Yay!

Breath of Death VII - 80 MS points. Wow. I almost just want to say "buy this game" and leave it at that, because if you have even a passing interest in JRPGs that's really all you need to know. Breath of Death VII is brilliant parody of classic NES and SNES JRPGs. The writing is top notch, and though the occasional joke may fall flat, veteran RPG players should get at least a chuckle out of almost everything in the game. The game's method for solving the "silent protagonist" issue was a personal favorite. But what makes Breath of Death VII so good isn't just the simple "parody" moniker, but the fact that it actually has really solid RPG elements backing it up. Aside from the humor, the star of the game is the combo-based battle system. As you fight, each hit you land on an enemy builds up your combo meter, with some special attacks hitting multiple times. This combo meter is used to influence the power of some special attacks to help fight some of the tougher enemies you'll encounter on the 5-8 hour quest. But be careful, because certain abilities will take away your combo, like healing spells, forcing you to balance spells and attacking to build up your combo meter. As you build up your party, you also gain Chrono Trigger-like unison attacks allowing characters to team up for even more powerful attacks or techniques. Character customization is also implemented in an interesting way through leveling up. Each level you are given an option on how you want your character to progress. Usually it's a stat option, choosing between enhancements like strength and HP or magic and agility. But every few levels you will be given the option of which new ability you want a character to learn. Do you want a weaker multi-hit fire attack that can build your combo, or instead a more powerful 1-hit fire spell? Do you want a spell to heal status effects from your entire party, or instead have all of your standard healing spells also heal status effects while only targeting one ally? These decisions have a big impact on how you play the game, and, add some nice replay value. Speaking of replay value, in addition to the main quest there's a harder difficulty level to try, as well as a score attack mode that challenges you to beat the game while refraining from over-leveling your characters. There is just so much good about Breath of Death VII that I don't have room to write it all here. Buy it, play it, love it. For me, it's one of my top 360 JRPGs ranking just under Lost Odyssey. And it's only $1, buy it already.

NLL Lacrosse 2010 - 400 MS points. I wouldn't be surprised if EA in the future tried to buy out the developers of NLL Lacrosse 2010. Featuring all 11 National Lacrosse League teams along with their licensed player rosters, this is the real deal. Despite the sport's reliance on catching balls in a pouch attached to a shaft, I can't claim to know much of anything about how to actually play lacrosse. Even still, I had a lot of fun with NLL Lacrosse 2010. Pulling off jukes, spins, and passes felt natural, and using the right analog stick to aim and shoot works amazingly well. There's both quick play and a season mode to play through the full NLL calendar and bring your team to the top, not to mention off and online multiplayer for up to four players. If you're a lacrosse fan, this is the game you have been waiting for. Even if you're not a lacrosse fan, it's just a solid, fun game in its own right, and might very well spark some interest in the sport.

EXELINYA BURST - 80 MS points. While playing Exelinya Burst I controlled a chibi anime girl who used a grappling hook to grab cakes, pastries, flans, carrots, and other assorted foods. I then threw those food items at other food flying around the level, causing them to explode, along with anything else that was in their general proximity at the time. I had no idea what was going on at any given time, it was absolutely crazy, and I loved it. Joy and confusion seldom go together as well as they do when playing Exelinya Burst.

Change of Color - 80 MS points. Change of Color can be best described as a painting puzzle platformer, and not just because I love alliteration. Painting is actually a key element of the gameplay, as you splotch the world in green, red, blue, yellow, and black. Each color has a different property that it will apply to whatever object you color, which is used to great effect in solving each level's puzzles. For example, red makes objects lighter to the point of floating, which can be used to reach higher platforms, while blue makes them heavy again so they fall to the ground if you fly too high. While there's always the complaint that there could be more levels in the game, it's still a meaty experience on its own so I would only be complaining because I enjoyed it enough to want more.

Ay?

Invader - 80 MS points. If I had to sum up Invader in one word, it would be "hard." I often complain when talking about Xbox indie games that this or that game is not challenging enough. That complaint does not apply to Invader at all. At its core, Invader is a vertical-scrolling shooter that uses the ever-popular twin-stick control scheme to give you some extra flexibility in attacking the forced scrolling levels. These core levels are challenging, even on the easiest difficulty setting, but not difficult to the point of frustration. That frustration is reserved for the galaxy map between levels, where you must fly from planet to planet in a free-roaming map as enemies attack you. These in-between levels are just unfairly hard, with a seemingly unlimited supply of off-screen enemies sending a constant barrage of bullets after you. There is no point in trying to fend off this onslaught, instead making each trip to the galaxy map a mad dash to the next planet, often reaching your destination on the verge of defeat with just a sliver of health (thankfully, you begin each new level with full health though). That's on the easiest difficulty setting. I have never played any of the scrolling levels on the harder difficulty settings because I haven't managed to survive the first map encounter long enough to reach the first planet. The core levels of Invader are good, but be prepared for one tough ride to get there.

