Image

Featured Reviews

Hand of Fate Review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Hand of Fate Review (Xbox One)

Hand of Fate was developed and published on Xbox One by Defiant Development. It will be released on February 17, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided by Defiant Development for review purposes.

Hand of Fate start screen

Hand of Fate is a unique game containing rogue-like elements in its gameplay and storytelling by way of playing cards. Because some of you are likely wondering, this game is completely unrelated to the 1966 movie Manos: The Hands of Fate. One of the first things that came to mind while playing was that this game is probably the closest thing we’ll get to a Munchkin video game for a long time. To me, this game came out of nowhere and is a fresh breath of air from most of the games that have released recently.

I have to admit, I had to play this game for about a week before I could come to a consensus on my thoughts. On some days, Hand of Fate is amazingly addicting, spawning thoughts like “let me push to defeat one more boss” or “please let me complete more subquests and make progress in unlocking everything.” On other days, this game was a very unpleasant game in which I would curse its existence due to unfair random luck, unfair scenario cards or a random assortment of strange frame rate issues (which luckily have all but disappeared in the last few days). Hand of Fate is a gambler’s paradise.

Read More

Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords review (Xbox One)

Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Telltale Games. It was released February 4, 2015 for $4.99. A copy was provided by Telltale for review purposes.

telltale game of thrones 3

In my review of Game of Thrones Episode 1: Iron From Ice, I mentioned that whilst things were being set up rather nicely for the series ahead, the episode in isolation was a little uneventful. Thankfully, The Lost Lords goes some way to correcting this and features more action, more opportunity for intrigue and at least one twist which I certainly did not see coming.

Read More

The Escapists review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

The Escapists review (Xbox One)

The Escapists was developed by Mouldy Toof Studios and will be published on Xbox One by Team 17 Digital. It is set for release on February 13, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

TE1

The Escapists positions itself as a kind of craft-em-up roguelike set across a number of fiendishly designed secure facilities including prisons and POW camps. Think of it as somewhere between Terraria, Monaco and any number of top down action-RPGs. The main difference is that in order for you to be successful, The Escapists demands significantly more time and patience than almost any other game I’ve played — and what’s more, it’s perfectly suited to being a cute 8-bit indie title.

With only a very small number of simple core mechanics to rely upon, The Escapists turns the table on the typical sandbox approach taken by similar games. Instead, players are literally forced to adhere to a strict regimen of roll calls, mealtimes, break-times and work whilst simultaneously plotting their escape. It’s an inspired system that asks an awful lot from players and results in the rewards being all the sweeter.

Read More

Life is Strange Episode 1: Chrysalis review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Life is Strange Episode 1: Chrysalis review (Xbox One)

“It’s like Gone Home,” my roommate tells his curious D&D buddies of the game I’m playing for review. A cursory glance at the screen would lead you to believe that he wasn’t wrong, either. The game in question, Life is Strange: Chrysalis from Dontnod Entertainment and Square Enix, does feature a similar protagonist. Main character Max Caulfield is a young, confused girl looking for answers about the disappearance of another girl. After five years away in Seattle she’s returned to her small hometown of Arcadia Bay, OR to attend a prestigious boarding school. Chrysalis‘ setting puts Max in classes, at the school dormitories and at an old friend’s home. She’s not literally alone like Kaitlin Greenbriar in Gone Home, but as the shy kid in the back of the class, Max often feels like it.

If you stopped reading this review after that first paragraph, no one would blame you for describing Life is Strange as that game that’s “like Gone Home.” The two titles have one big difference, however: Gone Home is about solving puzzles, while Life is Strange is about solving conversations. And whereas video game puzzles usually only have one correct solution, conversations have room for many possible options to carry a game forward.

Read More

Riptide GP2 review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Riptide GP2 review (Xbox One)

Riptide GP2 was developed and published by Vector Unit. It was released on Xbox One on January 23, 2015 for $4.99. A code was provided by the publisher for review purposes.

header

In Riptide GP2 you take control of a hydro jet and take to the waterways to put your racing skills to the test against AI, your local friends and/or the Xbox leaderboards. The better your racing skills are, the faster you will rake in the winnings and progress to the next set of challenges. You can use the money you’ve won to upgrade your current hydro jet or purchase one of 10 others that unlock as you progress higher in rank. With over 25 stunts at your disposal, and with doing stunts being the main way to increase your boost, finding the right line to hit a jump at max speed will take some time and patience but will ultimately help you win events.

Even before playing Riptide GP2, the mere mention of its developer, Vector Unit, immediately made me think of Hydro Thunder Hurricane (HTH), an Xbox Live Arcade game released in 2010. Hydro Thunder Hurricane is also made by Vector Unit. Unfortunately, Riptide GP2 is so similar to HTH that it feels more like an updated port or unreleased HTH downloadable content than a complete game in itself, which is what it should feel like.

