By Matthew Scott Hunter

‘Amy’

(M)

*

Lexis Numerique

Xbox Live Arcade

Zombie game leaves players angry and restless

There have been a number of video game titles depicting zombie apocalypses, but none of them have been as successful as “Amy” at making you feel the utter misery that would undoubtedly accompany such an event. If anything, I would rather join the rotting ranks of the undead than spend another minute playing “Amy.” Essentially one long escort mission, “Amy” tasks you with protecting the titular child, who is not only immune to the zombie infection but also somehow lends her immunity to anyone in close proximity. This creates an incentive to look after the annoying brat since you’re already infected, and straying too far from Amy for too long causes you to sprout a few veins, acquire a nasty limp and eventually drop dead (typically requiring a replay of the entire chapter, since checkpoints are so scarce).

“Amy” is more about stealth and puzzle solving than combat, and it makes this clear by making its combat as frustrating as possible. Weapons break after two or three uses, and the controls to use them are awkward and unresponsive. Sneaking past the undead is the preferred course of action, which is possible when you’re almost undead yourself. So you’ll frequently hide Amy in a cupboard, wait around for your infection to worsen, and stroll past your enemies. Unfortunately the only indication of how infected you are is your appearance, which is pretty much the same whether you’re a few minutes from death or a few seconds. And again, succumbing to your infection often means restarting the whole miserable chapter. There are some promising ideas at the center of “Amy,” but the implementation is so agonizingly bad, the only way to win is not to play.

‘Choplifter HD’

(T)

***

InXile Entertainment

Xbox Live Arcade

A straightforward but entertaining arcade-style sidescroller, “Choplifter” plays a bit like a left-to-right shooter, but adds an element of strategy by tasking you to rescue people in between bouts of gunning down adversaries. Each mission rewards you for speed, so you’ll have to keep an eye on your helicopter’s fuel and armor gauges as you rush to airlift survivors out of hostile territory. A difficulty curve as steep as your chopper’s takeoff may cause a bit of frustration, but replaying old levels and upgrading your whirly-bird will eventually set things right.

‘NFL Blitz’

(E10+)

***1/2

Electronic Arts

Xbox Live Arcade

“NFL Blitz” is like a Cliff’s Notes version of “Madden.” It takes the whole idea of a football video game and gets it across in the simplest, most cartoonish way. Consequently, this is a version of the NFL that can even be enjoyed by non-sports fans. The games are brief, the plays are simple and members of your team frequently burst into flames when they’re doing well. What’s not to like?