Xbox Live Community Games Roundup

When the much-trumpeted New Xbox Experience finally arrived, it didn't just bring us those oh-so-adorable Avatars and the welcome option to install games to the hard drive. No, tucked way rather unceremoniously in the Games Marketplace was the long-promised Community Games section, bearing the fruits of Microsoft's lengthy flirtation with the world of amateur, indie and homebrew coding.

We got a sneaky taste of what these games might entail back in February, when seven of them were given a brief preview on the boring old Xbox dashboard, but strangely none of these appear in the line-up of the full Community Games channel. Still, that doesn't mean the service has been slack. In the first week alone, over fifty new games have been added.

There are a lot of block-dropping puzzlers, and plenty of uninspired shooters. Some are fairly slick, others rough as a badger, and some showcase quirky design unrestrained by commercial concerns. In The Pit, for example, is a game with no graphics whatsoever, in which you have to hunt down hapless victims through audio and vibration alone. Then there's Audiball, which uses Guitar Hero and Rock Band peripherals for a fast-paced puzzle game. If anything, browsing through the constantly expanding list recalls teenage hours spent painstakingly scanning the budget shelves, wondering which two-quid masterpiece to gamble on.

You have no such worries however. Not only is Eurogamer on hand to guide you through the homebrew jungle, but you can list the games in order of popularity and also download a trial version of each. These demos are time-limited, however, which means that some barely get a chance to show what they can do before you're crudely booted out. And, despite their amateur roots, there's no such thing as freeware on Xbox Live. Prices range from 200 Microsoft Points up to 800, which places the top-level Community Games side by side with the average Live Arcade offering. Clearly, they're going to need to prove their worth.

This, then, is our guide to the Community Games that have caught our eye so far.

Artoon

• Price: 400 MS Points

With its distinctive cel-shaded appearance, this bouncy Q-Bert style puzzler immediately stands out. The goal is to change the colour of all the tiles by bouncing on them, but bouncing on them twice changes them back. Some tiles need to be hit on several times before they'll change, and you must touch another tile between each bounce. From this simple set-up, developer Oscar K has produced an often ingenious game, something that requires a lot more thought than you'd think. It takes a while to get used to the slightly floaty jumping, but apart from that it's precisely the sort of solid homebrew you'd hope to see on this sort of download channel.

Biology Battle

• Price: 800 MS Points

This two-stick shooter doesn't even bother to hide its debt to Geometry Wars, doffing its cap respectfully in the direction of the Bizarre Creations classic in both title and gameplay. The Community Games channel is already awash with clunky shooters, so it's refreshing to find one that is this slick, with fast and fluid control, and loads of power-ups. It also offers co-op play, as well as online and offline modes. The only major problem is that it costs twice as much as the original Geometry Wars, and the same as its masterful sequel. It'd also be nice to see such a clearly talented developer working on something a little less derivative.

Bloc

• Price: 200 MS Points

Screenshots don't really do Bloc justice, since it really isn't a game driven by visuals. You've got a disc, divided into four colours a bit like the old electronic Simon game. Blocks of corresponding colours begin to enter the arena from above, below, left and right. You've got to rotate your disc to shoot the correct colour at the encroaching squares. Trouble is, to fire bullets of the right colour, you need to press the same coloured button on the joypad. So the A button shoots green bullets. Unless you have very flexible wrists, chances are your joypad won't be rotating to match the disc, so getting your head around which direction to face and which buttons to press is a real challenge. It's simple, but remarkably effective, and at just 200 Points it offers a very addictive little distraction.

Blow

• Price: 400 MS Points

A genteel puzzler, Blow requires you to position a limited number of fans to safely guide bubbles past obstacles, while hitting specified flowers along the way. There's a rather twee backstory about faeries (spelled the posh way) but the core of the game is more than enough to work on its own in any setting. You get a generous 70 levels to start with, but the inclusion of a procedural level generator means that you're essentially getting a game with infinite replayability.

Colosseum

• Price: 800 MS Points

Look past the misspelled title and you'll find one of the more visually impressive Community Games on offer. Colosseum (a game I need to keep retyping because my word processor insists on correcting it) is a 3D fighting game, a sort of bargain basement God of War. The controls are slightly clunky, as is the camera, but it's still a considerable achievement, with local four-player team games and a generous array of modes, characters, weapons and attacks. It's a little too rough around the edges to really justify its top tier price-point, but it's an impressive offering all the same.

Easy Golf: Course Architect

• Price: 800 MS Points

One of the most ambitious Community Games, Easy Golf sets out to offer more than just a basic golfing simulation. It's a multiplayer golf course construction kit, supporting up to four players online and offering the chance to show off your creations in real time. It comes with two pre-designed courses for those who just want to tee off, but the design element is so thorough and intuitive that there's no excuse not to come up with your own. The ball physics are rather rudimentary when compared to the more professional golf games out there but Easy Golf can certainly hold its own against Live Arcade's Golf: Tee It Up!

Exisled

• Price: 400 MS Points

This top-down helicopter shooter plays a bit like Desert Strike crossed with Assault Heroes. You venture forth from your base, and must battle the teeming hordes of enemy vessels sent to meet you. Tiny bullets fly all over the place, and it doesn't take long to realise that your best bet is to just keep moving to minimise the inevitable damage. You can return to base for repairs, and to load up on the bombs you'll need to take down the enemy fortresses. With only eight levels, and no co-op or multiplayer options, Exisled is perhaps a rather slender experience but it's still one of the more polished shooters in the Community Games folder.

StarPilot

• Price: 400 MS Points

You can't have a homebrew games service without at least one Tron tribute, and this variation on lightcycles in space fits the bill quite nicely. Offering online multiplayer, or offline solo play against AI bots, there are also challenges (or "challanges" as the game insists on calling them) to work through, learning the ropes as you go. Control is tight, while the ability to loop and curve around your opponents, rather than being restricted to right angle turns, makes things much more interesting. As with a lot of the mid-priced Community Games, there's a lack of polish that may put off people used to Live Arcade titles, but the gameplay underneath is rock solid.

Weapon of Choice

• Price: 400 MS Points

This Contra-style shooter is pretty much the best Community Game available, almost by default. That's to be expected though, since creator Nathan Fouts worked on Resistance: Fall of Man and is therefore not your average bedroom coder. Cleverly designed, and packed with innovative features, it's hard to see why this is debuting under the Community Games banner, especially since previous XNA entry The Dishwasher will now be launched as a Live Arcade game. The hand-drawn graphics are colourful, while enemies are large and impressive. In terms of features, you have "death-brushing" which allows you to dodge imminent death in cheesy slo-mo, and the Vengeance Missile which lets you exact revenge on whatever killed you. You also have a "spider-pack", a robot rucksack that grabs onto sheer surfaces to save you from deadly falls. Anyone who loves Metal Slug or Bionic Commando would do well to give this a try.