Activision Xbox Reviews
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...
Rundown on new ideas
Call of Duty 2023 is here, with Modern Warfare 3 taking the mantle this time around as the franchise's first 'back-to-back sequel' in its 20-year history. This year's game contains three main components: campaign, multiplayer and for the first time in the MW series, Zombies. But, how do they all stack up? And how does Zombies...
Review Crash Team Rumble - Toys For Bob Serves Up Another Crash Bandicoot Banger
Wumpa Warzone
When we first got wind that Crash Bandicoot was to star in his very own online multiplayer game, you'll forgive us for not having got all that excited. As much as we love Crash, and as much as we enjoy this genre of game, well, it just feels as though these sorts of online arena-styled efforts come and go all too frequently these days,...
Review Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward's Best COD Since 2009's MW2
Modern W
2022 has been a slow year for AAA gaming, with much of the industry's anticipated lineup delayed until next year. However, like clockwork, a new Call of Duty game has managed to make it, with long-time developer Infinity Ward back behind the iron sights for another venture into the murky world of Modern Warfare. 2019's
Review Call Of Duty: Vanguard - An Enjoyable, Yet Familiar Romp
You've seen all of this before
Ten minutes into the Call of Duty: Vanguard campaign and you're jumping from rooftop to rooftop on a moving train. Yep, this is classic Call of Duty alright. Fast forward an hour and you're dogfighting in the air over the sea in a sky full of explosions. If all of this sounds fairly familiar then that's pretty much...
We're pretending we're Supermen again
We comprehensively reviewed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 back at launch and found it to be a superb return to form for the Birdman, but now we're doing things a little different with its upcoming Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S upgrade, as there are quite a few things to talk about in regards to the improvements...
Review Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time - Platforming Bliss On Xbox Series X
Grandmaster Crash
Updated Xbox Series X Review (by Fraser Gilbert): It hasn't even been six months since Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time first launched for Xbox One, and the game has already received an updated version for Xbox Series X and S. We've checked out the Xbox Series X version, and while it already played really well through backwards...
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Par For The Course, But Undeniably Fun
Jingo all the way.
Call of Duty: Black Ops returns with a brash and bombastic Cold War campaign that hammers home the series' usual heavy-handed jingoism as it funnels you through shooting galleries full of dim-witted enemies and bashes you over the head with OTT set pieces. This is Black Ops returning to its roots somewhat, steering mercifully...
Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 - Returns The Series To Its Former Glory
The Birdman is back
It's hard to believe we've reached this point. It's been well over a decade since Tony Hawk fans were last treated to a standout title in the long-running series, and even a past attempt at remastering the original two games didn't come close to hitting the mark back in 2012 with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. But this time,...
Review Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare - A Fresh Take On A Stale Formula
Breach and clear
Coming after the mixed reception to 2018’s Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare already has one plus on its side from the off: a fully-fledged story campaign. While many might argue whether narrative modes have much of a place in an era of battle passes and games as a service, Modern Warfare proves a story mode...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan (Xbox One)
The wait for a great TMNT game continues...
We've reviewed three Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games in Pure Xbox's lifetime, and the highest any of those games scored was a 3/10. That's pretty dire, huh? Not since TMNT: Turtles in Time landed on the Super Nintendo back in 1992 have fans received a genuinely great game based on this timeless...
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...
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 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 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...
Fade to black
With over-the-top prose, a very, very distinctive visual style, and with the potential for real thrills, White Night is absolutely stacked full of promise. A relatively low-key release, the game takes place exclusively in black-and-white, with the darkness only pierced by the occasional electric light and the lead character's ability...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Danger of the Ooze (Xbox 360)
Another turtle-tastrophe
We apologize in advance for doing this, but click here and here. Last year saw the release of two video games based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles license, and you should know that we found both of them to be pretty terrible. But despite these Galapagos tortoise-sized cowabummers, when TMNT: Danger of the Ooze was...
