One you might have missed - ilomilo - 360

With so many games released every week, some smaller titles unfortunately slip beneath the waves. One game which deserves a bit more recognition is Southend Interactive's ilomilo - a lovely puzzle platformer on Xbox Live Arcade.

Ilo and milo are friends, who enjoy munching on maple leaf-flavoured biscuits and sipping apple tea. Unfortunately, the two pals get separated and it's up to the player to reunite the pair by traversing the levels, manipulating the environment and solving mind-bending puzzles.

The player can flick between both ilo and milo at any point and teamwork lies at the heart of the game. Things start off at a fairly sedate pace, with the player simply asked to place blocks to reunite the chums.

However, as the game skips along, new gameplay twists are introduced to the player by pirate hat-wearing dandy, Sebastian. These include extendable blocks, spring-loaded cubes, switches, moving platforms and trapdoors, while the game regularly likes to throw a curve ball at the player by messing around with gravity.

It might look like a cute children's game, but ilomilo turns into a wicked and quite brilliant head-scratcher. However, unlike many other puzzle games, ilomilo rarely gets frustrating, thanks in large to the simple control set-up and the adorable presentation.

Ilomilo's bric-a-brac world is reminiscent of LittleBigPlanet's home-made environments, with levels constructed with felt, wooden and carpeted blocks, while the colours are vivid and awash with splurges of marmalade orange and midnight blue.

The soundtrack is just as special, infusing trumpets, flutes, xylophone, harmonica and accordion to give ilomilo the feel of a 70's children TV programme.

The puzzle solving is brilliantly paced, but there is also a generous amount of collectables scattered throughout the levels to snaffle up.

Three ragdoll characters called safkas can be found on every level, photographs unlock artwork, old vinyl records reveal musical tracks - with glorious titles such as Cozy Sofa and Tingly Seaweed - and clusters of little flowers pepper the walkways just waiting to be gathered.

Add to that dozens of delightful and challenging levels for a mere 800 Microsoft points, and ilomilo represents tremendous value for money. So if you haven't experienced this wonderful game yet, I would urge you to at least play the demo to get a flavour of ilomilo's patchwork charms.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet - 360

Xbox Live's Summer of Arcade continues with this excellent and stylish shooter by Shadow Planet Productions.

As the pilot of a monochrome flying saucer, the player sets out on a journey to cleanse an alien planet from a gloopy and evil presence.

Taking elements from Nintendo's Metroid series and underwater indie classic Aquaria, the player scoots through spectacular subterranean environments, solving puzzles and blasting nocturnal creatures.

The player's ship can be upgraded with a wealth of hi-tech gadgets, which include a handy claw arm to remove loose rubble, a laser which peppers small, skittish creatures, missiles which can be guided into the heart of hulking foes and a buzz-saw which cuts through rock faces, allowing the player to enter previously inaccessible areas.

Four gadgets can be mapped to the 360's pad - although the option to add more hot keys would have been nice, as you have to mix and match load-outs on a regular basis - and the game doesn't pause when swapping gadgets.

The beautifully presented levels are huge and each area is interconnected - a design choice which leads to backtracking to reach previously unexplored areas once the relevant gadget has been uncovered.

It's never a chore though, thanks to a decent map - which highlights areas of interest - while bonus upgrades and collectables make exploring the vast environments worthwhile.

The little flying saucer's defences can be beefed up by discovering extra shields but a sustained attack by alien life forms leaves the craft looking like a weather-beaten umbrella. Thankfully, generous checkpoints restore the ship to pristine condition, while the alien foliage pops with glowing spheres which also repair small amounts of damage.

But it's not just eye-catching aliens which pose a threat to the tiny spacecraft - giant sinister plants try to devour the flying saucer, destructive industrial machinery must be avoided and air flows and water currents also play their part in creating havoc.

Puzzle elements also feature but these head-scratchers can often be a nuisance. Because the game has no text clues to nudge the player in the right direction, some sections can become frustrating as you struggle to work out what your next step should be.

Still, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is yet another brilliant game on Xbox Live Arcade. Its sterling visuals and wonderful animation play a huge part in the game's appeal, while the ambient soundtrack draws you further in to the experience. But it's the tight controls and solid gameplay which lie at the heart of the game, making it such a joy to play.

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is available now for 1200 Microsoft points on the 360's Live Arcade marketplace.

Trouble Witches Neo - 360

Trouble Witches Neo was released slap, bang in the middle of my Deathsmiles addiction. I bought it simply because it was a bullet hell shooter but it remained stuffed away on my hard drive for months before I took notice of it.

The over-the-top anime trappings, sugary sweet characters and lime-flavoured bullets are initially hard to stomach. But underneath the bright visuals, bizzare voice acting and woeful story, lies a decent enough shooter but one which lacks the verve and guile of Cave's best work.

Along with the standard shooting action, the player is able to throw up a barrier to protect their flying witch from enemy fire - but this supernatural shield is also used to raise the player's score.

Any bullets entering this zone are slowed down, while taking out their source turns all bullets into a shower of coins. These not only give your score a welcome boost - they can also be spent buying special attack cards from a floating shop which drifts by every level.

The visuals are a mixed bag and lie somewhere between old side-scroller Cotton and Cave's Deathsmiles.

While the animated backgrounds are excellent, the hand-drawn main characters and enemies are slightly disappointing. This is especially true of the game's bosses, which are - for the most part - bland, box-shaped and uninspiring. Even the appearance of a flummoxed goldfish fails to get the pulse racing.

For 800 Microsoft points, though, Trouble Witches Neo offers decent enough entertainment but it falls short when compared to other, more established titles.