PopCap Arcade Vol. 1 (Xbox 360)

Despite already owning two of the four games on PopCap Arcade Volume 1, I went ahead and bought it. The clearance price tag made the two remaining titles very attractive for the price tag, and it was so cheap I went ahead and bought an extra copy for a good friend of mine. While some game collections aren't worth the cost, this one very clearly is-- assuming you spend a little time on each title, rather than play half a game and move on to the next title. Each game is booted separately from the Xbox 360 dashboard, and has the same 200 achievement points that the downloadable game had for a total of 800. And let me tell you, you're going to have to work long and hard to get them all.

Astro Pop I had previously from the purchase of a Mad Catz joystick which just happened to include the game. Having had it for several months, I had numerous opportunities to play this game which encompassed a recurring theme in many PopCap games-- even if you haven't played it before, your first game may last 20+ minutes. It's pretty easy early on and rewards creative combo making, much like Tetris. Its cartoony appearance masks a fairly tricky action/puzzle game that would have been right at home in the arcades of the 1980s... except that you don't die frequently, making it the opposite of a quarter-muncher. The gameplay is simple: you have a ship that grabs bricks, and then when you get a certain amount of them in a row, they smash together and explode. And this repeats. It seems like it should be more fun than I had with it-- it's certainly entertaining as part of a collection, and a nice freebie. I wouldn't suggest buying it for its own sake.

Bejeweled 2 Deluxe was one of the two games on the collection I did not yet have. Like countless other "manipulate gems in a puzzle" games, it's pretty to look at and provides a gradually increasing challenge. You can probably get through the first two stages on the default mode without a problem, but beyond that may be tricky. The game has been around for the PC/Mac/whatever forever, so you've no doubt tried it. Like the other games in this collection, it's nice to look at... and it features a creepy announcer man voice. The new agey music strikes me as annoying, but it doesn't get in the way of the gameplay and most important of all, isn't going to get stuck in your head and will eventually make you want to stab a man in the eye. No, that would be Zuma.

The only game in this collection I already had and paid full price for was Feeding Frenzy, a game which combines certain elements of old-timey space shooters and other elements from Odell Lake. In it, you start off as a small fish. As you eat, you get bigger and can eat even larger creatures, but you can still be eaten. There are various powers and upgrades which can be had, and every few stages you are given the opportunity to switch to another fish or even a whale. It's cute, and surprisingly challenging-- you will die, often. However, it's not difficult to get just close enough to teh end of the stage that you'll wish you could continue. Of all the games in the collection, this one-- in its current form-- would have actually made an awesome coin-operated quarter-muncher.

Rounding out this collection is Zuma Deluxe, the only one of the four that had a permanent price drop on the Xbox Live Arcade service. (It went from $10 to $5.) I just played this game for the first time two days ago, and my very first session lasted over 40 minutes (without a game over screen) and I apparently toppled the high scores on my buddy leaderboards. I'm not sure if this is beginner's luck, or if it's merely a very simple game. Like Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble, you control a contraption that shoots out balls at other balls. There are power-ups in there, and various bonuses can be captured from them. It's part shooter, part puzzler, and its unique paths which the pieces follow pose an interesting twist on the never-ending cavalcade of pieces first thrust upon most gamers in Tetris. The music is obnoxious, but the vocals more or less work. But seriously, the music is annoying.

Each game in this collection is also available individually for $5-$10 each through the Xbox Live Arcade service. We suggest picking up the disc, on sale if possible. It's also worth noting that if you buy the disc, you need the disc to play these games. They're accessed like your other downloaded games and demos, except for the fact that the disc must be present-- you can't install these on your hard drive from the DVD-ROM.

After years of $50 and $60 games, it was great to get a disc with a few decent titles for less than two bucks each. Zuma and Bejeweled 2 alone are worth paying $5 a whack for, getting both of them and two other great titles for the price is one of the best deals we've found lately. (And we love finding good deals.) It seems that one really can't go wrong with a game if the price point is low enough, so we'd give this one a strong "buy" at $5, and even at $20 it's a one-player experience well worth giving a shot.

At press time, there is no Vol. 2 nor are there any known plans for one.

Cost: $4.98 (Target clearance find, typically $19.99)
Value: High
Novelty: High
Would buy again if given the chance: Yes