Review The Legend of Korra (Xbox One)
Elementary elements
When you hear that Platinum Games is working on a title, you generally sit up and listen, such is the general quality of their titles. You even take notice when you hear that they’re working on a title based on a Nickelodeon TV show for Activision, despite the quality of game that sort of sentence would usually result in. Even...
Review Skylanders: Trap Team (Xbox One)
Fool us once...
To say that we were sceptical about the latest Skylanders title, Trap Team, would be an understatement. Having not had a great deal of experience with the series, but having seen the shelves upon shelves of toys for sale at seemingly ludicrous prices in every supermarket and specialist store for the last couple of years, we thought...
"I'm your density. I mean, your destiny."
It goes without saying that we all expect big things from the creators of the Halo series. And it’s not just because they bestowed upon us one of the best science-fiction gaming franchises of all time, it’s also due to the epic promise that their new IP will be an intergalactic journey so grand that...
Review The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Xbox One)
Great power. Great disposability.
With another blockbuster film comes another video game tie-in — but is that always a bad thing? With games like Spider-Man 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and even Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay we'd have to say that expecting a lazy cash grab shouldn't always be a go-to reaction. Look back at 2012's...
Review Angry Birds: Star Wars (Xbox One)
Flies in the oink-ment.
Try and find somebody who’s never played an Angry Birds title, and you’ll find that it’s a tough ask. After launching on mobile devices a few years back, the game has gone from strength to strength, and is now – as we all know – available in a million different varieties, for a million different devices. There’s a...
Review Call of Duty: Ghosts (Xbox 360)
Do you know what time it is?!
With the "It's Call of Duty time" tagline that's plastered across advertisements far and wide, comes expectations; the expectation that we know what to expect. If you’re one of the people who think they know what kind of experience is to be found in Infinity Ward’s latest military shooter, chances are you’re...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Xbox 360)
Turtle-y dire.
Being fans of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, we were looking forward to this year. A slick-looking reboot of the show was already in full swing, and Activision had not one, but TWO new games due to hit the Xbox 360 to celebrate. We already know what a massive let-down the digital title – Teenage Mutant...
Review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows (Xbox 360)
It's not a party, dude.
When Out of the Shadows was unveiled back in March of this year, fans were in an uproar about the new look of their beloved Turtles. Instead of going the cartoony route of the current TMNT series on Nickelodeon, developer Red Fly Studios was presenting something a bit more mature, with the Turtles faces actually resembling...
Review Fast and Furious: Showdown (Xbox 360)
Furious is right.
Movie tie-ins have had a long and storied history when it comes to the video game world. A few are superb. More are half-decent. Most are average. But when it comes down to it, an awful lot of them are appallingly rushed titles that tick some of the fanservice boxes and then go easy on the gameplay. Fast and Furious: Showdown is...
Review Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games (Xbox 360)
The ice is wearing thin
Games based on movies have a somewhat dodgy reputation. The publisher grabs the movie licence – generally as filming wraps up – and assigns a developer to get a game completed in time for the movie’s release. In rare cases, the development teams have struck gold. Generally though, the publisher ends up releasing a game...
Review Cabela's Adventure Camp (Xbox 360)
If you go down to the woods today
Set in a kids' summer camp with a sergeant keeping on things, the heat is on in Cabela's Adventure Camp as you compete for gold medals against three other happy campers. With six customisable characters to choose from — no Avatar support, sadly — you and three friends can take part in summer camp-themed...
The worst spill in human history
There are bad games, and then there are bad games. Even worse is Wipeout 2. Wipeout 2 is the second game for Kinect — Wipeout: In the Zone came first — based on the ABC television show that features competitors navigating wild obstacle courses designed to fling, smash and bounce them about in various painful...
Review Rapala for Kinect (Xbox 360)
Lacks a-lure
This'll surprise you: Rapala for Kinect isn't a fishing simulation in any way. Sure, you can select your lure in the hope of attracting a particular fish, but that's about as deep as it gets. This is fishing arcade-style: score as many points as you can in the time limit. Your fish is scored on size and rarity, with bonuses for grabbing...
