Past years have brought such memorable titles as Shadow Complex, Bionic Commando Rearmed, and Castle Crashers. This year, Xbox Live introduced the creepy world of Limbo and has continued with Monday Night Combat, Hydro Thunder: Hurricane, and Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, three games that hinge on their online play.
Monday Night Combat is a sport-of-the-future arena-combat game that mixes elements of similar team-based titles with aspects of the tower-defense genre. There are two main modes in this addictive action game, both playable online or off.
Blitz has the players defending their prize, the Moneyball, from incoming waves of robotic enemies. Crossfire pits two teams against each other, each trying to destroy the other side's Moneyball with the help of robots, which can knock down the Moneyball's shields and make it vulnerable.
There are too many robots and human foes to handle them all directly, so players can use the money they earn while fighting to purchase and upgrade a variety of turret defenses, which can blow up or slow down the bots.
Players choose from several classes of contestant, each done up in an exaggerated visual style that brings Team Fortress 2 to mind. The classes include the all-rounder Assault, the stealthy Assassin, the sturdy Tank, the eagle-eyed Sniper, the helpful Support, and the bullet-spewing Gunner.
Each class has two unique weapons and three special powers: The Sniper can set down ice traps and throw flak grenades, the Assassin can turn invisible, the Gunner has an area-effect ground slam, the Assault class can charge, and so on.
Ammo and powers are both unlimited, though guns have to be reloaded and powers have a cool-down period between uses. Each character can be upgraded (via cash) in the trio of abilities and the class itself.
