MaxC

I'm glad it is rally / off-road content as that's what I enjoy most in the series, but disappointed that there is seemingly nothing visually unique yet. Not that we need another Hot Wheels, but the setting looks like we could have just used a lot of the large open areas from the base map.

@AndroidBango lol. The "least interesting" qualifier is subjective and most of the world clearly disagrees with you given the success of the books, movies, and now this game. I'm really just here to comment on you referring to it as a "generic open-world" since they couldn't be further from the truth - whether you enjoy HP or not, I can't think of a single game that accomplishes such a fantastic realization of an expansive interior environment. Maybe some would point to Control or indoor sections of other action games, but those are typically built without the restrictions of a pre-determined exterior structure that audiences have been looking at for the past two decades. If I compared this to the open-world game series that have had multiple iterations (Elder Scrolls, Assassin's Creed, Far Cry), what you get here feels nothing like that, so finding it "generic" is really strange to me. Fortunately, most review outlets are giving the developers the credit they deserve.

Licensing the music was no doubt the issue here. They brought the majority of iconic original Xbox exclusives back, including a lot of obscure ones, so they definitely had conversations about it.

@Cherip-the-Ripper I was thinking the same thing! Is this the first game developed by a now first-party studio to leave Game Pass? I think so. It wasn't totally self-published, sure, but all of Obsidian's pre-acquisition games are still on there. Definitely weird.

Merry Christmas guys! You're the only site I check daily, so thanks!

I really wanted to like this game and while I do love the aesthetic and most of the soundtrack, the visuals are not very impressive on a Series X. If you played Forza Horizon 4 on a One X or latest game on the Series console, I think the first thing you will notice in NFS is the muddiness of the environments/textures compared to Forza. Seems a little odd to say "I feel like anyone that plays it will totally understand" because while the overall visuals, including the visual effects, do not feel uniquely next-gen.

I've been playing through every Sonic game leading up to Frontiers because I wanted to answer this question! I grew up with a Genesis and Sonic 2 being my first console game and have played every Sonic game since with the exception of Lost World and Colors. Going into things, I though Adventure 1 was my favorite, but after playing through everything, that game holds up very poorly, even compared to Adventure 2. It's really janky.

I think gameplay-wise Generations might be the best, but in terms of levels and music, I think Unleashed wins, despite the last level being miserable and most of the Werehog levels being really un-fun. That said, Adventure and Adventure 2 feel the best to play - they are so snappy and the controls feel better than the more modern games.

So basically, I don't have an answer or opinion, but voted for Unleashed here just because I saw it was far behind Adventure, Adventure 2, and Generations

@EliSweetG Since you are not playing fighters or shooters, it probably won't matter, but platformers could be problematic.

As for Bluetooth, two things: (1) you're right, I've also had no issues with the Switch controllers at all, (2) my not-so-scientific test only involved two different smartphones which we're produced in 2018 and 2020. That said, yes, the difference was massive between BT and direct connection. I don't know enough about BT technology, but maybe there are devices which simply have "better" BT functionality? For the Bluetooth tests with Gamepass, I used an official Xbox controller paired to the phone and the two phones were made by Google and Samsung. I would think that's pretty much as good as you can get, but maybe it's the added strain of playing a game via Cloud that creates a more noticeable delay?

So it's hard to say, but the experience was so jarring to me that it will affect all my current and future buying plans for this kind of stuff, at least for the next few years!

Really like the design/look of this controller, but the lack of a direct USB connection while in handheld mode makes this an instant "no" for me. I currently use the Razer Kishi for the times I need to let someone else use the console or PC and that direct USB-C connection over Bluetooth is the number one most important thing when it comes to Gamepass. I recall running some not-so-scientific tests playing Killer Instinct on 4G vs 5G and the difference in input lag was negligible, but the difference for BT vs USB connection is night and day. Literally the most important thing if your only option is streaming/xCloud.

@Snake_V5 That would be ideal, but even a fraction of that is still great. This is already a frivolous feature - we bought the games knowing we would be limited to playing them on the console where we bought them. Now here they are saying some non-Gamepass games will also be available, so yeah, that's kind of cool and not trash. Just because a product or service isn't exactly the way I want it doesn't make it valueless. Do you know of any media-related products or services that could not be better in some way? And are the imperfect ones also trash?

@Snake_V5 There are well over a thousand playable games on the current gen Xbox platforms. Not even all of the Gamepass games are available on xCloud as of today, so clearly it takes time to support that compatibility. And in your opinion, this new feature is trash because they won't be making 1,000+ games available?

