Worth a Look - November 2013

Wow, I've been so busy at work this past few months that it's been ages since I did a Worth a Look compilation. Let's have a catch up in time for Xmo.

RESOGUN

Developer:	Housemarque
Publisher:	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platforms:	PS4 PSN
Price:	Free on PS Plus
Demo available:	Unknown

Oooh, the first next gen game to make this list. It says a lot about where the industry is these days that a game as so obviously retro as RESOGUN is one of the most talked about launch games on the PS4. I could not have imagined a Defender clone getting so much attention when the PS3, PS2 or even the PS1 launched. I'm not arguing, it looks great. The next gen consoles have not launched here in the UK yet and I'm not one for early adoption, but after the love affair I had with my Xbox 360, I rather fancy a PS4 this time and this would definitely be the first game I'd get (plus it's free to PlayStation Plus members, which is cool if you're into that sort of thing).

More info: http://us.playstation.com/ps4/games/resogun-ps4.html

Pinball Arcade

Developer:	Far Sight Studios
Publisher:	Far Sight Studios
Platforms:	Steam (also Android/iOS and PSN
Price:	Platform dependant
Demo available:	Yes with Tales of Arabian Nights provided for free

I went a bit pinball crazy this summer, thanks to a combination of getting a phone that could finally play Zen Pinball and Pinball Arcade and having little time for anything other than mobile gaming. However, as good as video pinball is on a smart phone, the small screen means many of the details of the table are diminished. Now the greatest pinball simulator ever is available on PC via Steam. What's more, all 39 tables are available right out of the gate. If, like me, you really didn't play enough of these classic tables when they were in the arcade, there is absolutely no reason not to get this game. In the download not only do you get demos of all the tables, but you get the brilliant Tales of Arabian Nights for free. So get it - now! Not, not now, after you've read the rest of this article, then you can go.

There is no PC launch trailer so to speak, so here's the trailer for the latest two tables.

More info: http://www.pinballarcade.com/

Lawless

Developer:	Eight Pixels Square
Publisher:	DeNA
Platforms:	iOS
Price:	Free to play
Demo available:	N/A

In the interest of full disclosure I'll come right out and admit this game was developed by a team of my former colleagues, but even if that wasn't the case the Lawless's Time Crisis-esque gameplay would still make it worthy of a look. Set in LA in the 90s, the game throws together every goofy cop show trope ever. You take control of a professional criminal, trying to climb the greasy ladder of the criminal underworld by... well... blasting everything. The game isn't out yet, but when it's free to play, you might as well give it a go when it does appear.

More info: http://lawlessgame.com/

PixelJunk Shooter

Developer:	Q Games
Publisher:	Q Games
Platforms:	Steam/PS3 PSN
Price:	£6.99
Demo available:	No

Originally released for the PS3 about 3 years ago, Q Games' wonderful twin stick shooter is definitely a thinking man's shump and is now available on PC via Steam. As you explore vast caves trying to rescue miners, you find you can manipulate various substances in the environment. Blast open an underground reservoir and let the water hit a lava pool below and you'll create new land, fly past the magnetic goo and it will be attracted to your ship - or repelled if you have the right power up. The game is ingenious and also gorgeous to behold, with clean, pastel visuals and a corking sound track to go with it.

More info: http://pixeljunk.jp/library/Shooter/

Dragon's Crown

Developer:	Vanillaware
Publisher:	Atlus/NIS
Platforms:	Vita/PS3 PSN
Price:	Around £30
Demo available:	No

If you still have a soft spot for classic side scrolling fantasy brawlers, such as Shadow of Mystara, Black Tiger and (of course) Golden Axe, then Dragon's Crown will be right up your street. It's the same set up as all of these games, choose a hero (yes, there's a dwarf, yes there's a knight, yes there's an elf and a wizard and an Amazon, all of core fantasy archetypes are covered) and hack, slash and abracadabra your way through forests, caves, castles and dungeons. The game features a pretty decent skill tree to unlock more powers as you level up and generally pushes all of the right action RPG buttons. Its hand painted artwork is fantastic, but also somewhat controversial, as this features some of the most blatant sexualisation of women since Dead or Alive. Armour is scant and bosoms doth heave to the point of ridiculousness. So ridiculous in fact, that in this day and age of Miley Cyrus appearing naked on a wrecking ball in the video of the same name, I doubt even 12 year-old boys would think much about the pixellated flesh on display in this game. Nonetheless, it's needless and for many it has already detracted from what is otherwise a pretty decent hack 'n' slash game.

