This week sees the release of three new arcade games - the ring-loving hedgehog returns in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, along with flipping fun pinball game, Pinball FX 2 (the 'free' game in this month's Game Feast promotion), and the indescribable Dead Space 2 prequel, Dead Space: Ignition.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points (about £10.00)
Get a load of this! Almost sixteen years after the 2D platformer, Sonic & Knuckles first graced our TVs, comes the long-awaited sequel, in the form of a series of four downloadable episodes. The only problem here is the price - while the prices for the remaining episodes have yet to be confirmed, we're pretty certain they won't end up charging less than the asking price for this one - an extortionate 1200 Microsoft Points (just over £10) - which means if you buy every episode, you'll be shelling out a whopping 4800 Microsoft Points, or £40 - which is more than the cost of a game from a shop! Rip off or not, Sonic needs your help, as Dr. Robotnik has decided, in an effort to eliminate the pesky blue hedgehog, that he's going to revisit and improve his old creations - and if his past exploits are anything to go by, he'll be trying to take over the world too.
Pinball FX2
Price: 0 Microsoft Points for the game, 200 Microsoft Points per pinball table (about £1.67)
Pinball FX2 is a pinball game with rather fancy looking tables and various online and offline multiplayer modes - which you can download for 'free'. We say 'free', as there is a catch - the free download will only get you trial versions of each pinball table, so you'll need to shell out 200 Microsoft points if you actually want to play the game properly. However, in another interesting twist, if you already own the previous game, you can import all the tables from that (the 3 original tables, as well as the 6 downloadable ones) - for, as far as we know, free.
Dead Space: Ignition
Price: 400 Microsoft Points (about £3.33)
Apparently playing much like a 'choose your own adventure' book, with three hacking mini-games thrown in, Dead Space: Ignition serves as a prequel to Dead Space 2, chronicling the events that take place on 'The Sprawl' (a civilian space station), when the Necromorph (zombie-like creatures) outbreak occurs - and its up to you to survive the initial outbreak. The game has multiple endings, and for achieving each one, you'll receive an unlockable item, such as an exclusive suit, for Isaac Clarke to use in Dead Space 2.
