Latest Reviews
Review Darksiders II: Deathinitive Edition (Xbox One)
Certainly not definitive
Considering how much better PC versions of games generally were in the last generation, it's been nice to see so many titles make the jump from Xbox 360 to Xbox One. Games such as DmC: Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition have seen huge improvements both graphically and gameplay wise. For the most part, these enhanced versions...
Review The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone (Xbox One)
Itchin' for more witchin'
CD Projekt RED sure knows how to treat its fans. Not only was The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt a fantastic and deep RPG, but fans were rewarded with a consistent trickle of free DLC that ranged from new quests, outfits, and even a "New Game+" mode. Now, Hearts of Stone — the first paid expansion for The Witcher 3 — has released...
Review Need for Speed (Xbox One)
Monsterous
We thought we'd take the "in-your-face" approach to reviewing Ghost Games' apparent "reboot" of the Need for Speed franchise, which we were disappointed to learn has very little to do with 1994's Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed. We will not apologise for it because nothing can hold us back. We're edgy. We're cool. We're...
Far from the bottom line
Good games are usually more than the sum of their parts. You can have an average story and average gunplay going on, but still find that the game as a whole is fantastic fun because of the way it all comes together. On the other hand, you can have the best suite of options and the greatest game world ever, only to find that...
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One)
Back but not better than ever.
Having three different developers at the helm of video gaming's biggest franchise has been an interesting move by Activision, and one that has put Call of Duty in a bit of an identity crisis. Last year, fans were treated to the excellent Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The first offering from Sledgehammer Games took an...
Not enough meat on its bones
Before setting off, let's get one thing clear: Fat City is not out there fat shaming anyone. It's a reference to the rich affluence of New Orleans' "Fat City" neighbourhood, as well as talking about all the fat wads of banknotes the game's main protagonist Chris Knox is banking as you play through this simple, yet at...
Review Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One)
Rise again
It isn't really the job of a review to comment on the business decisions that led up to a game being released as a timed exclusive on a platform, so if you're hoping for us to praise or admonish Microsoft for throwing a bundle of cash Square Enix's way to bring Rise of the Tomb Raider to Xbox platforms first, you're going to be...
Review Toto Temple Deluxe (Xbox One)
Partly party
Toto Temple Deluxe is yet another entry into the recently bulging "party game" segment of the Xbox One market. We all know the type of game that the description of the genre conjours up, with those titles generally being a bit limited in single player, but coming alive when like-minded friends pop round with some intoxicating liquor, or...
Review Guitar Hero Live (Xbox One)
Striking the right chord
Had you asked us two years ago if we'd be reviewing a Guitar Hero game in 2015, the chances are that we would have laughed you out of the building. So, we were as surprised as anyone when Activision announced that they'd be reviving the franchise this year and attempting to bring it into the current generation. And...
Review Halo 5: Guardians (Xbox One)
Combat Evolved
343 Industries took a lot of risks with Halo 5: Guardians. Tampering with the fundamentals of a series as respected and beloved as Halo could be disastrous, but the Microsoft-created studio went ahead and did it anyway. Considering Halo 4 divided the fan base and caused many to worry that the franchise might be in the wrong hands, you...
Review Wasteland 2: Director's Cut (Xbox One)
Putting The Fun Back Into "Dysfunctional"?
First released on the PC back in September 2014, Wasteland 2: Director's Cut is a sequel to the 1988 title Wasteland, a game that has been credited with providing the inspiration for the Fallout series of games. So, it has quite a legacy to live up to, and some mighty big boots to fill! The question we hope...
Review Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations (Xbox One)
Adventure Crime
The first hour of Adventure Time: Finn and Jake Investigations is a bit rocky. If you've played a classic adventure game before, you should have an understanding of the agenda almost immediately: search the environments as thoroughly as possible by talking to NPCs, interacting with objects, and collecting items that could be useful...
Review The Escapists: The Walking Dead (Xbox One)
Pixel Zombie
The Walking Dead is one of those franchises that seems to be everywhere. From television to every other type of merchandise, Robert Kirkman's comic series has become a global phenomenon and the video game industry has more than taken note, with mobile iterations and story-telling masters Telltale Games giving the zombie epic a highly...
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...
Kaijuuuu!
There's no getting around the fact that tower defence titles have been done to death in recent years. Checking the genre listings on Steam shows that 135 of them are up for grabs on PC at the time of writing. With that said, the apparent limitations of using a controller as opposed to a keyboard and mouse means that not a great deal of...
Review Rock 'N Racing Off Road DX (Xbox One)
Bunkered
It's been way too long since the incredible Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off-Road was released. Since the game's debut in 1989, nothing has come remotely close to improving on the mix of sandy arcade vehicle jumping fun, so when we heard that a game with a similar feel - Rock 'N Racing Off-Road DX - was coming to Xbox One, we sat up and...
