Since there are no more Wednesdays in April I thought today would be a good day to take a look at how Xbox Live Arcade fared this last ointh. If it were not for the fact I’m at work I would be playing some more Eets: Chowdown, but I don’t think my boss would be very happy with me playing my Xbox 360 at my desk. My Top Thee Problems with Xbox Live Arcade are the lack of games coming out, the pricing, and the number of retro games. Like last month, I’ll grade Xbox Live Arcade in each area.

Slow Game Releases
Last month there was a game released every week. In April, Xbox Live Arcade stepped it up and released 6 games in 4 weeks. The first two Wednesdays in April each got a single game, but for the last two weeks there were two games released each week. The games released in April were Luxor 2, Boom Boom Rocket, 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures, Gyruss, Eets: Chowdown, and Pinball FX. Xbox Live Arcade gets extra credit with a 6 out of 4 this month in the releases category.

Pricing
Five of the six games release this month cost $10. Only Gyruss came out at $5. However, give the amount of time I’ve put into just a single game of Luxor 2 and Eets: Chowdown I would say they are both worth the higher cost. No matter how many hours you put into Pinball FX I still thing over $3 a level is too expensive. Boom Boom Rocket and 3D Ultra Minigolf both have their followings, but they just don’t have the same replay value to justify the cost in my opinion. However, I know a lot of people are putting a lot of hours into these Arcade releases, and I’m feeling generous, so I’m giving XBLA a 4 out of 6 in the pricing category.

Retro Games
There was only one actual retro game this month, Gyruss. Luxor 2 is a port of a PC game, and Eets: Showdown is a remake of a PC title. Still, both are great games and fit Xbox Live Arcade perfectly. The other half of the games released in April were made specifically for Xbox Live Arcade. So, I’m giving a 5 out of 6 in this category.

Overall
That bring the overall score to a 15/16. Xbox Live Arcade has come a long way in a month going from a “C” to a sold “A”. If they continue to release multiple games each week and keep the number of retro game to a minimum they should have no trouble keeping their grades up.