Top 10 Lists: The Top 10 Xbox Live Arcade Games That Retailed For 800 MSP

The Xbox Live Arcade might have seemed like an afterthought when the Xbox 360 was released, but by now, it should be clear that it has become a legitimate spot for independent developers and even big studios to release their games. The XBLA has reached its tentative peak with the release of Shadow Complex, a game that rivals the quality of many full-price releases. However, it has also become quite common for great download titles to have an increased price point, namely 1.200 MSP, or about 15 bucks. But what about a lower-class game? At 800 MSP, you're hardly paying more than what you'd pay for watching a movie at the movie theatre, but you might still get hours of enjoyment out of them. This list highlights games that were great but still released at a low price - some of them being popular, but there are also some hidden gems.

Arkadian Warriors was by no means a great game. It offered a very barebones hack'n'slash / dungeon crawler experience, similar to what games like Diablo and Sacred offer. However, it was significantly dumbed down in every department, and thus, the 20 dungeons could become really repetitive. It shortens the wait for Diablo 3 in two ways: When you start playing, you get the gameplay you want, and by the time you're through, you probably won't want more of it for the time being. Still, at 800 MSP, it's a very solid package - it has everything you'd expect from a dungeon crawler: Level grinding, item collecting and online multiplayer. It's less game for less money, but still a wothy purchase in the end.

Feeding Frenzy 2 might seem like an odd choice for a Top 10 list if you've never played it. If you did, you probably know what i'm talking about. Feeding Frenzy lets you play as a fish who must eat smaller fish in order to grow. When you do so, your food chain expands until you can eventually devour sharks in one bite in the later levels. Following the surprise success of Feeding Frenzy, the second game is surprisingly polished for what it is, offering many quirks and side-challenges to enhance the experience. It's in no way an experience to write home about, but a surprisingly fun game if you accept it for what it is.

Mega Man 9 seemed like a very bold move when it was first announced. Capcom planned to revive their incredibly successful Mega Man franchise, but not with an high-end game, but with a game that looks and plays like an NES game. This announcement caused a lot of contreversy; fans of the traditional Mega Man games wrote lengthy love letters to Capcom, while those used to games that heavily rely on their graphics called out on Capcom for being cheap. In the end, we got a game of great quality that lived up to the NES originals, featuring the classic gameplay that long-term fans of the franchise loved, and a fantastic soundtrack that also lived up to the originals. You might want to get it on another console, however, because it's awkward to play with the analogue stick, and the 360's D-Pad is better not talked about. The game is one of, if not the most successful title on WiiWare and inspired Konami to make the Rebirth series, that has so far spawned original Gradius and Contra games that look and feel like games from 10 years ago.

Marble Blast Ultra was a launch title for the Xbox Live Arcade, and despite the dubious name (words like "ultra" or "extreme" appearing in a game's title usually are bad omens), it's actually a pretty solid effort. The game brought a classic concept to 3D - just like in Marble Madness, players have to roll a marble around a course to collect every crystal in a level and then make it to the exit. With the addition of a jump button and some platforming elements, the game tested the player's dexterity. Some elements, like the multiplayer mode and deviously hidden easter eggs, seem more like an afterthought, but the core game is already a very solid package with several dozen levels, challenging difficulty and the option for time trials.

On top of some original games, the XBLA also saw many ports. Sega take the cake with their Vintage Collection, and many developers have ported arcade titles to the XBLA, taking its name quite literally. Arguably the best of those ports is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. Unlike many other games that appeared on the portal, Castlevania: SOTN was actually released on a disc in its original state, making it one of the most extensive games ever ported to the Live Arcade. Many gamers who sold their original Playstations are thankful for an opportunity to replay this classic, while those who passed up on it the first time got a second chance to try it out. The only thing preventing this game from ranking in the Top 5 is that it is, after all, just a port.

This weirdly titled XBLA game is actually quite recent, as it got released this summer. 'Splosion Man is a classic 2D platformer at its core, featuring 3D graphics and quite unusual gameplay. 'Splosion Man cannot jump per se, but has to explode order to gain altitude. He can explode up to three times and then has to either touch the ground or hit a barrel to refuel the explosives inside his own body. The tricky controls, paired with challenging level design that leaves no room for mistakes, turn 'Splosion Man into a difficult game that's really fun to master and can be very rewarding. The game features 100 levels - 50 single player levels and a completely different multiplayer campaign that requires you to work together and either explode at the same time to gain more altitude, or take different paths to activate remote switches at the same time. It also features a very obnoxious soundtrack. You have been warned.

