After a reasonably active June for game launches, the summer drought is finally in full-effect, with nary a major triple-A title in sight. Fortunately, 2011 has seen the rise of several quality downloadable titles for Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and even WiiWare, providing options for even the most play-starved of gamers.

To celebrate the recent release of Ms. ‘Splosion Man (which seems to have garnered a decent critical reception), Gamer’s Guide to Life.com has a list of ten must-have downloadable titles guaranteed to carry you through these game-depleted months.

Editor's Note: The prices contained in this article refer to the cost of the games in the North America region. Prices worldwide may vary.

The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile

The sequel to James Silva’s previous indie darling, The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai, Vampire Smile ups the ante on the previous title’s stylish, bloody action with more weapons, new enemies and a second playable character. Players can also team up to tackle Vampire Smile’s brand new co-op mode, controlling the eponymous Dishwasher and his step-sister Yuki. Unchanged are Vampire Smile’s tight, responsive combat controls, oft-times punishing difficulty level, and unique, Johnny-The-Homicidal-Maniac-meets-Kill-Bill art direction. Fans of Devil May Cry and God of War’s furious, combo-driven action, and old-school beat ‘em ups like Golden Axe or Streets of Rage, should schedule The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile for a double shift.

Xbox Live Arcade: 800 Microsoft Points (MSP)

Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers 2012

With the release of the Magic: The Gathering’s new 2012 core set comes Magic: The Gathering – Duel of the Planeswalkers 2012, a refinement of Stainless Games’ 2009 adaptation of the popular card game from Wizards of the Coast. Duel of the Planeswalkers 2012 retains the previous iteration’s pitch-perfect Magic: The Gathering play mechanics whilst adding new decks; a new, smoother interface; and several new campaigns and modes. Gamers wary of Magic: The Gathering’s prohibitively expensive play costs would do well to give Duel of the Planeswalkers 2012 a look.

PlayStation Network: $10
Xbox Live Arcade: 800MSP
Steam: $10

Gatling Gears

Ever since Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved first graced the Xbox Live Arcade in 2005, the twin-stick shooter has seen a renaissance in the downloadable space. Gatling Gears adds to the roster, placing players in a steampunk, bipedal mech and asking them to blow up anything that moves. What separates Gatling Gears from a host of contemporaries - other than the obvious appeal of piloting a steampunk, bipedal mech - is its drop-in, drop-out co-op play, complete with scaling difficulty. Of course, the usual mainstays of the bullet-hell shooter genre are along for the ride, including massive bosses, continually-upgrading weapons and more firepower onscreen than can reasonably be kept track of.

PlayStation Network: $10
Xbox Live Arcade: 800MSP

Fluidity

A rare entry for the shortlist of quality WiiWare titles, Fluidity is a quirky blend of 2D sidescrolling and puzzling. In Fluidity, players control a sentient mass of water, and attempt to cleanse the land of the ooey-gooey Influence by collecting various Rainbow Drops. Control in Fluidity is handled by using the Wii Remote to tilt the environment, similar to games like Super Monkey Ball or Marble Madness. Additionally, players can change states to solve puzzles, by freezing to become a block of ice or evaporating into a cloud of steam. Tasks range from transporting gears in water form, to activating switches in ice form, to blowing balloons around as a steam cloud, and many challenges require juggling between the three forms. Inventive and enjoyable, Wii owners will be all wet if they miss this creative downloadable title.

WiiWare: 1200 Wii Points

Stacking

A product of Tim Schafer’s Double Fine studio, Stacking is a cross between point-and-click adventure games of yore (Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, etc.) and modern gaming sensibilities. As Charlie Blackmore, a Russian stacking doll, you must rescue your family from the clutches of the evil Baron. Charlie is able to stack inside other dolls, gaining their powers and using them to solve the many puzzles posed by the game. Each puzzle has multiple ways to solve it, letting impatient players cruise through the game with a single solution whilst still giving meticulous gamers a chance to search for every possible answer. Coupled with the charming 19th century setting and silent movie cutscenes, Stacking offers gamers one of the more unique, amusing experiences of 2011.

PlayStation Network: $15
Xbox Live Arcade: 1200MSP

Outland

Making its second appearance on a GGTL list, fans of 2009’s Shadow Complex take note: if you can buy only one game from XBLA or PSN this year, make sure it’s Outland. In true Metroidvania fashion, players are tasked with platforming through an expansive, interconnected environment, earning new abilities and discovering new areas with them. Outland adds a new component to the mix, implementing the light/dark shifting mechanics from Treasure’s Ikaruga. Players are able to switch between light and dark polarities, absorbing projectiles of a similar colour, whilst only able to damage enemies of the opposite colour. The polarity mechanics even extend to the platforming, only allowing players to land on same-coloured platforms, and creating opportunities for mid-jump polarity shifts. The game’s colourful, nearly-tribal art style is positively breathtaking to behold, and the controls are smooth and responsive. Those pining for an HD Super Metroid- or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night-esque experience should waste no time in booking a ticket to Outland.

