Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - On Indefinite Hiatus

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Hi all! This month's game is Life is Strange: True Colors. (Apologies for the spelling, it's just what the game is called!) Unfortunately I don't know a lot about this game or series as I haven't played any of them. I think this is the third entry, or perhaps the 4th or 5th if you count some spin offs.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Here are some HLTB stats:

Main Story - 10 Hours

Main + Extras - 11½ Hours

Completionist - 13 Hours

Tag list (let me know if you want in or out!)

@Tothington91 @MAC26 @XBontendo @Justifier @LtSarge @Tjuz @nessisonett @crippyd @Krzzystuff @sib @Ryu_Niiyama @LeanerFasterStronger @cracked_seal @Mr-Fuggles777 @Mundaney @KilloWertz @Beagle @antifyre @Magabro @themightyant @ZeD @K1LLEGAL @Balta666 @Bmartin001 @Fran27 @Banjo- @R1spam @lookupmore @Dusk_Actual @Royalblues @Lavalera

Votes start from Zero again for June's choice of game:

A way out -
Brutal Legend - 2 (lvlra, grlqust,
Conker's Bad Fur Day/Live & Reloaded - 1 (balta,
Crysis -
Dead Space - 2 (lvlra, lkupmre,
Fable Anniversary -
The Gunk - 1 (mghtynt,
Hades -
Halo Wars -
It takes two -
Kameo: Elements of Power -
Maneater -
Mass Effect 1 LE - 7 (zed, lkupmre, wcb, srsstn, lljzy2, elfchi, jrvsmp,
Marvel Avengers -
One step closer to Eden -
Ori and the Will of the Wisps - 1 (clnkyld,
Perfect Dark -
Rage -
Sable - 1 (mghtynt,
Skul: The Hero Slayer -
Telling Lies -
Trek to Yomi - 3 (R1, klwtz, krzystf,
Tunic
Undertale -
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus -
Yoku's Island Express - 1 (balta,

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Guardians of the Galaxy mini-review. (I've tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible)

So where do I start with this one? I finally finished GotG over the weekend. I have very mixed feelings on individual parts of the game, but as a whole I really liked it.

What I didn't like?

• The combat was pretty bad imho. There was a little strategy involved but it wasn't deep or satisfying and always felt floaty, like nothing truly connected. The combat did get better as the game went on and you had access to multiple abilities per teammate on cooldown, but it never felt good to me.
• The control scheme - Considering I always seemed to be holding LT to lock on, pressing LB to access Guardians moves was a bit awkward. As was clicking the L3 stick for StarLords and I sometimes pressed this by accident as a result. About half way through I wished i'd looked to see if there were other options, but by then it would have been harder to change.
• The huddles. Loved the idea but the Quill's 'inspiring' speeches were more like pseudo-inspirational word salad and rarely made sense. A missed opportunity. Considering how good so much of the writing is, these were notably poor by comparison. I suspect they were a late addition to development, as they just don't feel written by the same writers. Also there was a fair amount of repeated dialogue in these and other combat moments that got tiresome.
• The movement of Starlord himself was mostly like a X360 character, clunky, slow almost tank-like. Exploration was OK but I didn't feel compelled to do it due to the sluggish movement.
• A few bugs. I fell through or got stuck in the world 3 or 4 times, thankfully a quick checkpoint restart meant I didn't lose much. Also some scenery or textures would sometimes glitch into place. Lastly I had a couple of times the game would drop to about 5fps and I had to boot back to the title screen to fix it. These were all pretty minor tbh and didn't impact my playthrough much.
• Occasionally they would talk over each other, or because I had completed the last section quickly they just moved on from the current conversation. This was a shame as generally I wanted to hear what they were about to say.
• Sliding down slopes was awkward, with some almost invisible gaps that led to instant death if you didn't jump over them, making these sections more annoying than they should be.
• Squeezing through gaps to disguise level loading got very tiresome, I thought we were past that. I realise it's a cross-gen title but can developers cut these bits out if you're playing on next-gen systems!

Honestly it's quite a long list and none of this left a good first impression, but I'm glad I persevered because ultimately the good far outweighed the bad.

What I liked

• The WRITING. Each character felt unique with their own strengths and weaknesses and stayed true to their character throughout. Each team member had an arc that also better fleshed out their character but didn't feel tacked on.
• The story & plot - While it was quite a run of the mill story of galaxy saving heroics, the team building plot that is woven into it was done effectively, I felt annoyed with Rocket at the start but loved him by the end. They did very well at controlling our emotions over the course of the game.
• The gameplay matched the story - I loved that as the guardians came together they would do their traversal moves without you having too do it, the gameplay matched the story here. It's a small addition but one that was highly effective and added to that sense of teamwork and togetherness that the game is all about
• The humour - The writing and delivery of the writing was brilliant, especially Drax, He's gold at times.
• Voice acting - Each actor really sold me on the character. Once again Drax had me smiling almost every time he spoke yet he also had some deeper more heartfelt moments.
• The Music - Wonderful 80's soundtrack some of which are played at just the right time. The huddles while poorly expected were worth it for this alone. I'll never forget a memorable boss fight near the end of the game being serenaded with Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up. Genius!
• The Graphics - It's a good looking game, though I didn't often think 'Wow', diminishing returns... or eyesight

Closing thoughts
Despite a litany of smaller faults, and the generally poor combat, I really enjoyed the game as a whole. There is a LOT to build on for a potential sequel. I hope today's Embracer Group acquisition doesn't hamper that as I'd love to continue this adventure with these great characters.

Overall score: 7.5/10