Tag: Reviews - Page 9
So NERO, so far(o)
When NERO first made its appearance back at E3 2014, pretty much everybody with eyes on the screen was intrigued. Beautiful settings, a fantastic soundtrack, and stacks of luminescence were the order of the day. That first trailer didn't particularly shed any light on the gameplay though. As it turns out, Storm in a Teacup's...
And not a light cycle in sight...
When it comes to twin-stick shooters, the Xbox One now has a fair few titles from which to choose. The excellent Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is at the top of the pile, whilst less high-profile releases such as We Are Doomed and Sixty Second Shooter Prime bring up the rear. Puppy Games' Ultratron – the follow up...
Review Project CARS (Xbox One)
Spin Spin Sugar
It's 8am on a drizzly Spanish morning. Despite the light smattering of rain, the early morning sunlight floods through the trees dotted around the Catalunya circuit, reflecting in the standing water on the wet tarmac and bringing the whole track to life. The sand to the edges of the raceway looks as bright and soft as the most...
Review Pinball FX2 - Star Wars Rebels (Xbox One)
Strong with this one, the Force is
Earlier this week we reviewed Avengers: Age of Ultron for Pinball FX2, and we regret to say that we were disappointed with it. Because it felt familiar and uninspired, we were a little bit worried that the developer, Zen Studios, might be losing some of that magic it's been injecting into its pinball tables for the...
Review Project Root (Xbox One)
Rooted to the flaw
Triangle's Shooting Love 200X managed to find a Western release on Xbox 360 recently and that would suggest that while the numbers have certainly dwindled, there are still enough fans of old-school top-down shooters to be found out there. Many developers have tried – with varying levels of success – to breathe life into a...
Review Pinball FX2 - Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron (Xbox One)
Sequelitis
By now we should all be aware that the people at Zen Studios typically do stellar licensed work. Even when they don't entirely get it right – e.g. the chaos found in South Park Pinball – the fundamentals of pinball are handled well enough to offset the missteps, and it's hard to criticize them on that level. But recently a very steady...
Review Shovel Knight (Xbox One)
Dig your way to retro heaven
Shovel Knight is one of the finest video game success stories of modern times. When a few employees left WayForward to start their very own indie studio, they took to Kickstarter to pitch their first project to the masses and round up the proper funding. That project, of course, was Shovel Knight. The campaign was a...
Review State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition (Xbox One)
New and unimproved
When it comes to writing a review, sometimes the words are easy to put together, while the score causes problems and doubt. Sometimes, the opposite occurs and while you've got the score locked in your head, the words just don't flow. With Undead Labs' remaster of the cult Xbox 360 hit State of Decay, we seem to have run into...
Review Mortal Kombat X (Xbox One)
Taking it to the X level
Back in 2011, Mortal Kombat was reinvented for home consoles with its ninth entry, which amounted to what many consider to be the definitive game in the series. Introducing a story mode unlike anything ever included in a fighting game before it, as well as remixing characters, locations, and plot events from its...
Review Infinity Runner (Xbox One)
Travelling without moving
One type of game that until now has yet to make the jump to Xbox One – some would say thankfully – is the endless runner. Made popular by the likes of Temple Run and a billion other pretenders on mobile devices, the genre has yet to really get a foothold on any home console platform. This is more than likely due to the...
Review Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China (Xbox One)
Changing perspectives
The concept of taking the Assassin's Creed franchise into a 2.5D game world is certainly an interesting proposition. Many were wondering how Ubisoft and Climax Studios would go about getting the free-running elements of the main franchise into a side-scroller whilst keeping an element of freedom about the proceedings. The good...
Review The Evil Within: The Assignment (Xbox One)
Extra marks for excellence
If you're expecting The Evil Within's first story-based DLC, The Assignment, to play anything like the main game, you may want to sit down and read this first. While the original gave players a chance to fight back the horrors with plenty of weapons and gadgets, The Assignment throws all of that away for a more methodical,...