More info: http://www.atlus.com/dragonscrown/home.html (age check required)

MTW

Worth a Look - April 2013

What new games are coming this month that will tickle the fancies of your average arcade throwback? Let's take a look.

Badland

Developer:	Frog Mind Games
Publisher:	Frog Mind Games
Platforms:	iOS
Price:	Around £3
Demo available:	Unknown

Five years ago, indie game scene was ignited by the release of Jonathan Blow's cerebral platformer Braid. The game started in silhouette, before revealing its lush, oil-painting aesthetic. A few years later, Play Dead Studios released an all silhouette game, Limbo and since then there has been a deluge of (mainly indie) games using the same look. Enter Frog Mind's Badland on iPad and iPhone, a single touch puzzle-platformer where the objective is to get one or moe shadowy fur balls through a fast moving, trap-filled world to the exit tunnel at the end. With power-ups to change the size, shape and physical properties of the fur balls (like making them sticky), it's impressive that Frog Mind has managed to squeeze so many mechanics into a game that only needs one "button".

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit I haven't played this yet (I don't own an iOS platform), but from the reviews I've seen, it looks and sounds great. Don't take my word for it, here's AppSpy's review:

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Developer:	NeverRealm Studios
Publisher:	WB Games
Platforms:	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U
Price:	Around $40
Demo available:	Yes/No

I don't know much about comic books, in fact before my little boy started watching the Avengers and Batman: The Bold and the Brave cartoons, I couldn't have told you which super heroes were Marvel and which were DC. What I do know is that after Midway went belly up in 2009, Ed Boon became the creative director of NeverRealm Studios, who developed the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. Now they're giving a host of DC super heroes the NeverRealm treatment with Injustice, a 2D fighting game which wears its Mortal Kombat heritage in plain view on its sleeve. It's more than a MK game with DC characters, it has plenty of its own mechanics, as well as borrowing a few from other games. Along with over the top super that look more like a summon from Final Fantasy, it also features transitional stages (a la Dead or Alive) and interactive backgrounds that can be used to attack your opponent. Fighting games fans are sure to enjoy this one.

Sacred Citadel

Developer:	Southend
Publisher:	Deep Silver
Platforms:	XBLA/PS3/PC
Price:	Around £12.99
Demo available:	Yes

While I'm not familiar with the Sacred RPGs, I understand that this spin off is nothing like them and instead plays more like Sega's classic Golden Axe. The game's story is as cliché has they come, as is the choice of a warrior, ranger, mage or shaman, but there's something about its blend of hack 'n' slash and RPG that I find appealing. It has a pleasing, water-colour aesthetic and music that is bound to remind you of some classic arcade games. It isn't getting amazing reviews, but if you fancy something akin to Golden Axe that you can play with your mates over the internet, then for £10 you can probably get a decent couple of hours entertainment out of Sacred Citadel.

MTW

Worth a Look - March 2013

What's in this month's Worth a Look? A whole bunch of stuff, the biggest yet, in fact, with a bit of Star Wars in the form of pinball, top-down arcade racer, a sequel to a modern classic and a faux retro puzzle that will challenge even the most hardened arcade throwback and the official sequel to the most famous rip-off in gaming history.

Star Wars pinball

Developer:	Zen Studios
Publisher:	LucasArts
Platforms:	Android/iOS/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3
Price:	£1.32 - £6.99 (800MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

After Far Sight Studio's series of emulated pinball classics, Zen Studio's Zen Pinball/Pinball FX series is best video pinbal game around. While I would never say their designs are quite up to the legends behind the tables in Arcade Pinball, they do make some cracking pin games. Now they've turned their attention to Disney's latest acquisition — Star Wars. There are three tables in the pack, Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars and everyone's favourite masked bounty hunter, Boba Fett. If you (still) like Star Wars and you like pinball, you probably don't need to know any more than that.

