Pure Xbox's Reviews
Overall, this is a title that is brimming with unrealised potential. If everything worked as designed, Pixel Piracy's customisation options, management mechanics and randomly generated world would be incredibly engaging and fun. Unfortunately, the problems with the AI turn battles from strategic endeavours to long slogs and there isn't as much to do as it first appears. If you're lucky enough to avoid the bugs, Pixel Piracy will provide a couple of hours of enjoyment while you figure out its intricacies and perfect your crew, though we doubt there's enough variation to keep you hooked beyond your first play through.
Fighting back against nature and surviving utterly dire circumstances makes The Flame in the Flood a gripping experience... for a while. It's the unambitious campaign, the repetitious rogue-lite structure, and a number of bugs and technical issues that get in the way and keep the game from reaching its full potential. But even though The Flame in the Flood is somewhat of a disappointment, that doesn't mean there's not enough tinder to sustain the flame for at least a weekend outing. You just have to decide whether or not you want to risk dealing with the pesky bugs hiding in the foundation.
While there are more complex and intriguing crime games out there and it isn't the longest game, The ABC Murders still offers good entertainment for the interested and serves as a decent port into the murder mystery puzzle genre. Some core mechanics need fine tuning, but the balance between the different game elements is generally good. The interrogation scenes as well as the deduction phases could be a bit more elaborate and slightly longer (because they are - hands down - the best bits of the game) but the overall flow of the game is pleasant.
Relatively very minor gripes aside, Rocket League is a genuinely new type of game that provides addictive, enjoyable, skill-based fun that doesn't prevent new players from joining the fray and which never threatens to become dull. Even folks who aren't necessarily excited by football, sports in general, or cars will find something to love here and for many, it'll become their new favourite pastime. This is absolutely superb and will keep you entertained for many, many hours.
Dying Light: The Following's nightmare difficulty setting and additional legend level system along with improved visuals and advanced AI make for a new experience for players of the original Dying Light. The Following content itself - whether bought separately or as part of the new Enhanced Edition - offers a very different but yet worthy test, with the open fields and buggy opening up a completely different set of rules to exploit and best the legions of undead.
Bike Mayhem 2 is the opposite of going mountain bike riding. There's no exhilaration to be had, just boredom, as the game never seems to end. The uphill climb is littered with free-to-play aspects that would be barely tolerable on mobile, let alone on a console where players paid money to play. Sadly, there is no payoff for aspiring bikers, and this is one downloadable title that is better off in the dirt.
D/Generation HD is a game that is a product of the early 90s. Story? Not much. Scenario? Ridiculous. However, what it does bring from that era is character and gameplay that all too often today are replaced by graphical flashiness. This is an unashamedly retro experience and even with the (gamebreaking) bugs we found, the urge to finish the game remains strong. To us, that stands in its favour. However, this isn't going to be for everyone, and there's no getting around the fact that if you're unlucky, you won't be able to finish the game. Add to this the relatively high price point of £19.99 and it turns into a product that we can't really, in good conscience, give a recommendation to. Fans of the original will enjoy it as a slice of nostalgia, but that's about it.
Short, simple and fun, Factotum 90 is a must-have addition to any puzzle game fan's collection. With a unique premise and an interesting plot, it only ever tries to be exactly what it is and offers enough of a challenge to be a satisfying experience. A refreshing addition to the ID@Xbox collection.
Painful progression and wonky UI make Albedo a much less enjoyable game than it could have been. If you feel like you are up for the challenge after hearing about our struggles and can get past the game's quirks, then good luck. We applaud you if you can manage to make it through without peeking at a guide.
Electronic Super Joy is a delight. Its simple visuals are elevated by a soundtrack so perfectly in tune with the experience that it turns a punishingly difficult platformer into a trance-like experience and will soothe the pain of your multiple deaths. It will defeat you over and over again, but manages never to feel unfair or to set goals that are unachievable. If you like the sound of a challenging platformer that will push you to the edge of frustration when things are going badly but make you feel like a gaming god when things are going well, Electronic Super Joy may be just the game you're looking for.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a fantastically atmospheric, emotional, and compelling game that constantly makes you doubt what you're doing, in a way that feels entirely natural as part of the experience. You have to weigh up every decision in order to keep your crew safe from harm and that coupled with the strong desire to play through just one more raid to see how things turn out, means that you're more than likely to get your money's worth here. Great stuff.
