Centipede, Millipede, Catan joining Xbox Live Arcade roster

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 01 May 2007 02:53

Your IT - Entertainment

Classic shooters Centipede and Millipede are coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday, along with strategy game Catan.

Atari's Centipede and Millipede were arcade favourites, requiring the player to defend against onslaughts of insects. The Xbox Live Arcade versions of both games can be played in the traditional style or in 'evolved' versions with higher resolution graphics and improved visual effects. These Xbox 360 ports also include support for 16:9 screens (including 1080i) and Dolby 5.1 sound.

The pair will be offered as a single download for 400 points.

The other game to debut on Xbox Live Arcade this week is Catan, an adaptation of the board game Settlers of Catan. Players take on the role of colonists of a newly discovered island with the goal of controlling territory and resources through strategy and trading.

Gamers can choose to play against AIs in the style of various historical personalities such as Alexander and Cleopatra (giving a variety of styles and difficulty), or go online and play up to three real opponents with voice chat. A 'learn as you play' tutorial is provided for beginners.

Microsoft claims the skill levels of the artificial opponents can challenge everyone including expert players. Since there's no provision for multiple players on one console, that's probably a good job.

As with the Centipede/Millipede combo, Catan requires an Xbox 360 and features HDTV and Dolby 5.1 support.

Catan will cost 800 points.