XboxEra's Reviews
It aims to do a single thing, which is being a deep and addictive round-based bullet heaven shooter, with a ludicrous amount of items, weapons and upgrades that allow for quite literally infinite builds. It may lack the variety of Vampire Survivors, the production values of Soulstone Survivors and so on, but Brotato’s short-burst rushes of adrenaline make it one hell of a game anyway.
As disappointed as I was with the first DLC I think I dislike the second one even more. It’s a mishmash of unenjoyable mini-games, and while the music is great the gameplay is not.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has overcome a rough pre-launch time after multiple delays. While the objectives can feel repetitive the excellent gameplay never does. This review will be out of date after a month or two because this is a live-service assed live-service game. For fans of Destiny, The Division, and all the loot-focused games-as-a-service titles, this is a damned good one at launch. We'll see if they can continue to grow and improve it over time.
"But what I think Persona 3 Reload does best is that it brings one of my favourite Persona games to a new audience and excels at it. The visuals are gorgeous, the pacing isn’t overtly stretched out, the combat is fun and fluid, and the story is still great. Anyone can get in on this game’s excellent blend of school life and role-playing genres and I can wholeheartedly recommend this game, not just because Persona 3 is a classic for me, but because Persona 3 Reload is genuinely fantastic."
TEKKEN 8 is an outstanding fighting game. An extremely strong 3D fighter with lots of offline content, strong core mechanics, and all around a fun and stylish game. TEKKEN continues to show the world why it's the winner of the Iron Fist Tournament.
Go Mecha Ball is a fantastic title to get on Game Pass. It looks great and plays incredibly well. The audio package and setup may leave me wanting but I can see this being one I dive back into repeatedly over the coming months to experience its sublime gameplay.
Lil Guardsman is funny, occasionally heartwarming, and a ton of fun. It takes a simple premise and builds it into a unique and excellent video game.
"From cute visuals to the occasional brow-furrowing object hunt, Hidden Through Time 2 is a mostly relaxing object hunting game. Lots of levels to take on that’ll keep you busy for some hours. Though the time mechanism isn’t all that and the single-looping songs might get a bit unpleasant, it shouldn’t stop you from getting a warm feeling of finding a well-hidden book."
It’s not often that I’ll sit down and enjoy a game throughout the entirety of my playthrough. Even the best reviewed games will have parts of it that exist simply to extend the games length for no real reason (I’m looking at you, GTAV). Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth opens 2024 with a bang, showcasing the best of what the series has to offer and more.
Barring a middling ‘middle’ entry, The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy brings a set of great games from a series I love to the big screen. There’s no beating the bush around this one: this collection does Apollo Justice.
Hellblade is simply a great experience, and after finishing it for the very first time recently, I am even more excited for Hellblade II. The game is available on Game Pass, so if you haven’t taken the journey to Hellheim yet or want a quick refresher before the sequel releases on May 21st, it’s a game I fully recommend.
Turnip Boy Robs A Bank is a damned good time, that is just as long as it needs to be. Whether you’ve played the first game or not it is well worth checking out on Game Pass. Good looks, fun gameplay, and excellent music make it another solid addition to the platform.
The translation to VR, while commendable, doesn’t translate into an enjoyable gameplay experience. Combine that with a game that hasn’t aged well, and constant crashing on both PC and Quest 3, especially at $40, is not something I can recommend.
Resident Evil 2 is a fantastic get for Game Pass, and the new port on the Microsoft Store is excellent. It’s Play Anywhere, terrifying, and well worth checking out for anyone looking to clap some zombie cheeks.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is an instant classic. Full of reverie for the series it takes it to new heights with a damned near-perfect mix of action-platforming goodness. It’s the best type of Metroidvania. One that knows how to pace out the power ups and I hope this is the start of a series of similar titles for the franchise.
"... I still came back to METRO QUESTER again and again over the week. I feel that all its systems mesh together really well and it’s definitely a unique RPG experience you’ll not often find on consoles."
Short, sweet, and a solid yarn. Close to the Sun takes an interesting alt-history setting and is pretty enough to put up with occasionally clunky gameplay. It’s short at only 3 hours for a full playthrough, so it’s worth giving it a try if you have any interest in the premise.
TEVI is a fantastic 2D Metroidvania. One that is fun to play for just about all levels of gaming ability, but it’s also a replayable one and has plenty of content you can run through, backgrounded by beautiful visuals and fun music. An easy recommendation for the action platformer fan and then some.
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is an epic action RPG, worthy of being Meta’s must-have game. It looks and runs great, plays fantastically, and has more high-quality content than most RPGs I’ve played before.
A delight for fans of Avatar, this game is so damned good that even one apathetic to the IP like me couldn’t help but fall in love with it.