Latest Reviews
Banjo Got High on No Man's Sky
You know, I'd sort of forgotten how much I enjoyed 2020's Journey to the Savage Planet. Typhoon Studios' debut was a fantastically unique and colourful one that challenged you to think at all times, as you made your way across what was - and still is - a great big planet-sized platform-puzzle populated by cute aliens...
Review DOOM: The Dark Ages (Xbox) - Puts The Finishing Touches On A Masterful Trilogy
Glorious Game Pass Gibbings!
Id Software's new trilogy of DOOM games, now that I've had the chance to sit down and play them all and a have a bit of a think (I can think, you know), comes across as a rather dazzling package when taken as a whole. It's almost, in hindsight, as though the devs have had a plan all along. And it's a plan that 100%...
Review Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Xbox) - A Sublime Debut And One Of The Freshest RPGs In Ages
Final Fancily
I'm coming in a little bit late on this review because Bethesda decided to drop good old Oblivion in a fancy new outfit right before embargo, so forgive me! However, and continuing with the Bethesda link as a lazy-ish way to kickstart this review, it's lucky for the masters at Sandfall Interactive that their brand-new action-RPG is so...
Review South Of Midnight (Xbox) - A Fantastic, Soulful Outing From Xbox Game Studios
Worth headin' south for
Update (Tue 8th Apr, 2025): With South of Midnight available on Xbox Game Pass as of today, we're re-publishing this review to give you an idea of what to expect. Original review: Ever since wrapping up my early preview of the game almost two months ago now, I've been desperate to get back to Xbox's
Review Split Fiction (Xbox) - An Incredible Co-Op Adventure That Blew Our Minds
Turning this trilogy up to 11
When the credits rolled on Hazelight Studios' Game of the Year-winning co-op adventure It Takes Two back in 2021, my wife turned to me and asked when the next one would be out. She utterly adored what that game had to offer, and aside from the odd round of Mario Party in the years since, no other video game has really...
Review Monster Hunter Wilds (Xbox) - A Great Hunt, But Maybe Avoid On Series S
The next-gen hunt is on
Capcom’s storied history is commonly associated with series like Street Fighter and Resident Evil, but it’s Monster Hunter which is on track to eventually become the Japanese video game company’s best-selling IP. Over the past two decades, this larger-than-life series has evolved into an unstoppable force thanks to its...
A welcome revelation
A year ago to the day, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr launched what felt like a bit of a no-brainer in Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered - a modern Xbox collection containing some of gaming's most iconic adventures. One year later, they've returned with the next phase of the Lara Croft saga, and whilst Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered doesn't...
So, Eora into action RPGs?
Have we ever told you how much we love The Outer Worlds? There was a little pushback when it launched; some folk thought it was too short, too lightweight and wishy-washy, but we loved everything about it. Obsidian seemed to actively decide to remove itself from what felt like bit of a race circa 2019, to make the most...
Review Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics (Xbox) - Here Comes A New Challenger!
Better late than never
Although it felt like Xbox almost missed out on the Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection, in the end, things got sorted and now roughly four months after the original release, the Xbox One version is ready to take you for a ride. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is made up of seven titles
O Come, all ye (hardcore) faithful
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a hard-ass game, no matter how you choose to approach it. It's a hard game to play, to get a footing in and to stick with in its early hours. It's hard, too, in how it refuses to readily explain its myriad of interlocking mechanics and systems, or to help in many of the ways we've...
Review Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (Xbox) - A UE5 Appetiser Ahead Of The Fourth Outing
You're looking sharper than ever, Ryu
Hearken back to the original Xbox lineup and one game you might remember is the notoriously difficult ‘exclusive’ Ninja Gaiden, leading to the ‘Black’ rework during the same generation. Now, decades on, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black follows in the footsteps of not only the Xbox 360 sequel but also the more recent...
Resistance is futile, you slags
Have you ever wanted to play an entry in Rebellion's fantastic Sniper Elite series that stars Danny Dyer as the protagonist? Have you ever wanted to give a whole bunch of Nazi slags a right good doing? Well, we reckon you're not alone, sunshine. In fact, we've been petitioning Rebellion for this very thing for years...
Review Star Wars Episode 1: Jedi Power Battles (Xbox) - The Return Of Another Prequel Game
The nostalgia is strong with this one
More than 25 years after the release of the Phantom Menace movie, Star Wars: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles has now returned. Like the movie, this game wasn’t all that well-received on release when it launched for the original PlayStation in the year 2000 – with the Dreamcast release tidying up the whole...
Nobody trusts anybody now … and we're all very tired
Here's the thing about The Thing Remastered; it's still very much 2002's The Thing. Which is either a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how much you like your The Thing. 2002's The Thing, you see, which is based on the intensely sexy Kurt Russell movie, The Thing, (itself based on a...
Review Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind (Xbox) - 30 Years In The Making
It's morphin time!
The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers celebrated their 30th anniversary last year with a special television film reuniting some of the original cast members and paying respects to a few of the others, and now to continue the legacy, Digital Eclipse has followed this up with a brand-new video game channelling the arcade classics of...
