Latest Reviews
Review Forza Horizon 5 Rally Adventure - A Love Letter To Rally
Eat dirt in this latest expansion
Rally has played a significant role in the automotive industry over the years, and Forza Horizon 5 is now acknowledging this important history (and the many rally games over the past few decades) in its latest ‘Rally Adventure’ expansion. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time there’s been a rally add-on...
Review MLB The Show 23 - Another Solid Outing With A Standout Storylines Addition
Is it a whiff or a dinger?
Another year, another entry in SIE San Diego's long-running MLB The Show franchise, and this time around history takes centre-stage with a new Storylines mode giving players the opportunity to learn about some of the all-time great baseball players from the Negro Leagues. It’s undoubtably the highlight of an outing that...
Review Sifu - Former PlayStation Console Exclusive Brings The Fight To Xbox
Become a Kung Fu master
If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to be Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee in one of their famous martial arts films, Sifu (referring to 'a master’ in Cantonese) might just be as close as it gets. This new Xbox release by French studio Sloclap (Absolver) first launched on PlayStation and the Epic Store a year ago, and...
Review Resident Evil 4 - Capcom's Stellar Remake Improves Upon Perfection
Bingo!
It's been a long old while now since Shinji Mikami's final Resident Evil foray was first unleashed upon the world, and what a parting contribution to the series it was. Here was an entry in an already iconic survival horror franchise that shifted away from slow-burn resource management towards full-on Hollywood levels of bombastic action...
Review WWE 2K23 - A Wrestling Game Worthy Of 'Main Event' Status
The bottom line, 'cause we said so
Last year's WWE 2K22 was a very important release for the franchise, successfully overcoming the botched mess of a launch that was WWE 2K20, while also incorporating some key new features such as the addition of the MyGM and MyFaction modes, highly improved visuals, redesigned entrances and much more. WWE 2K23...
Review Tales Of Symphonia Remastered – A Remaster That Could Have Been So Much More
Lloyd Irving returns in Bandai Namco’s classic RPG
Bandai Namco’s Tales series hasn’t exactly been a powerhouse here in the west compared to certain other famous Japanese role-playing games, but one entry in particular that has got quite a lot of love from fans over the years is the charming adventure Tales of Symphonia. This action-style RPG...
Can't fight the moonlight
Following on from 2021’s relatively successful revamp of Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water, Koei Tecmo returns with a remaster of the fourth title in its Fatal Frame/Project Zero series, Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. Originally released as a Nintendo Wii exclusive back in 2008, this is actually one of our...
The sweet elixir of death
As much as we absolutely adore Team Ninja's PC and PlayStation-exclusive Nioh series, it often felt as though it bogged itself down a little bit too much with the depth of its combat mechanics and a certain heavy-handedness when it came to the importance of stamina with regards to every single action you took in battle...
Review Atomic Heart - An Interesting Alt-History Crusade, But Not A True Great
Shaky Soviet adventures
Anybody who's ever played Irrational's BioShock Infinite will be immediately familiar with the opening sequence of Atomic Heart. You arrive at an 'idyllic' utopian city by boat — a city that happens to be floating amongst the clouds of a post-WW2 land dominated by Soviet science — before a short guided tour takes a turn...
Review Like A Dragon: Ishin! - This Slick Remaster Serves Up Another Excellent Yakuza Adventure
Bakumatsu Beatdown
It’s been something of a golden era for fans of all things Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio of late, with the developer digging back into the history of its long-running Yakuza series to present us with a bunch of fantastic remasters and updated collections that have made the franchise slicker and more accessible than it’s ever been...
Review Wild Hearts - Koei Tecmo & EA's New Monster Hunter-Like Arrives On Xbox
How does it hold up?
Let’s set the scene – Monster Hunter Rise finally arrived on Xbox last month and it’s arguably the greatest entry in the nearly two-decade-old series. For a long time, there’s been no real competition in sight, and now less than a month on, there’s a new title that takes a lot of inspiration from Capcom’s mighty...
Review Wanted: Dead - A Highly Disappointing Hybrid Slasher/Shooter
It sounded good on paper...
"A new hybrid shooter/slasher from the makers of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive!" Now, just wait a minute. We absolutely adore Ninja Gaiden, it's one of the all-time great hack and slashers. And Dead or Alive? Well...we mean, somebody probably likes that too, but let's not confuse the issue, the point is that Wanted: Dead...
Review Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition - Microsoft's PC Classic Makes Its Debut On Xbox
RTS historical battles…with a controller
Where do you start with Age of Empires 2? It’s arguably the greatest RTS (and perhaps one of the best games) of all time. When it made its debut back on Microsoft Windows in 1999, it received absolutely huge levels of praise for not only taking the series to the next level, but also bettering the genre in...
Review Hogwarts Legacy - A Harry Potter Fan's Dream, The Best Game In Franchise History
Somehow, it's lived up to the hype
Harry Potter games have always been popular on Xbox dating back to the early 2000s, but we've never had a particularly great one, perhaps aside from LEGO's Harry Potter Collection. Sure, the Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets games were definite highlights on the original Xbox, and maybe you even liked some...
A Little Dab'll Do Ya
Ooooooh, who lives in a pineapple under the sea? SpongeBob SquarePants! Whose videogame antics aren't really for me? SpongeBob SquarePants! Yes, SpongeBob SquarePants, the...eh...the square sea sponge who wears pants, is back for another bite at the video game cherry and, well, it's very much a case of us having seen it all...
Review Hi-Fi RUSH - Tango Gameworks Drops A Beat-Bopping Banger On Xbox Game Pass
A shadow drop, no less!
