Films franchises like Batman and Star Trek have undergone the reboot process and rumours abound that the Tomb Raider game franchise is due for a reboot to. Now Strawdog Studios are rebooting an entire genre... the classic 80s arcade game, with their latest title Space Ark for Xbox 360 Live Arcade. If arcade games such as Rainbow Island, Bubble Bobble and Arkanoid were being invented for the first time today, what would they be like? Obviously they would run on modern hardware (Xbox 360 Live Arcade), have High Definition 3D graphics and 5.1 surround sound but the core of what made those games great would remain.

Space Ark is a fun arcade game featuring cute characters (the Arkonauts), wacky bonuses and fruit (every good arcade game must have fruit) plus bonus levels, more fruit, power-ups, extra lives and yet more fruit. Players must help the Arkonauts repair damaged planets by bouncing them into the air and bagging the DNA combos, power-ups and all the fruit you can catch in order to repair planets that have been damaged by a wandering black hole.

The wandering black hole has passed through the galaxy destroying planets and leaving others damaged and desolate in its wake. The Arkonauts – a team of space traveling animals – have been dispatched in their Space Ark on a mission to bring life back to the shattered worlds. You must aid the Arkonauts in their quest by bouncing them into the air to collect DNA left in orbit by the previous inhabitants, transforming the planets back into vibrant habitats. The game features 180 levels of ‘Arkonaut’ bouncing entertainment split across 5 worlds, with 24 selectable Arkonauts, 5 mini games, bonus levels and a host of power-ups.

Dan Marchant (Business development director) said “During the production of our previous title Geon we built a great relationship with the guys at Microsoft. As a result of this we decided to pitch Space Ark as a potential XBLA title and were really very pleased (in a restrained British manner) when they approved the concept for publishing on XBLA.”

Check out the video trailer below for Space Ark from Strawdog Studios and then let us know what you think by posting a comment below. We here at XBLArcade.com appreciate all your feedback and I’m sure the developers would like to hear your thoughts about their game(s) also.