Xbox Live DLC Roundup Review

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Eternal Sonata

• Chopin Music Unlock (80 points / GBP 0.68 / EUR 0.96)

The cheapest piece of DLC we looked at in the whole roundup, and also the oddest. For a princely sixty-eight pence, you can unlock the ability to listen to the (admittedly absolutely beautiful) renditions of Chopin's piano masterpieces found in the game any time you like. On one level, we can't help but feel like this is the sort of thing that should be in there anyway - you've bought a game with this music in it, why on earth should you have to pay to be able to listen to it at your convenience? On the other hand... Well, it's 68 pence. Still, for a couple of quid you could probably have a CD of Chopin's works - making this into even more of an oddity, and of dubious value despite the low price.

5/10

Forza Motorsport 2

Audi you do?

• Pack of ten new cars (400 points / GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80)
• Road America track (100 points / GBP 0.85 / EUR 1.20)

This is the December update to Forza Motorsport 2, and a clear demonstration that Microsoft is determined to support the game - and at a reasonable price. For the cost of one Idol Master skin in Ace Combat 06, you get ten fully modelled, gorgeous looking cars - from the likes of Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Pontiac, Porsche and Renault. You don't get to play with them immediately, though - they have to be unlocked with in-game credits, too. In addition, there's a lovely looking rendition of the Road America track, which hosts the US Le Mans series, for eighty-five of your English pence. With packs like this every few months (there was another in September), Forza's DLC is turning out to be the best value across all of Marketplace.

9/10

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

• Two three-track packs (500 points / GBP 4.25 / EUR 6.00)
• Three singles (200 points / GBP 1.70 / EUR 2.40)

In addition to a couple of worthy freebies - the Halo theme and the Boss Battle pack, which features original compositions by Tom Morello and Slash - Guitar Hero III has been garnished with a fair few new pieces of DLC since its launch. Our favourite of the three-track packs is the Foo Fighters one, featuring old classics like This Is A Call, but the Velvet Revolver one is no slouch, featuring of course the stylings of the aforementioned Slash. The singles on offer are a more eclectic bunch - Extremoduro and Die Fantastischen Vier are popular with our continental brethren, we're told. The main disappointment here, predictably, is price. SingStar offers the music, the video and the game data for each track for 99p - charging more than that for something without the video doesn't seem right. Good selection though, and we suspect most GH3 players will want that Foo Fighters pack.

8/10

Naruto Rise of a Ninja

• Japanese voice pack (Free)
• New Character and Arena Packs (500 points / GBP 4.25 / EUR 6.00 each)

Anti-guff techniques were essential when battling 'The Boy With The Giant Peanut'.

Ubisoft's surprisingly good take on Japan's best-loved noisy ninja has two main offerings on Xbox Live - and it's the free one we like best. One of the biggest problems we had with the game was its shockingly dreadful English voice acting, so it's a relief that you can grab the Japanese dialogue for free online. Full marks on that front. The new characters and arenas for the fighting game portion, too, are welcome. You get two fully fleshed out characters, with their own moves and specials, along with two new battle arenas in each pack, which isn't bad for just over four pounds. If you're not convinced, though, there's a demo version of the content online - a nice touch we wish more DLC publishers would emulate.

8/10

Need for Speed ProStreet

• Five new cars (and new event days) (800 points / GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60)
• Unlock all tuning items (800 points / GBP 6.80 / EUR 9.60)
• Unlock packs of six cars (400 points / GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80)

Call us cynics, but we started writing this feature convinced that we were going to encounter plenty of publishers ripping off their loyal audiences with DLC prices. Sure, we found plenty of overpricing, but we were pleasantly surprised at the value on offer in most games - until we ran into EA's strategy for DLC. Don't be fooled - only one of the items listed above is actually new content, the five-car pack which costs twice as much as Forza's ten-car pack. The rest are unlocks for things that are already in the game, and which you could unlock by simply playing it - which then leads us to wonder what incentive developers have to balance their game properly, if they can make more money by selling virtual cheat codes to hapless gamers at vastly inflated prices? They probably call it choice - we call it disgusting gouging.

2/10