Pure Xbox's Reviews
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 is a strange entry in the series. The improvements are obvious and clear to see from the outset but the areas in which it has taken a step backward take a lot longer to actually uncover. You don't realise that you haven't conceded a free kick for ages until you've played more than a handful of games. You don't realise that the keepers pretty much can't save low shots until you've conceded a dozen goals in the bottom corner. This means that your time with PES this year will be spent playing for an hour or two and then putting the controller down in frustration. It's to Konami's great credit that it somehow always calls you back to it.
Pumped BMX+ is a good advertisement for mobile game ports on Xbox One. Crafted with care and not just spit out onto the platform in under five minutes, the game is easy to pickup and tough to master. Despite the amount of gameplay addicted players will get out of it, a little more variation and the inclusion of any sort of multiplayer play – H.O.R.S.E. anyone? – would have seen it score higher, though there's plenty going on here to justify the price for lone players. Good fun.
Toy Soldiers: War Chest could really be something great but unfortunately choppy performance, uninspiring missions and a repetitive single player experience put paid to this. The licensed properties present in the game aren't enough elevate the game to anything more than a very workmanlike version of your favourite childhood moments.
Some of the off-track functionality in Forza Motorsport 6 is sometimes surprisingly lazily implemented but you'll tend to forget that when you're in a battle with the elements, trying to shave a tenth of a second off your laptime in your newly-tuned favourite racer, or simply gawking at the outstanding visuals. Time ebbs away when you're playing. "One more race" becomes "one more series" and then you just pop online to have a quick League race, then you just have to take on a rival's laptime real quick…and soon it's 5am and you realise exactly how much game you get for your buck. Warts and all, this is well worth the investment.
Asteroid Base have done a fine job with Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, providing that you're a co-op gamer. Single players will likely find that they enjoy things up until the game becomes too overwhelming. Still, as a whole, there's a lot to like here – including genuine innovation - and it's definitely something different.
Leo's Fortune is platforming as it should be and is definitely reminiscent of a time gone by, when little blue hedgehogs and Italian plumbers adventured across the screens in games that were as simplistic as they were enjoyable. There is enough variety in Leo's adventure to keep it fresh as the game progresses and the overall length, while shorter than we may have come to expect from modern games, will leave you wanting more.
Mad Max's frame may be built from familiar parts, but that doesn't mean there aren't enough surprises under the hood to make for a furiously enjoyable ride.
Super Toy Cars is a seemingly rushed and unfinished port of a barely average game.
Disney Infinity 3.0 is the very definition of a game of two halves. The Toy Box and community content promise to be the most robust yet, with a massive range of different enviroments and characters to unlock and buy. Based on the Playset included in the starter set, it seems that the Disney-developed missions are shorter and more to the point, but there is still a lot of playabiliyt after the main missions are done, whether it be collecting Mynock kills or completing all the side missions and challenges. For the younger players especially, bouncing around as a Jedi or flying the landspeeder around the desert is unlikely to get old anytime soon.
The Deer God will inevitably divide gamer's opinions. Some will love its pixelated art style and be carried away by its themes and the emotions it invokes, while others will find it a frustrating, boring trudge from left to right. There's no denying that there is potential here and there are some very touching moments, but the flaws are so game breaking that at times it's just not any fun to play.
All in all, the game is a novel way to pass an afternoon but is unlikely to have you clamouring for more.
Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is very much a title at odds with itself, as it's stuck half way between offering a classic point-and-click adventure and being a more modern experience. As a result, it can be somewhat hard to recommend.
Gears of War: Ultimate Edition is anything but a lazy remaster. With a bunch of new content, a massive visual overhaul, mechanical improvements, and other subtle modernizations, Ultimate Edition has earned the right to be referred to as the definitive version of Gears of War.
In the end, it's hard to recommend No Time To Explain. While its cutesy visuals and ridiculous plot are infectious from the offset, the punishing and unfair repetition of its gameplay will leave many players hard-pressed to find any enjoyment out of it.
Mega Man Legacy Collection feels incomplete, even at the relatively low asking price. You get the first six titles that form the basis of the Mega Man Legacy (which is apt, given the compilation's name) but other than an entertaining challenge mode, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of love shown to the franchise here.
Brothers is a game that will endure in the hearts and memories of those who have experienced it for a very long time and should feature on many "Games You Must Play" lists. Fans of the game will find themselves once again transfixed as they embark on the journey once more and for those have not yet taken the plunge, now is definitely your chance. Just remember to keep the tissues handy. You might be in need of them.
The team at Tic Toc Games have done a great job here for sure, but we just wish that there was either more volume to it in general, or more of a challenge to what is provided. It's definitely an enjoyable enough way to while away a couple of hours.
Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings is a fitting way to round out the baseball season and a great excuse to invite friends over for some local multiplayer action. While another mode and online functionality would've made this package an absolute grand slam, the core gameplay is so addictive and well-executed that it's hard to think of it as anything less than a home run.
Outside of the game-ending glitches and the poorly designed collection mission that we've mentioned, the experience is tension-filled and easily right up there with the best survival horror titles available today. The problem is that there's a very good chance that you'll give up after your umpteenth unfair death way before reaching the closing credits.
Obvious comparisons will be made to the Portal franchise but for players who never played those games it offers a fresh, new dimension to physics based puzzling and in terms of the story, it offers an altogether more mature and serious narrative throughout. At the price, it's a must-have for any puzzle fan.