Yay

Dysnomia - 240 MS points (pictured above). What happens when you take twin-stick shooter controls and put them in an exploration-based Metroidvania style game? You get Dysnomia. OK, so it isn't technically Metroidvania style because it's a top-down perspective instead of side-scrolling, but as I played Dysnomia those are the games that it most brought to mind. Maybe Blaster Master would be more accurate since that game actually had a top-down perspective. In any case, the story in Dysnomia is sparse at first, with your ship crashing at a derelict mining facility. Your main goal is to collect items to repair your ship, but as you travel across the alien-infested facility you will find diary logs of the people who once were there that adds a lot more story than most other indie games on the 360. And while Dysnomia encourages plenty of exploration it's also heavy on the action with enemies swarming the screen. If you're ever feeling overwhelmed in Dysnomia, call a friend over and tackle the game in co-op, something I've been wanting to do in this kind of exploration game for a long, long time. Dysnomia has more than enough action to satisfy twitch shooter fans, but also offers enough depth, story, and exploration to satisfy Metroidvania fans: especially those who crave this kind of game on their 360 but don't want to support bigots like Orson Scott Card.

Falling - 80 MS points. Falling is a charming retro arcade-styled game where you control a tiny blue penguin. That sentence alone is reason enough to buy the game for me, but in case you need more convincing, I'll continue. Ice blocks of various colors fall from the top of the screen, and it's up to the little blue penguin to throw, stack, kick, and shatter the ice to move on to the next level. When you throw or kick a block into the side of a block of the same color, they disappear. You can also use kicks to shatter ice blocks if you don't have any blocks of the same color to match with, though this method takes a couple of kicks so it is best saved for when you absolutely need to clear an unmatchable block. The ice blocks have a tendency to pile up, so you have to act fast to clear them all, but it's that fun frantic nature that made classic arcade games so great.

Missile Escape - 80 MS points. Missile Escape is simple fun. You control a jet and try to dodge incoming heat-seeking missiles. And that's it. Respawns from dying are practically instant and each level adds another missile to try and take you down, making for a very addictive game. It's simple fun, but the operative word there is fun.

Ay?

World War Toon - 240 MS points. World War Toon is a global strategy game akin to Risk in a lot of ways. You control territories on the map and when you select another territory to invade the game simulates a series of dice rolls to determine the winner. There's also some rock-paper-scissors strategy in the mix with three unit types that are strong against another unit type, which means that unit gets to roll more dice for a better chance of winning. There's just one thing holding World War Toon back, and that's the fact that it's a single player experience only. A strategy game for one just isn't as much fun.

Dark Seal - 80 MS points. Dark Seal is a fairly complex strategy board game, but it's a lot of fun. It's part co-op, part competitive for up to four players split between six teams (CPU opponents will automatically fill in any non-player teams. Each turn you draw a set of cards that determine what actions you can perform, so there is a bit of luck involved, but there is also a lot of strategy involved in how you use those cards. Ultimately your goal is to conquer the board and eliminate the other players, but with each passing turn AI soldiers build up to attack the board on all sides. If those AI reach the center of the board, it's game over for everyone, so you need to balance your strategy between wiping out opponents and defending from invaders. Dark Seal is significantly better when played with friends, and there's no online multiplayer, so you may want to make sure that your favorite Catan/Risk buddies are on call before spending your virtual dollars.

Spiders! Why Spiders? - 80 MS points. Spiders is a twin-stick shooter that gives you a minigun to fight back waves of spiders. Personally, a minigun seems a bit like overkill, but it gets the job done in the game. While there's nothing exactly wrong with the game, there are plenty of shooters that are pushing the genre more on the indie game channel. Like Dysnomia for example.

Stick 'Em Up - 240 MS points. Stick 'Em Up goes for the sidescrolling shooter approach with endearing stick figure graphics. You get three weapons, a machine gun, rocket launcher, and grenade launcher, to switch between in fighting off the stick figure soldiers. The real selling point though is that the whole game can be played in four player co-op. There are also competitive multiplayer options, but with the lack of character depth the co-op stands as the better way to play. The controls, especially when jumping, seem just slightly off which hampers the game. But if you want to just blast through stick figures with friends, Stick 'Em Up is a great way to do it.

Avatar Cannon - 240 MS points. As a general rule, I'm not a fan of this type of game. This type of game being one where you aim a cannon (or some type of projectile) and then watch as it bounces past obstacles to try and get the furthest distance. Avatar Cannon thankfully has a more interactive experience than other similar games though. While you Avatar is flying through the air you can flap your arms with the A button to get some extra lift, which at least gives you something to do other than just watching it fly across the level. The biggest addition though is that as your avatar bounces along you will see where other players' high scores marked by their avatar. It helps to add a competitive spirit to the game and give it that "one more try" mentality.

Avatar Bumper Cars - 80 MS points. Avatar Bumper Cars is like the battle mode in Mario Kart minus the weapons. And the interesting levels. Each car has spikes in the front, and you need to use those spikes to ram into the engine in the back of your opponent's cars. When played with human opponents the game can be a lot of fun, though don't expect the AI to put up much of a fight. I do wish the arenas were bigger to give more room to move around though, since matches feel quite cramped until you're down to the final two opponents.

Euphorium - 80 MS points. Euphorium is a nice zen-like game about explosions and chain reactions. Dots bounce around the level and you need to place an explosion somewhere to hit a set number of dots to complete the level. Don't worry if your initial explosion doesn't get them all though, since each dot creates an explosion of its own Missile Command style so that you can chain them together. There are 70 levels in all, though most can be cleared in just a matter of seconds. I definitely felt like I got my $1 worth of fun though, which is always a good sign. Euphorium is well worth at least trying, if not giving it a full purchase. Though iPhone/iPod Touch owners may want to check the app store first since there are a number of similar games there for free.

Nay

Shake! - 80 MS points.

The Impossible Avatar Getaway - 80 MS points.

Star Chart - 80 MS points.

Catch Me If You Can - 80 MS points.

Avatar Street Basketball - 80 MS points.

Updated Games
SOS
Dual Zone
MotorHEAT
Tank-tastic!
Kuchibi - Editor's Choice!
Golden Tangram
Kodu Game Lab
Creed Arena
Rotor'scope - Editor's Choice!
Duel: The Art of Combat
Pilot Test