Let's talk about old friends.

Saw this coming, but the latest two titles in my mailbox are both titles I once owned. While it's nice to have a headstart, I wasn't exactly looking forward to playing either again. But first, time to catch up with XBLA Wednesday.

Boogie Bunnies
Achievements: 12 (11 offline for 170 gs, 1 online for 30 gs)
MS Points cost: 800

It's a polished Snood where you can shoot from the sides as well. And the bunnies (which have replaced the faces, or the bubbles a la Puzzle Bobble/Bust A Move) dance from time to time. Eh. I get sucked up in these sort of games so I bought it, but I wouldn't recommend it off hand. Not much to say here, really.

As for the two mystery games, I get to return to the realms of wonder presented in BulletWitch and Bomberman: Act Zero. Argh. Argh argh argh argh. I'll try to be objective, and brief.

BulletWitch
Achievements: 14 (all offline, 1000 points)

Decent character design completely wasted on an over-the-shoulder shooter that is SLOW AS HELL. Seriously, even jumping forward all the time only speeds things up a little bit. Bitch needs more practical shoes. A lot of neat ideas, and stuff I like such as weapons customization and skill boosting, totally flushed down the toilet. This game hurts.

Achievements are for playing the game through on every difficulty, basically, if you can stand to do so, and maxing out all your weapons and stats. I really don't want to comment much more because it hurts to think about it, but if you must play this, get yourself the Secretary outfit from Marketplace. I think it's free, and it makes the main character even easier on the eyes.

Trauma. Ow. Ow.

Bomberman: Act Zero
Achievements: 50 (I don't feel like breaking these down, but I'm pretty sure some are online-only)

You will never get all 1,000 gs in this game because a) breaking 1,000,000 blocks is impossible unless you lobotomize yourself and have no desire to spend time doing anything but playing this game for a few months and b) anyone who might still play this online has moved on to Bomberman Live! in the Arcade or has killed themselves long before now.

To summarize the game, Hudson felt they should make Bomberman a little more edgy for the 360 crowd, and while not completely hideous on its own, the move pissed off pretty much every Bomberman fan ever. Combine with the crazy achievements (1,000,000 effing blocks, wtf), and you have a pretty good formula for turning away potential players.

Granted, I'll admit to having a bit of a soft spot for the game. I can play a purple Bomberman (or Bomberwoman), which is always a plus in my book, and despite the visual overhaul, it's still just Bomberman, which is not bad. I kind of like the switchable camera angles, too, but on the whole the game was just half baked. Oh well. Maybe I can grind a few more points out of it by next Friday.

By the way, I popped in Guitar Hero II the other day, and recommend anyone else who still has it do the same. So much better than III. SO MUCH BETTER. I missed you, baby. And found a bunch of content I downloaded but never played. Whoops!

One day, I will get better at wrapping these articles. This is not that day. By the way, Undertow will be the free XBLA game they're giving away for all the Live troubles. Which is fantastic, since everyone in their right mind already paid for the thing since it's a pretty sweet game. Luckily, I was poor that week and never got around to it, so free for me! Hooray!

On the other hand, I totally paid for Catan and they dropped that for free not long after, so I guess I just broke even. Dammit.