Rez HD is marvelous in every way. It’s a port that’s gotten better with age. I noticed in my playthrough last night that it draws a line between enemy and background by having the enemies never pulsate to the music. The game world draws a line between what is good (the player and the world) and what is bad (things you can shoot) by how things react to music, which is pretty subtle but a really cool effect. It’s most apparent in the boss in area 2 that you get wrapped up in. In other news, you can use extra controllers as extra vibration feedback, which is awesome.

Other than that, it really sucks when you play Burnout with someone who can’t do a challenge, but you don’t want to cancel the challenge and be like, yeah you suck let’s do another one, but if you try to tell them how to do the challenge you just come off as a condescending douchebag.

In the past few weeks, Xbox Live Arcade has had a flood to make up for the relative drought of recent months. Two of the most complete and, well, retail-like game experiences hit, in the form of Worms and Alien Hominid HD. Today is all about Worms, since Alien Hominid is way too hard. (Translation: I am a pansy.)

Worms is a sort of “reboot” of the long-running annelid strategic combat simulation series. Recent games had taken place in three dimensions, and were not as well-received as the older, 2D ones. Even the recent 2D iterations were a little too crazy and random to really be called strategy games. The weapons were just a little too insane; when you have multiple weapons in your inventory that can tear apart a huge chunk of the playing field, a lot of the strategy is removed.

Worms for the Arcade scales things back a bit. Like the PSP and DS versions, this one goes back to basics. Most of the unbalanced weapons are gone, leaving behind many that require more skill to use. Here you’ll need to learn to toss a grenade accurately or how to use the bazooka in relation to the wind. Some of the easy weapons still remain, such as dynamite or the sheep and the banana bomb remains a crazy weapon you’ll only find as a pickup. The most missed weapons are the Holy Hand Grenade and the baseball bat, but perhaps they’ll appear in a downloadable content update. (Just don’t make them part of the normal inventory.)

The weapon selection really brings out how strategic Worms can be. I, being raised on Armageddon and World Party, never thought of Worms as anything more than a fun diversion. The insanity of the 3D games reinforced this. The new version is a sort of revelation to me. I’ve learned the subtle art of the ninja rope. I’ve learned how to place grenades so that the worm bounces into that cluster of mines after being hit with an explosion. It’s an awesome refocusing of the series, but be warned if you’re expecting Super Sheep, Holy Hand Grenades, and old ladies. (Again, the banana bomb remains as a pickup in most game schemes.) One annoying omission is the lack of fire erupting from the barrels when they explode. A cunning Worms World Party player could blow up a barrel and send a cascading fire flow of death down onto a worm in a valley, but not so in the Live Arcade edition. Bummer.

There are problems, however. The single player game is just a series of progressively more unfair challenges against computer players. It would be totally worthless if there wasn’t an achievement attached. Additionally, in true Worms tradition, the AI opponents can make utterly insane shots. They can bounce grenades off four things so they land perfectly next to one of your worms. They can make perfect use of the wind for bazooka shots. It’s frustrating. However, they usually aren’t all that smart. They leave themselves in large clusters or ignore nearby item pickups. They are also programmed to occasionally completely screw up and blow themselves up. You can beat them, but only through cunning exploitation of their weaknesses.

Multiplayer, like all Worms titles, is the real star here. Online or offline for four players, it’s a riot. Xbox Live play generally works pretty well. I had some trouble connecting to a game on occasion, but it usually worked OK. Gameplay is lag-free, I guess. (Not that it really matters.) Oddly, voice communications come through before you actually see what happened on a particular player’s turn. You’ll often hear someone exasperatedly exclaim “dammit,” and see their worm’s grenade land right next to them and send them into the sea. One annoying feature omission is the lack of guest play in Xbox Live games. I can’t have two people play on my console against others online.

A few random annoyances I haven’t woven into the proper text: The in-game font can be hard to read on non-HD televisions. It’s not as bad as Dead Rising, but it’s worth noting. For some reason, the number of custom teams you can create is capped at four. Really, guys, I have enough space on my hard drive. I swear. Control is not true analog. You can’t aim just a little bit or move the reticle slowly with the analog stick. It reaches a threshold and it suddenly begins moving full speed. Seriously, Team 17, it’s 2007. Come on.

