Where there are only one or two XBLA games released each week, there could be dozens of Community Games released in a single day. And all of them cost a little scratch. So how do you know which Community Games are worth a damn? Well, of course, you'll get by with a little help from your friends at IGN.
Each week we'll round up the latest batch of Community games. We'll give you our hot picks and offer special awards for every game we put under review. We recommend always downloading the trial version of any Community Game to make sure it meets your personal tastes.
Hot Pies
Barf And Beer
Golden Idol of Praying to the Porcelain God
Developer: Danimal
Cost: 200 MSP
Ah, my favorite pastime -- or at least it was until I started getting as green as the guys in this delightfully simple little party game. Slamming suds until you nearly puke while balancing punching your friends until they do and trying to recover your stamina before attacking a beer again is such a simple concept, but Barf And Beer's approach is every bit as straightforward as the title. Yes, it's stupid, but it's also fun -- surprisingly fun.
Write your own review.
Battlesweeper
Magic Flak Jacket to Protect Against Shrapnel
Developer: StudioGuineaPig
Cost: 400 MSP
There have been plenty of Minesweeper clones pumped out onto XNA, and most (in fact, all that I've played so far) aren't even as good as the original, free one that you can probably play right now on the computer you're using to read this. Battlesweeper at least tries to do something a little different -- in this case giving you multiplayer options like Gems (take turns finding little jewels), Survival (you're given lives and just try to outlast the other guys) and Zones (reveal as much of the grid as possible and "paint" those areas with your color).
Write your own review.
bricks4ever
Slowly Tumbling Power-Up Barrel of Sincerest Flattery
Developer: Running Pixel
Cost: 200 MSP
Speaking of clones, bricks4ever (as the name would probably lead you to believe) is a simple little Arkanoid clone. It's an unabashed one, too, but at the very least the effort (which even attempts to add in a limited story about neon beings) has more polish and visual pop than the other ones I've run across over the past few weeks.
Write your own review.
PercussONE
Passing Grade of Educationally-Fueled Excellence
Developer: Section Z
Cost: 400 MSP
We've featured a couple university projects now, but PercussONE (a play on the game's music-driven theme perhaps?) is probably the most game-like of the bunch -- as in something I'd actually play (and enjoy!) if it were a proper games release. Given that the simple little mechanic of being able to flip little badges to swap them between adjacent squares on grid or flip them over to reveal an alternate color, all to get three of a kind to remove them from the board is so effective, though, I've got no qualms recommending this little gem to everyone.
Write your own review.
Slottso Party
Gamblers Anonymous Medallion of Gateway Gaming
Developer: Star Gaming Network
Cost: 400 MSP
Now Slottso Party is not a pretty game by any stretch, but it does combine two relatively low-coast forms of gambling -- scratch tickets and slots -- into a weird sort of hybrid that actually ends up being rather original. You pull the one-armed bandit, it generates a handful of shapes that you then apply to a collection of scratch tickets, and you try to pull up as many bingo-style winning scratchers as possible. Very cool concept, and surprisingly fun, though 400 Points is getting a little steep.
Write your own review.
Cold Soup
2176 Supernova Storm
Pew Pew Honors for Leaving Us Bored While Shooting at Stuff
Developer: BenS1
Cost: 200 MSP
2176 Supernova Storm isn't a bad game -- at least not on the level of most of the other stuff this week, but it's not quite simple enough to be fun, yet not complex enough to make it worth more than a brief look. Taking the basic 360 spin and thrust of Asteroids (but having you shoot at other ships instead of defenseless rocks), throwing in a bunch of power-ups (including a super-shot and a rear cannon) and tossing everything into a smallish arena with rocks for cover is neat, but not terribly compelling.
Write your own review.
Scrambled Egzz
The Runny Over-Easy Egg Badge for Almost Cooking Long Enough
Developer: CandelaCreations
Cost: 200 MSP
A word jumble game is actually a pretty good idea, and Scrambled Egzz almost gets it right enough to be worth playing, but some slightly clunky controls and a few too many steps (eggs drop from the top of the screen to the bottom, and you select them to freeze them in place, then re-select them in order to submit a word, THEN wait for the in-game dictionary to verify things) makes it needlessly busy. With just a little more work, this one could have been Pie material.
Write your own review.
Untitled Prologue
Poop in a Sack Award for Digital Poop in a Sack
Developer: Uracle
Cost: 200 MSP
As a matter of practice, I try not to be too harsh on a lot of the XNA games pumped out every week, as it's really just people trying out basic game concepts. Untitled Prologue, though, needs to be highlighted as an example of what not to do in a game. Doing the same thing over and over? Check. Busy background that makes seeing enemies a huge pain? Check. Driving me to the brinks of insanity with a poorly-worded set of instructions that barely fit on the screen? Check. You know what? Just watch the video. You'll see what I mean.
Write your own review.
Even more Cold Soup:
- ArkX - ralph78fr - 200MSP
- BlockBUSTER - o 3DMUVE LLC o - 400MSP
- Bowling X - WillyK games - 200MSP
- Find Teddy - Stephen M Bennett - 400MSP
- Lights Off - Massif - 200MSP
- Memorania - MrBenj4min - 200MSP
- Micro Invasion - RGV Rascal - 200MSP
- Poker Stacker - SevenDollarBill - 200MSP
- Puzzlix - FornaxStudios - 200MSP
- Remote Masseuse - Entrager - 200MSP
- Spacebrix - Kobingo - 200MSP
- The Gravity Effect - The Riddler 24 - 200MSP