The year 2008 brought us such gifts as Xbox Live Avatars, Netflix Instant streaming, and ... Rock Revolution. And yet maybe the biggest coup for gamers was the very first Summer of Arcade, which rolled out a lineup as impressive as we've ever seen. Here's a closer look at its launch lineup.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2  
Briefly: The addictive sequel to the popular Geometry Wars bursts with color and thumping electronic music. 
OXM score: 9.0 
We said: “Sets a new standard for arcade shooters on any platform, downloadable or otherwise.”

Braid  
Briefly: The first XBLA title from outspoken independent-game developer Jonathan Blow played with elements of time and paved the way for future cerebral titles like Limbo.
OXM score: 9.0 
We said: “Absolutely a game you shouldn’t miss.”

Bionic Commando Rearmed 
Briefly: A fairly decent reboot of the retro-classic arcade series.
OXM score: 7.0 
We said: “Bottom line is, many of you will decide that its unforgiving nature saps too much fun out of what is otherwise a lovingly reassembled classic.”

Galaga Legions
Briefly: An attempt to modernize the pizza-parlor classic Galaga, but one that seemed to pale in comparison to the other XBLA offerings at the time.
OXM score: 7.5
We said: “There’s a lot less content here than in, say, the recent Geometry Wars 2.” Ouch!

Castle Crashers  
Briefly: The quirky, multi-colored co-op sidescroller went on to become one of the biggest-selling XBLA games of all time.
OXM score: 8.5
We said: “If you find yourself occasionally lamenting the bygone heyday of those arcade knuckle-dusters you played to death, you’ll love every crazed minute of Castle Crashers.”

XBOX AT 10 ARCHIVE:

2001 - The Xbox's Launch Lineup
2002 - OXM vs "The Duke" controller
2003 - A look back at XSN Sports
2004 - Xbox 360 predicition postmortem
2005 - Xbox 360's Launch Wins and Losses
2006 - OXM Reflects on the Red Ring of Death
2007 - A Look Back on the 10's of '07
2008 - The First Summer of Arcade's Hotness
2009 - Why We Miss 1 vs. 100
2010 - The Highs and Lows of Kinect