February2024
Review Skull & Bones (Xbox) - Solid Combat Saves The Day In Ubisoft's Middling Pirate Playground
Sea of Peeves
It's taken its sweet time making landfall, but Ubisoft's oft-delayed AAAA slice o' pirate life, Skull & Bones, is finally with us. We've already been hearing chatter from some of those indulging in the game's early access that it's all a bit boring, slow and bland. Me hearties, all of these things are absolutely true! However,...
January2024
Prince Charming
It has, quite unbelievably, been 35 whole earth years since Jordan Mechner's original Prince of Persia released for the Apple II back in 1989. It represented one of the first examples of what's become known as the 'cinematic platformer', a genre that combines strong art styles, satisfying narratives and fluidly animated protagonists...
Review Assassin's Creed Valhalla (Xbox) - The Best Entry To Date, And A Series X Showpiece
Update: And now it's on Xbox Game Pass!
Update (Mon 8th Jan, 2024): Just over three years since we published our Assassin's Creed Valhalla review, the game is joining Xbox Game Pass as part of the January 2024 lineup! You can check out our original impressions of the game down below, which arrived just a few days after the launch of the Xbox Series...
December2023
Blue Velvet?
Ubisoft's final big release of 2023, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, looks, feels and plays pretty much identically to every open world Ubisoft adventure you may or may not have played over the past decade. It's most reminiscent of Far Cry Primal in its moment-to-moment gameplay, with a focus on gathering and making use of nature to heal,...
October2023
Review Assassin's Creed Mirage (Xbox) - A Super Slick Return To The Series' Stealth Roots
The Thief of Baghdad
The Assassin's Creed franchise has come a long way since we first got our hands on the fairly disappointing tech demo that was the original experience all the way back in 2007. Yes, pals, that really was 16 years ago already. The core concept behind AC has always a strong one, and the first outing was undoubtedly a real...
September2023
Review The Crew Motorfest (Xbox) - A True Forza Horizon Competitor Enters The Playground
The new motorfest
Forza Horizon has ruled the open world racing roost for years now, subsequently becoming one of the jewels in Xbox's first-party crown as Playground Games has taken the genre to new heights. However, we did feel like 2021's Forza Horizon 5 was a little bit of a drop off for the series, as it — perhaps naturally — started to run...
August2022
Review Immortals Fenyx Rising - A Fantastical Adventure That Draws Heavily From Breath Of The Wild
Now available on Xbox Game Pass!
Update (Aug, 2022): Two years later, Immortals Fenyx Rising is now available with Xbox Game Pass! Below, you'll find our original review from 2020, which was just after the Xbox Series X and Series S first released. Enjoy! Read More: Four Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (August 30, 2022) Original...
June2022
Review Assassin's Creed Origins - Better Than Ever On Xbox Series X
Bayek it's a good' un.
Looking back on it now, Assassin's Creed Origins really did mark a brand new direction for Ubisoft's long-running franchise when it released back in October of 2017. This truly epic Egyptian odyssey introduced RPG-lite elements to the series, invigorating its core gameplay with tons of loot, weapons and gear, it completely...
March2022
Review Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn Of Ragnarök - A Fantastical Outing
A Hugr-Rip-roaring adventure
It's been well over a year now since Ubisoft dropped the majestic Assassin's Creed Valhalla, our own personal favourite entry in the long-running franchise, and it's a game that's been well supported with supplementary story content 14 months down the line, with both previous DLCs, Wrath of the Druids and The Siege of...
January2022
Review Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction - Solid Extra-Terrestrial Siege Shenanigans
How will you REACT under pressure?
Rainbow Six Extraction really is such a great idea, a hugely appealing experiment that takes the often rather bland and samey world of Ubisoft's tactical military shooters and adds plenty of twisted alien sci-fi action and warped vistas to the mix. For the most part it's a mix-up that works too. Based on a...
January2021
Review Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game – Complete Edition - A Cracking Comeback
"Hey! You totally came!"
When Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game was removed from digital storefronts in 2014, it was a massive blow. A game franchise which celebrated gaming as a medium was cruelly snatched from us. Since then it’s garnered a massive cult following, and over the years has since become a relic from the Xbox 360 era. Then, last...
November2020
Review Watch Dogs: Legion - Visually Impressive On Series X, But Repetitive And Clunky
Ded On Arrival?
The hacky-smacky members of Watch Dogs' DedSec return for a third outing in the series that sees the hacktivist gang on the run, framed for a terrorist attack they didn't commit and looking to clear their name as they strike back against shadowy figures across a truly impressive vision of a dystopian near-future London. There are...
