Since the release of Halo 3 in late September, Xbox Live has been slowed to a crawl and a glance at your friends list tell you one thing: Everyone's playing Halo 3.
The launch was so big, in fact, that Microsoft chose not to release any Live Arcade titles in the same week, leaving those of us uninterested in Bungie's latest with even less to do.
Beyond Halo, there was one other story of interest this month: the US and Canadian dollar reaching parity. This was big news to some Halo 3 buyers, as it turns out that many gamers chose to shop on eBay (average Halo 3 price: $50) rather than in local stores (average Halo 3 price: $70) and I've noticed that by using similar tactics you can save big on points cards for the Wii and Xbox 360. If you choose to simply have the codes e-mailed to you (and save on shipping) 2000 Wii points or 1600 Microsoft points can regularly be had for less than $20. A worthwhile bargain, as it's highly unlikely Microsoft or Nintendo are ever going to reduce prices.
XBOX LIVE ARCADE/PLAYSTATION NETWORK
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD (800 Microsoft Points/$10.99) — Any points purchased from eBay are well worth spending on this, an updated and tweaked version of a title many people consider to be the pinnacle of competitive puzzle games (and PS3 gamers will be happy to note that it's available for their system too.)
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD (which I'll simplify to just "Puzzle Fighter" from here on in) should look familiar to anyone who remembers Columns or Puyo Puyo, but with one important difference: blocks can only be destroyed if they're touched by a "crash gem" of the same color. Every successful crash gem hit causes "counter gems" to fall on your opponent's board (and vice versa) and it's this game dynamic which makes up the fun.
And a lot of fun it is! While it isn't perfect, Puzzle Fighter is a lot of fun for two players, and by offering four different modes (the original game, a more balanced version, and two versions with entirely new rules) there's plenty of different ways to play it.
If there's one problem, it's that the game design rewards fast play far more than it does strategic play, and that can quickly get frustrating (particularly online.) However, there are hours of entertainment here, particularly for gamers with friends to play with. 4/5
PLAYSTATION NETWORK
LocoRoco Cocoreccho! ($7.49) — Though the Playstation Network is still suffering a real drought of titles, at least when titles do come along to wet the parched mouths of PS3 gamers they're usually bursting with unique flavours, such as recent releases Super Stardust HD and Pixeljunk Racers.
Of course, "unique" doesn't always mean good, and that's something the experimental titles the Playstation Network offers often aren't, and your mileage with this "interactive screensaver" based on last year's PSP title LocoRoco is going to be similarly questionable. Featuring only one (admittedly large) level, the game asks you to awaken and rescue 200 LocoRocos, and while it's fun, cute, and the level is interesting, it really does feel more like an interactive screensaver than a game and thus a bit overpriced at $7.49. 3/5
XBOX LIVE ARCADE
Fatal Fury Special (400 Microsoft Points) — Admittedly nothing released on Xbox Live Arcade this month is quite as interesting as LocoRoco Cocoreccho! (Geon: Emotions was somewhat over-hyped) but it is nice to see SNK stepping up to the plate and beginning to release Neo-Geo games on Microsoft's downloadable service. If anyone remembers, games for the Neo-Geo AES, SNK's pricey home console, used to cost several hundred dollars each, so to now be able to purchase an arcade perfect copy for roughly $5 is astounding.
It's a terrific shame that they've started with Fatal Fury Special, few people's favorite 2D fighter, but with any luck they're just warming up to release the excellent Garou: Mark of the Wolves some time soon. Fatal Fury Special is still worth a download if you're a fighting game fan, but it's no Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD. 2.5/5