Laserbreaker - 80 MS points. Laserbreaker is kind of like a more puzzle-focused version of Breakout minus the ball. Instead of a ball you use a ricocheting laser beam, with the laser's color determined by which face button you press on the controller. The color of the laser comes into play because blocks can only be destroyed by lasers of the same color. But unlike Breakout, breaking blocks isn't your ultimate goal in Laserbreaker. Instead your aim is to fire a laser so that it hits the glowing target in each level. You have a limited supply of each colored laser in each level, so careful rationing needs to be taken into account for which blocks you can afford to destroy in order to reach the target. In addition to the core puzzle game, there is also a competitive 2-player mode for competing to clear as many levels as you can before your opponent. It's a solid game that is well worth a look for puzzle fans.

Easy Racing - 400 MS points. Easy Racing uses the classic Pro-AM/Micro Machines control scheme that should be familiar to retro racing fans. The races are divided into checkpoints, with arrows on the ground leading you to your next destination. Despite the name, you can change the difficulty to make the game anything but easy, with the AI getting smarter and the races getting faster with each new difficulty level. There is only really one level in Easy Racing, which is really more of akin to a world map than a race course, with dozens of courses taking place on that same level. My only real gripe with the game is that some environmental obstacles, particularly trees and bushes, blend in with the background making it very easy to crash into them unintentionally, costing you a few ranks in the race. For the most part, I really enjoyed Easy Racing, and probably would have bumped it up to the "Yay" section if not for the hidden background objects.

Avatar Onslaught - 80 MS points. Avatar Onslaught gives your avatar a supply of water balloons and pits him or her against a horde of other avatars. There are Space Invader-style barriers to hide behind to avoid incoming water balloons, which you can also repair those barriers by holding the X button. Repairing barriers is a good strategic move, but incoming avatars won't stop and wait for you to finish, so you need to balance repairing and attacking. After each wave of avatars you can upgrade your avatar's abilities like the speed at which balloons are thrown or how many balloons you can throw before reloading. This is probably one of the best avatar games yet to come to the Xbox indie games.

Nay :(

Inferno Ball - 80 MS points. Inferno Ball is a pong-clone with lasers. The lasers are only used to hit the ball though, so firing at your opponent won't have any effect. It's ok as pong-clones go, but there are better pong-clones already on the service.

Bingo Party - 80 MS points. Now you can enjoy the thrill of waiting while a random number generator calls out numbers right in your own home. It also has online multiplayer so you can share the patient excitement with friends online! If grandma or grandpa has an Xbox 360 in their retirement home then maybe bump this one up the "Ay?" category.

Ace Gals Tennis - 80 MS points. You know how in Wii Sports Tennis you don't control the character and just waggle to hit the ball at the right time? Ace Gals Tennis is like that, but with pressing the A button instead of waggle. If nothing else, this game shows that shaking the Wii remote really does make the game more fun.

Bizzy Bee - 80 MS points. Fly a bee around flowers without touching the center of the flower. WARNING: in the trial mode for this game choosing the "Exit" option on the menu will open the Xbox Live marketplace screen to purchase the game. It is common for games to have a splash screen asking if you would like to purchase, but this game just takes you right to the purchase screen without asking first. It is very easy to accidentally press the A button thinking that you are simply skipping a "before you quit, would you like to buy the game?" message and unintentionally spend your MS points. This is a dishonest and manipulative move by the developer.

Bible Trivia - 240 MS points. Do you know your bible? I mean really, really know it (though ironically, not in the biblical sense)? Bible Trivia is filled with some pretty obscure Old and New Testament knowledge that will test how well you know who begot whom.

YASS - 80 MS points. YASS is a fairly basic side-scrolling shooter where you can tilt your aim either up or down. It also supports up to four players for co-op play. There's not a whole lot to it though, with much better shooters available at the same price.

Truth or Dare? - 80 MS points. Last time I checked, Truth or Dare is a game mostly played by bored middle school kids. If you have an Xbox 360 to play this version on, then you have little excuse to be bored.

Updated Games

Astro Match3
Dark Seal
Beat Hazard - GayGamer seal of approval
Lethal Judgment
Ninja Chop!!
Yet Another Zombie Defense
Avatar Showdown
TiME K - price drop to 80 MS points. Well worth a second look.
Ikaroids
Catch22
Snake4D