Bit.Trip Runner 2

Developer:	Gaijin Games
Publisher:	Gaijin Games
Platforms:	PlayStation 3/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99 (1200MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

Gaijin's Bit.Trip series are wonderful celebrations of gaming origins and now there's a sequel to the one of the best in the series, Bit.Trup Runner. However, the Atari 2600-looking aesthetic has gone, in favour of something more modern, whilst still hinting at its retro origins. If I'm honest I prefer the original look, but this is still a cracking rhythm puzzle game. Whether it's worth a tenner is a different question entirely.

WRC Powerslide

Developer:	Milestone
Publisher:	Milestone
Platforms:	PlayStation 3 PSN/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99/1200MSP
Demo available:	Yes

Milestone's WRC series may be the offical rally game of the FIA World Rally Championship, but it's always played second fiddle to Codemasters' Colin McRae/Dirt series. However, with this downloadable only spin-off Milestone are channelling Super Sprint, Micro Machines and many other classic top down racers. The game appears to use the same engine as the main series, so it has all the same physics for (unsurprisingly) power sliding and also bashing up the car models. Add a few friends and you've got one rowdy, rip-roaring racer.

Gem Chaser

Developer:	Electric Wolf
Publisher:	Electric Wolf
Platforms:	Xbox Live Indie Games
Price:	67p (80 MSP)
Demo available:	Yes

Having worked in the games industry for a few years means I'm friends with a number of bedroom developers, like the family behind Electric Wolf. They've been pretty prolific over the past few months, with each game improving on their last. Gem Chaser is their latest and by far their most challenging. The premise is simple, collect the gems that match the colour of Gem Chaser, which can be altered by jumping through colour changing portals. With strict time limits and devilish level design that means you absolutely must take the optimum path, this is definitely one for the more masochistic. Warning though, addiction will kick in way before frustration.

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

Developer:	Black Forest Games
Publisher:	Black Forest Games
Platforms:	PC/PlayStaton 3/Xbox Live Arcade
Price:	£10.99
Demo available:	Yes/No

Back in the mid-80s, a group of guys calling themselves Time Warp Productions, produced a platforming game called The Great Giana Sisters. It was a blatant rip-off of Super Mario Bros, right down to level design, and Nintendo were quick to bury it. However, 22 years later they resurrected it for the Nintendo DS and now, another 4 years later Black Forest Games have released this truly gorgeous sequel. This is up there with Trine and Rayman Origins as one of the most beautiful-looking platformers ever. Thankfully the gameplay is pretty nifty too and features a light/dark world mechanic that sees level geometry change as you flip between one world and the other. There's not enough of this sort of game on the PC or Xbox 360, so platforming fans owe it to themselves to check it out.

MTW

Worth a Look - February 2013

The first Worth a Look of the year and it's all about arcade nostalgia, some of which comes in an unusual form.

Capcom's Arcade Cabinet

Developer:	Capcom
Publisher:	Capcom
Platforms:	XBLA, PSN
Price:	400MSP/£3.99 per pack
Demo available:	Yes

I saw the logo for Capcom's Arcade Cabinet about a month ago and guessed what it would be. When the first videos appeared it looked like the classic arcade manufacturer was trying to do single-handedly what Atari, Konami, Intellivision, Krome and of course Microsoft, failed to do as a joint venture with the ill-fated retro gaming service Game Room, but it's actually something more akin to the Vintage Collections Sega have been putting out recently. Basically, if you loved old Capcom arcade games like 1942, Black Tiger, Side Arms and many, many more, then Arcade Cabinet gives you access to them either individually or in packs of three. They are promising to release new packs on a regular basis and the first few offerings are probably better than most of what was on Game Room anyway. The interface is elegant and and emulation seems spot on. If legal emulation is your thing (and it ought to be), then check it out on your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

Arcadecraft

Developer:	FireBase
Publisher:	Microsoft
Platforms:	XBox Live Indie Games
Price:	240MSP
Demo available:	Yes

One of my many fantasies as a kid was owning my own arcade, along with being the lead singer of a heavy metal band, being a movie star, being a pro wrestler and being a ninja. Now, thanks to FireBase, we can all live out that fantasy in Arcadecraft. If you've every played Theme Park or Railroad Tycoon, you'll have a pretty good idea of what this game is about. Buy machines, lay out your arcade, alter settings for price, difficulty, etc and make your business a success. Sadly, although FireBase went to the effort of dreaming up fake manufacturer's and machines, you cannot actually play any of them, just profit from them. It's still fun, but I feel that extra step could have made this amazing.

