Xbox Live Arcade Roundup Review

Feeding Frenzy 2

• Developer: Gastronaut Studios
• Publisher: PopCap Games Inc.
• Cost: 800 Microsoft Points
• In Real Money: GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60

There wasn't a whole lot of substance to the original Feeding Frenzy. You were a small fish that ate smaller fish and avoided larger fish until you grew into a larger fish which made the other larger fish into smaller fish so you could eat them as well, except now there was an even larger fish and so it went on. It was deliberately shallow, but strangely compelling.

There certainly wouldn't seem to be many inspiring directions in which to take a sequel, but Feeding Frenzy 2 beefs up the familiar gameplay with some fun new ideas and multiplayer options. The graphics have also received a welcome overhaul, with the cheery characters now looking like they've been designed for an HD games console rather than fished out of a Flash website.

The meat of the game remains largely unchanged, though you get 60 levels rather than the original's 40. Complaints of repetition are as valid as ever. You certainly won't want to plough through the game in one sitting, but digested as intended - in bite-sized chunks - it's a decent distraction.

As before you act like an aquatic bully, chomping on those smaller than you and avoiding contact with the big boys. There are some tweaks to the formula though. You can jump out of the water, for instance, and snack on some of the insects hovering above. You can earn bonus points for pulling off flips and twists in the air. Also new is the ability to blow other fish... Wait, let me rephrase that. You can blow as well as suck which... Actually, I'll leave it at that. This can only end badly. And by "badly" I mean "with an investigation by the RSPCA".

Fishing Frenzy 2 comes with subtitles for the hard of herring.

Multiplayer is the big - and rather unexpected - addition. It's all local, so there's none of your fancy-schmancy intercom parties here, but you can have four player co-op in both the Story Mode and Lite Mode (Lite Mode is essentially Story Mode but really easy). There are also ten mini-games, which are all based around chasing each other or battling for ridiculous scores. These can be played separately or as part of a "Frenzyfest" tournament.

There's no point scoring this in comparison to most other games. It's casual to the core, designed to be playable by everyone from little kids to open-minded grandparents, and that's no bad thing. In those terms, Feeding Frenzy 2 is a decent package that improves on the original in terms of size, if not gameplay.

6/10

Domino Master

• Developer: Tik Games
• Publisher: Microsoft
• Cost: 800 Microsoft Points
• In Real Money: GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60

Between this and Gin Rummy, it would seem that Live Arcade is aggressively pursuing the elderly gamer these days. I think it's safe to assume that if you mentioned dominos to most 360 owners, they'd be more likely to order a large deep pan American Hot with a side order of those awesome little chicken things.

So, dominos. Much like XBLA's card games, Domino Master offers the basic game that you're probably aware of, along with All 3s, All 5s, Bergen and Mexican Train rules. In the core game, you try to use up all your dominos by matching the spots with the ones already in play. It's fun, in a rudimentary way, but unlike card games there's just not the same tactical depth and success seems to rely on the luck of the draw as much as any forward planning.

Whatever happened to Mr Domino? He was fun.

All 3s and All 5s change things around by only scoring for matches that are multiples of 3 or 5, while Bergen sees you trying to match numbers at each end of the layout. Mexican Train sounds like an internet video that could get you arrested, but actually proves to be the most interesting play mode. It splits play into different tracks, with each player having their own line of dominos that only they can add to as well as a communal one. This lets you plan and enact some long-term strategy, but that isn't enough to compensate for the fact you can be left nursing a crushing defeat through no fault of your own.

The presentation is as functional as you'd expect, you get a selection of domino sets and customisable rules and there's online multiplayer for up to four. It's all acceptable enough, and I certainly see the importance of having these types of traditional games on Live Arcade. It's just that dominos on a console doesn't have the same allure as card games, and there's very little here to justify an 800-Point purchase.

5/10