There’s a lot to like about the current generation of consoles. One my favorites is the ability to download games straight off their respective online services to the local storage medium, removing any need for going to a store or waiting a couple days for something to ship from an internet store. This has its downfalls, of course, the biggest being DRM, but that’s really unavoidable, and I don’t fault the companies for including it. I don’t think anyone can, really. As everyone says, though, no one really cares about DRM until it stops you from doing something you want to. The biggest thing I’ve seen is people being unable to access their XBLA games offline after a repair. Not cool. It doesn’t hurt that there’s lots of really great games coming out on the various services that wouldn’t be worth paying full price for a disc, but are more than worth the $10-15 price point they’re sitting at.
XBox Live Arcade
I admittedly have the most experience with XBLA. I’ve purchased the most games from it, and certainly use it more than the others. I’ve gotten too many games to really bother to list even the gems (just go check MetaCritic or GameRankings or something), so I’ll just talk about the two most recent: Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Braid.
BCR is essentially a remake of the original NES game with lots of added content, such as new MGS VR mission-like challenge rooms, and 3D graphics (the gameplay is still solid 2D; I hate the term 2.5D unless there’s a really good reason for it like multiple layers or something). The core gameplay hasn’t changed at all, and it’s just as tough as ever. It’s really nice looking, and the animations are smooth and well-rendered. The story’s been tweaked a bit with the Nazis Badds now being the Imperials (complete with pink uniforms), but I’m told Hitler Master D is still the end boss, which is good to hear. There’s lots of powerups, and it’s still just as good now as it was then. And the inability to jump is just as infuriating. You’d think he’d have figured out that it’s slightly handy now and then. At $10, it’s definitely a good buy, even if you’ve beaten the NES version over and over.
Braid is like the polar opposite of BCR. It’s a puzzle platformer along the lines of, say, Abe’s Oddysee or Flashback with a time reversal gimmick thrown in. Although I shouldn’t say thrown in; it’s entirely critical to the gameplay, unlike Prince of Persia where even without it, it would be a good game, if very difficult. The puzzles will often require you to move time back and forth and let the level do what it needs to do. There’s something of a story told in pure prose before each of the worlds, but it’s completely optional. As far as I can tell, the main character’s girlfriend broke up with him so he’s trying to save a princess. Or something. Like I said, it’s not important. The puzzles are interesting and often challenging, although it doesn’t always feel like you’ve found the “right” solution. The graphics are a bit eclectic, with the backgrounds largely being watercolor-looking backdrops, and the main character and enemies being hand-drawn sprites. I’m not sold on it. The music is generally very calm, and actually reverses along with time, which is a nice touch. And I guess that’s what it comes down to. It’s full of small touches like that that go a long way to show its polish. It’s a little steep at $15 compared to other XBLA games, but it seems worth it.
Online games are, of course, playable on XBox Live with a Gold membership, which costs $50 a year at retail, but can be found cheaper without much effort. XBLA’s biggest problem is its Microsoft Points system. You buy points at a rate of 80 per dollar with different games, addons, movies, and music (on the Zune store) all having different values. That’s fine, but why not just make 100 points per dollar? Oh yeah, need to hide the actual cost of something so it seems like we’re getting a better value. Finding stuff can be a chore, too, but hopefully that will be fixed with the Fall update. I’m not holding my breath for it, though. There’s also XBox Originals (games from the first XBox that can be downloaded and played straight from the hard drive) available, but I don’t really see the point since nothing put up yet is rare and can be found at a local store for $10 or less. Why not just get the disc?
Playstation Network
I’ve gotten four games from PSN at this point: Super Stardust HD (with the Solo add-on pack), Everyday Shooter, Pain, and PixelJunk Eden. The PSN store is interesting in that they actually have full-size PS3 games available in addition to the arcade-style games and PS1 games. Not to say I’m terribly interested in Warhawk, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, or Siren, but it’s a good idea, and I hope to see more in the future.
Super Stardust HD is apparently a remake of some old game called Super Stardust (the sequel to Stardust) into HD (durr). I never played either of them, so I can’t comment on the accuracy of the remake, but it’s definitely one of the more fun games on the system. It’s easy to pick up and play, but still very difficult, with a good competitive spirit thrown in with the online scoreboards. It looks and plays nice (being one of those twin-stick shooters that are becoming so popular), and is overall a great experience. The basic game is definitely worth the $9.99, but I’m not completely sold on the $4.99 Solo expansion pack. It adds a few new game modes, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. There’s also a Multi expansion pack for an additional $4.99 bringing the “full” game up to $20, and I can’t really say it’s worth that.
Everyday Shooter is ANOTHER twin-stick shooter, but the experience is so completely unlike SSDHD, it’s not really a comparison. ES is the indie game version of the twin-stick. It’s highly stylized, and the levels are all different. The gameplay follows the fantastic music, and the simplistic graphics really work for the game. It’s definitely worth picking up at $9.99.
PixelJunk Eden is the indie version of the swinging genre. The gameplay is hard to explain, but it’s really very calming. Basically you swing around trying to find the items in the level, all while making plants grow and killing Pollen Prowlers by hitting them. I don’t know, it sounds silly, but it’s fun. The art design is simplistic but gorgeous, as is the sound design. I wish I could talk more, but it’s really easier just to look up videos on YouTube.
PSN has a lot of good things going for it, and other than the not as good as XBL online experience, very few faults that can’t be fixed over time. The store’s also a LOT faster and easier to use than the XBL store.
WiiWare/Virtual Console
I can’t really talk much on WiiWare since nothing’s really interested me enough to bother getting. I assume it’s not unlike Virtual Console, however. That’s to say that you have limited space (and WiiWare games are supposedly BIG), downloads time out, and you have to input your credit card number EVERY TIME you want to make a purchase of points. It also uses silly points like XBL, but at least 100 points = $1. The online experience is non-existent in Virtual Console games, and presumably not great on the WiiWare games if it’s anything like online disc games. I want to like the Wii, I really do, but outside of Nintendo games and a handful of good third-party games, it’s pretty lacking over all.