Well, it's been quite an unexpectedly exciting few days on Xbox Game Pass, thanks to Tango Gameworks, which went and stealth-dropped a bonafide banger in the form of Hi-Fi RUSH during last week's Xbox Developer Direct. Yes, it seems the entire internet has had a very positive reaction to this cel-shaded rhythm action game,
Review Persona 4 Golden - Xbox Game Pass Gets Itself One Of The All-Time Great JRPGs
It's time to climb the stairway to maturity!
Persona 3 may have been a pivotal point in the evolution of Atlus' stunning JRPG series, shifting the tone away from the straight-up bleakness of parts one and two and adding the franchise's now signature social elements to the mix, but it was 2008's Persona 4 that really dug deep into the relationship...
Review Persona 3 Portable - Atlus' JRPG Classic Still Feels Essential
To be this good takes Aigis
Originally released on the PSP in November of 2009, Persona 3 Portable is an "enhanced" port of 2006's JRPG classic that makes a few controversial excisions to the core gameplay whilst also adding enough new content and combat improvements that we actually reckon it's the best version of Persona 3 overall. Controversial!...
Review Monster Hunter Rise - The Next-Gen Version Is The Definitive Edition
Late to the party
It’s common to associate the Capcom brand with IP like Mega Man, Resident Evil and Street Fighter, but the series that’s arguably paving the way for the Japanese video game giant moving forward is Monster Hunter. It has shot to fame in less than 20 years and is now the second highest-selling Capcom franchise - with the 2018...
Review Rainbow Billy: The Curse Of The Leviathan - A Wholesome Wind Waker Style Adventure
Coming to Xbox Game Pass this week!
Update: Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is part of the Xbox Game Pass lineup for December 2022, arriving this Thursday, December 15th. Ahead of that date, we thought we'd republish this review so you can see what's in store! <related ids="141761"> Original review (October 2021): If you look at...
Review High On Life - Bland Shooting Action Meets Stoner Humour That's An Acquired Taste
Like, seriously though bro, it's on Game Pass. Hahaha, you said ass.
Note: This review is for the PC version of High on Life, as we didn't receive Xbox code until this week. You'll find some early impressions based on the Xbox Series X version of the game in the "Second Opinion" section. OK. Look. We've been deep in conversation about High On Life...
Review The Witcher 3 - One Of The Greatest Action RPGs Upgraded For Xbox Series X|S
The White Wolf returns
Polish developer CD Projekt Red has been to hell and back with the release of Cyberpunk 2077. The futuristic ARPG originally shipped with major bugs, performance issues and AI problems, and overall felt like it simply wasn’t ready for launch. It got so bad that at one point, Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer...
Review Marvel's Midnight Suns: Firaxis Serves Up Another Stellar Slice Of Tactical Turn-Based Action
Simply Marvellous
There aren't many more reliable development teams than Firaxis when it comes to serving up top-notch turn-based tactical action, and with Marvel's Midnight Suns, the Baltimore-based studio continues to deliver the good stuff. Here they've avoided a simple superhero reskin of their superlative XCOM series in favour of strategic...
Review The Callisto Protocol - An Uneven Spiritual Successor To Dead Space
Get a GRP
Striking Distance Studios has made no secret of the fact that its inaugural effort, The Callisto Protocol, shares plenty of DNA with Visceral Games' genre-defining Dead Space franchise, and with a bunch of ex-Visceral staff, including Dead Space's co-creator, designer, animation director and co-developer all involved here, it should come...
Review LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga - The Force Is Strong With This One
Update: And now it's heading to Game Pass!
Update (Thu 1st Dec, 2022): With today's news that LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is coming to Xbox Game Pass on December 6th, 2022, we thought we'd republish this review to give you an idea of what to expect. Enjoy! <related ids="141983"> Original review (Mon 4th Apr, 2022): This reviewer has...
Review Insurgency: Sandstorm - An Incredible, Immersive FPS Coming To Xbox Game Pass
Check your corners
New World Interactive finally brought Insurgency: Sandstorm over to consoles last September, following an almost three-year period as a PC exclusive. Sandstorm marked the follow-up to 2014's Insurgency, with both shooters delivering a masterclass in immersive and tactical close quarters gunplay. We can gladly say that the team was...
Review Battlefield 2042 - DICE's Latest Shooter Joins Xbox Game Pass
Modern Warfare
The latest game to join the November 2022 Xbox Game Pass lineup is Battlefield 2042 (courtesy of EA Play), so we've gone back and dug out the Pure Xbox review of the game from November 2021, which you check out below. However, Battlefield 2042 has obviously changed over the past year thanks to various updates, so you'll also find...
Review Gungrave G.O.R.E - Addictive Arcade Action That's Definitely An Acquired Taste
Kick their ass (on Xbox Game Pass)
The absolutely ludicrous Gungrave has finally returned! This brand-new entry sticks resolutely to the script laid down by earlier efforts in the franchise, presenting exactly the same flimsy but satisfyingly flamboyant arcade action as its predecessors, just with much prettier graphics this time around. This is a...
Review Evil West - Action-Packed Wild West Horror Let Down By Dull Design And Weak Narrative
From Dusk Til Yawn
Flying Hog Games, we think it's probably fair to say, has a bit of a marmite aspect to its back catalogue. Between Trek to Yomi, which we actually quite liked, and the multiple instalments of the ridiculously shallow Shadow Warrior series, this is a studio whose work you kinda either gel with or don't. It's brash, it's brutal,...
Review Somerville - An Engaging Sci-Fi Story Let Down By Dull Gameplay
Close Encounters of the Bland Kind
Somerville is an aesthetically pleasing slice of sci-fi that draws influence from the likes of 'War of the Worlds' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' to present the short tale of a bewildered man on the run from otherworldly machines as he attempts to reunite with his wife and infant son in desperate...