PlayStation Network: $10
Xbox Live Arcade 800MSP

Section 8: Prejudice

Gamers with a penchant for online FPS' have several months before the release of either Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, but clanners and campers alike may find a bit of respite for their itchy trigger fingers in Section 8: Prejudice. The original Section 8 was a promising concept mired by poor execution, but developer TimeGate Studios have made several mechanical improvements that turn Section 8: Prejudice into a playable and surprisingly fun experience. Players still airdrop onto the battlefield, à la Starship Troopers, vying for control points and buying high-tech weaponry with points accrued during gameplay. Since its launch, Section 8: Prejudice has seen the release of a new game mode, as well as a smattering of new maps. If this level of post-launch support is upheld, players could potentially be playing Section 8: Prejudice well into the shooter-heavy holiday season.

Xbox Live Arcade: 1200MSP

Torchlight

One of the many success stories of the Steam platform, Torchlight - Runic Games’ little dungeon crawler that could - has made its way onto the Xbox Live Marketplace. Torchlight is a loving homage to the Diablo school of action RPGs, with players infiltrating old, forbidden tombs in order to gather sweet loot, strengthening the player and enabling them to progress further into the dungeon for even sweeter loot. Lather, rinse, repeat. The game’s light, cartoony art style helps it stand apart from many standard 'dark' fantasy titles of today, and there’s something primordially appealing about grinding through waves of giant spiders in the hopes of netting epic gear.

Xbox Live Arcade: 1200MSP

Hard Corps: Uprising

Speaking of homages, Hard Corps: Uprising is an homage to Contra’s brand of 2D, sidescrolling shooters. Actually, it basically is Contra in everything but the name. Frantic co-op play? Check. Arsenal of powerful weapons, including the almighty Spreader? Check. Borderline-masochistic level of difficulty? Ohhhhh check. For players less inclined to brutal levels of challenge, Hard Cops: Uprising offers Rising mode, which allows players to use points earned during play to buy new weapons, health power-ups, and extra lives, making the game slightly more manageable. Arc System Works, developers of the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series of fighting games, give Hard Cops: Uprising a beautifully-animated look, perfectly capturing the animé feel of the game’s story. Gamers who can recite the Konami Code by heart should look no further than Hard Corps: Uprising for their 2D shootin’ needs.

PlayStation Network: $15
Xbox Live Arcade: 1200MSP

Beyond Good and Evil HD

Beyond Good and Evil HD is fairly self-explanatory: an up-res port of Michel Ancel’s cult classic from 2003, giving players who missed it another opportunity to experience one of the more imaginative titles from the PS2 days. Beyond Good and Evil casts players as Jade, a photojournalist bent on uncovering a conspiracy from the local, tyrannical government. Gameplay is an odd, appealing mixture of The Legend of Zelda dungeon-crawling and Pokémon Snap picture taking, with smatterings of open-world free-roaming. One of Beyond Good and Evil’s major charms is its characters, specifically Jade, a strong-willed, well-characterised female protagonist - the likes of which are often unseen in gaming - and Pey’j, an anthropomorphic pig who refers to himself as Jade’s "uncle": it makes sense when you play it. The quirky, fully-realised world is also incredibly charming. The game is hardly less unique now than it was when released almost eight years ago, and still holds up quite well, making it worth players' time to experience this hidden gem from last generation.

PlayStation Network: $10
Xbox Live Arcade: 800MSP


Are there any favourite downloadable titles from the past calendar year that I've missed here? Sound off in the comments, or tell us on Twitter, via @ggtl.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Testerman, DLC, Feature, PlayStation Network, PSN, Steam, summer drought, WiiWare, XBLA, Xbox Live Arcade

At the 2011 New York auto show, Volkswagen created a bit of a stir when they announced that they will be releasing a new iteration of the iconic Beetle late in 2011. A million happy possibilities are brought about because of this announcement (the return of the Slug Bug game! Huzzah!), but for me, one idea stands above all others:

Electronic Arts should use the vehicle’s re-introduction to release another Beetle Adventure Racing! game.

For those that don’t remember, Beetle Adventure Racing! was a racing title released for the Nintendo 64 in early 1999. The game, which capitalized on the 1998 release of the New Beetle, featured a roster consisting entirely of different iterations of Volkswagen’s infamous li’l bug, with faster Beetles being unlocked as more races were finished. Similar to other then-current racing games, players progressed through the game one track at a time, unlocking new courses after old ones were completed.

What set Beetle Adventure Racing! apart from its peers (other than its unusually homogenous garage of cars) was its game and level design. The “Adventure” part of the title wasn’t merely for show: players could only advance through the game by collecting a certain number of points, and had to explore their environments in order to find all of the game's point boxes. This placed a large emphasis on pouring over courses for shortcuts and alternate routes in addition to shaving seconds off lap times in order to advance. The tracks themselves were huge, often taking 2–3 minutes to complete a single lap, making each level more akin to Super Mario 64 than Gran Turismo. Shortcuts ran the gamut of settings, from launching off of a ski-jump (Mount Mayhem) to driving through a lake to a replica of Stonehenge (Coventry Cove).