Review Blood Bowl 2 (Xbox One)
Fumbling the ball
Blood Bowl 2 comes to Xbox One as part of Games Workshop's continual use of their fringe franchises away from the tabletop. Blood Bowl was a popular tabletop Gridiron and Warhammer violence-laden mashup first introduced in 1987, seeing numerous re-releases since, the most radical of which occurred in 1994. With Games Workshop now...
Spilling the claret
Gaming these days can feel more like work than play. When you've weighed up the 800 million different options that you have to be able to just buy a game (and the preorder bonuses, and the Season Pass, and the holographic Steelbook case, and the "Limited Edition" statue) and finally got your new game installed and patched, you'll...
Review Draw a Stickman: EPIC (Xbox One)
3, 2, 1... Draw!
Games that have an interesting or unique premise are always going to grab attention in today's expanding market, as they promise an experience unlike the ones that have come before. Draw a Stickman: EPIC is one such game. The player starts the game by drawing their very own stick figure, who then serves as the protagonist of the...
Review Fermi's Path (Xbox One)
A road too far travelled
From the very outset, Fermi's Path will put you in mind of a number of other games. The game tasks you with controlling a particle, which moves forward automatically and leaves you to dodge and jump over obstacles such as you do in Temple Run or any number of other endless runners. The rotation mechanic, which sees you...
Bit tripped
When the developers of the excellent BIT.TRIP games announce that they're releasing a rhythm action adventure, that's enough of a reason for people to stop and take notice. When that very game looks to be shaping up to be a cross between Rez and Child of Eden, you throw out your work for the week of release because you're relatively sure...
Review Skylanders SuperChargers (Xbox One)
Supercharged ... or running out of steam?
Skylanders Superchargers is the latest in a chain of games featuring the Skylanders, a collection of plastic figures that are transformed by the "Portal of Power" into characters you can control on the screen. So far, it's been so good. Each year, a new refinement to the formula is introduced. We've had...
Review The Jackbox Party Pack 2 (Xbox One)
Jack of all trades, master of fun
Whether they loved it or hated it, nobody can deny that Jackbox's first compilation – The Jackbox Party Pack – was exceedingly well crafted. Providing support for up to 100 players on one console using smart devices such as phones and tablets, the package breathed life into more than a few parties with its...
Review Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition (Xbox One)
Are you sitting comfortably?
To kick things off here, we'd like to address a bit of criticism that we've seen for Three Fourths Home across social media since it launched on Xbox One. The main critique – despite the game's description containing the words "visual short story" – seems to be that the product is not a game at all. Then again, we...
Review Rugby League Live 3 (Xbox One)
Play the ball
With two absolutely rancid rugby union titles already available for Xbox One (Rugby 15, Rugby World Cup 2015) it was with apprehension that we strode out onto the field to take on the competing code of rugby league in Big Ant's latest offering. Fortunately, the team is nothing to do with those godawful games, but is responsible for the...
Review Polychromatic (Xbox One)
Round and round
In a world where twin-stick shooters are becoming more and more popular, it takes an awful lot to even think of climbing the ladder to battle against the might of titles such as Geometry Wars 3. One way that smaller studios can attempt to take the big guns to task – aside from getting the gameplay down, of course – is by...
Review Transformers: Devastation (Xbox One)
Exactly what meets the eye
Transformers: Devastation is not a catastrophe like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5. It's clearly a game that was made on a modest budget during a restricted development cycle, but it's a Platinum game and that's exactly what it feels like – exactly. It's an action-packed, fluid, and adrenaline-rousing exercise in ultra-quick...
Review Extreme Exorcism (Xbox One)
Scarily addictive platfoming
The resurgence of retro-inspired platformers is something that has not gone unnoticed. Through the ID@Xbox program, more and more of these little titles appear to be popping up on Xbox One and their popularity speaks volumes about the genre itself. Extreme Exorcism is one such title. Giving a twist to the established...
Review Guns, Gore and Cannoli (Xbox One)
Disorganized crime
In Guns, Gore & Cannoli, players fill the shoes of Vinnie Cannoli, an enforcer for the mob in the 1920s. When Vinnie is sent into Thugtown to locate a person of interest for his employer, he soon finds that circumstances are dire. Zombies and rival gang members are everywhere, and the city is in disarray. With an arsenal of...
Review Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart (Xbox One)
Walking the plank.
Nightmares from the Deep: The Cursed Heart comes to Xbox One during an extremely odd phase in digital game publishing on the platform. Developers looking to make a quick buck can now seemingly easily publish their quickly-ported games on the Xbox Store and see them get front page coverage upon release. This doesn't always work all...
