Recommended Downloadable Games

[fitbabits]

Thanks to civil (and his mom), I've been sampling the delights of Xbox LIVE Arcade games. So far I've bought Worms and Marble Blast Ultra. I loved worms when it was a PC title and I was a huge fan of Marble Madness in arcades.

I'm very happy so far with both games, but I suspect I've just scratched the surface.

What would you recommend I try out based on the above?

[LarsenNET]

The great thing about XBLA is every game has a demo so you can test drive them all. I would recommend Geometry Wars 2, Bionic Commando, Castlevania: SOTN.

[Deadend]

BRAID for the love of God!

[fitbabits]

BRAID for the love of God!
Tried it when it first came out, hated it.

[KamaItachi]

Catan and the old TMNT arcade are worth a shot.

[DoctorFinger]

Puzzlw Quest is an absolute time suck. Get it!

[Johan]

I own 80-odd Arcade games. Here are the ones I value most highly, personally (and a plug for community game Biology Battle, which is great fun):

Addictive "one more turn" action:
A Kingdom for Keflings: Build a town, kick the civilians while you're at it.
Puzzle Quest and expansion: An RPG Bejeweled on crack.
Band of Bugs: Turn-based strategy with insects!

Co-op beat-em-ups:
Castle Crashers: It's finally working online, but a blast locally too, for up to four. Side-scrolling.
TMNT 1989 Arcade: Great classic side-scrolling co-op fun.

Space shooters and shmups mixed together:
Galaga: I have a soft spot for this vertical classic.
Omega Five: Side-scrolling 'bullet hell' and fun to look at/play.
Ikaruga: Classic 'bullet hell' vertical gaming.
Alien Hominid HD: Not 'bullet hell' but damn is it hard, even with just a few bullets around. One will kill you. Fun side-scrolling shooter.
Mutant Storm 1 and 2: Top-down shooter.
Assault Heroes 1: I don't like the second one as much. The first one is pretty to look at and a blast.
Geometry Wars 1 and 2: Both are absolutely terrific.

Remade classics:
Pac-Man C.E.: Must be played; truly awesome.
Castlevania: SotN: A classic, of course.
Rez HD: Another classic.

Arcadey action:
Pinball FX: Well done pinball game.
Poker Smash: Tetris with poker and explosions.
Lumines: Reinvented Tetris. Excellent.

Platformers:
Marble Blast Ultra: A 'kind-of' platformer, and a lot of fun competitively online.

Board/card games:
Catan: Classic.
Carcassonne: I prefer Catan, but this is a solid game.
Uno: A blast.

[Deadend]

Give Gripshift a try.

[Variable Gear]

Banjo-Kazooie.

[Wraitheist]

Puzzle Quest and Pinball FX are great if you are into those types of games.

[Hyperglide]

The only ones I paid for are Castle Crashers and Castlevania: SOTN and love them. Geometry Wars: RE came with my console (that arcade unplugged disc) and if it didn't I would've bought it anyways as it's great in it's own right.

I got Undertow for free and it's not bad either, but for 800 points it's a little expensive. If it was for 400 then yes but it's not 400 so I can't recommend it.

I heard great things about Braid and Bionic Commando as well. Also Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix is supposed to be an extremely polished and well refined clean up of one of the greatest 2D fighters of all time so keep that in mind.

[Ghostbear]

I love Age of Booty, Catan, Carcasonne, and Castle Crashers.

[jacob.armitage]

Puzzlw Quest is an absolute time suck. Get it!

truth, but if you have the ability, snag it for DS instead, its just so damn good on the go.

i've snagged around 30-40 games of XBL (i know, i just love simple smaller games and so does the mrs) so if you fancy a mate to play with, hit me up.

[Lekon]

I'd say get Puzzlequest on DS or PSP,depending which one you have. That game is perfect for on the go fun. Even if it is a "Okay, one more fight..." type of game.

Castle Crashers is a ton of fun, but I think the best XBL game is Pinball FX. Its just such a fun damn set of pinball tables, and the extra tables are great as well (Streefighter is great, but the Rocky and Bullwinkle table is just amazing)

[Purple Santa]

Maybe this should be stickied? A great thread with some great suggestions. I'm sure there will be others in the future who will want to reference this. I know I am.

[Karmakin]

Also Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix is supposed to be an extremely polished and well refined clean up of one of the greatest 2D fighters of all time so keep that in mind.

QFT.

If you're a fan of game design and balance for competitive settings, I highly suggest you read the articles at the designers site. (http://www.sirlin.net/articles/super-balance-articles-ii-turbo.html) It goes through on a character by character basis the change process, some discarded changes and why the changes were made.

Then go play the game. IMO it's something magical.

[nnanji]

I was also a fan of Outpost Kaloki X, a sim-space station type game. Simple premise, doesn't overwhelm you with options, and ramping difficulty curve.

[Hexxagonal]

If you liked Marble Blast get Gripshift.

[pronounconnoun]

Ikaruga!

I love shooters and this is one of my favorites.

[fitbabits]

Ikaruga!

I love shooters and this is one of my favorites.
It's also hard as hell. I'm looking for light relief, not hair-tearing in the extreme. :)

[Cyndair]

I know that the thread was created for Xbox Live Arcade suggestions but I know you own a PS3 as well Fits.

That being said, on the PSN I've purchased the following and feel that they are worth every penny.