April2020
Review Assassin's Creed Odyssey - The Best Assassin's Creed Has Ever Been
By The Beard Of Zeus!
Assassin's Creed Odyssey continues down the exciting new path forged by its predecessor Origins, refining the reworked combat introduced in the ancient Egyptian epic and bolstering the RPG elements which saw that title heralded as something of a grand rebirth for the franchise. This is a huge adventure set in a stunning...
March2016
Review TrackMania Turbo (Xbox One)
Mania is right
If there's one game that's been flying under the radar since it was announced, it's Trackmania Turbo. Everyone was aware that the series – which had a sizeable fanbase on PC - would be challenging to take across to consoles, mainly due to the fact that even though it ships with a healthy supply of tracks, Trackmania is known as...
Review Tom Clancy's The Division (Xbox One)
Ubi squad lootin'
The Division doesn't make the best first impression. When the game begins, you're dropped into a section of New York City that's devoid of substance. There are few missions that show up on the map, and running through the lifeless streets from A to B is a chore. There are no unscripted moments, no random events to engage in, and...
February2016
Review Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia (Xbox One)
A Hard Day's Nyet
When Ubisoft debuted their alternative take on the Assassin's Creed world with Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China back in 2015, announcing that it was the first of a three-part trilogy, there was hope in our hearts. Hope that starting from the promising base that the first title provided, the development team would listen to...
January2016
Review Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India (Xbox One)
Rough before the smooth?
When the first of the Assassin's Creed Chronicles trilogy was released, there was genuine hope that it would evolve from the "decent-but-flawed" category and that by the third iteration, would have made it all the way up to the top deck. With (at least) two more games due, it was a safe assumption that the developer would...
October2015
Review Assassin's Creed: Syndicate (Xbox One)
Back on track
When it comes to the recent history of the Assassin's Creed series, do we really need to talk about the last version all that much? Surely, everybody knows that at launch – although post-launch patches alleviated some of the issues – Assassin's Creed: Unity was a buggy, broken affair that even Ubisoft acknowledged just wasn't good...
September2015
Review Toy Soldiers: War Chest (Xbox One)
The sum of its parts
Toy Soldiers: War Chest comes to Xbox One on the back of two successful iterations in the form of Toy Soldiers and Toy Soldiers: Cold War for Xbox 360. This, coupled with the addition of popular toy licenses makes this new entry an exciting proposition. Excitement for the game, however, may be short lived upon noticing how War...
August2015
Scratching the glitch
When it was confirmed a while ago that the sequel to 2012's Wii U exclusive ZombiU had been canned, most thought that the series was a goner. That would be a shame, given that the survival-horror title brought with it more innovation than people give it credit for. It wasn't just a straight-up gorefest that required you to scan...
April2015
Review Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (Xbox One)
Changing perspectives
The concept of taking the Assassin's Creed franchise into a 2.5D game world is certainly an interesting proposition. Many were wondering how Ubisoft and Climax Studios would go about getting the free-running elements of the main franchise into a side-scroller whilst keeping an element of freedom about the proceedings. The good...
January2015
Review Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show (Xbox One)
Keep calm and BWAAAAAAAAH!
First there were Rabbids. Then there were Minions. But the Rabbids were first. It's probably impossible for anyone to have missed the Ubisoft spectacle that is the Ravin' Rabbids. They are loud, they are over-the-top, and they are everywhere! They don't have a proper language, but their mimed slapstick (heavily infused by...
Review Tetris Ultimate (Xbox One)
Block-dropping beats
When it comes to rebooting games, building a new version of Tetris has to be the easiest thing that can be done. After all, as long as you at least have the basic tetromino-dropping and line-clearing endless gameplay mode that set the world on fire back in the 80s, you'll have a bunch of satisfied customers who just want to play...
December2014
Crew cut.
When it comes to writing reviews, some games are easier than others to cover. There are times when you can play a game for an hour or two, and have at least an idea of at least the general direction of where your review is headed. Ubisoft’s The Crew most certainly does not fall into that camp. We think it’ll be safe to say that this...
November2014
Review Monopoly Plus (Xbox One)
This version Mayfair well.
When it comes to converting the ubiquitous property trading board game Monopoly from the living room table to digital platforms, things have not always gone well. Despite being released for every console, computer, and mobile device known to man, it’s probably safe to say that there hasn’t been a genuinely good and...