Review Goat Simulator (Xbox One)
Bleat It
If you have logged into Steam recently, you have undoubtedly noticed that there are simulators for just about every single type of activity. Farming? Check. Warehouse and Logistics? Of course! This trend is obviously ripe for parody, so it made sense that the April 1st release of Goat Simulator on Steam last year became a hit. Now over a...
Review We Are Doomed (Xbox One)
Gone too soon
When it comes to twin-stick shooters, Geometry Wars changed the game when it reared its head back in 2003. Plenty of pretenders to the throne have come and gone and the release of Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions (and the subsequent free content-doubling DLC pack) has raised the bar once again. Out twin-sticking the wireframe champion is...
Review Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (Xbox One)
It's what's on the inside that counts
When Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel released back in October for last-generation consoles only, pretty much anyone and everyone with any understanding of this industry suspected it wouldn't be long before it found its way onto Xbox One. Sure enough, about 5 months later, it's shown up where we expected it to and...
Burnt out
When it comes to simulations of motorcycle racing, there's really only one name left in the business. When you buy a game based on MotoGP, Motocross, Superbikes, or anything else that runs on two wheels and has an engine, Italian developer Milestone is likely who will be behind it. With so many titles under their belt, we were expecting...
Review Tower Of Guns (Xbox One)
Bulletproof...We Wish It Was
Tower of Guns is a very simple game at its core. You play the protagonist, running through room after room of the eponymous tower, shooting anything mechanical that tries to do you harm. Once you've cleared a room, you shoot the door and move into another one to do the same, then repeat until you meet a boss character...
Review Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones (Xbox One)
Sneaky Fun
It is quite fitting that Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones, a 2D stealth action game developed by Curve Digital, crept up on us. With the previous title being generally enjoyable, this was a game that was anticipated, but no more than your standard sequel. With this one though, you'll decide to play "an hour" before bed, and find that five...
Review Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty! (Xbox One)
It's an odd, odd world.
Gamers may claim to be sick of remakes, but they keep selling. These remakes serve the purpose of updating past titles and allowing new people to experience them for the first time. The latest remake to hit Xbox One is Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty!, a remake of 1997's Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee. Has time passed Oddworld by or is it...
Review Pool Nation FX (Xbox One)
Rack and ruined
Back in 2012, a game by the name of Pool Nation launched on Xbox 360. Pretty much overlooked by everyone other than hardcore fans of cue and ball action, it was a surprisingly good take on the sport, featuring a ludicrously addictive Endurance mode, great visuals, and smooth gameplay. Fast forward to 2015, and Pool Nation FX has...
Review Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 (Xbox One)
Orange you glad we didn't say banana?
There weren't a great many solid titles released for Microsoft's first foray into motion-controlled console gaming, but few could argue that Fruit Ninja Kinect was anything less than a cracking game. Easy to get into, fun to play, and devilishly addictive, the game was ported from mobile platforms with aplomb by...
Police Brutality
Los Angeles is an odd location for a cop game. While the Los Angeles Police Department is one of the more famous precincts in America, it's famous for the wrong reasons. The LAPD is famous due to racism, unneeded brutality, and for being the catalyst for the 1992 LA riots. So unless you're trying to make some sort of larger point,...
Review Battlefield: Hardline (Xbox One)
Gettin' tough?
Like the Call of Duty franchise, Battlefield has been doing the same thing for a few years now, and some could argue that the result is becoming a bit stale. While Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare aimed to shake things up with futuristic weaponry and gadgets to spice up both the single-player and the competitive space, it still largely...
Review Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 4: Metamorphosis (Xbox One)
Loose ends
Good or bad. This is what it all comes down to when discussing the fourth and final chapter of Resident Evil: Revelations 2. No, we aren’t simply talking about the quality of the episode — which remains as consistent as the previous ones — but rather the type of ending players will receive in the final act. Episode 4: Metamorphosis...