In short, the game was nuts. And it was awesome.


A name like "Beetle Adventure Racing!” all but promises some sort of Wii shovelware title, released to exploit brand loyalty for Volkswagen and anyone with affection for Herbie. Not so. The original Beetle Adventure Racing! was released to surprisingly solid reviews that made it the highest-ranked Nintendo 64 game of 1999 (according to GameRankings.com). The game sold around 600,000 copies, which, while not spectacular, wasn’t too bad for a third party, N64 exclusive racing game (the original Extreme-G sold less). I personally played the crap out of Beetle Adventure Racing! back when it came out, though I had to make due with playing only the first few levels, as I lacked the now ancient Controller Pak required to save the game.

Since the Beetle is getting a new facelift (again), now is the perfect time for the franchise to throw its hat back into the ring. The racing genre has shifted even more to the simulation end of the spectrum, and a new Beetle Adventure Racing! would make a great antidote for those who don’t care for tweaking gear ratios or worrying about tire wear. The emphasis on huge, explorable tracks would help set it apart from its other arcade peers, and could help it cater to players who don’t usually play racing games.

Moreover, the power of modern consoles could help enhance the adventure aspects of the game. Paradigm Entertainment managed to squeeze a series of huge environments out of the N64 hardware, complete with many, many shortcuts and scripted events (a T-Rex pops out of the woods to greet racers on Inferno Isle). The technical jump from the N64 to the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 means bigger environments, more scripted events, and even more shortcuts to take advantage of. Online gameplay could help round out the package, whether it’s an 8-player point race or Team Deathmatch-style Battle Mode from the first game.


The biggest, most difficult question to answer is how Beetle Adventure Racing! would be distributed; as much as I like to think that eight million people would pay $60 for a video game adaptation of The Love Bug, it’s probably not in the cards. EA could try for digital distribution, similar to the remixed version of Vigilante 8 that came out in 2008, but I think Beetle Adventure Racing! would perform better as a budget title, similar to last year’s cult hit, Deadly Premonition. The distribution costs would be higher, but EA would be able to take advantage of parents looking for a good, cheap family title, especially if it were released for the Wii. Throw in compatibility with Mario Kart Wii’s steering wheel, Kinect support on the Xbox 360, and put an enthusiastic review score on the box, and there’s a cool million sales right there.

It’s been a good twelve years since Beetle Adventure Racing! graced the shores of the N64, but a good franchise never truly dies, and EA would do well to capitalize on the hype surrounding the new Beetle and release another entry in the Adventure Racing! series. Volkswagen would get brand awareness, EA would get game sales, and gamers would get a quality title. Everybody wins.

Labels: 2011, Andrew Testerman, Beetle Adventure Racing, EA, Kinect, N64, Volswagen, WiiWare

I'm glad to see Telltale are still hard at work on getting some of the most interesting and creative ideas out and about. Their latest, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, follows the FBI's Puzzle Research Division director and only employee, Nelson Tethers. Receiving a call from none other than the president himself, Tethers is ordered to sort out puzzle-y goings on in the small and intensely creepy town of Scoggins.

If you've ever had the chance to play any of the Professor Layton series, you'll recognize many similarities in the puzzles. You move around a scene in search of answers, and most of the interactive elements have a pop-up puzzle to solve, ranging from directing your snowmobile by placing fallen logs to dictate direction, to untangling a rubber band from innards. However, the large variety became a bit tiresome. Perhaps it's just not my thing, but I think I prefer to combine items in wacky ways. To me, the puzzle elements felt a little... childish.

Puzzle Agent has an interesting art style. Although the snowy landscape of Scoggins doesn't create a huge pallet, the hand drawn, almost crayon-like scenes have an art style which I really enjoyed. Mixed with an extremely creepy narrative, this gives Puzzle Agent a truly distinctive feel. Perhaps what helps the story the most is the lack of population in the town: it really feels as you're the only sane one within a mile of Scoggins, and the creepy gnomes only enforce this feeling.

If a sociopath bunny and a noir-style dog are your thing, then you may not see the joy of Puzzle Agent at first glance. You may miss how the strangely addictive storyline - combined with the wonderfully odd graphics - pull you in; and how, after playing through the game, you'll be left with a feeling of "Hmm.... was that a dream?"

And that's the thing: although the puzzle elements can be a little basic and it may not be up to the quality level of many adventure titles we are all familiar with, it does have certain appeal. It has a strange collection of elements, that brought together create a dreamlike adventure.

7/10 [?]

Labels: iPad, iPhone, Jacques Hulme, Mac, Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent, PC, Puzzle, Review, Telltale, Wii, WiiWare

A new PSN/XBLA/WiiWare game from Curve Studios of Buzz! fame is coming sometime in 2009. Apparently the point is you have to explode to get extra charge? I don't know, maybe you can make more sense out of it than me from this trailer.

Matt

Labels: Explodemon, Matthew, Matthew Meadows, PSN, WiiWare, XBLA