Horizon Chase 2 is definitely a must-play. It’s the best arcade racer since… well… its predecessor. It’s easy to pick up and play and can be hard to put down. Lots of content to unlock whether it be new rides or visuals styles. Whenever you need a change from racing sims or looking to give the racing genre a shot, Horizon Chase 2 is your best bet. Don’t miss out.
Nightmare Reaper is a fun, albeit frustrating addition to the FPS (or horror) genre. The shooting is solid and the environments are well done and creepy to explore, but the damage output from some enemies will lead to a quick death, especially when trying to figure out where they are shooting you from. The weapon diversity is surprisingly deep and it makes you want to keep playing to see what you can find. Fans of roguelites will enjoy this entry of the genre. However, if you’re not a fan of the genre, Nightmare Reaper won’t change your stance.
To be honest, when I saw Ratalaika Games pop up on screen, I tempered my expectations, but when I starting playing the game, I discovered one of the most boring, tedious, games I’ve ever played. The fact that you can’t control when you shoot is a giant red flag leaving no control to the player. Trying to kill bigger enemies or figuring how to complete certain objectives (such as the Meat tower thing) is borderline as possible. This is the pure definition of shovelware. Pass.
Overall, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a fun and enjoyable, albeit very short experience. Its budget price appeal makes it very tempting; given the length of it, it feels right. Kids and Nickelodeon fans will enjoy the hell out of this and it’s even better with friends. However, while it’s fun, it is very limited in appeal and repetitive in combat. In a world where we already have the excellent Shredder’s Revenge, it’s hard recommending this one as for a few bucks more, you get a longer experience and more playable characters. Unless you’re a die hard TMNT fan who needs to play everything or have kids at home, you can’t go wrong with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants. But if you’re looking for something more substantial, this ain’t it chief
Avatar The Last Airbender: Quest for Balance is a decent game perfect for younger gamers who are fan of the TV series and want to experience the storylines themselves. For better or for worst, this is clearly a GameMill Entertainment game; decent, mildly enjoyable, slightly too easy but oh so close from being a must play experience. I can only image how much better this could’ve been in the hands of a AAA developer. It’s a fun experience as a whole; worth it’s $20 USD price tag.
Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is not for the impatient gamer. It’s a fun, mindless shooter set in the Star Wars universe that fans of the genre and the franchise will learn to appreciate. However, bland level color palettes makes it too easy to get lost and go around in circles; requiring to display the map in order to find doors otherwise blended in the decor. But at least cheat codes can alleviate the frustration a bit. Younger gamers used to Call of Duty’s hand-holding might find this FPS experience frustrating as they go around in circles, but older gamers will revel in re-expericing this classic N64 experience. If you’re played this in the past, this is a no-brainer. If you’re more used to the CoD series, you might find endless frustration instead of fun.
Queeny Army is set in the war-torn city of San Romero, and tells the story of a group of young women who have escaped an adoption house. After escaping, the group goes on a revenge rampage against the corrupt enforcers who murdered their classmates and school director. Playing as one of the twelve escapees, all of whom trained under the armed forces’ former commander and each have their own quirks and abilities, you’re tasked with overthrowing the syndicate leader who seized control of the government.
Forza Horizon 5 drops players into the beautiful setting of Mexico where the sun will shine, but where it can also be treacherous as players will also have to navigate through thunder and sandstorms. As they progress through various events, players will be called upon to drive around various areas of Mexico expanding the Forza Horizon festival across the country and opening new types of events; races, off-roading, sprints; just to name a few.
Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe is an arcade-style soccer game featuring a bevy of teams representing various countries. This is a by-the-book kind of soccer game; you can shoot, pass, tackle/steal the ball from opposing players. All fizzle and no steak as they’d say. Additionally, you can easily spot your player as he’ll be the one with the blue arrow above his head, so that’s quite helpful given certain visual shortcomings explained below.
TOHU tells the story of a nameless girl; simply referred to as The Girl throughout the adventure, who can transform into a hulking robot at any time. Oh, and she also lives on the back of a fish that’s floating through the cosmos. One day, you find out that the MacGuffin (whatever that is) that’s keeping your home alive is dwindling down. You need to find resources to keep your home planet alive all the while being hunted down by a mysterious hooded figure looking to put a damper on your plans.
Sonic Colours Ultimate is another chapter in the long-running feud between Sonic and Dr. Eggman. This time around the antagonist has built a gigantic intergalactic amusement park with crazy rides and attractions. The one caveat being that Eggman is powering his theme park with captured aliens called Wisps. It’s now up to our favorite hedgehog to overcome the amusement park and save the Wisps.
Knockout Home Fitness is a game that acts like a personal trainer where players, using the joycons, will mimic the avatar’s movement in hope of creating a combo by hitting the targets displayed on-screen with the best timing possible. As with any game of the genre, there are precautions to take and you need to make sure that you don’t hurt yourself as there is no physical personal trainer to stop you from making mistakes.
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a full-on arcade boxing game; the opposite of the boxing simulator Knockout Kings, which later became the critically acclaimed Fight Night series. You can select Arcade mode, where akin to fighting games, you select a character and fight your way to the boss while experiencing a paper-thin story. Or you can also jump in Versus mode against an A.I. or a buddy.
Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure tells the story of our titular character who embarks on a quest to find his best friend Bob who’s been missing. While this sounds pretty straightforward, our little Alfonzo decides to collect as many fishes as he can on his quest to find his missing friend. Why do you ask? Well, it’s simple fish is Bob’s favourite food. So why not gather a snack while searching for your best bud.
Side-scrolling beat’em ups are going through a renaissance at the present time. Spearheaded by the nostalgia driven Streets Of Rage 4 there’s been no end of titles released to try and capture the same feelings. The latest of these is Mayhem Brawler. Developed by Hero Concept, Mayhem Brawler takes everything that makes the genre great and adds a supernatural twist.
Colossus Down is a great addition to the beat’em up genre. Combat is solid, great attack variety and challenging, but fair, boss fights. While it does feel unfair and frustrating at times, having unlimited lives where you respawn where you died makes up for it, but in the long run, I can understand being annoyed in cases where enemies leave you no time to react until you explode. If you’re a fan of the genre, I say go for it. It’s a nice change of muscle-bound guys beating the living hell of each other.
Horned Knight is an overall fun, albeit short action platformer; not that difficult either. Sure you’ll die a few times, but you might get bored before you reach the end. Repetitive level design, little to no enemy variety, and questionable inconsistencies over the level design can amount to a boring experience.
So is RetroMania Wrestling worth it? Absolutely. As a now casual wrestling fan who steered clear of 2K’s messy WWE game (the last one I enjoyed was WWE RAW vs Smackdown 2007), I can finally say that there’s a good wrestling game on Xbox platforms!
I Saw Black Clouds is one of the most gripping live-action, cinematic interactive psychological thriller I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy. The story is really fun and interesting; it’s the type of “game” where you’ll want to view in one sitting because you want to see what’s next. Sure, the montage could’ve been a bit better, but once the awkward part is done, you’ll be back in. I definitely recommend I Saw Black Clouds.
While far from perfect, Sword of the Necromancer is a surprising gem that came out of nowhere. It has its charm and while not a fan of the genre, the Zelda mixed with rogue-like works; short levels make it work, and the fact that you can disable some of the rogue elements gives the game a chance to reach a broader audience beyond those who love the rogue genre. Sure combat isn’t perfect and there’s a bit of repetition, but if you’re looking for a classic Zelda clone on Xbox, albeit a bit shorter, you can’t go wrong here.