"Trash" would be something of no value. If they select one game you enjoy and make it available through this feature, it would be of some value to you.

@Snake_V5 Trash? We don't know anything yet about which games will be selected, but I'm optimistic many games will become available through this service over a long period of time with probably only a couple dozen at launch. Also, if you already subscribe to Gamepass, this appears to be just an added feature with no additional cost. What makes this announcement trash?

I've had the same two unlikely wishes for the past half decade or more:

• Banjo-Threeie
• Acquire SEGA + announce a new Ecco, Space Channel 5, or Jet Set Radio.

@__jamiie Well said. As a SEGA kid that switched to Xbox when the Dreamcast died, I could never understand the appeal of PlayStation.

To be fair, emulation for the original Xbox has been notriously difficult to crack, even on regular PCs. Not going to link anything, but there is a lengthy video on YouTube explaining why that is whereas Dreamcast, GameCube, and Playstation 2 emulation (and even later consoles) have practically been solved.

Shame though. Mad Dash Racing, Murakumo, and a few other Original Xbox games are still stuck in that generation and unplayable even on 360.

Otogi. Or Tenchu: Return From Darkness, but I think they were just a published in that case.

A good day to boot this up on the 360 since at least it was back compatible there!

Excited for Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Team Reptile has shown they have the sound and aesthetic nailed down with Lethal League and Lethal League Blaze and all the teasers/trailers for Bomb Rush are looking great. It's the closest we'll get until SEGA decides to make cool games again.

@Bobobiwan I agree, time-limited things can be lame and I've seen this complaint a lot. That said, since they want to have story moments that advance/change the world in material ways, there really isn't a way to manage that since it's a shared world game. And to give them some credit, there are like 17 permanent story adventures in the game now and based on achievement percentages (if those mean anything) most people haven't played through half of that content.

If it's any consolation, the story takes about 45 minutes tops to complete solo, so you don't need to dedicate a lot of time to see what's going on.

@oconnoclast such a good point. I feel like a lot of people that consider themselves gamers or are active in gaming communities, forums, sites, etc. latch onto the "Playstation has the better games and more exclusives, that's why they have the larger install base" narrative, but that isn't the mentality behind the vast majority of consumers (who don't buy/play more than 5 games per year). The Spider-Man stat is a good example and it applies to lots of other console exclusives (Breath of the Wild, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Last of Us, etc).

There are some exclusives that manage mass-market appeal, like Mario Kart (and maybe Halo will redeem itself over the next year!) that have a 50%+ install/attach rate, but it's extremely uncommon.

Hades, Halo, Forza, Psychonauts in no particular order
+
Sable! The audio bugs and framerate problems on Series X were annoying, but even still, the exploration and writing were so great, I really didn't want this game to end. For being a Breath-of-thd-Wild-like game, I felt more invested in the narrative, characters, and ending than I ever did in Zelda.

A, but dropped it down to a B for the Red Notice commercial...

Was really excited for this game until I watched some uploads of full matches. The element of stealth gameplay is gone after the first third of the match and then it just becomes an overt battle between the two teams as they mostly ignore the braindead AI. The one powerful AI unit, the sheriff, is comically slow-moving and only threatening because he kills players instantly once in grab range.

I had high hopes for an online stealth multiplayer game (dreaming of something to fill the void of Splinter Cell 2 and 3's Spies v Mercs), but this is absolutely not it.

@Krzzystuff There is a story to play through, so 90% off is probably fair. That said, it performs pretty poorly on the One, One S, and One X. Not sure if performance was improved on the Series consoles.

@BionicDodo I think you're referring to the likelihood of exclusive / limited-release games in the context of an acquisition, meaning players that don't have that platform are cut off from content. Fair point, but you're overlooking the good that can come from acquisitions in the sense that developers have access to better resources which should lead to better games. For example, Tim Schafer has mentioned in quite a few interviews since XGS acquired Double Fine how happy he is that he can focus on creating games and not the business side of being a game studio. I'd say better games is a win for players, and at least with the Xbox acquisitions, you have the option of playing on Xbox, PC, or even just an Android phone via xCloud.

Pay for 1 month once all the episodes are out, binge, and then cancel.

Even outside of licensed games or games with licensed soundtracks, there are still a bunch I'm hoping to see make it over:
Space Channel 5 p2, Dead or Alive Ultimate and 3, Gunvalkyrie, Otogi 1 & 2, Phantasy Star Online, and Tenchu come to mind. Also surprised the Kingdom Under Fire and Ninety-Nine Nights games haven't made it considering those were platform exclusives.