Beat Hazard Review - Xbox Live Arcade

Beat Hazard was developed by Cold Beam Games for the Xbox Live Arcade and costs 400 Microsoft points. It is listed under the Indie games section on Xbox Live. If you've ever enjoyed the arcade classic Asteroids, you'll know exactly what this game is all about. As you destroy enemy ships, they will drop power-ups allowing you to rack up more points.

As you play, you'll notice how bright and vibrant the entire game is. As you obtain more and more power ups, the game become brighter, more exciting, and more challenging. Your gun will become more powerful and the music louder, but the bright visuals also become a distraction causing a unique challenge to the game. The game was well balanced and felt very natural to play. "Game play powered by YOUR music!" is the motto of this game. Beat Hazard truly does create game play to YOUR music. The game comes with 10 different techno music tracks which I really enjoyed, but the real fun in the game comes from the fact that you can play any song that you want. By adding your own collection of music to either your Xbox hard drive or streaming from your PC, you can play any song you choose. You don't need me to explain why this game is so addictive and enjoyable with the footage just above, so I'll just tell you that it is THE best $5 you can spend on Xbox Live. Beat Hazard should easily be a $10-15 game, maybe more. The fact that you can play any song you can possibly think of is reason enough to get hours of enjoyment from it. Also, they have some challenges to complete which really add some difficulty to the game and if you're daring, you can try out insane mode. Overall, I cannot believe this game only cost $5, but I can almost guarantee that everyone will have fun with it and I strongly encourage you all to pick this one up.