A spell-cial surprise
While PSN and Steam have been quickly accumulating a substantial number of roguelikes, the Xbox One has certainly been lacking in this area. In fact, we aren’t sure if there’s a single game currently available for purchase in the Games Store that's built around this increasingly-popular design choice. Hope is not lost,...
Review Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 3: Judgment (Xbox One)
The one with all the puzzles
Playing Resident Evil: Revelations 2 in its current episodic state really is like coming back to your favourite TV show each week. The quick recaps that preface each instalment do a good job highlighting all the important stuff, while at the same time, achieving a level of excitement for the next. Episode 3: Judgment...
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...
A bit of bump and grind
It's been a while since a decent skateboarding game has hit the shelves. The surprise resurgence in popularity of EA's Skate 3 with the YouTube generation, combined with the excitement over a new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater title being announced though, show that there's still a market for the genre. Hoping to kickflip into the...
Review Resident Evil: Revelations 2 - Episode 2: Contemplation (Xbox One)
Better than the first
Without a doubt, the second episode of Resident Evil: Revelations 2 knows how to up the ante. The story is more compelling, the action more exciting, and the enemies significantly more challenging. While Episode 1 was a solid opening chapter, it also felt predictable and played things a little too safe. Episode 2, however —...
Review DmC: Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition (Xbox One)
Here’s your chance to atone
Great games don’t always get the appreciation they deserve, and that’s a damn shame. Look at 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot, which was a smash hit with critics and most that played it, yet somehow it didn’t meet sales expectations. It’s a top-notch production all around, with refined gameplay, stunning art design,...
Review Ori and the Blind Forest (Xbox One)
An unforgettable journey
Some people are bothered by the term Metroidvania, which we’ve never really understood. We’re fully aware that it’s an unnecessary subgenre classification that derives its name from two of the industry’s most respected franchises, Metroid and Castlevania, but we're quite alright with that. For those of you unfamiliar...
Review Zombie Army Trilogy (Xbox One)
Probably Nazi game you were looking for
Zombie Army Trilogy began life as standalone downloadable content pieces for Sniper Elite V2 on PC. The initial release was a fun diversion that saw Adolf Hitler summoning his own army of zombies to help defend an almost-defeated Germany in the final days of World War II. A second edition that followed on from...
Scream if you wanna go faster...
Every so often – with increasing rarity – a game comes along that provides genuine doses of innovation on a wide scale. It may be entirely original. It may build and improve upon notes taken from another title, or even from more than one. But with more and more copycat products just rehashing the same old...
Review Pinball FX2 - Iron & Steel Pack (Xbox One)
Catapults and six-shooters aplenty
It feels like ages since Zen Studios created pinball tables that weren't based on comic books or cartoons. Actually, it's been three years. In that three years time, we've watched this talented studio craft fantasy pinball experiences that excel beyond anything we could ever expect to find standing on four legs in...
Review Pneuma: Breath of Life (Xbox One)
God us
We weren't quite sure what to make of Pneuma: Breath of Life before getting our hands on it. Early trailers gave the impression that it was to be a Myst-like puzzle game that took itself very seriously. The visuals looked stunning and, although certainly having an artistic spice to them, appeared to primarily be concerned with realism...
You spin me right round
Every year without fail a new release is heralded as the 'Citizen Kane' of video games. It's a baffling, completely unfair comparison, as movies and games are two totally different mediums; but it's one that is easy to make when recognizing a quality product. While No Goblin's revolving limousine arcade game, Roundabout, is...
Review Don Bradman Cricket (Xbox One)
A great knock
Over the years, there have been a fair few attempts made at replicating the incredibly complex sport of cricket. Some have come close to perfecting the mix, with the likes of Codemasters having multiple attempts at getting things right. But there's always been the feeling that the developers who are trying to emulate the sport have...
Natural Selection
With an obnoxious marketing campaign, a controversial amount of planned DLC, and multiplayer betas after discs have been pressed, it has been hard to not hear about Evolve in the past few months. Lost in the media shuffle though was that Evolve - despite whatever concerns one may hold over its business plan - is a fantastic game...
