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Shovel Knight was developed and published by Yacht Club Games on Xbox One. It was released on April 29, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

So this review is a little late. Why, you ask? Five hundred and forty-three deaths, that’s why. I played Shovel Knight for a little over 16 hours, but at times it felt like a lifetime. I cried (not kidding, but I do cry pretty easily), I screamed, I cursed at the television and I threw my controller on multiple occasions. I asked myself several times, “Who the hell would actually enjoy playing this game?” But when it was all said and done, I had my answer — me. Shovel Knight will try your patience from the start, but it will also suck you in and provide hours of quality gaming.

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Syberia 2 was developed by Microids under Anuman Interactive and published by Bandai Namco on Xbox 360. It was released on May 13, 2015 for $9.99. XBLA Fans’ Michael Cheng purchased a copy out of pocket for review purposes.

Gone are the days where point and click adventures were the in-style games. Now it’s a genre that has been relegated to niche status. Benoit Sokoil’s Syberia series attempts to show the glory of the old days and the wonders of simple gameplay with puzzle elements telling engaging stories. Syberia and Syberia 2 were released during the PlayStation 2 and Xbox era well over 10 years ago and have since been brought back to XBLA recently to give the audience another chance to try these titles in preparation for Syberia 3‘s tentative release in 2015.

Syberia features a heroine named Kate Walker and the journey of her everyday life turned completely upside-down through her wild adventuress in search of the fabled land of Syberia. This sequel can be enjoyed without playing the first title, although it’s still highly recommended you do so to get to know the original Kate Walker and some of the characters she encounters in the progenitor. For those that want an interesting story with puzzles without action sequences, this series may be worth looking at.

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Update 1.10 for World of Tanks: Xbox 360 will be adding a brand new feature called the Training Room for players. The Training Room will allow those with with Premium …
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Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, a re-release of the 2008 Xbox 360 game, will launch digitally on Xbox One on June 23 for $24.99. It will feature three new playable characters: Vergil, Lady and Trish. Each comes with their own play styles to complement the original’s Nero and Dante. It also comes with a new mode called Legendary Dark Knight in which you take on massive hordes of enemies all at once. And of course, it renders at 1080p/60fps with upgraded graphics and some technical enhancements.

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Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition was developed and published by Stage 2 Studios on Xbox One. It was released on May 13, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

When putting pen to paper on a fresh review, it’s often easy to determine the standard of a game based on how it compares to its peers, but that’s a major issue with Lifeless Planet, because, as far as I’m concerned, there is nothing else quite like it. Lifeless Planet is in many ways an interactive story, rather than a traditional video game. It features a compelling narrative about the lone survivor of a crash on a distant (seemingly lifeless) planet that is steadily revealed through audio logs and other records as the player progresses.

What immediately struck me about Lifeless Planet is how well it hides the fact that it is so linear. From the outset the player is made to feel like they are exploring a vast and limitless expanse, to the extent that each time the sun shimmers on a distant metallic object and guides them forwards, it feels more like a genuine discovery than simply turning the page of a book. Sometimes the clues are more obvious — like following a trail of green footprints — but most of the time the more obvious nods are woven into the narrative in a convincing enough way. Perhaps more questionable, however, are Lifeless Planet‘s core puzzle and platform game mechanics, so I was interested to see if the game stood up to extended play – let’s find out.

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Every cat has its day. From the publishers Team 17 and developers Italic Pig comes an action-adventure puzzle-platformer featuring the legendary Schrödinger’s Cat. One day, a catastrophic event occurs that causes all primitive particles to escape from The Particle Zoo. The zoo is locked down and emergency services are called into action. Join the cat as he collects his army quarks to create up to 14 unique abilities to solve problems across 30+ levels of gameplay to defeat the forces of evil.

Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark comes to Xbox One for a price of $9.99 on May 13.

Check below the jump for a trailer.

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Minecraft is three years old!
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Ultratron was developed by Puppy Games and published by Curve Digital on Xbox One. It was released on May 8, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If any long forgotten genre of videogames has benefited most from the advent of digital distribution and the influx of creative, independent game developers over the last few years, it must surely be the shoot-em-up. We’ve seen more or less every obvious take on the theme imaginable, yet I’m almost always pleasantly surprised by the next innovation or twist.

Ultratron is the latest twin-stick shooter to launch on the Xbox One and it promises a number of interesting features, including “unique retro-futuristic sound and graphics, player responsive difficulty, and a subtle system of tactics combined with classic gameplay.” At first glance, Ultratron looked like a fairly uninspiring arena based shooter, but I’m pleased to report that despite a few minor complaints, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

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Masochistic Xbox gamers who want their families to suffer as much as they do won’t have to wait much longer to make it happen. Cellar Door Games’ Rogue Legacy …
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Adventures of Pip‘s release date has slipped into summer, developer Tic Toc Games has announced. Prior to this delay, the pixelized platformer was originally planned for a release later …
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