On the downloadable content front, sadly, both Microsoft and Nintendo managed little more than a faint glow in the month of March. This despite that fact that Sony offered no competition; absolutely nothing new as the PlayStation Store is under reconstruction.

Xbox Live cranked out only a couple games worth checking out, including our pick of the month: A Lumines-like puzzler called TiQal. Meanwhile, Virtual console coughed up a series of duds in the form of several forgotten oldies that we need not have been reminded ever existed -- save DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure, a little known Japanese platform-hopper that, despite its awkward title, turned out to be a fun little diversion.

PICK OF THE MONTH

TiQal
(Xbox Live Arcade)
4.5 (out of five)

Think Lumines, but with Tetris-like block conglomerations and less psychedelic graphics and music. It's hard to picture, but this addictive puzzle game takes just minutes to learn and can easily suck players into hours-long gaming sessions. The goal is to create groups of similar colored squares by dropping the above-mentioned Tetris blocks onto an ever-rising platform of base blocks. Catch is, you have to rotate the blocks before they fall, which makes things a bit more challenging. Add in a healthy set of power-ups that unexpectedly wink into existence when you're playing well, and you have a surprisingly deep and wonderfully entertaining little puzzler.

DoReMi Fantasy: Milon's DokiDoki Adventure
(Virtual Console)
4 (out of five)
Thanks to the fact that it never released in North America, most of us Westerners haven't heard of this classic platformer, which was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan. But don't let that stop you from checking it out. DoReMi Fantasy is just what the doctor ordered for anyone who counts him or herself a fan of 16-bit run 'n' jump games, delivering plenty of original and challenging action and a better-than-average (if still predictable) save-a-doomed-damsel story. And, thanks to its artfully drawn pastel backgrounds and boldly colored characters, it's just as easy on the peepers today as it was when it first debuted 12 years ago.

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil
(Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Store)
2.75 (out of five)
An original game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil has an eye-catching comic book style that's appealing from the moment you turn the game on and begin customizing your realistically proportioned, cel-shaded character. Unfortunately, the graphics are about the only thing worth recommending about this vaguely Robotron-ish shooter, which serves up occasionally engaging but mostly dull sci-fi themed pow-pow action. Add to the mix some overly-lengthy cut scenes and a few technical quirks (the camera has a mind of its own, and it doesn't like gamers), and you have a very mediocre piece of downloadable interactive entertainment.

Bliss Island
(Xbox Live Arcade)
1 (out of five)
The biggest letdown on Microsoft's downloadable game service this month, Bliss Island is a collection of overly simplistic and tedious mini-games. Activities include a boring billiards-like challenge, one of the shallowest racing games made in recent years, and an exercise in which players shoot balls of fur into a giant monster mouth. The controls are weak, the graphics lame, and it's utterly lacking in longevity. Your $6 would be better spent on a pack of cigarettes (yes, we understand that smoking could kill you, but at least then there would be little chance that you would ever have to suffer Bliss Island...unless its one of Satan's instruments of torture).

Brain Challenge
(Xbox Live Arcade)
3.5 (out of five)
Originally a cell phone title meant to capitalize on the brain game craze that started with Nintendo's Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day, Brain Challenge's most recent incarnation as an Xbox Live Arcade game sees the core game mostly unchanged. The routine is the same: Choose a trainer and then play and replay a series of modestly stimulating mini-games (figure out which of three balls is bouncing highest, solve simple math problems, etcetera) that are supposed to make your thinker a bit quicker. It's nothing spectacular, but probably worth a look if you're a fan of the genre. Try the demo before buying.

Cruis'n USA
(Virtual Console)
2 (out of five)
We had fond memories of this Nintendo64 racer, but it's now clear that our recollection of the game was colored by the passage of time. Technically, there's little about Cruis'n USA that warrants complaint. It looks nice enough, considering it was one of the earliest 3-D racers, and the controls are solid. The actual game design, however, is wholly lacking in subtly or finesse. Start each race dead last and then put the pedal to the metal to catch up as quickly as you can, or risk being booted once the game's relentless timer hits zero. That's all there is to it. It's fun for the first 15 or 20 minutes, perhaps less if you head in without our nostalgia.

Triggerheart Exelica
(Xbox Live Arcade)
3.25 (out of five)
If you miss old-school aerial shooters like 1942 and Raiden, then Triggerheart Exelica ought to prove an ideal way to kill 25 minutes, which is how long it takes to make it from title screen to closing credits. Now, you might be wondering why anyone would possibly want spend 800 Microsoft points on a game that lasts only 25 minutes, but if this question crosses your mind you probably aren't a big fan of classic top-down shooters, few of which last much longer than half an hour. The goal of these games isn't just to finish them, it's to finish them with skill -- in other words, without continuing after you run out of lives. Accomplishing that feat in the visually sumptuous, incredibly hectic, and wildly challenging Triggerheart Exelica will likely add at least 10 hours to the experience.

Powerball
(Virtual Console)
3.25 (out of five)
This blast from the past is from back in the day when made-up sports games were just as popular as those based on the real thing. Originally released for Genesis, Powerball combines the brutality of rugby with the tactics of soccer, and sets the game in futuristic arenas in which players wear full body armour to protect themselves from vicious tackles and the game's wickedly quick ball. Older players who remember playing it as a kid could easily get sucked back into the game for a few hours if they happen to have a friend to play against, but you might want to think twice if you plan to only play against the computer; the game's artificial intelligence isn't exactly bursting with wily strategies.

Spelunker
(Virtual Console)
2 (out of five)
Spelunker is basically the video game world's version of the ten-mile hike through thigh-deep snow that your grandpa used to make to get to school. This early platform game is so unbelievably difficult and unforgiving as to make older gamers say that today's young whippersnappers don't know how good they've got it, what with their highly refined control schemes and infinite lives. In Spelunker, if you don't time your jumps off ropes perfectly, you die. If you fall off a cliff hardly the height of a bookshelf, you die. And if you run out of lives, it's all the way back to the start for you. Don't be fooled; this screenshot may bring back rosy recollections of games like Donkey Kong, but Spelunker is exponentially more difficult. This, boys and girls, is proof that interactive entertainment wasn't always all just fun and games.