Blinx

There were so many candidates this year. It's been wild.

I don't think it deserves to be mostly negative, I would put it on mixed personally. But I can understand it. I have to admit I forced myself to push through with Starfield more than any game previously. I found the stories and game world very absorbing, but there were so many design decisions I found to be a bit baffling. Navigation was a chore. They didn't justify the scope they went for imo (should have made it smaller and more curated) and it felt unnecessarily fragmented in many respects. Had it released a generation earlier, I think people would have been much more willing to overlook its design flaws, but for this generation.. I think most of the criticism is completely fair.

Hi-Fi Rush, Age of Empires IV and Forza are the highlights for me. I never got to Redfall due to the state at launch and how long it took for the 60fps mode to be added. I wanted to love Starfield, but it’s ended up being one of the most personally divisive games I’ve ever played. I loved its stories (especially the faction missions) but found so many other aspects of it unintuitive, unrewarding and boring. I put in over 100 hours, and at times loved it and at other points despised it.

I’d give it a B. If Redfall or Starfield had grabbed me more, I think it could have been an A. It’s definitely an improvement on recent years, but I hope that next year will be even stronger.

I feel like we've been spoiled by Stick of Truth and The Fractured But Whole having the exact visual aesthetic of the show. That said, this looks like it could be a lot of fun and sort of gives me flashbacks to the N64 South Park games.

That's dedication. I should start buying up copies of Blinx.

It's a cool piece of kit, but I totally agree it's too expensive to be worth it for most people. I've still got a CRT in the corner of my attic with an OG Xbox hooked up. That'll do me!

Though I sincerely doubt it will compete with the games on that list, I feel morally obliged to vote for Hi Fi Rush.

I'd over the moon with a BG3 release date, some Game Pass announcements, and any sort of trailer for something first party. But those are probably quite high expectations.

I don't think they're helping themselves with stuff like this. That response in particular is a bit embarrassing. Hard to see any outcome where this kind of SM/PR engagement leads to improved good will, surely the opposite is more likely?

For me, the sense of scale Starfield was meant to evoke was completely undermined by the amount of loading screens and fast travelling that the player has to endure. I'm still grinding away on my first playthrough and I don't intend to do any new game + stuff.

The stories and narrative depth is brilliant, and it's worth playing for that alone imo. But mechanically speaking it feels like one of Bethesda's most unrefined games. Much of the criticism seems valid to me. I thoroughly enjoyed my first 60 hours, engaging with the missions and side quests. Once I got into idle exploration, I started to really lose interest.

I want a NoClip documentary about this game's development once its finally out. Very fascinating stuff. Seems inevitable that the game itself is going to be a bit of a mess though.

Sounds like there's a lot of potential in it, as long as they can foster a sizable community of creators.

All of the original Modern Warfares and Blacks Ops 2 for me. Also, I know it's not universally loved but I have a soft spot for Advanced Warfare too.

Based on how bad that is, I’m willing to bet that gamer is a chronic smoker and he’s doing it very near his console. I opened my launch day console for the first time recently, I live in an old and dusty house and I have animals that climb all over the surface I have it on. It was nowhere near that bad!

Series X was my entry point for Game Pass, and I had a ton of first party Xbox One games to catch up on too, so I've thoroughly enjoyed these first three years. Definitely hoping for a nice first party cadence from here on out though. Can't wait for Fable, Hellblade 2 and Stalker 2 in particular.

Seems like it would have been much better off as an expansion. But their mentality was clearly 'money > reputation.'

Never played the first two games, but there's been so much buzz around this one that I'm definitely going to give it a try.

I think PlateUp got delayed, on console at least:
https://twitter.com/YogscastGames/status/1707775659689345462

I can definitely see why people are calling for 3 to be overhauled if the sequels get the same treatment. It's a similar situation to RE5 I suppose!

I loved that it was shadow dropped out of nowhere, but part of me wishes Hi-Fi Rush had dropped in May or something like that. Just so it was more in people's consciousness for GOTY discussions.

Not a bad list though!

The Library isn't a great level from a design point of view, but I do like how methodical it forces you to be. It's a different type of challenge, especially on the higher difficulties. I would argue that the back-tracking setup in Two Betrayals is worse.

Pretty sure a lot of people will have harsher things to say about the CMA. It was clear they wanted to block the deal somehow, they picked very questionable grounds to block the deal and their research and data on that chosen topic was not great. Yes they get to pretend they 'got their win' in some sense, but in the grander scheme of things they embarrassed themselves.

Nice to be able to just focus on the games now this deal is complete. As others have said, I really hope they revisit the BC program to FPS boost some of these titles.

Really hope there's a Tony Hawk 3+4 remake some day too.

