I fired up my XBox 360 today to see what new demos and Live Arcade releases there were to try out, and I was thrilled at what I found. There are three new goodies for fighting fans! Shank, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, and the demo for Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. It’s a great day to be stuck on a couch recovering from surgery!

The first of the three that I played was for Shank, an action-packed murderfest. After playing through the demo, which consists of the game’s first level, I immediately bought it. This game is nothing but non-stop death and it is awesome. I was a little worried at first that all of the different weapons and combos that you can use would make the controls difficult, but that is far from the case. Pouncing on a guy, stabbing him a few time in the chest and then shooting the enemy that is running up behind you before pulling out your chainsaw and gutting somebody else is easily accomplished. That is good because such combos become a necessity as hordes of enemies are thrown at you with varying weapons and tactics. If you are a fan of action games, you must pick this one up. The only thing that I find a bit disappointing is that the cooperative campaign can only be played locally and not over Live.

Next, let’s take a look at some ninja combat. The Naruto fighting games have all been great, and Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 looks to be no exception. The gameplay is fairly simple and the art is beautiful. The demo takes place after Naruto returns from his three years of training with Jiraiya, and has met back up with Sakura and Kakashi. Kakashi challenges his former pupils to the same challenge that he presented to them when they first began to study under him: they must take two bells form his belt. There is a little more to this particular battle than a standard 3-round fight. It plays more like a boss fight where there are some patterns that you need to learn as you look for openings where you can deal some damage. You can call Sakura in for assistance, but it’s not a tag-team fight. I’m really looking forward to the full game, which is supposed to be out this fall.

Last up we have Scott Pilgrim. I was pretty excited about this one too. The music was done by Anamanaguchi and the art style is fairly retro. The story seemed silly enough that the game would be really entertaining. First of all, it has a lot in common with River City Ransom. There is a leveling system which I haven’t explored yet. Enemies drop money, which I haven’t spent yet. There are all sorts of weapons lying around that can be swung at enemies or thrown (including the enemies themselves.) There is a multiplayer option which lets up to four people play cooperatively, but that is only available locally. The game is tough, but really repetitive. To be honest, I didn’t spend much time with it because I wanted to get back to Shank. Scott Pilgrim will definitely satisfy anybody looking for an old school brawler experience. It is unfortunate that it was released alongside a stronger game that falls roughly in the same genre.