Trying to keep up with all of the downloadable games and content that's out there these days is enough to make a person cry. But cry no more, because Download Lowdown is here to help. I'll sift through the good, the bad, and the weird to help you get the most from your game system of choice without leaving your house.

Today I play Axel & Pixel. It’s a Live Arcade point-and-click adventure from 2K Play. Let’s find out if it’s any good!

Game: Axel & Pixel
System:Xbox 360
Price: $10.00 (free demo)

The Lowdown: Axel is a painter and Pixel is his dog. Yes, they are both cursed with terrible names, but let’s try not to hold that against them. The duo are trapped in a dream world by an evil rat (is there any other kind of rat?) and must solve point-and-click puzzles to escape.

I was immediately struck by how beautiful this game is. All of the art is hand-drawn, and looks fantastic -- especially in high-def. The gameplay will probably feel a bit simple to adventure veterans -- at least at first (I’m a bit of a noob, so I’m not really sure). You move the cursor over an object, and if you can interact with it, the cursor changes to reflect the action you can perform. All you have to do after that is press the A button and figure out what to do next.

Although the game starts off simple, it isn’t long before you’re solving puzzles in multiple steps and running back and forth across the screen to perform different actions. There are occasional quick-time-events interspersed throughout, as well. They’re not particularly challenging, but they do serve to mix things up a bit. The minigames where you have to drive a boat or car also mix things up, but they’re not especially fun.

I haven’t finished Axel & Pixel, but I’ve had a decent time thus far. It’s not the sort of game that I typically play, and that, combined with the art style is refreshing. It’s fairly forgiving (you can get three hints per level) and the music is subdued, so I found the game to be fairly relaxing, as well.

The demo gives you a nice sample of what the game is all about, so I highly recommend downloading it if you’re the least bit curious. If nothing else, watch the video below to see the game in action.

What Twitter says:

Neeker_san LOVES the game’s vehicles: “Axel & Pixel completed. I hate those balloon, car and boat races. Please don't put such things into video games anymore. Thank you.”

A_Drunk_Tw*t really is contributing nothing to society with that Twitter name and lousy game impressions (Hint: the missing vowel in their name is not an E, I, O, or U): “Axel & Pixel is a good Arcade game =)”

ManuSupra makes me dust off my rusty French skills to find out they enjoy the game: “Vient de tester Axel & Pixel (Xbox Live Arcade) qui s'avère être un grand "point & click" comme on aime! Monkey Island influence. C'est bon!”

TurtleGirl73 skipped X Factor for Axel & Pixel. Good call: “Missed X factor. what happened? Was totally caught up in Axel and Pixel.”