Download Games Roundup

Mega Man 10

• Developer: Capcom/Inti Creates
• Platforms: PSN, WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade (coming soon)
• Price: 1000 Wii Points (£7 / €10)

Following on from the success of 2008's NES-styled Mega Man 9, it's no great surprise to see a quick-fire sequel continue to hold the torch for 8-bit brutality.

Inti Creates essentially picks up from where it left off, with no attempt to deviate from the ruthlessly hardcore mechanics which characterise this side-scrolling platform action series.

And the excuse for all this relentless evil? Robonenza. This particularly vicious form of flu has caused the world's robots to not only malfunction, but turn violent and begin attacking their human masters. With Dr Wily's medicine machine required to find a cure, you have to traverse the game world and defeat eight bosses along the way.

The Mega Man hardcore know the drill. It's the usual brand of exacting gaming, where the slightest mis-step can result in insta-death, and the patrolling enemies care little for your sanity. Progress brings the reward of new weapons and a slightly easier ride, but getting there takes the kind of commitment to repetition and failure that will be an alien concept to many.

As before, the chunky sprites will either provide the warm glow of retro delight, or baffled confusion as to why a 'new' game has been designed to look and feel like an old one. Personally, I adore the aesthetic and the chiptune audio, but in terms of it's playability it's unquestionably an acquired taste.

Mercifully, the presence of an easy mode allows you to get a feel for the levels, with certain spike pits covered over, while the game's 88-level challenge mode helps familiarise you with the nuances of individual game mechanics in a quick-fire setting. But even then, the resolve required to get good enough is beyond compare in a modern context.

Mega Man 10 doesn't quite perhaps have the sparkling feel of reinvention that its predecessor enjoyed, but if you were one of the many who considered MM9 a welcome return to form, then this is another must-buy. Everyone else is perfectly entitled to look confused.

6/10

Alien Zombie Death

• Developer: PomPom
• Format: PSP Minis
• Price: £2.50

Emerging confidently from the PSP Minis detritus like a lost Ultimate Play The Game Spectrum title from 1983, Alien Zombie Death proves there's life in the old dog yet.

With the gameplay a collision of Jumping Jack, Jet Pac and Tapper, developer PomPom dispenses with the usual conceit, cheerfully admitting that "you play as a lone spaceman, doing something or other on a mining platform, floating around on a random planet". There are alien zombies there, "intent on the destruction of all Spacemen doing stuff...in space".

And that's pretty much all you need to know. It's set in a side-on arena constructed of horizontal platforms, and you find yourself under attack by an unending array of determined creatures. The aim is to fend them off for as long as you can.

Blessed with a charming array of enemies and alluring sound effects, you find yourself nimbly traversing between platforms taking out enemies to the left or right of you. With regular weapon power-ups and score bonuses there for the taking, the constant priority juggle between clearing enemies and meeting medal targets ensures that you spend much of your time on each of the 14 levels locked in a knife-edge struggle.

It's been designed with quick-fire replayability in mind, and you'll happily revisit levels repeatedly to eke out a few more medals. With numerous targets to aim for, including despatching a set number of aliens, coin collection or meeting score targets, the lure to return kicks in almost immediately. It won't be long before you've romped through every level multiple times, but repetition is never a chore.

With its knowing sense of the absurd and finely honed frantic playability, Alien Zombie Death provides the PSP Minis scene a welcome shot in the arm.

8/10