Much like Pendulous, which I reviewed yesterday, 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.
Now this is a fun little physics number! Pendulous, like many level based arcade games, asks you to get from one side of the screen to an exit point, past some tricky obstacles. The trick to making these games fun and addictive is not in the level design, although that is a huge part of the appeal, but in a control system that is different, accurate, and easy.
From part of the design team that brought you Panzer Dragoon on the Sega Saturn comes a little Xbox Live title with heavy echoes of the 1995 classic. Crimson Dragon: Side Story is a shoot-em-up, viewed from the side, that tells the story of the Crimson Scale disease on the planet Draco. B-movie plot aside, this is a damn fine little arcade number, and potentially one of the best action games on Xbox Live.
Listen carefully to Windows Phone gamers, and you might hear them cursing Johnny Stevens under their breath. He's coded a version of Tetravex for Microsoft's smartphone and it's a frustrating puzzle game that rewards careful planning and thought. There may be many versions of the game out there, but this is one version I particularly like.
Both Steve and I went "oooh!" when we saw that Galaga had been released over Xbox Live last week, but I managed to get first dibs on the review. Which is a shame, because after that one moment of interest and excitement, it was downhill from that moment on for Namco's attempt at a 21st century arcade shooter.
Ximad have a nice isometric maze game here in Braincube. Although when I say maze game, it has a decent amount of puzzling involved as well. Ideally suited to touch screens, Braincube is a challenging game to win, but it's very simple to play.
Little blue fluffy creatures, all across the land, who you must shepherd to the next level? It can only be a 'cute' puzzle game for the weekend. It's called Not Without You, and it is one of the more enjoyable forms of frustration available to mobile gamers.
Let's run this week's Xbox Live game a day early (as I suspect we might be a bit busy with other things tomorrow). Roll in the Hole, from Chillingo, hands you a Panda called Po-po, with a lust for lollipops. Can you help him roll around the 80 levels and finish up guiding him to the exit hole each time with his snacks?
Looking for some classic platform action? If so, In Images would like you to consider Little Ghost, a very traditional feeling platformer game available for Windows Phone. It looks crisp and clear, but it might be a bit too old-fashioned for 2012.
A genuine, honest-to-goodness arcade game on Xbox Live? Bring it on! Shoot 1UP is going to appeal to the old-school gamer, but there's enough class and clever coding here that should make this an enjoyable shooter for anyone looking for some classic gameplay.
