After waiting a few months for Lumines to hit the Xbox Live Arcade, I was finally able to buy it on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I only got a fraction of the game. The description doesn’t tell you that you are not buying a complete game; it just says that there is “plenty of downloadable content.” Which translates to, “you can buy the rest of the game if you liked the demo.” This demo cost me $14.99. In order to have access to all of the game modes I need to shell out more money for four additional “packs”.
Here is what the core game comes with:
Here is what is unavailable in the core game:
As you can see, the core game comes with 3 extremely dull single player modes and a multiplayer mode. The only pack available to buy at this point is the “Advance Challenge Pack” for $7.50. I assume the other three packs will cost at least that much, so you are looking to spend approximately $44.99 on the entire game. That is not including any extra content that may come down the line.
I personally don’t think Lumines is worth that much but that’s beside the point. The core game, worth no more than $5 in my opinion, is not very satisfying. You are almost forced to buy an extra pack or two in order to enjoy the game. I can understand why it is broken up into five different downloads, but it is extremely dishonest to go about it in the way they did. Many people, including myself, would have had second thoughts about purchasing it had the description been clear.
Hopefully Microsoft will get their act together. The Xbox 360 would be nothing without Xbox Live; it would be a shame to let greed destroy it.
by Nathan Hulett
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Source: www.a1articles.com