Super House of Dead Ninjas

Developer:	Megadev
Publisher:	Adult Swim Games
Platforms:	PC (Steam)
Price:	£4.99
Demo available:	No

Based on a Flash game of the same name, Super House of Dead Ninja fast-paced 2D platform beat 'em up that begs you to have another go when it inevitably beats you.  You play the part of the Crimson Ninja, who must make her way down through the randomly generated floors before the time (30 seconds per check point) runs out. It's a combination that would have made it a very successful arcade machine. It's also one of many indie games out there that strives to look retro, whilst ultimately doing things that could not have been done in the implied era. It's brisk, challenging, graceful, gory and would not have looked out of place in an arcade 25 years ago. Although there is technically no demo on Steam, you can still play the Flash version here.

MTW

Worth a Look November 2012

Time for another quick round-up of recently-released arcade-style games. This month we have the return of a classic clone and a bunch of new karting games.

Giana Sisters: Twistered Dreams 

Developer:	Black Forest Games
Publisher:	Black Forest Games
Platforms:	PC
Price:	£12.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Back in 1987, a .Super Mario Brother clone called The Great Giana Sisters was released for a bunch of home computers. It was pretty good, but Nintendo didn't like the uncanny resemblance to their flagship franchise and threatened the developers, Time Warp Productions, and publishers, Rainbow Arts, with legal action. Now Black Forest Games have created a truly beautiful sequel for PC (with Xbox 360 and PS3 versions in the pipeline). There's been a lot of great looking 2D platformers in recent years, such as Rayman Origins, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Trine, but Twisted Dreams could be the best looking yet. Thankfully it backs it up with some fun gameplay too. There's a demo coming on Steam, so check it out.

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing: Transformed

Developer:	Sumo Digital
Publisher:	Sega
Platforms:	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, WiiU and 3DS
Price:	£29.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

From one Nintendo clone to another, the original Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing was a perfectly competent Mario Kart clone. I'm sure that it's no coincidence that about a year after Mario Kart 7 introduced karts that can fly and float, so too does Sega. I'm not going to hold it against them, because I actually think this game looks and plays better than the recent Mario Kart games.

Little Big Planet Karting

Developer:	Media Molecule
Publisher:	Sony
Platforms:	PlayStation 3/PlayStation Vita
Price:	£39.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Little Big Planet was a brilliant, creative, expressive game, so I find it strange Media Molecule have created something as cliché and worn out as a karting game, especially when the PS3 has a brilliant karting game with Mod Nation Racers. However, with the Little Big Planet name comes all the charm of Sackboy and friends. And you know what, it's a pretty decent karter anyway.

F1 Race Stars

Developer:	Codemasters Racing
Publisher:	Codemasters
Platforms:	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360/PC
Price:	£39.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Let's be honest, Formula 1 is a tad boring. The same few teams have been ruling the roost for decades, the racing generally lacks the bump and grind of touring cars or the risks and thrills of rallying. So what better way to spice things up than to make an F1 karting game? Featuring super deformed versions of all the latest drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, Jensen Button, Mark Webber, Fernando Alonso and many more. The game straddles the rules of both F1, with pit stops required to repair your car, and more karting mayhem, with weapons, power-ups and crazy tracks.

Of the three karting games out this month, this is probably the weakest, but if you don't like Sonic or (somehow) Sackboy, then this is a suitable alternative.

That does it for this month. Check the Worth a Look tag in the coming months for more tasty, arcade-inspired treats.

MTW

Worth a Look - October, 2012

Time for another quick round-up of recently-released arcade-style games. This month we have a PC shmup from Capcom, which makes great use of lots of borrowed ideas, a remake of a classic top-down racer for PC and an utterly insane platformer from Sega.

