Xbox Series X Previews
April2024
Hands On XDefiant - Ubisoft's Server Test Has Us Hooked For The Full Release
Working out the kinks
Well, another XDefiant 'beta' of sorts has come and gone - with Ubisoft's server test session wrapping up this past weekend on Xbox. As the name suggests, this pre-release test was put out there mainly to stress the servers, but the game's return has done more than that - it's made us crave the full release thanks to its...
March2024
Feature Hands On With South Park: Snow Day! - A Short But Sweet Co-Op Adventure
Fart-tastic?
You'd have been forgiven for expecting the new South Park game to follow a similar structure to that of 2014s The Stick of Truth and 2017's The Fractured But Whole, but South Park: Snow Day! is a very different beast to those 2D adventures, transforming the series into 3D and offering up a very different gameplay experience. That said,...
Crawling through the zone
Ukrainian developer GSC Game World has finally brought its noughties STALKER games to console in the form of STALKER: Legends of the Zone Trilogy - out now on Xbox. This collection brings together the team's three existing STALKER titles — Shadow of Chornobyl, Clear Sky and Call of Prypiat — into one neat package, and...
January2024
Feature Hands On With Stumble Guys: The New Free-To-Play Timed Exclusive On Xbox
Fall Guys has a new Xbox rival
You've heard of Fall Guys, but have you heard of Stumble Guys? This is an incredibly popular multiplayer game on mobile (and even Steam), and its arrival on Xbox today marks its first ever console version. It'll be coming to PlayStation at some point down the line - and who knows, maybe Nintendo Switch - but it's an...
November2023
Hands On Gangs Of Sherwood Brings Arcadey Robin Hood Action To Xbox Series X|S
Robin Good
We've been donning our hoods and tackling some Gangs of Sherwood this past weekend ahead of its full release on Xbox later this week (the "Lionheart Edition" is actually out today), and we've been having a good time doing so! GoS is a co-op action game from developer Appeal Studios, and while it definitely feels 'AA' in many ways, it's...
October2023
Hands On Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Feels Like DLC Of The Nostalgic Kind
1v1 me on Rust?
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is officially this year's Call of Duty title, and ahead of launch, the team is running multiple beta tests across different platforms to gauge community feedback. The Xbox open beta is about to go live shortly, so we've been hands-on with the early access version to see how things are shaping up on the...
September2023
Hands On Assassin's Creed Mirage Is An Enjoyable Return To The Series' Roots
We spent multiple hours with Ubisoft's latest AC title
Assassin's Creed Mirage is shaping up to be a bit of a throwback to the series' origins when it launches later this year, with more of a focus on tight, stealthy gameplay - and plenty of assassinations of course. Ahead of the game's upcoming launch, we played a good few hours of Mirage (more...
Hands On 'Bomb Rush Cyberfunk' Brings Us Back To The OG Xbox Days
A spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio
If you're a big Jet Set Radio fan, there's a good chance you've been keeping a close eye on the progress of Bomb Rush Cyberfunk over the past few years. This brand-new Xbox release (it arrived on September 1st) is a spiritual successor to the classic Dreamcast and original Xbox series from SEGA, and it's been...
August2023
Hands On Stray Is A Cat-Tastic Adventure, And It's Now Available On Xbox
Purrty great
Editor's note: our hands-on time with Stray has been limited to the PlayStation 5 version of the game so far. We have not had access to test the Xbox version ahead of release, so these impressions are purely based on the PS5 experience at the time of publishing. After a long, catnip-barren year, indie darling Stray is finally out on...
July2023
Hands On Telltale's 'The Expanse' Episode 1 Has Us Hooked
Archer's Paradox
Telltale Games is back with The Expanse - a new episodic series that serves as a prequel to the space-based Amazon Prime TV show. So far, we've gone hands-on with Episode 1 on PC, so do bear in mind that these impressions are based on that version. What we can say though is that our impressions are largely positive, and we're very...
Feature Hands On With Antstream Arcade: Xbox's Massive New Retro Gaming Collection
"Your ultimate gaming arcade is here"
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has mentioned in the past how he feels emulation is a crucial tool in preserving the history of video games, so we probably shouldn't be so surprised to see over 1400 retro titles coming to Xbox later this week in the form of Antstream Arcade. It's also the first third-party cloud...
June2023
Why the long nose?
Whilst Geoff Keighley’s Summer Games Fest might not have been as packed full of surprises as we had perhaps hoped, we did get a nice little lift last night in the form of a demo drop for Neowiz Games’ Lies of P. This promising Soulslike has been on our radar for quite some time now, and the South Korean developer has...
March2023
Hands On Our Early Impressions Of The Diablo 4 Beta On Xbox
One hell of a good time
It’s now been more than a decade since Blizzard originally released its last mainline Diablo game, Diablo III. In between that time it also dropped expansion packs and updates, released multiple versions of the game across various platforms, re-released an older entry, and even launched a mobile (and PC) title known as...