Overall, though, I have to recommend Worms. It’s a sweet title, online multiplayer or offline, and it only costs 800 points, or $10. Avoid it if your friends won’t play it with you, or you can’t play online.

Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade download service has been one of my favorite things about the Xbox 360 thus far. For between $5 and $15, you can download any number of classic arcade titles or even newly developed games created specifically for Xbox Live Arcade. Most of the games fall for $5 or $10, and you can demo any of them before buying. Despite this, I’m still going to review all the ones I’ve bought so far.

“Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved” is the quintessential Arcade title, from what I understand, since it was the standout title at the system’s launch, and has maintained its popularity. I’ve written about it once before, in a way, talking about the freeware PC/Mac clone “GridWars.” The guy who wrote “GridWars” has since received a cease and desist notice, and for good reason – it’s pretty much the exact same thing! The thing in question–an exceedingly frantic arcade shooter that takes advantage of the new-ish technology that is dual analog sticks–is definitely worth the $5 they’re charging. Verdict: Buy.

“Lumines Live!” is an enhanced port of the PlayStation Portable puzzle game/launch title. The player must make 2 x 2 blocks of one color out of 2 x 2 mixed color blocks that fall. It’s really, really fun. Unfortunately, the pricing structure is, shall we say, lacking. It costs $15. I can understand this. There’s a lot more content here than your average Arcade title. Unfortunately, it’s going to cost you more to get to the entire game: Another $7.50 for the advanced pack, consisting of another mode and a bunch of skins, and another $1.25 each for the full allotment of levels for mission mode and puzzle mode. Verdict: Try before dropping what is already a large amount of points on a game and then being prodded to spend more on it around every corner.

“UNO” would be a port of the card game you played on family vacations and when the electricity went out as a child. Live Arcade needs more stuff like this (I’d kill for Live “Scrabble”). You can just chill out and play UNO with people online–it’s a very polished adaptation. Also, some people have Xbox Live cameras so you can make fun of the people with and laugh at their reaction after you play that skip card. Verdict: Buy, assuming you have an Xbox Live Gold account and can play online multiplayer.

“Assault Heroes” is some kind of unholy combination of “Smash TV” and “Geometry Wars,” with a dash of “Contra.” For $10, you get a top down shooter with dual analog controls and getting in and out of vehicles. It controls like pie, and not just any pie, but the most awesome pie you have ever tasted. Unfortunately, the game is a bit short, but the achievements give it a bit of longevity. Verdict: Buy.

“Zuma” is a Popcap game, which means you can get it on PCs, Macs, iPods, cell phones and probably abacuses. It’s just as fun here, and controls well using the 360’s analog stick. Side note: The entire concept is a blatant ripoff of a 1998 Japanese arcade game called “Puzz Loop.” $10. Verdict: Try, you make the call. It’s also on the DS as “Magnetica.”

I would say one major downside to the Arcade is the glut of, well, arcade games. The service is cluttered with them. This in itself is not terrible, though more original content is always preferable to a reheated arcade port. The problem is the Xbox 360’s D-pad. It’s just not any good for old-school stuff that requires precision like Pac-Man. For the lack of a better term, it’s mushy. It makes playing games like Pac-Man an exercise in frustration.

“Gauntlet” and “Smash TV” are online-capable ports of the classic cooperative arcade games that control well, unlike many. Nothing exciting to report, but they’re only $5 each and awesome for chilling out and playing coop, same screen or online. Verdict: Buy.

“Street Fighter II” is self-explanatory. Unfortunately, the Internet play is laggy if you can even find anyone playing, and it’s less-than-suited to the 360’s controller layout. Verdict: Try, and don’t buy for the Live play.

It’s worth noting for the broadband impaired that a fair few Live Arcade titles are on store shelves in a compilation called “Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged Vol. 1” or some such wordage. However you have to do it, I definitely recommend checking out some of the games tucked away in that Xbox Live Arcade button in your Games blade. There are some real gems, and unlike Nintendo’s Virtual Console games, the ports on here get enhancements like leaderboards, achievements and online play. New game every Wednesday, guys.