Ether Vapor Remastered 

Developer:	Edelweiss
Publisher:	Nyu Media/Capcom
Platforms:	PC
Price:	£5.45
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Continuing Capcom's initiative to publish small independent games, this doujin shmup borrows ideas left, right and centre, yet never fails to make good use of those ideas. The weapon system is similar to Radiant Silvergun, in that there are no power-ups, just 6 weapons assigned to 3 buttons, some of which have to be charged up to activate. The camera switches between several angles during the game, so sometimes it plays like a typical horizontal or vertical scrolling shmup and other times it plays like Sega classics Space Harrier and even Rez. It's a tight and tidy looking game, although admittedly there's not much variety in the enemy types. Nonetheless, there's a demo on Steam and any shmup fan would do worse than to download it.

Death Rally

Developer:	Remedy Entertainment
Publisher:	Remedy Entertainment
Platforms:	PC/iOS/Android
Price:	£7.99
Demo available:	No

What is it?

Max Payne and Alan Wake developer, Remedy Entertainment's original Death Rally was a top-down combat racing game, released 16 years ago for MS-DOS PCs. This remake plays much like the 1996 original, which in turn played much like Bally Midway's Spy Hunter. As the name implies, Death Rally features guns, bombs and various other weapons to help you dispose of the opposition. There's even an arena-style death match mode, which is all about destruction and not at all about racing. The remake manages to retain the feel of the original, but look a whole lot more modern at the same time. If you have a bunch of like-minded friends on-line, this is a blast.

Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit

Developer:	Arkedo
Publisher:	Sega
Platforms:	Xbox Live Arcade, PC, PS3 (via PlayStation Network)
Price:	1200MSP/£12.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Games don't get much more colourful and crazy than this rainbow-gore platformer from Arkedo and Sega. You play as the Prince of Hell, who has had the misfortune of being photographed playing in the bath with his rubber ducky — which is a very un-Prince of Hell-like thing to be caught doing. A quick look at the website where the pictures were published reveals 100 monsters have seen the picture. What can an undead lagomorph lord of the underworld do but kill every last one of them!? And so you set about exploring the incredibly detailed hell world of Hell Yeah! with the help of a jet pack-come-circular saw — yeah, you read that right. When you catch up to one of the 100 monsters, instead of a traditional boss fight, you get a 20 or 30 second-long mini-game, which invariably takes the form of quick time event. They are very fast and you have to understand the aim of these mini-games in an instant if you are to stand a chance of beating them. It keeps you on your toes in this amazingly detailed game. And much like last year's Rayman Origins, Hell Yeah! shows what 2D arcade games could have been had polygons and home consoles not taken over. Check out the demo and prepare for a visual feast.

That does it for this month. Check the Worth a Look tag in the coming months for more tasty, arcade-inspired treats.

MTW

Worth a Look - August 2012

Time for another quick round-up of recently-released arcade-style games. This month I have a futurist racer on the Wii, a unique twist on the match three puzzler and what could be the ultimate score attack game.

Fast - Racing League 

Developer:	Shin'en
Publisher:	Autumn Games/Konami
Platforms:	WiiWare
Price:	1000 Nintendo Points (£7.00)
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

One look at this futuristic racing game and you could be forgiven for thinking it was a WipeOut sequel, but if you watch the game being played for a few minutes you'll see it also shares something in common with Treasure's sublime shmup, Ikaruga. Basically your racing ships can switch polarity between white and black. The only way to make use of the power ups on the track is to match its polarity. These power ups include speed boosts and jump pads and if you don't hit them you risk not only falling behind but also falling off the track. It's an interesting twist to what would otherwise be an unremarkable game. 

Graphically, this is one of the best looking Wii games I've seen full stop, let alone Wiiware game and the music is as brilliant as Shin'en's past releases, such as shoot 'em up series Iridion and Nanostray. Playing this, I can't help thinking if this was in an arcade with a hydraulic cabinet, it would be major crowd puller.

10,000,000

Developer:	Eighty Eight Games
Publisher:	Apple AppStore
Platforms:	iOS
Price:	£2.99
Demo available:	No

What is it?

Just as the commercial games market is drowning in first person shooters, the indie scene is similarly drowning in match three puzzle games. Of course one of the most famous arcade puzzle games of all time, Puzzle Bobble (AKA Bust-a-Move) was a match three puzzle, so when a clever and different example of the genre comes along, I can't help but check it out. 10,000,000 is one such game. The game takes typical match three puzzles and mixes in a dash of RPG and infinity running to create something surprisingly fresh. Your character runs along the top of the screen and constantly faces various enemies and obstacles. Below is a grid of objects, which you must match in order to conquer threat preventing you from progressing. This adds both a sense of urgency and the need to plan that will quickly draw you in. As the title of this thread says, it's well worth a look.