Hands On Dead Island 2 Is A Fleshy Funride Through Infected LA
Hell-a good times
It's safe to say we were somewhat sceptical of Dead Island 2 heading into this hands-on preview. That scepticism wasn't based on what we've seen of the game so far, or on our history with the series (we actually quite liked the first Dead Island), but rather the game's protracted development period. After all - Dead Island 2 was...
Hands On Resident Evil 4's 'Chainsaw Demo' Has Us Wanting More
Is it March 24 yet?
Late last night, the folks over at Capcom unleashed their pre-release Resident Evil 4 Remake demo, and we did what all wise folk would - downloaded it straight away and played it in the wee hours of the morning. Thankfully (for our sleep schedule anyway), this demo slice of Resi 4 is short, with our playtime clocking in at just...
January2023
Hands On Our First Impressions Of GoldenEye 007 On Xbox Game Pass
Rolling back the years
Can you believe it's finally here? For the first time ever since its Nintendo 64 release back in 1997, GoldenEye 007 has officially arrived on Xbox consoles, and we're still pinching ourselves that it's the real deal. The question is, though, what's this version like? In a nutshell, we're looking at a slightly spruced up...
Feature Hi-Fi RUSH Feels Like A Rhythm Game Version Of God Hand, And We're Absolutely Loving It
The Music Within
Wow. Stuff just happens doesn't it. You spend your whole week waiting and expecting a big game remake to drop that's gonna be the main topic of conversation for January 2023 (although the Dead Space Remake does look excellent) and then
December2022
Hands On Need For Speed Unbound Is A Next-Gen Return To Form For NFS
Gotta go fast
As soon as we caught wind that British developer Criterion was back behind the wheel of the latest Need for Speed title, you could say we were pretty excited to see the final result. A number of the series' recent entries have underwhelmed us, so a mix up in the dev department felt like a good choice with 2022's game. While the results...
November2022
Hands On Police Simulator: Patrol Officers - Rough Around The Edges, But Surprisingly Addictive
This is a silly sim, but we're enjoying it
This time last week, we reported on a game called Police Simulator: Patrol Officers which had become one of the "Top Paid Games" in both the UK and US, and even with the Xbox Black Friday 2022 sale in full swing this week, Police Sim
October2022
Hands On Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Campaign Flexes The Series' AAA Muscle
Captain Pricey
Another year, another Call of Duty, with long-time developer Infinity Ward at the helm once again in 2022 delivering a direct sequel to Modern Warfare 2019. So far, we've only had access to the game's campaign ahead of the big online server switch-on later this week, so these thoughts are based purely on single-player. What we can say...
September2022
Hands On Prodeus Is A Fantastic Retro Shooter That DOOM Fans Should Not Miss
Game Pass is slaying it
"The first-person shooter of old, reimagined using modern rendering techniques." That's how Prodeus developer Bounding Box Software describes its Kickstarter funded indie FPS and, boy oh boy, has this studio managed to absolutely nail what they've set out to achieve here. We hadn't heard a great deal about this one, even...
June2022
Hands On Resident Evil 7 Is Impressive All Around On Xbox Series X
Revisiting the swamps of Louisiana
Capcom recently dropped some feature-packed updates to a selection of Resident Evil titles, in an attempt to make them spick and span on Xbox Series X|S. We took the two remakes for a spin last week on Series X, and overall, performance mode was the way to go, especially when rocking a 120Hz display. With the...
May2022
Hands On Arma Reforger Is A Barebones But Exciting Look At The MilSim's Future On Xbox
On the road to Arma 4 with this Xbox timed exclusive
Military Sim fans have had quite the exciting time of things recently with confirmation by Bohemia Interactive that Arma 4 is finally on its way. Further to this, the Czech developer has also gone and dropped the recently leaked Arma Reforger onto current-gen Xbox consoles. But what on earth is a...
Super Smash (Warner) Bros
Player First Games' MultiVersus has been doing the rounds for quite some time now, having first been rumoured as far back as 2019 and then, after a leak, officially announced in November of last year. The colourful free-to-play platform fighter, which is unmistakably and unapologetically a Super Smash Bros clone, takes...
March2022
Hands On The Skywalker Saga Is LEGO Star Wars At Its Very Best
It's living up to the hype so far
The brand-new LEGO Star Wars game, The Skywalker Saga, launches on Xbox in just a couple of weeks on April 5th, and thanks to the folks at Warner Bros. Interactive, we had a chance to get hands-on with the game last week and see whether it's living up to the hype so far. There's a lot of anticipation behind this...
Hands On Is GTA V Worth Buying All Over Again For Xbox Series X|S?
