So yeah. When I last switched off the PS3, Batman: Arkham Asylum was 88% complete. I devoted an evening last night to finishing off all the Riddler Challenges. I got them all, even the really obtuse ones where you have to line up the two parts of a question mark, quite cunningly hidden in different parts of an area. You effectively have to shamble around the level, trying to find both bits, then a way of 'photographing' them in perfect alignment. Anyway, I found them all, well I say that. I found 258/260 'riddles' and just as the riddler teased me about how 'I must be looking them up the internet' I eventually fell foul of his baiting when I realised what the time was.

So I feel a tad ashamed of not solving the last two by myself, but regardless... What. A. Game.

Anyway... with all the challenge rooms unlocked, I began what turned out to be quite a lazy and indulgent weekend of gaming with a run though these isolated brawls and 'silent predator' challenges. The idea here is simple - score the most points in the brawls and do the predator stuff as stylishly and quickly as possible. Climb up the leaderboard and beat your friend's scores. Trouble is - the only person on my PSN friends list who has the game, hasn't bothered with any of the challenge rooms and I have little interest in trying to climb up the ranks of the thousands of other random players I don't know. What the point of having bragging rights when you can't brag to anyone?

So this, sadly, is most likely where B:AA ends for me. And why I'm sorely lamenting not having it on Xbox 360, which brings me to...

Trials HD & Shadow Complex. Just two of a massively impressive line-up on XBLA this summer, which also included 'Splosion Man (which I bought) and the Monkey Island Redux (which I also bought). Battlefield 1943 was also part of the relentless weekly assault of true AAA arcade titles over the past week and though I've had friends egging me on to buy it, it was the former two that sparked the most interest out of trying out all the trial versions available.

Which one to talk about first? Decisions. Heads or tails? OK. Shadow Complex wins.

Shadow Complex is a side on explorer/platormer shooter built with the latest Unreal tech, and as such is possibly the best looking game of it's kind ever. The gameplay is antiquated but it seems fresh now - unless you're a Metroid addict I suppose. I guess it does for Gears of War what the PSP version of Killzone does for Killzone 2. But it only costs ���£10, which after a couple of hours of gameplay seems like an absolute steal. Similar to B:AA, it features an environment which teases repeat exploration later on, when you have the tech to circumvent certain obstacles. It's extremely well paced. They mix up the gameplay on occasion by introducing puzzles and mess with the perspective on occaision. It's clear that while the gameplay is in 2D, the levels totally are 3D. Enemies move in out of the third plane and you can shoot into it if there's stuff there to shoot at. There's also an extensive suite of tutorials I've just been looking at that tease of future gadgets you get to play with. Looking forward to playing through this some more.

If I can wrestle myself away from Trials HD (which like Shadow Complex only cost ���£10). This one sounds a lot better than whatever description I can muster, but what the hell, I'll give it a go...

In Trials HD, you control a dude on a bike. The controllers are a doddle. One trigger does accelerate and the other one does brake. And you use the left analogue to control the dude's position on the bike. So if you're going uphill you have to lean forward and vice versa. Simple in concept - a lot trickier in practice. BUT once you master it, it's amazing fun. The tracks get completely stupid eventually, to the point of it turning into some kind of insane physics based platform game.

Furthermore, the online leaderboards are built into the heart of the game - so while you're moving through the level you can see when you overtake one of your mates. It's an awesome concession to the fact that simultaneous MP simply would not work and at the same time a testament to why I enjoy playing games on 360 so much more than on PS3.

So yeah. At the moment I'm completely sold on XBLA. Two cheap, yet extremely polished games I'm happy to put as much time into as a full price release. A while back I'd be dismayed that it had come to this... but M$ has proven me wrong once again... Never saw that coming...

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