I’ll just go ahead and say it: My faith in Xbox Live Arcade is restored. Just when I thought the service was on life support, it puts out two titles which are arguably the best it’s seen all year.

Roboblitz is a great platform puzzler in the same vein as Munch’s Odyssey. Yes, we know it runs on the Unreal 3 engine. Yes, we know it clocks in at an impressive 50MB. But more importantly, it plays great. Complaints run from it’s relatively short story campaign, to the slightly twitchy player controls, but I couldn’t disagree more. The single player game takes between a couple and a few hours to complete, which is absolutely acceptable for an arcade title. I think people are spoiled by the infinite replayability of earlier titles like Geometry Wars and Hexic. And the controls are intentional, like rolling a marble with brakes. You are controlling a robot with a rollerball for legs, after all. But it nails the things it needs to – like the ingenuity of its puzzles, the beautiful graphics and design, the wonderful sci-fi aesthetics, and exemplary music. Particuarly the music, as it hearkens the ethereal electronic vistas of Cosmos in the lulls and rises to the level and quality of Cold Storage‘s classic WipEout soundtracks. Even better, the developers revealed on a recent Major Nelson podcast a free download will be available soon enabling a multiplayer mode. The biggest issue with the game is the price, which I cannot rightly defend but was happy to support nonetheless. In an environment where denizens of the gaming world scour CheapAssGamer, $15 for a couple of hours of gameplay is not something most people will accept. I wonder if it will have an impact on overall sales, which would be unfortunate for a title of this caliber; perhaps $10 would have been the sweet spot for most gamers.

Assault Heroes is awesome, and it seems to be the consensus among the gaming community. $10 for a great, top-down shooter with weapon power-ups and amazing presentation. With Roboblitz, people are complaining about its length, but again I think it is a question of gamers’ expecatations as an XBLA title, it is completely within the range of other arcade titles. And although it is level-based and has a definitive ending, it’s fun to replay levels over and over again – the true sign of a great arcade experience.

XBLA rounded out the year with one last original title, and although Novadrome failed to impress, the service ended arguably on a strong note. But is it too little, too late? Nintendo’s Virtual Console service has been under similar criticism for rationing their quality titles, but they also have volume on their side – launching five to ten VC titles per week, regardless of quality, is much better than launching one overhyped, oft-delayed and underachieving retro title to a rabid consumer base. And Sony’s undercooked online service may have helped them in this regard, since no one really expects them to do anything with the PS3 to compete with Microsoft and Nintendo.

XBLA has a number of AAA original titles that have been announced but not yet released. If these make their way out next year, it would only be a marginal improvement over 2006. Other problems still remain, such as overpromising and underdelivering content, deceptive microtransactions, and quality control, which also need to be addressed with management. Whether original content alone will be enough to reinstate the thunder it had at the Xbox 360′s launch and attract gamers back to the service is still undecided.