Super Stardust HD (I've played a fair amount or Geo Wars and I like Stardust Better)
Wipeout HD
Pixeljunk Monsters (probably the best downloadable game out there)
Bionic Commando: Rearmed (try the demo first, it isn't for everyone)

Also, if you have a Wii or a PC that runs, you owe it to yourself to get World of Goo (or at least try out the demo on PC. Requires almost no system specs).

[Gorvi]

It's also hard as hell. I'm looking for light relief, not hair-tearing in the extreme. :)
fl0w? I think that's the other end of the spectrum there. ;)

[pronounconnoun]

It's also hard as hell. I'm looking for light relief, not hair-tearing in the extreme. :)

Hmm. Sorry, cant help you out. My other suggestion would have been Contra.:)

[fitbabits]

fl0w? I think that's the other end of the spectrum there. ;)
You bastard. You just attacked my weak point for massive damage. :)

Besides, it's not available on LIVE Arcade.

[Gorvi]

You bastard. You just attacked my weak point for massive damage. :)

Besides, it's not available on LIVE Arcade.
Well, you do have that shiny black thing that has it's own games to download. ;)

[fitbabits]

Well, you do have that shiny black thing that has it's own games to download. ;)
True, but I have free Microsoft points, as explained above. Give me some PSN credit and then we'll talk.

[Gorvi]

True, but I have free Microsoft points, as explained above. Give me some PSN credit and then we'll talk.
Ahh, I didn't see the free points part. :)

Hmmmm. What about Lumines? Or Wik? I think it was called Wik anyway, a little troll swinging around or something, it was fun.

[fitbabits]

Ahh, I didn't see the free points part. :)

Hmmmm. What about Lumines? Or Wik? I think it was called Wik anyway, a little troll swinging around or something, it was fun.
Ooh, Lumines... I'll check it out.

[Restlessavenger]

Wik was fun, I would also second Gripshift and would wholeheartedly recommend Puzzle Arcade, assuming you like puzzles of course, the old school cardboard separate out the edge part kind.

[Karak]

Poker Smash if fucking AMAZING. I love that game.

[fitbabits]

Tried Lumines... I hate Tetris, so that's a no-no.

[pomeroy]

Having a copy of Portal on the hard drive is nice.

I also like the Prince of Persia game, and the TMNT arcade game.

[Gorvi]

Tried Lumines... I hate Tetris, so that's a no-no.
Ahh, yeah, that'd do it. Gripshift, as mentioned above, is a nice racing game with a puzzle element to it. It does have an ubearable overabundance of "style", so beware.

[fitbabits]

Ahh, yeah, that'd do it. Gripshift, as mentioned above, is a nice racing game with a puzzle element to it. It does have an ubearable overabundance of "style", so beware.
I think I'll go with GripShift. I liked the demo sufficiently enough to warrant a purchase.

[Gorvi]

I think I'll go with GripShift. I liked the demo sufficiently enough to warrant a purchase.
It's good, you should like it. If it's a straight port of the PSP game like I think it is then there's a lot more content there than you might think. There's some frustration in some of the challenges, but for the most part, it's good.

[That Darn Kat]

Holy mackerel, Boom Boom Rocket hasn't been mentioned yet? It's a rhythm game with a great set of music if you're a fan of classical (or techno remixes of). Try the demo, at least. I absolutely love the game but your mileage may vary. There's also some DLC metal-ish versions of classical music, but I didn't care for them as much as the track list that came with the game.

[total]

Honestly (I am going to get roasted for saying this) I think the XBLA title I have the most hours in is Texas Hold'em. When I am sitting down to eat and feel like relaxing but not really watching a movie or any of that I pop in Hold'em and play some cards. Of course I love playing poker so that might have something to do with it.

[Purple Santa]

Honestly (I am going to get roasted for saying this) I think the XBLA title I have the most hours in is Texas Hold'em. When I am sitting down to eat and feel like relaxing but not really watching a movie or any of that I pop in Hold'em and play some cards. Of course I love playing poker so that might have something to do with it.

I started playing this cause I got it for free. Of course tried to get some easy acheivements but then got sucked in trying to learn how to really play. I still don't know much about it. Fun to play though. I've tried reading various "how to" online but that is only so helpful. Maybe this is another game I can convince Mags and Spigot to get so we can play.

[Hyperglide]

It's also hard as hell. I'm looking for light relief, not hair-tearing in the extreme. :)

This is not your papi's by the numbers review (http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=ikaruga) but hilarious nonetheless. Enjoy!

[KingGorilla]

Light relief? Peggle has what you need. Festicely illuminated goodness, like a gaming Pixie Stick.

[Mike Kelehan]

I spend most of my time with the 360 on XBLA, so I'll throw out a few suggestions:

Bionic Commando - it feels like a $40 game for $10
Mega Man 9 - it's probably the best Mega Man game there is, honestly
Banjo-Kazooie - more than just emulation, this is a full upgrade with greatly expanded draw distance (the entire level is visible at once) and a solid 60fps
Geometry Wars 2 - I wasn't a huge fan of the first, but I love the second
Castlevania: SOTN - no new features, just a perfect emulation of the best PS1 game ever made
E4 - you said you wanted something to relax; you can really zone out to this
Wik - often forgotten launch game, fun mechanics

Light relief? Peggle has what you need. Festicely illuminated goodness, like a gaming Pixie Stick.

It also isn't out yet.

[KingGorilla]

Popcap.com, Steam. It's out.