Xeno Arena, which I recently found on Xbox Live community games for the stunningly low price of two hundred Microsoft points, is a top-down shooter that tries its best to be a good game but can’t overcome its many design flaws to be a really good game.

Basically, this one’s all about survival as you plunge into the depths of a random facility that just happens to be infested with aliens.  Along the way into the depths of said facility, you’ll pick up weapons, ammo and health pickups all in the hope of getting steadily deeper in the facility.

Like I said, there’s some serious design flaws here–the graphics are a rolling practical joke played on the player.  For example, actually seeing enemies come at you is surprisingly difficult as they’re rather small.  And distinguishing a weapons pickup from the floor will also prove difficult due to the lack of quality graphics.  And anyone afraid of the gameplay proving repetitive has a lot to be afraid of here–definitely not an irrational fear–as you’ll be moving through random-generated mazes and shooting random tiny monsters until you die.  Die in the game or in real life, whichever comes first.

With horrible graphics and lackluster gameplay, Xeno Arena may be cheap, but it’s still not worth the cost.