Five Community games for $20

Are you a 360 owner that just bought 1600 space bucks? Here are five Xbox Live Community Games I think you should check out. They just so happen to be the first five that I spent money on and feel they are good enough to recommend.

CarneyVale: Showtime - 400
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:7901d05b-35ad-48ba-b216-72eae3965cb2&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="CarneyVale: Showtime trailer 2">Video: CarneyVale: Showtime trailer 2</a>
CarneyVale Showtime is a vertical ragdoll physics based platform game (whew!). You play as a clown that is blasted out of a cannon to begin each level and it is your job to make it through the ring of fire at the top of the level while collecting balloons and looking for hidden stars. Showtime was created by students in Singapore and was the 2008 winner of the Dream-Build-Play contest. Give them your money.

Weapon of Choice - 400
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:7e001628-33b2-4b27-9d5e-1bafd1d483c8&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Weapon of Choice: Strike Back Trailer">Video: Weapon of Choice: Strike Back Trailer</a>
Weapon of Choice is Contra on acid. It's a single player sidescroller with awesomely crazy artwork and even crazier bosses. This is an amazing effort by ex-Insomniac programmer Nathan Fouts. Four different endings, seven characters with their own insane weapons and fun gameplay to boot, you will get your money's worth when you buy Weapon of Choice.

Read the postmortem on the game at Gamasutra.

Blow - 400
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:84f453f9-3cf6-4cdb-bc70-9194a529a078&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Blow">Video: Blow</a>
Blow is a puzzle game that has you helping bubbles survive a trip through randomly generated levels to the exit. It is amazingly relaxing and fun to play. It reminds me of Eets Chowdown where you can try all sorts of different ways to set up your items (your fans in Blow) to pass each level. Excellent presentation and over 70 adventure levels and randomly generated quickplay levels make this a stellar choice.

Groov - 200
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:c03e0bce-8c7d-4c52-a403-c9b7ab44f683&showPlaylist=true&from=msnvideo" target="_new" title="Groov Trailer">Video: Groov Trailer</a>
Groov is a simple Geometry Wars clone. All of your shots play notes of music, as do the enemies when they die. There is only one main theme you play, but it's fun enough to jump into for a few minutes between games and try to beat your high score.

Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp - 200

Johnny Platform's Biscuit Romp is a port of a homebrew DS platform game. This is oldschool 2D platforming done very well. Over 60 levels with a well paced difficulty make this a steal at 200 points.

If you've got another $50, you can get the next seven games with money left over for a fast food meal.

Artoon - 400
Biology Battle - 800
Easy Golf - 800
Galax-e-mail - 200
Smashell - 400
Ultratron - 400
Duotrix - 400

Now get out there and support these indie developers and have a good time doing it!