Xbox Live DLC Roundup

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

• Co-op Collection 2 - 400 Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80)

The second half of the new Ghost Recon co-op campaign has arrived, bringing with it five new campaign missions, completing your assault against rebel leader Manuel Suazo Azcona, and nine new maps - seven from previous Ghost Recon games, two that are totally new. All culled from expansion packs previously released for the PC in 2003, Bridges, Stronghold and Island are lifted from Ghost Recon: Island Thunder while Depot, Riverbed, Ghost Town and Roadblock should be familiar to anyone who played Ghost Recon: Desert Siege. Your two new maps are Treatment Plant and Mining Camp, which absolutely shouldn't be confused with Mein Kampf under any circumstances. This isn't Medal of Honor, you know.

All the maps can be used for multiplayer frolics, and you also get the second chunk of bonus Gamerpoints, with 125 of the little blighters up for grabs. That brings the total of new Gamerpoints to 250, the maximum allowed for DLC, which suggests this may be the last collection the game will receive. The great news is that this pack contains the exact same amount of new material as the previous Co-op Collection, but at just half the price. Lovely.

8/10

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

• Modern Metal Track Pack - 500 Points (GBP 4.25 / EUR 6.00)
• No Doubt Track Pack - 500 Points (GBP 4.25 / EUR 6.00)
• Classic Rock Track Pack - 500 Points (GBP 4.25 / EUR 6.00)
• Dropkick Murphys Track Pack - FREE

Since the last DLC roundup, four new Guitar Hero track packs have slid across the Xbox Live stage on their knees before throwing their guitars into the amps and diving into the crowd. Most recently, a trio of pub stompers from Irish American celt-punks Dropkick Murphys staggered into view for St Patrick's Day. At the princely sum of no pence, there's no excuse not to give them a try - especially as their rattling rhythms are enormous fun to play, regardless of your musical taste. As always, the price for the premium track packs is rather hard to swallow but there are still some that justify the expense. The Classic Rock selection arguably fits the Guitar Hero ethos best, boasting Peace of Mind by Boston, Juke Box Hero by Foreigner, and Any Way You Want It by Journey. Big bombastic rock anthems all, they'll make you feel like an American teenager in 1981.

For those wearing black hooded tops with angry swirly band logos on them and a timid amount of black eyeliner that can be easily wiped off if you see some hard lads, Modern Metal is where your virtu-cash should go. Almost Easy by Avenged Sevenfold, The Arsonist by Thrice and Hole In The Earth by Deftones are all thrashing about inside, tormented by the bottomless ennui of being young and comfortably off. The ideal soundtrack, then, for hating your parents and sulking outside suburban supermarkets and not doing your A-Level revision because - God! - what's the point of anything?

And finally there's perhaps the most useless Track Pack yet, featuring three tracks from No Doubt, a band more famous for its over-exposed lead singer than for any memorable fretwork. Yes, the one you remember that was in the charts is there, along with two others you won't have heard of. If this news makes you excited, feel free to rush off and download. Then insert rusty skewers into your ears.

6/10

Undertow

• Path of the Elect expansion - 400 Points (GBP 3.40 / EUR 4.80)

With the full game having been given away for free as a reward for everyone loving Xbox Live to pieces, and emphatically not as an apology for poor service because Nicky Campbell is terrifying, there's something to be said for this expansion.

Offering an additional five-level campaign, playable solo or co-op, this increases the amount of game for less than you would have paid for the full game in the first place assuming you got it for free and didn't pay for it already. The expansion introduces a new enemy race to the game, the Elect of the title, a typical world-conquering bunch of aliens who need to be slapped silly. The Elect now add themselves to the multiplayer roster, along with four new multiplayer maps.

It's more of the same, basically, making this a very meat-and-potatoes addition to the game. That's not a bad thing, of course, but when you look at the variety of material offered by other Live Arcade games for a similar price, it does mean this is strictly for dedicated fans of the game.

7/10