Xbox Live Summer of Arcade
Acting as a yearly showcase for the best in downloadable titles, Microsoft's latest collection of top games shows us yet again that going digital can be a gamer's delight.
Wreckateer
One for Kinect owners only, go all Angry Birds but with a 3D twist; smash and destroy 60 castles packed with council-tax-dodging goblin squatters by using a massive medieval crossbow! Line up the shot with your body before releasing your projectile, steering it towards the target using your arms alone.
Deadlight
Think Limbo meets Another World in this beautifully-rendered 2D platformer featuring hero, Randall Wayne, as he hunts for his missing wife and daughter. Set in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak during the 80s (fret not, Spandau Ballet doesn't make an appearance), the action is firmly focused on outwitting your undead opponents through climbing, running and jumping - rather than emptying their brain pans with a 12-bore.
Hybrid
A generic cover-based third-person sci-fi shooter from the normally imaginative developer of classics like Scribblenauts. On paper at least, you could be left scratching your head but in practise, it all makes glorious sense. Choose to be either the Paladins or the Variant and take part in a global war in a unique online-only frag fest. The usual run and gun of the genre has been replaced with 'simply' jet-packing between cover points, raining down airborne armageddon on your enemy in an innovative take on a well-worn genre.
Dust: an Elysian Tale
Gorgeous. Exquisite. Spangly. These are just some of the words that can be used to describe the 2D hand-drawn eye candy of this combat-based platformer. Expect more outbreaks of glowing superlatives as you fight your way across the game's many rich and varied locales. Mix in some RPG-lite mechanics, combo-powered battles and plenty of quests, and you have a game that can stand proudly next to Metroid, Castlevania and that darling of Xbox Live, Shadow Complex. The achievement is made all the more astonishing when you realise that the game was developed by just one (very talented) individual. Respect.Alternative Summer of Arcade
Got money to burn? Then we'd recommend downloading these recently-released gems too - enjoy the sublime challenge of Spelunky, the Nintendo-matching imagination of Fez, the twitch-gaming addiction of Trials Evolution and the pixel-powered architecture of Minecraft.Published: 17/08/2012
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