Downloadable Content Review Wrap-Up!

These games prove you don't need a big wallet for big gaming fun. Pixel Junk Monsters, Rez HD, and more!

Downloadable content is the new hotness and as the following reviews prove, size doesn't matter when it comes to fun! Read on for six DLC games that are definitely worth your time and money.

AudioSurf (PC)

Strange marriages can often be successful. If things can work out for Reese's Peanut Buttercups ("You got peanut butter in my chocolate! You got chocolate in my peanut butter!") and for Seal and Heidi Klum, it can certainly work for AudioSurf, a game that plays like the lovechild of Wipeout and Guitar Hero.

In AudioSurf, a puzzle/rhythm/racer from Valve, players listen to music while controlling a space age vehicle along a multi-lane track on the worlds longest and most colorful rollercoaster. On the tracks are a number of colored blocks, and it's your job to collect them in clusters. The complexity, layout and length of each track is always unique as the path is determined by the music you "ride". Song choice is completely up to the gamer as AudioSurf connects to your own computer music library. The visuals are eye catching (especially in the practice area/visualizer Freeride mode when you can actually pay attention) and the chance to be interactive with your own songs is a blast. The game also offers Steam Achievements and online scoreboards if you like to brag, and includes The Orange Box Soundtrack in case you get tired of your own library.

AudioSurf does have some drawbacks. A shuffle and playlist creator are badly needed to keep from slowly loading tunes one at a time, and paying $10 to play a game with your own music feels a bit steep. But if you're really into your music collection and want to do something with it besides listen to it, you'll love AudioSurf. -- Terry Terrones

Graphics: 3.5
Sound: 5.0
Controls: 4.0
Fun Factor: 4.0

Mutant Storm Empire (XBLA)

A few years back, PomPom Games released Mutant Storm Reloaded, one of the first shmups (shoot-em-ups) available on XBLA. With its sequel, Mutant Storm Empire, Pom Pom returns with yet another great addition to the shmups genre.

There is just enough of a back story to provide a reason for throwing hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies at you. But really, as is often the case with these types of games, Empire's focus isn't on the narrative but on the gameplay. The action takes place over a series of rooms which make up each of the few worlds in the game. Each room is filled with a set amount of enemies that increase in number and ability as the difficulty is ratcheted up. The enemies themselves are well animated, and rather diverse in both pattern and ability-you'll encounter plenty of turrets, swarming enemies, long-ranged foes, and larger bosses to name just a few. The environments themselves are also rather diverse, and some of them go so far as to change on the fly as you're fighting, which definitely changes up the pace at some points.

The standard two-analog stick controls we've seen in similar games such as Geometry Wars is also present in Mutant Storm Empire. One stick controls movement, and the other controls where you fire. It works as well as it has in every other game that uses the scheme, and as such can be considered a definite plus.

As a standard shmup, Mutant Storm Empire is rather easy to recommend, especially considering the lack of such games on the XBLA service. Its only real drawback might be its rather short length, as experienced gamers will probably smash through the single player levels in no time, even at the highest difficulty level but for small, bite-sized chunks of action, Empire definitely satisfies. -- Andrew Dagley

Graphics: 4.75
Sound: 4.00
Control: 4.50
Fun Factor: 4.25

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