Rock Band Blitz

Developer:	Harmonix
Publisher:	EA
Platforms:	Xbox Live Arcade, PS3 (via PlayStation Network)
Price:	1200MSP/£12.99
Demo available:	XBLA only

What is it?

A few years ago rhythm games were all the rage, with developer Harmonix first creating Guitar Hero for Activsion, then switching publishers to EA and creating Rock Band. For the next few years, Guitar Hero (under the stewardship of Neversoft) and Rock Band battled it out for a piece of the market, with each new installment upping the ante. Guitar Hero even made it into the arcade, with industrial grade guitars that weighed more than Karl Palmer's stainless steel drum kit. Quite frankly, it all got a bit ridiculous in the end, with Activision releasing four or five Hero-branded games in the space of a year. So just when it seemed the fad was over, Harmonix, the people who kicked started the whole trend, come back with a game that may have the Rock Band name, but more closely follows the gameplay of their earlier games, Frequency and Amplitude.

For any fan of arcade games and the pursuit of high scores, Rock Band Blitz is the perfect score attack fix. There are no fail states in this game, no difficulty settings, instead you play it to the best of you ability and you will be able to play every song in the game, plus any in your own Rock Band library, but if you want to top the leaderboards you have to learn to juggle each track (drums, bass, guitar, vocals and keyboards) to maximise the multiplier for each. The further you push the multiplier across all of the tracks before you reach each tracks check point and the further you can push the next multiplier. The result is you enforce the difficulty on yourself, purely by trying to do better. It's a fantastic system and possible the purest form of score attack I've ever seen.

That does it for this month. Check the Worth a Look tag in the coming months for more tasty, arcade-inspired treats.

MTW

Worth a Look - July 2012

I never wanted to make this into a review site and the few reviews I have done have taken more time (and money) than I'd like, so instead I'm introducing a new, ad hoc feature, Worth a Look, where I take a handful of new arcade-inspired games and put them in the spot light.

This month I have a Space Invaders clone, a Breakout/Arkanoid clone and a modern fighting game that inspired this feature in the first place.

Skull Girls 

Developer:	Revenge Labs
Publisher:	Autumn Games/Konami
Platforms:	XBLA/PSN(PS3)
Price:	1200MSP/£10.99
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

If you like Guilty Gear or Blaz Blue, check out Revenge Labs's debut, Skull Girls, which actually hit Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network for PS3 a couple of months ago. There may only be eight combatants, but Revenge Labs have done a great done of making sure they are as different from one another as possible. There's also a pretty solid tutorial mode, which Revenge hopes will teach people who are new to fighters how things like combos, launchers, cancels and juggles work.

Titan Attacks

Developer:	Puppy Games
Publisher:	Steam/independent
Platforms:	PC
Price:	£2.99
Demo available:	Yes/No

What is it?

Almost as soon as it was released in 1978 people started copying Space Invaders' formula. Most of the time developers do nothing to distinguish themselves from the pack, but Puppy Games manage to be both be highly retro and brilliantly redesigned at the same time. As well as the usual wave-based, single-screen action you'd expect from a Space Invaders clone, Titan Attacks includes an upgrade shop, which appears at the end of every level. If you simply want to survive you can top up your shield after each wave, but if you want to power up your tank, you need to save your coppers for several levels. Whether it's worth the wait is entirely up to you.

WoOOPup 

Developer:	Bedroom Studio Entertainment
Publisher:	Independent
Platforms:	XBox Live Indie Games
Price:	80MSP
Demo available:	Yes

What is it?

Breakout clones are even more commonplace than Space Invaders clones, but good ones are rare. WoOOPup! by Bedroom Studios is easily the best on Microsoft's Xbox Live Indie Games service. While not as distinctive as Shatter, WoOOPup has very high production values and a few new ideas of its own, including coins that appear when you break a block and can only be collected by the ball, stackable power ups and coin collecting bonus rounds.

That does it for this month. Check the Worth a Look tag in the coming months for more tasty, arcade-inspired treats.

MTW