16 February 2010

Can't be bothered to go to the shops? - Xbox Live Arcade

The Xbox Live Arcade is a service on the Xbox 360 allowing users to download games to their hard drive for a small price. This method of distribution allows smaller cheaper games to be easily distributed via the service. Going one step further, there is also a collection of 'indie' games available, from smaller developers and for a smaller cost, encouraging new ideas and games to be created for the system. Whilst this has lead to several less exciting products, (how many rumble pad-using massage applications do you need?) it has also allowed some varied and interesting games. Also, Microsoft have made a selection of full retail games available for download, via its 'Games on Demand' service, although these are at a full price and tend to take up a hefty amount of hard drive space.

1 February 2010

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - DS 3/5 Stars

Does the DS iteration of the popular Disney/Square crossover live up to it's full scale predecessors?

Marrying classic Disney characters and design from a Final Fantasy veteran, the Kingdom Hearts series was always an interesting experiment. With characters instantly recognisable to most people, the series allowed the exploration of fantastic universes, and a chance for players to interact with some of the most beloved cartoon characters in a new way, and also introduce them to classic Final Fantasy characters and mechanics. No wonder then, that with such an outlandish idea some great games were born.