In conclusion, this another Traveller's Tales LEGO game, with all the baggage that entails. As an example of the breed, it's a very good one, but the age of the model is now starting to show and some sort of revolution (rather than a gradual evolution) must now be overdue. However, given the strength of the source material of these films, it makes a very decent fist of being a good game, as opposed to just being one of the better LEGO games.
Assassin's Creed Chronicles features a generally solid game engine, nice storyline, and is for all intents and purposes a decent proposition. However, it's constantly prevented from shining by some dire level design and so many instant deaths that if you counted them, would probably see you reaching triple digits by the time you complete the game for the first time. There's some enjoyment to be had here, but it's frequently punctuated by massive bouts of frustration. If you want to try the series, you should grab China, since it remains the best of the three.
Amazing Princess Sarah is a good retro platformer, of that there is no doubt. There's also plenty to do, although the nature of the implementation means that some will feel that it crosses the line into repetitiveness. It would have taken longer in development of course, but if the game had 30 levels in play as opposed to five levels repeated six times with slightly different character parameters, the developers would have been onto a surefire winner. As it stands though, Amazing Princess Sarah still has the ability to hook you and is enjoyable enough for the price.
Since The Living Dungeon is actually quite an interesting board game, the multiplayer side of things does a decent job at entertaining. The banter with your friends makes up for overly long wait times and the never ending brown of the environment. The missing online play is almost essential for a title like this though, since the main reason to play tabletop games on a console is not being able to wrangle eight other people to your house (or being too lazy to tidy up.) For the times your friends can't make it, the single player campaign offers a frustrating distraction. But the poor AI, unlikeable characters, and levels that take seemingly forever to complete due to unlucky dice rolls make The Living Dungeon only for those with active social lives.
Fortified is a tower defence/third person shooter which draws on the imagery and tropes of 1950s pulp fiction. The emphasis is on multiplayer but it can be enjoyed alone if you have the patience to get through some of the more severe difficulty spikes. The 50s theme is well implemented in many areas and the gameplay is challenging, while characters remain different enough to warrant multiple playthroughs. If you enjoy this genre, Fortified is worthy of your time and you should consider dropping it into your multiplayer gaming rotation.
G Prime Into The Rain has an interesting concept, but it's also one that has been done much better in other games. What made games like Blast Off successful was that they were simple to pick-up, but had enough depth to keep players hooked. Soma Games' title is the exact opposite as it's overly complicated and makes a terrible first impression. If you stick with it you might find some enjoyment, but one that still doesn't live up to its contemporaries.
The lack of actual Heroes content in Gemini: Heroes Reborn can be taken two ways. It's not caught up in the increasingly complicated timelines of the franchise and aside from a few collectibles and a one line mention of a plot point, there isn't enough to keep fans hooked solely on their love for the show. It does manage to pack a lot of surprises into a short game with its interesting mix of powers but excellence is prevented as it gets bogged down in not allowing its own mechanics to properly flourish.
Full disclosure, in the ten hours we spent with Dungeon of the Endless over the course of this review, we didn't escape from the dungeons. Even playing on the inappropriately named 'Too Easy' mode, this rogue-like can turn on you in an instant. Take your eye off the ball and your previously flourishing band of survivors can be unceremoniously wiped out, taken down by rapidly spawning hordes of enemies without so much as a last breath with which to cry for help. But it's a game that, once it has you hooked, will reel you back in over and over again because you just know you can do better this time, or perhaps you think you've discovered a new strategy - it's all very compelling.
In conclusion, Sparkle 2 is a lot like Sparkle Unleashed, which in turn was a lot like PopCap's Zuma. If you are a fan of this genre of game, then Sparkle 2 has a lot going for it, but it unlikely to convert anyone else to its cause. We found it weirdly addictive, with the "just one more level" effect being very strong, and the usually pretty graphics and reactive music all helping to hook us in. At its heart, its another colour matcher, but this is a little different to the run of the mill mobile ports that we see, and with the new modes to unlock as you play, it could well keep you hooked a little longer than normal.