Four fantastic games coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade with House Party 2012

YouTube Video

At the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) last week, Microsoft announced that four fantastic games will be coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade as part of the House Party promotion. House Party, like Summer of Arcade, which brought gamers such classics as Bastion, will be kicked off on February 15 and deliver a new title every week: Alan Wake's American Nightmare, I Am Alive, Nexuiz, and Warp.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is the sequel to the well-loved but under-sold Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake. American Nightmare is a stand-alone experience in which Alan finds himself in an episode of Night Springs, a TV show which he once wrote for. The combat has been beefed up, but fans of the story needn't worry. It doesn't exactly continue Alan's story, but it does provide a great side-experience set in Arizona. And make sure to check out the new survival mode, which we had the opportunity to play on the CES show floor. It's a lot of fun, and it should provide gamers with hours of Horde mode-like gameplay.

I Am Alive is a unique survival game set in the ruins of a city. Players will traverse the wasteland in search of their family, whom they were separated from before the disaster. This gameplay is very unique, and the sound design and art style are fantastic. We really enjoyed playing it at CES, and we're sure you will too.

Nexuiz is the only game in the bunch that didn't immediately entice us. It's a fairly typical first-person shooter, but variations in the laws of physics keep things interesting.

The final House Party game, Warp, gives players control of Zero, a little alien being studied in a facility. Equipped with a variety of special powers like warp, frag, echo, swap, and launch, Zero must escape the facility with his puzzle-solving skills and stealth. It has a very endearing--if brutal--style and the abilities we tried in the CES demo lent a bit of humor to the game.

House Party has a great lineup, and we're really looking forward to most--if not all--of the titles. Alan Wake's American Nightmare and I Am Alive were the most impressive, but Warp and Nexuiz should be a lot of fun too. Exact pricing and availability for these games have yet to be revealed, but we wouldn't be surprised to see each one priced at 1600 Microsoft Points ($15). February 15th is coming up soon, but you can watch the trailer while you wait.

[Major Nelson]