Read More

Unmechanical: Extended Edition review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Unmechanical: Extended Edition review (Xbox One)

Unmechanical: Extended Edition was developed and published on Xbox One by Grip Games as an improvement to Talawa Games’ and Teotl Studios’s Unmechanical. It will release on January 30, 2015 for $9.99. A copy was provided by Talawa Games for review purposes.

U:EE Title Screen

Up until January 21, 2015, I didn’t even know this game existed until I happened to come across an achievement list for the Xbox One version. The game peaked my interest, and I’m glad I saw that achievement list. Unmechanical was originally released on Steam and Android in 2012 and has been rereleased to home consoles with a new extra side level called “Extended”.

Unmechanical: Extended Edition claims itself as a simple game with a variety of puzzles. After starting the game and looking at the controls, it was definitely simple. The left or right stick can move the character and every button and trigger besides the Y button was a tractor beam. That’s it. What can a simple game bring to the table?

Read More

Resident Evil review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Resident Evil review (Xbox One)

Resident Evil was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Capcom Entertainment Inc. It was released on January 20, 2015 for $19.99. An Xbox One copy was provided by Capcom for review purposes.

Resident Evil Title Screen

So for those of you that have been living under a rock, this is the Resident Evil that started it all in remastered HD glory. This is the start of the franchise that eventually grew into a larger series with many sequels, animated movies and even live action movie spin-offs that played in movie theaters. We’re up to Resident Evil 6 and I’m sure Resident Evil 7 is hiding somewhere in the shadows. So right, my rock has been rather comfortable. This is my first time playing through the entirety of Resident Evil. I might have played it briefly when I was young but I don’t remember a thing.

My historical experiences start with playing Resident Evil Outbreak: File 2 online non-stop on PlayStation 2 before playing the first game of that spin-off, Resident Evil Outbreak. Since then I’ve played Resident 4 on the Nintendo Wii, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil Revelations, and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles. Oh, I’ve also played Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City which many people try to pretend never existed. I’ve watched my friends stream Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3 and enjoyed it. The plot and background stories of Resident Evil the franchise are quite interesting to me. I’d like to think I’m as well informed as it can be without playing the earlier games of the series. I plan to play the rest of the series one day and it starts here. So what are my thoughts of the beginning of the franchise?

Read More

#IDARB review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

#IDARB review (Xbox One)

#IDARB is scheduled for release on Xbox One in February 2015 and will be free for all Xbox Live Gold subscribers. It was developed by Other Ocean Interactive (and the people of the internet) and published by Other Ocean Interactive. A copy of the game was provided by Other Ocean for review purposes.

#IDARB for ID@Xbox

Based on what I have read over the past week or two, the gaming press have been generally disappointed by a lack of both quality and innovation across almost all platforms in 2014. Many of the most anticipated games of last year were sequels or remakes. Worse still, almost all of the triple-A holiday releases were clearly rushed, unfinished and in some cases almost entirely unplayable. It seems fitting to me then that one of the first key indie releases of 2015, #IDARB, is the complete opposite of these bloated, cynical big-studio productions in every way. Let me tell you all about it.

Read More

Pinball FX2: Venom review (Xbox One DLC)
9 years ago

Pinball FX2: Venom review (Xbox One DLC)

The newest Marvel villain to have their own table in Pinball FX2 is Spider-man’s arch-enemy, Venom. With previous Marvel-themed tables, Zen Studios has gone one of two ways: they either incorporate the theme of a recent Marvel movie or they follow a theme from the comics. Released on December 12, 2014 for both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One, Marvel’s Venom table for Pinball FX2 goes the latter route and incorporates a theme straight from the comic books.

Read More

Funk of Titans review (Xbox One)
9 years ago

Funk of Titans review (Xbox One)

Funk of Titans was developed and published on Xbox One by A Crowd of Monsters. It was released on January 9, 2015 for $12.49. A copy was provided by A Crowd of Monsters for review purposes.

Funk of Titans start screen

“Cool Daddy-o!”

It’s motivational speaking at its finest, and it comes from main character Perseus, to whom Zeus has assigned the task of defeating the Music Titans. The player is sent to clear three different worlds of music consisting of Pop, Rap and Rock. At first glance of screenshots and trailers of the game, I assumed this was another traditional platformer in which the player runs and jumps and attacks on command. Nope. Funk of Titans is actually a runner-type game in which the character automatically runs, and the player commands the jumping and combat. This revelation completely changed my outlook on the game. Let’s dig into the finer details of how it did so.

Read More