Here's what we think of the next-gen edition
Almost a decade since it first released for Xbox 360 all the way back in 2013, Grand Theft Auto V gets its third Xbox outing this week on Tuesday, March 15th, this time in the form of a dedicated version for Series X and Series S. It's not a free upgrade from the Xbox One version, so you'll need to...
January2022
Hands On Mass Effect Legendary Edition - The Best Way To Experience The Original Series
I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favourite remaster on the Citadel
Update (January 2022): With Mass Effect Legendary Edition joining Xbox Game Pass Ultimate via EA Play this week, we're republishing this hands on feature / review to give you a better idea of what to expect. Original story (May 2021): Back in 2007, when Master Chief was still...
November2021
Hands On GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition - Still A Blast To Play, If You Can Look Past The Bugs
It's not 'Definitive' yet, though
By now, we're sure you're well aware of how GTA: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is being perceived by gamers across the web, and the truth is that we probably don't feel quite as negatively about it as the vocal crowd does. Then again, we can also understand why it's suffering such a poor reception right now...
August2021
Hands On Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - A Subtle Bump In Visuals On Xbox Series X
Still a visual stunner
After the news of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice receiving an Xbox Series X and Series S upgrade yesterday, we just had to dive in. Admittedly, none of us have actually finished the game here at Pure Xbox - a travesty, we know - so this next-gen upgrade is the perfect chance for us to finally embark on that quest. The upgrade...
Hands On Back 4 Blood Is Left 4 Dead 3 In All But Name
And that's not a bad thing
When Back 4 Blood was first announced, we initially were turned off by yet another zombie game hitting the market. It's a genre that's died a death now (no pun intended), and we weren't sure how many more avenues could be explored. It wasn't until we discovered this was being helmed by the creators of Left 4 Dead that our...
Random Uh-Oh, Halo Infinite's Destructible Fruit Has Become A Bit Of A Talking Point
Attention to detail or just nitpicking?
The first Halo Infinite Multiplayer Technical Preview has officially ended, and while many participants seem to be quite taken with it (including us here at Pure Xbox) there are some more, let's say...controversial takes. One video, in particular, on the Halo subeddit highlights how the destruc
Hands On Halo Infinite's Multiplayer Feels Like The Perfect Blend Of New And Old
This could be the start of something new
There was a lot riding on the Halo Infinite Technical Preview. Despite it only being a taste of what’s to come, first impressions count, and it was one the game scarpered in its gameplay reveal last year. Playing the game for the first time has to feel right, and capture the magic that many felt had been...
July2021
Hands On The Ascent - A Gritty Cyberpunk Action-RPG Shooter That Will Keep You Coming Back
Shoot, loot and shoot some more
If you’re familiar with the cyberpunk genre – be it Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner or games like Shadowrun, or CD Projekt Red's troubled release, you can probably already imagine what the world of The Ascent has to offer. It’s got hacking, body modification, artificial intelligence, overcrowded nightclubs, lots...
Hands On 'Braking Point' Is F1 2021's Version Of FIFA's 'The Journey'
It's a proper, fully-featured F1 story mode
Remember 'The Journey' in the FIFA series? It was a multi-year story centring primarily around the fictional character of Alex Hunter, allowing you to play out his career, make decisions to progress the narrative and watch pre-determined cutscenes every time you got to a certain point in the season. That's...
June2021
Hands On Chivalry 2 Is A Multiplayer Game You Do Not Want To Sleep On
A humorous war simulator
Within the first few minutes of Chivalry 2, you're thrown into a boot camp and taught the basics. Whilst this is happening, you're being shouted at by your trainer as he pushes you forward through each tutorial. It's a jarring start and one that surprised us. Not because it was anything jaw-dropping, but purely through the...
Hands On PES 2021 Is An Enjoyable Compliment To Euro 2020 On Xbox Game Pass
Complete with all the official branding
Enjoying the Euros? This year's UEFA European Football Championships (well, technically last year's) have been underway for just over a week now, and if you're anything like us, you've been hooked to your TV multiple times per-day to catch all the action. But when the action stops, Xbox Game Pass comes to the...
April2021
Hands On Second Extinction Feels Tailor-Made For Xbox Game Pass
Our verdict after a few hours with the Xbox version
There's a lot of buzz in the Xbox community surrounding the release of co-op dinosaur shooter Second Extinction, which arrives on Xbox Game Pass as part of the early access Xbox Game Preview program this Wednesday, April 28. Ahead of its launch, we had a chance to go hands-on with the game this...
November2020
Hands On Seagate SSD 1TB Storage Card Is A Great Expansion For Xbox Series X
Faster than fast, quicker than quick
After spending 24 hours with the Seagate SSD Expansion Storage Card, it's clear it was built with the Xbox Series X|S in mind. It's speedy, accessible and adorable with its minute size, making for an excellent choice for anyone who is already clutching for space on their next-gen system. Immediately off the bat...