Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged: Volume 1 (Xbox 360)

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-05-14 rating:
A taste of the other side
This title offers a solid preview of the other side of XBOX 360: the Live Arcade. It is evidently aimed at those who aren't part of the XBOX Live Arcade (XBLA) online community, and provides those gamers with a taster for the kind of title offered.

The pick of the bunch has to be Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved. Loosely based on the gameplay of classic Robotron: 2084 (incidentally also available on XBLA), it is a fast, engrossing and sharp game that has a real appeal to the serious gamer. Elsewhere, Texas Hold 'Em and Hardwood Backgammon are as expected, but are reasonable nontheless; Wik: Fable of Souls is an odd one with a limited lifespan; Outpost Kaloki challenges you to build an intergalactic business in a unique way; and Bewjeweled 2 offers a similar style to Hexic (which you should all be familiar with if you've acquanted yourself with the Dashboard). Three demos are thrown in for even more tasters.

It has to be said that almost a year on from its original release, the games featured certainly aren't the pick of the bunch, and only Geometry Wars and Texas Hold 'Em have stood the test of time with the online community. However, with a months free trial subscription to XBOX Live Gold (worth £4.99), and the games valued at around £30 if bought over the Marketplace (an online shopping site exclusive to the Dashboard), it does represent value for money. Certainly, at the moment you can buy this for as little as £10 new, which is grand, although it is worth noting that the redeemable codes for the trial subscription will run out by the end of June 2007, so make sure you have yours by then.

So, if you're wondering what it's like on the XBLA, then look no further then this. Just don't be put off by the quality of games. Even though they are reasonable, the six game spectrum no longer represents what is on offer. This could be resolved by Microsoft with the anticipated Unplugged: Volume 2, which is hopefully just around the corner. With a range of new and retro titles including Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Boom Boom Rocket, Alien Hominid, Worms, Pac-Man, Centipede/Millipede, Double Dragon and Lumines Live available online now (to name but a few), to really know what there is to offer you will have to just take that leap of faith. For those who don't wish to, Microsoft needs to put out a second installment as soon as possible before this game strays too far away from its original objective: to advertise the cream of the titles on offer on XBLA.

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review by: date: 2006-11-10 rating:
Good value if you dont have the games.
It has 6 Xbox Live Arcade games plus 3 trails on disc, plus a one month XBL Gold card (which can be used to add an extra month to an existing sub)

Anyway, you put the disc in your 360 like normal, but it doesnt auto load like a normal 360 game. Instead, you have to nip over to the arcade section, where it adds them to your list but with a DVD icon next to there names. When you select one it loads just like normal, with no changes from the download version.

If you select play game on the main screen it just dumps you into the arcade area.

Oh and yes, it doubles them up - so i have two versions of Geometry Wars listed, one with a disc icon one without, lol.

When you take the disc out, they arent listed any more, but they are still llisted under games/achievements etc

Loading times are petty much non-existent, apart from a brief load at the start (before the game your playings title).

It saves your game fine, but for some reason it doesnt show up in the Memory section of the dash. Me thinks MS need to fix that (like they did with the Xbox content download not showing glitch)

My verdict? Worth it if you have none of the games, or say max 2 and you want the others.

Heck MS should give it away with new 360s, imo.


review by: date: 2006-09-20 rating:
Addictive
I havent bought this game, i have downloaded two(texas hold em poker and bejeweled 2), both are very addictive.
Texas hold em poker is worth the money, it is a simple game but works well and online is better still. My only problem with the game is the cards are too small, sometimes you cannot tell weather you have two clubs or spades.
Bejeweled 2 is ok, still very addictive but simple and can take a very long time untill eventually it gets boring.

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