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. Each week 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. Plus, if you read now I'll also toss in some choice (usually less-than-helpful) quotes from folks around the Internet at absolutely no extra charge!

This week I try to understand Fatal Fury: Garou -- Mark of the Wolves, look to placate the aggressive monkey in my Return to Mysterious Island, do my best to avoid getting Droplitz on the toilet seat, and fail to avoid the charms of Defender Chronicles.

The Lowdown: I don't think I can add anything substantial to the fantastic description of Fatal Fury: Garou -- Mark of the Wolves that's currently up on Xbox Live Arcade. Here's the unedited text for you to enjoy:

"It is the latest title of the Fatal Fury series [GAROU -MARK OF THE WOLVES-] comes to Xbox LIVE! With the New Hero ‘Rock Howard' who is only son of Geese Howard and rose up by legendary wolf Terry Bogard, story of the new wolves begin. It banned the traditional line-system but instead bring in the brand-new systems such as ‘Just Defense', ‘T.O.P. In' and ‘Braking'. It is not only system which renewed but also all the characters are new comers only except Terry Bogard. Don't miss the extreme battles of wolves!"

What Major Nelson's kiddies say:
Rick Dias PK looked over the description a few times and thinks he may have found an error: "What? You guys actually let that pass inspection as the dashboard text? It's written in SNKglish! Thankfully the game itself should be good despite that, so I'm looking forward to trying this one!"
Salsinha might want to move out of his glass house before he starts throwing stones: "This translation issue remembered me that ALL YOUR BASE BELONG TO US. LOL."
Thiago123 thinks that 14 characters are way too many to pick from: "All I really want is the original Fatal Fury. You know, the one where you only have a choice of 3 characters?"

Droplitz
Systems: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Price: $10 (Free demo on Xbox 360 only)

The Lowdown: Droplitz is kind of like one those hacking minigames in which you twist pipes or cut wires to form a path for water or electricity that you've seen in lots of games (e.g., Bioshock, Ratchet & Clank). If you couldn't tell by the clever/hip name "Droplitz," you're dealing with drops of liquid here. I'd tell you more, but you'll get a better idea about what the game is about by watching this short tutorial. Even if you could care less about the game you should watch the trailer for the sole purpose of being mesmerized by the narrator's superthick English accent.

What the commenters at the PlayStation Blog say:
Darkos97 is right on the money, except for the part about Droplitz looking like Tetris: "looks like a nice tetris-like game."
BloodyCow shows no fear and brings up the elephant in the room: "Why is there a demo on Xbox live and not on the PS store?"
DuckWC has had enough of stupid $10 puzzle games! Especially this kind of game: "I appreciate a lot puzzle games but I'm fed up to spend ten dollars for this kind of game."

Return to Mysterious Island
System: iPhone
Price: $4.99

The Lowdown: Return to Mysterious Island is a Myst-style adventure game based on Jules Verne's The Mysterious Island. You'll explore a huge island, search for hidden items, and then use those items to solve puzzles. The game was originally released for the PC back in 2004 and has been retooled for play on the iPhone.

RTMI looks utterly fantastic; it's easily the best-looking game on the iPhone. It's also the largest, checking in at 262MB. Unfortunately, the game has some trouble recognizing your input, and I encountered several bugs and glitches (crashes, problems with my inventory, stuttering music) while I played as well. Adventure-game veterans should be able to deal with the game's quirks and still have a good time, but those issues -- combined with some frustrating puzzles and pixel hunting -- are probably too much for newcomers to deal with.

What the App Store reviews say:
Leatree130 had the same problems I had: "The games itself is fun... However, the audio track skips frequently and a lot of items in my inventory have disappeared by themselves."
PacificNW is either reviewing the game or his most recent acid trip. Perhaps both: "Can't get the bamboo into the sulfur pond to scare the aggressive monkey."
Mr. Dutchie just purchased a Stepford Wife and has a suggestion: "I would like an update where you can skip the talking. Sometime it gets annoying..."

Defender Chronicles
System: iPhone
Price: $2.99

The Lowdown: Think of Defender Chronicles as a cross between Puzzle Quest, Worms, and a typical tower-defense game. Intrigued? You should be.

Like other TD games, your objective is to place squads/weapons to stop the bad guys from getting from point A to point B, but then things get wacky. Rather than a traditional top-down or isometric camera angle, the action in Chronicles is viewed from the side like in the original Worms games (the interface is also similar to Worms, albeit it in touch-based form). And like Puzzle Quest, instead of simply moving from one map to another, Defender Chronicles has a story mode in which you'll power up your characters as you progress through the game. It's a cool concept that works really well on the iPhone.

What Twitter says:
Loobick can't beat his addiction so he figures he might as well bring others down with him: "Last few days I play another fantastic iPhone game: Defender Chronicles. Must have for every tower defense addict."
Djeaton obviously hasn't played Paper Toss, or else he wouldn't be making such outrageous statements: "I do believe Defender Chronicles is the best game I've ever played or reviewed on my iPhone."
ChillerONE stinks at Defender Chronicles, but it's not his fault! Seriously, it's not: "Dear developers of defender chronicles if you call a mode casual, make sure it is for casual gamers!"

That's it for this week's Download Lowdown. You may have noticed that I swapped out screenshots for videos this time around. Do you like it the old way or is this better? Let me know in the comments below. See you next week!