Wik is probably the biggest outsider on this list. Fable of Souls was actually a PC game that was also released on the XBLA, and it let the player control a weird figure called Wik who had to eat as many caterpillars as possible. To do that, he jumped around every level but also used his tongue as a means of transportation. You could control Wik with the left analogue stick and aim his tongue with the right stick, and it would then stick to the surface it touched, acting as a kind of grappling hook. The gameplay is similar to that found in the extremely obscure Umihara Kawase series, and the controls are a lot of fun to use once you've mastered them. There were actually entire game modes devoted to pulling off tricks with these mechanics. The main game required you to skillfully jump around dozens of levels and devour all the caterpillars before the time ran out. There were also three gems on each level that appeared for a short period of time, often in very inconvenient locations. Getting every gem on every level is, literally, a great achievement.

Another game that heavily relies on a grappling hook is Bionic Commando. Now, before you call out on me for placing this in the Top 3 when I denied SotN a higher position for being a port, let me tell you that this game goes well beyond being a simple port. Instead, it's a very well-made remake of a great classic game that makes it almost unbelievable that the same gameplay can be experienced on an NES. Bionic Commando is an action platformer with a catch: You cannot jump. Instead, you have to use your extendable arm to grab higher surfaces and either swing to gain momentum or pull yourself up to reach higher levels. You also get a gun to take out your enemies and have to avoid a lot of traps on your way. Rearmed features completely new boss battles that wouldn't have been possible on 8-bit hardware, and many reviewers said it was the best game so far on the Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. But that was back when this game just got released...

The Maw is such an obscure title that many gamers were probably resistant to even try out the trial. It actually got the award for being the best game by an independent developer on 2008's Penny Arcade Expo, which is nice and all, but no selling point. The Maw is an unconventional game that gives players control of Frank, a humanoid alien life form. The real main character, however, is Maw, who is always highlighted and also responsible for solving all the problems that the couple faces. Maw is a purple blob who devours everything, and his first prey are insanely cute pink furballs called Yums. Throughout the game, he grows bigger and bigger and can gain the powers of tougher enemies, and Frank can indirectly control him by putting him on a leash. The Maw features high-res 3D graphics that look good by today's standards, but somehow retain the old charm of early N64 games. The game's biggest asset is its humor - many cutscenes and in-game animations will make you fall from your chair in laughter. The gameplay is actually a bit lackluster, but there is some replay value if you try to eat every animal in every stage. The Maw also bends the rules of this Top 10 list a bit, because it came with 3 levels that had to be unlocked with license keys that were released later and cost 100 MSP each, pushing the total price to 1.100 points. Still, since the game is better than most games that released for 1.200 MSP, it's hard to call it a rip-off.

To make a long story short, Defense Grid is a tower defense game that brings nothing new to the table, but isntead takes everything that has made past games in the genre enjoyable and brings it to perfection. The game's biggest asset is how everything is perfectly balanced - every tower in this game serves a purpose and there is a number of different strategies for every level that can all work out in their own right. The game is simple to get into, but later challenges you with tricky map designs, aliens that play dirty and a myriad of challenge modes. It also looks and sounds great, especially for a game that was released for 800 MSP. At the time of writing this, I probably already got 20 hours out of this game, and I still haven't finished half of the challenges, let alone the bonus campaign. I have a review for this game on gamefaqs, so you can read that if you want more information, but you'd better download the trial, which will probably result in you purchasing this game before you even finish everthing that the trial has to offer. You really should, by the way - Defense Grid was made by an independent developer, and they deserve every bit of support they can get.

So, that's it for now, but the future is actually quite interesting. Right now, nobody expects the next console generation to hit anytime during the next two years, and with projects like WiiMotion Plus and Natal being developed that are meant to enhance the current generation of consoles rather than starting a new one, it might be even further out. This means that we will see way more than a hundred XBLA titles that are still to come, and Shadow Complex might have inspired other developers to start major projects on the download service. Sadly, it has also shown them that games can sell for 1.200 points, so we will have to see how many gems we will be able to obtain for just 10 bucks. Even though this list might eventually be outdated, the fact that it displays ten good games which offer great value in relation to their price will never change.

List by vyse_1986 (09/21/2009)