Two games dropped this week onto the Xbox Live Arcade, three if you include Sorry Sliders as a seperate title and not an add-on to the Hasrbo Family Game Night.
To date the final game in the Fatal Fury series, this one of the last Neo Geo AES carts released. Ported to the Dreamcast later and now to the Xbox 360 for a wonderful $10, Mark of the Wolves is the pinnacle of fighting games on the Geo.
Garou’s incredible sprites are masterpieces of 2-D pixel art, and gameplay is wonderfully smooth. It lacks the tighter feel of King of Fighters, although offers incredible depth and its own smooth engine that settles in within moments of entering a match. It is entirely unique. Online play makes this a rare absolute own on the XBLA even if you own the Dreamcast port (or tossed away $400+ for the AES cart).
Droplitz comes to us from Atlus, who tend to focus on obscure Japanese RPGs that undoubtedly end up going for $100 on eBay as collector’s items. This is a departure, a simple puzzle game in which the player must rotate pipes to keep a steady flow of liquid running to the bottom. It offers four play modes and a variety of boards, but seems to lack any real reason to continue playing past the first few levels. It’s more of the same, and only mild fun. While the $10 price point is appreciated, pick up Mark of the Wolves instead.
