XBLA Today: Coffeetime Crosswords and Double D Dodgeball

So here we are, E3 week 08, and on Wednesday as usual we have to XBLA games to check out. The only question is did they send out a great suprise for this special week to wow us, or did they throw out some waste while a lot of reviewers were to busy at E3 to see it.

Coffeetime Crosswords at first seems to accomplish its goal well. It looks decent, good hints, with plenty of puzzles, and sound that sits in the background enough to take away the awkward silence, but doesn’t distract. There is however one major issue that breaks it for me. The system used to write out the words is clunky, and takes way too long. using the stick to select the word, a to start writing, and the LB RB buttons to go through the alphabet, the system just feels clunky. That on top of a 800 price point for something you get in your daily paper, this could be a pass for most.

Double D Dodgeball is a retro styled dodgeball game. What I mean by retro styed is that it uses geo-wars colors, and old school style gameplay as well. It’s a decent game, but my biggest issue is it feels like I am playing an old arcade port. This seems to have been their goal, and they do have a good amount of changes and options to make it interesting, but 800 points for this experience just doesn’t cut it for me.

As always, be sure to check out the demos to see if you agree or disagree. I mean, why not? Demos are free afterall.