Dang, that's really nice. Especially the controller design.

Im loving it so far. I played 7 quite recently and I do notice the increased granularity over that. Also really like the concept of earning XP in live time, although having to level up every single car to unlock parts and things seems a bit excessive to me. I'm not sure that encourages people to try every vehicle, I'd be more inclined to pick the best in class and max them out instead.

Like others have said, I guess you're paying for the convenience of the form factor and it being cable free. If that's not the major draw for you though, it's well worth looking at other much cheaper options.

For under the current price point to buy one in the UK, there's even some 1080p/120hz and 1440p/60hz options.

Very cool premise for a puzzle adventure. With those sort of review scores I'll definitely be checking it out today.

Nah, I'll wait. Starfield included the future DLC, Horizon included two DLC add-ons, Motorsport is just more cars. That's not a worthwhile incentive for me personally. Gotta draw the line somewhere.

@Lup I found JSR tough and a bit unforgiving at times too, especially in later stages, in that way that arcadey games can be. I've only cleared about three stages of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk so far, but it feels a bit kinder because of smoother controls, a better camera and more intuitive level design. The combo system can be a bit intimidating at first though, you have to properly grasp it to start racking up high scores.

I quite like they want you to keep as stealthy as possible, but it's a real shame if the gunplay itself feels a bit dated. Especially since its been such a long time since 2. You'd think that would be one of the core focuses.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk which is a really good time if you loved the JSR games. Quake II and also checking out the EA Sports FC 24 ten hour trial.

@LoquaciousB It’s definitely something that suddenly becomes a lot more feasible with Microsoft’s backing. Same goes for something like Skylanders too, I’d imagine. I’m hoping they start with some more straight-forward revivals though, like Tony Hawks and Spyro.

Seriously at my wits end with FIFA. For the last couple years, I've been encountering late-game quitters in div 1 and not getting the win. Can't really tell how widespread it is, but I see the same complaints in the EA forums every year.

I'm a big enough footy game fan to buy it if it doesn't suffer from that issue. I'm done with EA if it does though, ten hours should be long enough to figure it out hopefully!

Kind of cool, but surprisingly expensive.

This dropped off my radar completely around launch, having seen so many people complaining about performance issues. Good to hear it's finally in a better state.

Starfield. Logged a stupid amount of time in it already. Around 42 hours. And I still feel like I haven't scratched the surface. Also trying to play more of Sea of Stars on the side.

I hope I have time to get to Signalis, keep hearing great things about it. Would also like to revisit A Plague Tale Requiem now it has the 60fps performance mode, sweep up achievements.

This is really useful to know, thanks! Makes sense why that suggestion keeps cropping up now. I'll be taking my time either way, but it probably means I'll wait to fully explore certain pursuits until I've got to NG+.

I understand they wanted to distinguish the Series S visually, but it looks so much sleeker in black. Very tempted to grab an S now for my office.

It's a really fun mode. Whatever they do next, I really hope 343 will use this as a reference point. You have to wonder how successful Infinite could have been if it had launched feature complete with this sort of content cadence.

Great review. I'm finding the characters a bit forgettable, but I'm loving the vibe and mechanics. Combat is fantastic.

Wow, you don't hear of a fire being referenced for a delay too often. That's a shame, but it's not a huge wait. Can't wait to try this game finally, I know a lot of PC players who love it.

I like how apologetically Phil backs away after dying. The dev could sense it too, haha. It's nice to see this kind footage though.

@MattT3142 I agree, but then again I'm pretty much exclusively gaming on Xbox these days. If you've played some of those titles elsewhere, I can see how it would lower the quality of the first half of the year quite a bit.

Anyways, Stalker 2 looks incredible. I'm happy to see it move into next year personally, there's too much good stuff on this side of the year already.

Man, I wish I got into No Man's Sky. These days it seems to have such a steady stream of content. I almost feel intimidated by the volume at this point, I should still give it a go though. Those devs have been on an amazing journey.

Nice to see hall effect controllers hitting the market for Xbox. The GameSir one seems to have decent reviews, there's also one from Snakebyte.

Not sure about the layout or look of this Hyperkin one, but I like the tongue in cheek name!

Very nice indeed! Gotta get that installed asap.

@Nightcrawler71 Yep, that's right. Got it downloading myself right now.

Sad times. I still enjoy going back to my 360, but admittedly it's mostly for games which have also disappeared from the 360 marketplace due to licensing issues or whatever else.

Haptics, hall effect sticks and back buttons!

Definitely one of my favourite tracks, but I wish they would focus more on the improvements to handling and physics more than things that we can safely assume will be in the game. I have the same issue with fighting games 'revealing' well known characters that we absolutely know will be there already.