So how was your Bank Holiday gaming? I spent a bit of time with the new X-Men game and wished I hadn't. I wasn't expecting a classic but this is as tedious a gaming experience as I've had this year. The action is derivative – think hack n' slash complete with Devil May Cry-style orb collection – and even in my sleep-addled can't-be-bothered-playing-anything-that-involves-thought mood, this was too brain-numbing. The only glimmer was the levelling-up mechanic. I'm a sucker for any game that dangles new skills in front of me but after a couple of hours of X-Men I couldn't care if the next power involved lottery number predictions – there was no way I was ploughing through yet another set of dumb assailants. The game does seem to have reviewed ok though so maybe you have to be a fan of the films/comic to really enjoy. Clearly I don't appreciate the finer points of Wolverine. Anyone else played this game yet?
I also spent some time ploughing through the latest Xbox Live Arcade games. Banjo Tooie has been downloaded – more thoughts soon – but with so much new, and potentially exciting, stuff on the service it is hard to get excited by this week's releases. Arkanoid and Space Invaders? Hey I love a bit of retro gaming but surely Space Invaders should be retired now, right? Forget these two then, what have you enjoyed most on Xbox Live Arcade recently?
