Latest Reviews
Review Blues and Bullets - Episode 2 (Xbox One)
Eight months later...
What's most difficult about investing in an episodic adventure series is the agonizing long wait between episodes. Having launched its debut episode on Xbox One nearly eight months ago, Blues and Bullets may just be the worst offender for this. It's disappointing, nonetheless, that Episode 2 doesn't land all of its punches. It...
Review Hitman: Episode 2 - Sapienza (Xbox One)
Time to kill...
The second episode of the Hitman (Xbox One) content sees the titular assassin leaving the bright lights of Paris and heading to the idyllic Amalfi coast in Italy. The peaceful town of Sapienza hides a dark secret, as a troubled genius has set up home in a mansion in the town, and is busily creating a devastating bio weapon in the en...
Review Coffin Dodgers (Xbox One)
Over the hill
It's been a while since we were in the era of a new licenced kart racer turning up every week. On the back of Super Mario Kart's success, pretty much every publisher decided that games of that type were easy to make and ship, most of them overlooking the things that made Nintendo's evergreen champion just as good as it was and still...
You are not in control.
When SUPERHOT made its debut on the E3 stage back in 2015, the trailer raised more questions than it answered. Originally created as part of a game jam event, the developer – also called SUPERHOT – managed to raise over $250,000 through crowdfunding to bring the strange FPS to life. Fast forward to the present day and the...
Despite being fans, we fight for the users
If there was ever a movie franchise that should lend itself to a whole host of entertaining videogames, it's TRON. The two films are set in a digital world where everything crackles neon, feature intense disc battles and of course, contain fantastic sequences on light cycles. The latest (and probably...
Review Dark Souls III (Xbox One)
Light my fire
What do you expect of a sequel? Do you expect it to reinvent itself and alter its DNA in substantial ways, or do you prefer that it refines its formula and tastefully enhances its best qualities? If the latter is your preference, you'll be delighted with Dark Souls III. Developer FromSoftware has taken the foundation from past Souls...
Enter an (episodic) world of assassination
Back in the day, the Hitman series brought a complex mix of costumes, stealth and planning to the murky world of the gun-for-hire assassin. As the the titular Hitman - Agent 47 - you were given a target, a selection of weaponry and left to your own devices to make the hit a reality. We still fondly remember...
Get dirty
When you first fire up Codemaster's latest racer, you're warned that DiRT Rally is a simulation that shouldn't be taken lightly. You'll wonder if that message was even necessary approximately two minutes later, when your car has flown over a sandy bank at an angle in the Greek hills and the sky and the ground have swapped places. Make no...
I Lie! I Cheat! I Steal!
There's been some disappointing first-person shooters as of late. Major releases such as Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Star Wars: Battlefront have either lacked inspired gameplay, freshness, or content, so it's been great to see things pick up on the independent scene. We've already seen the speedrun focused Lovely Planet...
Review Quantum Break (Xbox One)
The future is bright
Quantum Break is one of the most sophisticated cinematic experiences on Xbox One, with lavish production values, convincing performances, and a riveting science-fiction plot enveloping its time-bending mechanics. The developer Remedy Entertainment – known for Max Payne and Alan Wake – has crafted a third-person...
Review Active Soccer 2 DX (Xbox One)
Red card
Back in the day, pretty much every game publisher had at least one football title on their books. That was certainly the case on the 16-bit systems and earlier, with every other big-name football star having a game featuring their name on the cover. Whether it was side-on (John Barnes European Football), isometric (Manchester United: The...
"I Give Up, This Whole Thing's Very Russian!"
Any game that will allow us to use a line of dialogue from the Schwarzenegger classic Red Heat as a tagline is already a long way to winning a place in our gaming hearts. The fact that the line fits the whole style of the game is just the icing on the cake. Coming from Rain Games, Teslagrad is a...
Review Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 (Xbox One)
High cheese
When it comes to a ranking of the most niche sports that have been turned into videogames, lacrosse is probably toward the top of the list. Following on from the relatively successful XBLIG release of College Lacrosse 12 for Xbox 360, Crosse Studio have been working on the next iteration. For Casey Powell Lacrosse 16 though, they've...
Review Stranger of Sword City (Xbox One)
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, that's a stranger!
The Xbox 360 made a hard push at tapping into the Japanese market with the likes of Blue Dragon and The Last Remnant. Stranger of Sword City - a dungeon role playing game - was a lesser-known title that also came to the platform. The Xbox One has seen nowhere near the same level of support in terms...
