Arcade

Aside from Nazis (who are probably chosen because they're a great human representation of absolute evil) the zombie is the hardest working stiff in all of videogames (pun fully intended). And while Romero's zombie universe has served as the template for the earliest zombie games (including the much-lauded Resident Evil series), developers have begun to emulate some of the new breed of zombie as well. One of the games to do this quite successfully is Sega's House Of The Dead III.

This game shows that the DS is a capable machine, able to emulate other platforms quite well. Perhaps next time developers could choose a better game to emulate.

I admit it. When I first heard about micro transactions and receiving downloaded content at Microsoft's E3 media briefing two years ago, I scoffed. In my defense, their initial approach to the presentation was ridiculous—the famous example given was of a non-gamer girl designing her own clothing and selling it to gamers via the wonderful interface provided by the Xbox 360… maybe it's just me, but that wasn't exactly the first thing to come to mind when trying to imagine a new way of capturing consumer dollars.

Game Description: Have you ever been cloned? Ever wonder what it would be like to be a chicken? A monkey? A frog? Well, wonder no more when you play Cloning Clyde, the zany side-scrolling platformer game on Xbox Live Arcade, new from NinjaBee. Cloning Clyde is a 3D side-scrolling adventure, featuring (of course!) multiplayer gameplay. Play split screen on a single console, or mutate online with your friends across the world via Xbox Live® Arcade. Can you free yourselves from the myriad sinister traps and mutations that await you? Get Cloning today and find out!

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mild comic mischief

I can talk about why the game is fun, but I can't lie and say the game is brilliant. Mario isn't what he used to be. There are glimmers and flickers of greatness in this game—moments where I felt the magic might almost be back.

Author's note: Before writing this review, I was undecided between a piece that connected to the current state of the industry or dashing out a fun quickie. I couldn't decide, so here's both. Smarties, start at part 1. People who want to get to the point, skip to part 2.