In the run up to Christmas, the Xbox Live team have announced six discounted applications which could help you through the long trips around the country to visit family and the huge amount of waiting you'll go through while doing the last minute shopping. Contre Jour, Doodle Jump, Mush, geoDefence Swarm, iStunt 2, and Kinectimals are all now priced at 99c/79p.

Want to know a little more about these titles? Here's the links and a quick summary of our reviews!

Contre Jour

Chillingo's latest Xbox Live title, 'Contre Jour' has you guiding the central character - in this case "a mysterious creature called Petit" - through the levels and towards the exit portal. The quirk? You have no direct interaction with the beautiful blob as she passes through a sumptuous looking game.

Mush

Mush is a wonderful twist on the platform genre, and one that I'm really happy to see getting some attention. Developed in part through the UK's 'Dare to be Digital' computer games design contest for students, Mush was one of three winning games in 2012, picking up a BAFTA 'one to watch' nomination. It's great to see developers Angry Mango reach the commercial world through this Xbox Live title, and to do it with such a unique style of game.

geoDefence Swarm

Following on from the success of the Xbox Live title geoDefense, geoDefense Swarm expands the concepts presented in the original title based around the 'tower defense' genre, and manages to improve on the original title without destroying the core concept.

iStunt 2

iStunt 2 is not unique to the Windows Phone platform. Like many developers, Mobiclip have pushed most of their titles out to all the major platforms, and not just on mobile - they have Flash versions of many of their games so you can play them in your browser. Which means I greeted the the arrival of iStunt 2 into Xbox Live as an old friend come to pastures new. Would it still be a great game on Windows Phone?

Kinectimals

Let's get something straightened out right at the start. This is not Nintendogs. In no way should you draw that conclusion, while you wash your cub, play ball with it, teach it tricks, earn money to buy food and drink... this is not Nintendogs. After all, in Kinectimals you're training your cubs so you can open up new areas on the island of Lemuria to explore - you've nothing like that in the puppy simulator for the DS. Oh no. Completely different....

It also turns out we've not reviewed Doodle Jump over the years, even though it's a favourite of the AAWP team. Guess that gives us something to do over the festive break!

Full details on the special offers are over on the Microsoft blog.