A true coin-op classic, Pac-Man ushered in the wave of non-shooting "cute" games in 1980 and gets credit as gaming's first pop-culture phenomenon. That's great, he's historically important - but do you still want to hang out with him?
Maybe not. Pac-Man is groundbreaking but ultimately pretty boring. As you race around gobbling dots, the maze never changes; only the speed of the monsters, the length of their vulnerability and the routes they take deviate between stages. The game also suffers
Pac-Man Championship Edition needed to be released for 400 points, not the 800 Namco's asking us for. In fact, better yet - Pac-Man Championship Edition needed to be released as some kind of expansion pack for the original Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man, both of which have been on the Xbox Live Arcade service for months
The hits just keep on coming on Xbox Live Arcade. The latest coin-op classic to hit the service is a touching tale of a boy, his bicycle, and an unrelenting urge to smash all things breakable with tightly-rolled wads of tree byproducts. Paperboy was - and still is - an awesome game. At least, if youre looking for a short diversion... say, something you might spend $0.25 a pop for.
Paperboy on the 360 is an authentic recreation of the mid-80s arcade machine, save for the absence of the
Before we tear into this dull, dull game like a coyote mauls a young lamb, we’ll include this disclaimer: we are actually massive darts fans.
It’s rubbish on paper, of course – you just aim the ball at the pegs and fire, trying to clear all the orange ones – but on iPod, DS, PC, and now Xbox 360, it’s by far one of the best games on the platform that we do love so. Slot machines make their money by creating desire - the desire to pour your hard-earned dole money into the slot in exchange for occasional reward.
Picking up where the first episode concluded, the second episode of the Penny Arcade Adventures begins with your still-homeless character (you can either import your old character or start a new one at the same advanced level) brandishing a new gardening implement and teaming up once again with 1922-era Gabe and Tycho to track down the giant robot that crushed your house.
Loosely based on the popular web comic Penny Arcade, this new episodic series kicks off with a six-hour game, cheekily subtitled On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. The action follows your custom-built avatar (and his disappointingly limited wardrobe selection) and early-20th-century versions of heroes Gabe and Tycho as they investigate paranormal goings-on in the city of New Arcadia. It’s a bizarre tale that’s completely
Gabe and Tycho return to their occult adventures. Does the old-school, turn based gameplay suit their signature sarcastic style?

The N64 would have died if it had tried to run this. The colosso-textures and 1080p resolution would have pushed its tiny graphics processor from room temperature to boiling point in seconds and Nintendo’s curvy box would have melted like a candle.
Lets just say, for the sake of argument, that its five years ago: Perfect Dark is released to rave reviews, thanks to a combination of maximum ultraviolence and stealthy super-spy ninjaness. The frantic, nerve-jangling action and engaging story made you feel like a stealthy pimp every time a punk went down without knowing what hit him.
Unfortunately, that was then.
Perfect Dark Zero attempts to recapture some of that sneaky mystique found in the original, but rarely succeeds. Only on a very