XboxEra's Reviews
Monster Hunter Rise benefits from a tighter focus and massive quality-of-life improvements over its predecessors. The performance is excellent, and your hunts are more enjoyable than ever. With it releasing day one on Game Pass it’s a world worth visiting by yourself or with some buddies.
For Xbox players, Persona 3 Portable is an amazing game. And despite this version’s flaws, I implore you to give it a go.
After all these years, this game still holds up. Hold the lattes for a few days and pick up Persona 4 Golden—you won’t regret it.
Chasing Static is a boring, slog of a game.
Afterglitch attempts to bring a moving art experience to the low-budget indie-space, but it misses the mark by never looking or being interesting in any way. It is boring to navigate through after a few minutes, and an assault on the senses.
GRIME is a series of good to great-pieces that are slightly held back by performance issues. Depending on when you’re reading this review I hope those are fixed because this game is fantastic. It’s beautiful, ugly, terrifying, and something any Metroidvania Soulslike fan should love.
Prison Simulator is $20, and I can’t recommend it. While it may be halfway decent on PC control wise it is a mess on console. There is not a single part of the game that is enjoyable to play, and even if it was the overall structure grew stale after a couple of hours of gameplay. This is one Simulation to stay far away from.
For $12 if you are desperate for something to play while you listen to a podcast or some music, get this game on PC. It runs terribly on consoles and feels awful to play. The overall setup and amount of content is its best point, but in execution, it simply isn’t fun.
Aery Path of Corruption is only $10, and even at that price, it’s too much. It is an ugly, boring, poorly paced, and thought-out fever dream of a game that even the most freakish feather head would do their best to avoid.
Bannerlord, in spite of its shortcomings, is a great game to play for tactics enthusiasts and players that love huge battles. Its simulation style of gameplay is fairly unique and keeps me coming back. An easy recommendation to all that love their sandboxes.
HEROish really hedges its bets on the replayability of its campaigns and its bite-sized matches. At its core, I think it works best as an on-the-go game rather than one on your big TV screen. You probably won’t spend consecutive hours playing HEROish, but it works as a good in-between when you’re bored. But in a world where games demand way too much from the player, short and fun games leave me a happy man.
BLACKTAIL is a well-made, highly polished title that is easy to recommend. Make sure you have the time to properly level up and explore. This beautiful, haunting world is one I hope to come back to time and time again.
Ultimately, CRISIS CORE REUNION is a great game. It lands the story beats, and the combat feels good. Fans of the original experience on the PSP will find themselves right at home here and new players will have a good time, especially if they like Final Fantasy VII as a whole.
High On Life is absolutely fantastic, and you should play it.
The Witcher 3 is nearly a masterpiece. If the combat and movement were better, it would be for me. As is this is one of the best experiences in gaming, and everyone should play this version of it.
Wavetale is a heart-warming story of discovery and reconciliation. Traversal of the islands requires players to overcome some rather creative platforming challenges and never gets repetitive. Although it takes a while to get going, the story is well written and the adaptive music and environmental design of Strandville bring the place to life. This title has a lot going for it and although it is not the longest experience, it is well worth several hours of your time.
Conqueror is a fitting end to the season for Sniper Elite 5. Delivering not only a great mission experience but also a game-changing new weapon, this DLC is a must for fans of the game. The free Survival Map and Airborne Elite pack released at the same time are also of high quality and enhance the experience so they are well worth checking out.
In conclusion, NORCO is a bit of a mixed bag. Whilst it looks and sounds stunning it is let down by a story that pushes itself so far out there that it has no way of coming back. Although already critically acclaimed this could be one of those games that is far more beloved of reviewers than the people who actually play it. Only time will tell. At least its availability on Game Pass means that it can be picked up and easily dropped if it turns out not to be your cup of tea.
The third expansion for Back for Blood is more of the best parts of the game. It’s short, packs a huge punch, and is a lot of fun to go through alone or with friends. The gold edition of the game goes on sale routinely now for pretty cheap, and the base game is still on Game Pass for console and PC.
Hello Neighbor 2 is a game that features advanced game design, so it’s no wonder things turned out like this—it’s a difficult game to make especially for a small team. But if anything, I think it is a step in the right direction for the game’s inevitable sequel. There’s no doubt in my mind simply because it’s a better game than the first. If the team can figure out how to keep its solid level design and integrate challenges that tie in both the AI and the puzzles within the level, I think there’s a homerun to be had here. But until then, keeping tabs on your neighbours for a short while isn’t the worst thing you can do with your time.