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 Cel Damage HD (Xbox One)
Racing back in time
Back in 2001, Cel Damage was released for the original Xbox. Offering a cartoony, cel shaded take on the then popular vehicular combat genre, it was an immediate hit and many people still have a soft spot for it today. Fast forward to 2016, and Frontline Games have produced an HD remake of the game, but has time been kind, or...
Review Blast 'Em Bunnies (Xbox One)
Blast 'em into the sun
When it comes to game concepts, the one supplied by Blast 'Em Bunnies couldn't be much simpler. You play a bunny, manning (bunnying?) a rotating gun turret. Other rabbits of various types – grenadiers, paratroopers, burrowers, walkers, etc. - are trying to get to you so that they can knock you out and take your stuff. You...
Review Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (Xbox One)
A little goes a long way
Ori and the Blind Forest released back in March of last year, and by now, you're likely well aware of the indisputable fact that it's a phenomenal game. We awarded it a 9 out of 10 in our review and called it "one of the best games available for the Xbox One," a statement we stand by 100%. With the Definitive Edition...
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...
Take That, Jeremy, You Bounder!
Ironcast is an odd beast. After a successful Kickstarter campaign by its developers Dreadbit, the game was released on PC back in May 2015. The conversion to console is now here, and we can see what all the fuss has been about. At its heart, Ironcast is a simple colour-matching puzzle game, but the strategy and...
Henk, not Hank
Action Henk is a massive star that can do anything he turns his hand to. Well, you'd believe that to be the case if you took a look around the room in which he lives. He was kickflipping in Action Henk's Pro Skater 2, replaced Bruce Willis in Die Henk, and seemingly was a part of every other franchise that folks of a certain age will...
Review The Flame in the Flood (Xbox One)
The girl Scout's guide to survival
The Great Outdoors isn't just the name of a classic movie starring the late John Candy and Dan Aykroyd. Believe it or not, it's an actual place that exists beyond our TV screens and our many other technological distractions. Beyond the prefab homes and fast-food joints cluttering our field of view lies a...
Review Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders (Xbox One)
The clues are there...
If you know your crime novels, you are probably familiar with super detective Hercule Poirot – one of British crime queen Agatha Christie's main protagonists and best-known private eyes. During her lifetime, Christie published no less than 66 novels starring the dapper Belgian. Despite Christie repeatedly claiming that she...
Review Rocket League (Xbox One)
Blast off
When it comes to surprise success stories, there are none more surprising in recent memory than Psyonix's Rocket League. 2008's downloadable PlayStation 3 title Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Cars which, while decent fun, was generally forgotten about or passed over by most, was hardly the most likely title to spawn a game that...
Review Bike Mayhem 2 (Xbox One)
Bike Meh-em
Less open minded gamers will groan at the sight of mobile ports, but they absolutely have a place on consoles. Games such as Pumped BMX+ have shown that the best mobile games can shine on Xbox One, as long as they're brought over with care. Sadly, not every developer ports their games with the care that Curve Digital does, and that leads...
Review D/Generation HD (Xbox One)
Jetpack couriers need a trade union...
D/Generation HD is a reworking of a fondly remembered action/adventure/puzzle game that was first released back in 1991, on PC, Amiga and ST. According to developers West Coast Software Ltd, the game has been recreated from the original source code and still contains all the original features, but has had a...
Review Dying Light: The Following (Xbox One)
Parks and Recreation and Zombies
Dying Light: The Following is a strange proposition that's available in a whole bunch of ways. It's an expansion pack that also alters the main game in a few areas, which can be purchased standalone if you own the original Dying Light without the season pass, will be delivered free if you DO own the season pass, and...
In space, it takes two to tandem
From Portal to Q.U.B.E, when physics-based puzzle games are done well, they stay in your memory and earn a valued spot in your games collection. TACs Games Factotum 90 is a likely contender to this club, taking a unique premise and making you feel like a genius while keeping the gameplay simple and engaging. Set...
Review This War of Mine: The Little Ones (Xbox One)
War is hell
Inspired by the 1992 – 1996 Seige of Sarajevo during the Bosnian War, This War of Mine is a bleak and desolate game. The entire thing is rendered pretty much entirely in a monochrome pencil drawing style, with only the minimum level of highlighting in place to show off things that you can select. It sounds bland, but that's far from...
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...