Rucking terrible.
When it comes to forming an opinion of the annual sports titles that we love to hate, it can be really easy to overlook all the things they get right. The little things that build up into the overall picture, such as the pace of the game, the way players move, and the intelligence of the AI. We tend to focus on the new features...
Review The Escapists (Xbox One)
A Great Escape
As a reviewer of video games, every now and again you can fall into a bit of a dull patch. Every game looks the same. Nothing is interesting. Nothing on the horizon really excites you the way that games of old did. It all gets, for want of a better phrase, a bit "meh." Generally though, you'll find that something comes along that...
Are you afraid of the dark?
To say that Dying Light is influenced by developer Techland's other main franchise, Dead Island, would be something of an understatement. Entire gameplay features are reemployed in this title, which admittedly, contains a heck of a lot more polish and refinement than any of the Dead Island games. That isn't to say that...
Review Unmechanical: Extended Edition (Xbox One)
The little robot that could
Sidescrolling puzzle games are truly a dime a dozen these days, and we’re getting to a point where it’s hard not to wince every time a new one is announced. That's not to say that a strong selection of these games haven't been knockouts — Braid, Limbo, and Fez, for example, have been absolute homeruns — but even...
Review Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (Xbox One)
Into the depths
It has to be said that there can be few people who weren't salivating at the prospect of a new game set in the Saints Row universe being released for less than £16. Even fewer when you consider that the new title would also be available with a rehashed edition of the excellent Saints Row IV for less than £40 for the pair. Indeed,...
Drop in the ocean
Anyone that lived through the last couple of generations of console gaming has probably at least tried their hand at a water-based racing game. Whether it was the seminal Wave Race, the fondly-remembered Hydro Thunder, the massively underrated Splashdown, or even the somewhat disappointing Rapid Racer, more or less every platform...
Review Resident Evil (Xbox One)
REmake. REmastered. REmarkable
The Resident Evil name doesn't quite hold the same weight it once did. While Resident Evil 4 is widely accepted as the peak of the franchise, it also marked the beginning of a series that would continually struggle to find an identity in the years to follow. So perhaps Capcom's decision to remaster the GameCube remake...
Review Funk of Titans (Xbox One)
Something's funky
Funk of Titans is a tough game to describe, but we're going to give it a go. The ancient Greek god of the sky and thunder, Zeus, has tasked you, Perseus, with defeating the ancient Music Titans of Pop, Rap, and Rock, using your own brand of "Funk-fu." To do this, you must auto-run and jump through a series of levels, collecting...
Review Rabbids Invasion: The Interactive TV Show (Xbox One)
Keep calm and BWAAAAAAAAH!
First there were Rabbids. Then there were Minions. But the Rabbids were first. It's probably impossible for anyone to have missed the Ubisoft spectacle that is the Ravin' Rabbids. They are loud, they are over-the-top, and they are everywhere! They don't have a proper language, but their mimed slapstick (heavily infused by...
Review Tetris Ultimate (Xbox One)
Block-dropping beats
When it comes to rebooting games, building a new version of Tetris has to be the easiest thing that can be done. After all, as long as you at least have the basic tetromino-dropping and line-clearing endless gameplay mode that set the world on fire back in the 80s, you'll have a bunch of satisfied customers who just want to play...
Two Is Better Than One
Developer Press Play has a track record of consistently creating interesting platformers that allow players to experience inventive mechanics. In Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, they allowed players to wield a magic marker to interact with the game's levels, for example. They continues with their trend of crafting well-made...
Partners in cute
Juju is a total surprise. When a platformer such as this comes out of nowhere with little to no promotion behind it, it’s tough not to expect that it will be another dud that deserves to disappear into the darkest corner of the Xbox Live Marketplace. But then we got our hands on it, and within minutes it was apparent that this is...
