Summer Athletics is the first unofficial competitor to the mostly awful Beijing ’08.  Early indications suggest that the game’s events vary from playable but dull to complex and hateful.  Another one to avoid then.  Stick with Track and Field on XBLA.  You’ll feel better.

This week also saw the release of two XBLA titles.

First up was Bionic Commando: Re-armed which is part of the ‘Summer of Arcade’ line-up and is the latest of the Capcom remakes.  Reviews have mostly been positive, thanks to most of the reviewers clearly being fans of the original NES conversion, but a quick play through the demo indicates that this game has stiff, horrible controls, bland graphics and upsettingly bad music.  The gameplay is standard Bionic Commandos fodder but without the ability to drop down from platforms.  Still, it’s yours for 800M$P (£6.80) if you fancy it. 

Also up was Fable II Pub Games.  This collection of gambling mini-games allows you to raise funds for use in the upcoming game Fable II.  Unfortunately the game is tedious and requires roughly the same amount of skill as Uno.  Get it free with pre-orders of Fable II, waste 800M$P on it or just ignore it altogether.  The choice is yours.

Fans of pointless demos are well-catered for with the recent inclusion of SBK’08, an ultra-serious motorcycle racing game which will see you falling off your bike with alarming regularity, and Tiger Woods ’09, the latest sequel to the samiest series in gaming.  They’d better keep the three-click method in though.

DLC this week is limited to more Rock Band tedium. This week you can shell out 480M$P for a track pack from Roadrunner Records which includes Machine Head, Megadeth and Devil Driver if that’s your bag.

See you next week for ill-informed first impressions of Asterix at the Olympics and Galaga Legions.  Wooo!

Richie Harkness - www.peoww.co.uk