of old school design. The trial is way too short to make up our minds on this one.
The Xbox Community Games initiative is something I'm behind. Some of the new interface quirks aren't exactly improvements, such as the fact that all Community Games have time-constricted trials instead of real demos, the platform gives anyone the ability to create and publish Xbox Live Arcade games, and face their peers rather than Microsoft's grueling certification process.
The Good
* Bloc (200 Points, $2.50): The best game to hit the Community Games is bloc, an inventive shooter that mixes up the oft-reproduced Geometry Wars formula in a neat way. Players control a floating circle that is comprised of four different colored pie slices, each corresponding to a face button on the Xbox 360 and a different gun that shoots a like-colored blast. The circle can also be turned to shoot any color in any of the four cardinal directions, and when you press a face button—say B for red—your circle shoots a ball of the same color in the direction of that color's pie piece. The goal is to destroy floating colored blocks by hitting them with the right color. If it sounds complicated, it is; but the game is also quite addictive and has a great co-op mode.
* Lines (200 Points, $2.50): A Lumines look-alike, Lines combines a chic aesthetic and widescreen play field with the pathway-linking action of Pipe Dream. Each block has a pathway of "liquid" that traverses its body. When these lines are properly connected across numerous blocks, the pathways combine. Getting five or more pathways linked results in a clear. But, for big points, holding off on making five by separating blocks from each so you can get bigger combos is key and, to mix things up, some blocks are unturnable. This is a solid mix of two popular puzzlers in one seamless package—and at a great price.
The Bad
* Cubage (200 Points, $2.50): The Rubik's Cube has stayed relevant for so long because the mental pleasure derived from solving the physical puzzle is a timeless satisfaction. Cubage takes the Rubik's Cube experience and makes it a digital one, but clumsy controls and an awkward interface make this downloadable title a bit of a hard sell. Anyone who is this interested in playing with a Rubik's Cube will likely buy a real one.
* Space Combat (200 Points, $2.50): First-person space shooters are a rarity these days, but Space Combat isn't exactly the most impressive entry in the genre. The game's simplistic cel-shaded wouldn't be a problem if they didn't make for a dizzying experience with little to no natural landmarks to help gamers keep their bearings. And while the actual combat is relatively basic, the controls are needlessly complex, requiring Herculean dexterity just to steer the ship.
The Strange
* Drift (400 Points, $5): One of the most expensive titles at launch isn't even really a game. Drift is a $5 interactive visualizer that hints at the potential future for non-games on the platform. The music is as trance-inducing as the vector graphics, which can be adjusted and played with in a Zen-like way. A neat application, but not exactly the most compelling buy at this price point.
* Being (200 Points, $2.50): On the other end of the spectrum is Being, a decidedly old-school, sprite-based platformer that looks like it was ripped out of the pages of the Nethack community. The game's art style and platforming action are incredibly simple, but there's something strangely attractive about the game's oldest of old school design. The trial is way too short to make up our minds on this one.
The Xbox Community Games initiative is something I'm behind. Some of the new interface quirks aren't exactly improvements, such as the fact that all Community Games have time-constricted trials instead of real demos, the platform gives anyone the ability to create and publish Xbox Live Arcade games, and face their peers rather than Microsoft's grueling certification process.
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