I really enjoyed Maize, perhaps more than I should have. I was expecting the game to be absurd to the point where it made no sense, but in reality I found the story cohesive. Completely out there with a Russian teddy bear and walking, talking corn stalks, but still cohesive.
The nostalgia felt when playing Sonic Mania means that SEGA have done a fantastic job. It looks the part, sounds the part and most importantly plays the part. It’s more challenging than I remember, but this is quite possibly due to there being a lot of new elements to the levels to learn, and my muscle memory from the old games counts for nothing here. There is plenty of replayability here though, so maybe one day those memories will return.
It’s going to sound weird but Oh… Sir! is a quite a charming game given the context. It has an art style that certainly will not be winning any awards but is weirdly amusing to look at, much like the rest of the game.
many veteran players of this series will feel let down by this latest instalment, and this is all down to the bare bones approach that the developers have taken by releasing this game with only 12 cars and 10 race tracks.
It’s another short one overall at around two hours, but it is clear that lessons have been learnt from the laborious Episode Gladiolus, with far more variation and a character that has a backstory worth telling.
This is not a bad game by any means – although it can be as frustrating as hell – but the amazing world design feels second fiddle to the lacklustre gameplay and it would have been a lot better to focus on the exploration, or even make it an out and out stealth experience.
With the gratuitous violence that is included, it certainly isn’t a game for everyone but if you are comfortable with the destruction of humanity in your cybernetic hands, then BUTCHER is a game well worth keeping on your radar.
The Sexy Brutale is definitely one of the more original ID@Xbox games that we’ve seen recently. On one side there is an incredibly dark and sinister side to the game solving, sometimes described in great gory-detail, murders. But then ultimately it is a game of hope as Lafcadio tries to prevent his friends re-living their nightmares day after day.
Yooka-Laylee has done what everyone, developers and players, had hoped it to do and brought the 3D platformer kicking and screaming into gaming mainstream again, spearheading the revival.
For the Final Fantasy die-hards who missed out on this first time around it may appeal more seeing more of the minor characters from the main game. But to anyone not familiar with the franchise, don’t let this freebie be considered an example of the rest of it.
For Honor is a game that I am not even close to finishing with. Its campaign is big enough to not feel tacked on, but the draw of the multiplayer action keeps dragging me away from finishing it. I can feel my skills improving after every round because it’s a new way to play against other players and that deserves highlighting in a highly saturated section of the market.
My biggest gripe with Renegade is simply the lack of tracks, but the rest of the game, as expected, is very good. The Riptide series always felt too big for its mobile roots, and Renegade may be the jewel in its crown. The story adds a new depth to it and shows that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Everything has been improved upon from the previous entry on the Xbox and it has remained a decent price. If this is a series you have yet to get into, Riptide GP Renegade is easily the best place to start.
TowerFall is certainly a very good local multiplayer game that a group of friends can enjoy night after night, honing their skills with the virtual bow and arrow. So it’s difficult then to say the rest of the game, and the price, lets it down. But it does.
It is very basic and should last no longer than a few nights to complete, but with a price as low as this it is difficult to expect anymore.
Momonga was a true joy to play and a real hidden gem in the ID@Xbox program. For a game that can be completed within an hour, it has so much variation and puts some 30-hour open world games to shame. Couple this with the cliff-hanger ending and the game will keep you guessing at what's next. But it has a lot of replayability too, especially for those chasing top scores and achievements. Sure, the game is flawed with bugged leaderboards and average physics, but it's one of those games where the positives far outweigh the negatives, with the major positive being fun. And this game provides an immense amount of just that.
For those looking for the next Journey, ABZÛ may disappoint. It’s a very enjoyable game but is leagues below its predecessor. Pun intended. For all the niggling gripes listed above, there also appears to be something missing. It’s a game with a very strong message, beautiful vistas and a lot of heart, but the main character felt a bit lifeless. There were times when it got truly tense, but after realising the mechanic in those sections, any connection I had with the character disappeared.
For anyone looking for a refreshing change from open-world time sinks after the glut of Mafia III, Watch Dogs 2, Skyrim: SE and Final Fantasy XV, Wheels of Aurelia may be the perfect game for you. Each playthrough takes no longer than 20 minutes and it can be completed in a tenth of the time these games take. It’s also recommended to those that like getting the most out of games as by the end you will have a preferred ending and despite its short length, it’s a game people can have different experiences with and then share those stories with each other, much like the most successful AAA titles.
If being a kid in the 80s was half as fun as this game was then I need to get on the phone to the Doc and build me a time machine. Sure, the battle mechanics may not work all the time, and they get tedious after so long, but it has real humour in almost every aspect. It’s one of the very few games that has actually made me laugh out loud. Humour is perhaps the one things games have continually struggled with on the whole, but Saturday Morning RPG nails it. The story is interesting enough to keep you invested because of the wide range of characters that transcend all genres and for the price you really would be a knucklehead not to pick it up.
Farming Simulator 17 is an unusual beast. It receives critical acclaim from its die-hard fans and rightly so because the mechanics of the actual farming is very impressive. But it does seem to fall short in most of the other departments, which would arguably be where those who have a piqued interest are likely to be drawn in. I found the game interesting, but I wouldn’t necessarily use the word ‘fun’. I was in the piqued interest pool as opposed to the die-hards, but there certainly isn’t enough included to really keep me invested in the day-to-day activities of running my farm.
Ginger: Beyond the Crystal may be the best 3D platformer available on the Xbox One currently, but this says more about the state of the genre as opposed to the actual game. Aside from the incredibly frustrating checkpoint glitch though, I did have fun with this game and the nostalgia was cranked up high. For fans of any of the aforementioned games, you will find something you like here.