Review Indiana Jones And The Great Circle (Xbox) - A MachineGames Misfire
Indiana Groans
Okay, look, let's get this out of the way right off the bat - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle feels very Indiana Jones, and you've got nothing to worry about if you thought those classic Indy vibes might be off with this new adaptation. The teams at Bethesda and MachineGames have nailed that aspect of this 2024 take on the...
Review Stalker 2 (Xbox) - GSC Game World's Long-Awaited Sequel Is A Mess
Zoned Out
There are many reasons why an endeavour as complex as creating a huge open-world video game sometimes doesn't pan out the way it should or could; absolutely millions of things that can and will go wrong at the best of times, no matter how much hard work goes in. Add in the stress of being at war during the development of your project -...
Review Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake (Xbox) - Square Enix's Beloved Classic Gets A Makeover
Square Enix's HD-2D boom continues
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a full remake of "one of the greatest RPGs of all time" according to Square Enix. Originally released as
Exclusivity-Endedman
Death Stranding seemed to cause way more division that we thought it would when it released back in 2019. Some folk found it boring and bland, others were confused by the (confusing) plot, nonplussed by the lack of action, whilst more still just sorta thought it was way too long and ponderous. Make no mistake, it still reviewed...
Review Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Xbox) - Game Pass Gets A Cracking New COD
Calling all Game Pass recruits
It's that time of year once again - a brand-new Call of Duty game is upon us, as the nights start drawing in and the sound of teenagers raging at their pals online becomes ever-present around the world. This year though, things are a little different - Microsoft now owns the franchise and has delivered Black Ops 6 to...
Review Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Xbox) - Bioware Is Back On Form With An Inquisition-Besting Banger
Blight here, blight now
Dragon Age is finally back, and, let's just get it out of the way in the first sentence - BioWare has officially ended its recent poor run of form in spectacular fashion! We feel like we have to say it straight away, after the waiting we've all done. It's been a full decade since the glory of Dragon Age: Inquisition,...
Review Sonic X Shadow Generations (Xbox) - Shadow's New Chapter Shines Bright
A history of the 'Ultimate Lifeform'
In case you somehow missed it, 2024 is the year of 'Shadow the Hedgehog' - with his live-action movie debut scheduled for December, and a new game chapter now available as part of Sonic X Shadow Generations. To reiterate, you’re not only getting a remaster of 2011's Sonic Generations, but also included is an...
Review Alan Wake 2: The Lake House (Xbox) - Connecting The Dots To Control
Remedy doing Remedy things
It was a long old wait for Alan Wake 2 to finally launch on Xbox late last year, and now Remedy is wrapping up the game's DLC plan with The Lake House expansion. Yep, it's finally time to say goodbye to the second instalment of Alan Wake - and the team has spent its final few moments here building out the Remedy universe...
Review A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead (Xbox) - An Immersive Adventure That Demands Caution
Take it nice and slow
The A Quiet Place films have burst onto the scene in recent times to form a new horror franchise - with three entries spanning the last six years or so in the movie world. As the name suggests, this series centres around humans having to stay deadly quiet to survive, as an alien species threatens to wipe them out at even the...
Review Aaero 2 - A Top-Tier Xbox Console Exclusive For Fans Of Rhythm Games
Crank your speakers up to 11 for this one
Back in 2021, Xbox fans were treated to a new Games with Gold addition in the form of Aaero. It had actually been available on the platform since 2017, but its GwG inclusion quickly opened it up to a much larger audience. At the time, we told Pure Xbox readers that Aaero was "well worth a download" via the...
Review Starship Troopers: Extermination (Xbox) - A Schlocky Good Time That Needs TLC ASAP
How'd ya like some bugs with your bugs, trooper?
There's been a lot of interest from console-exclusive gamers in the past 12 months-or-so in seeing Offworld's janky-but-fun Starship Troopers: Extermination make the leap from PC - where it's been in early access since mid-2023. Now, with a full 1.0 release finally in the wild, we've got a chance to...
Review Metaphor: ReFantazio - Atlus Proves It's Still The King of JRPG-Land
School's Out
It seems odd now, looking back, that we hadn't really been particularly excited for Metaphor: ReFantazio over the past couple of months. Maybe it's the fact we've played so many Persona revamps and remakes lately, but something or other has had us feeling as though a return to similar JRPG ground was gonna take a lot of digging in,...
Review Undisputed (Xbox) - Finally, The Wait For A New Boxing Game Is Over
Update: Our final score is in!
Update: This review was originally "in-progress" while we tested out the multiplayer side of things, and has now been updated with an new paragraph about the online experience along with a final "Good" score of 7/10. What happened to all the boxing games on Xbox? That's a question we've been asking for the past...
Review Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero (Xbox) - A Super Take On Budokai Tenkaichi
Your wish has been granted
Dragon Ball fighting games have a rich history, but one series that has arguably ascended above the rest is Budokai Tenkaichi. Since the original title was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2005, these games (known as the ‘Sparking!’ series in Japan) have been expanded upon – recreating the legendary battles and...
Review The Patrick Star Game (Xbox) - SpongeBob's Best Character Deserved Better
Bikini bottom of the barrel
Are ya ready, kids? To be honest, probably not. Following on from last year's The Cosmic Shake, the SpongeBob IP is back again for another Xbox outing - this time starring everyone's favourite cartoon starfish, Patrick Star. However, this SpongeBob spin-off really does feel like cutting room floor leftovers after the last...
