Xbox One Reviews

LA Cops was developed by Modern Dream and was published by Team17. It was released on March 13, 2015 on Xbox One for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Back in the day, in larger cities, it is said that the only places open 24 hours a day were diners and small cafes. How people survived, I do not know. These eateries would offer coffee and a doughnut to the beat cops patrolling their neighborhood late at night – thus the connection, and the numerous jokes, between policeman and doughnuts was established. When LA Cops releases on Xbox One, every gamer will have 24/7 access to one of the more interesting and humorous games to be released in recent memory.

In LA Cops, you select and control two separate policemen – and/or policewomen – out of a group of six, and set out upon 13 highly tactical missions to take back control of the streets and lower the crime rate in Los Angeles. From hostage rescues to bank robberies to drug busts, you will be using one detective to cover the other, moving forward though the levels to complete the objectives. This will take some trial and error, as the bad guys make every effort to take you and your partner down.

Read More

Resident Evil Revelations 2: Contemplation was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Capcom Entertainment Inc. It was released March 3, 2015 for $5.99. XBLA Fans’ Michael Cheng purchased a copy out of pocket for review purposes.

Fun fact: one of my favorite characters in the Resident Evil series is Jim Chapman from Resident Evil Outbreak and Resident Evil Outbreak File 2. His classic line was “my life is s—.” So hearing Resident Evil Revelations 2: Contemplation‘s Pedro Fernandez spout out, “my life is awesome” in a similarly whiny tone to Jim’s made me crack a smile.

Contemplation has Claire arriving at a seemingly deserted fishing village surrounded by fellow TerraSave members that were abducted and dropped on an unknown island. Once you’re allowed to leave the bar, you can step outside and wander around the fairly open village. This area is reminiscent of Resident Evil 4, and the events that occur during Claire’s campaign continue to follow that game’s vibe. Players will encounter one or more boss fights, which can be challenging on higher difficulties if you’re unprepared from a lack of ammo, a lack of health items or even having the wrong type of ammo. All in all, Claire’s section is a high-octane action sequence with many segments that instill a false lull of safety.

Barry’s campaign follows in the footsteps of Claire’s campaign as he attempts to visit Moira’s last known position. While the tougher monsters exist in Barry’s second episode campaign, the section as a whole is fairly uneventful. There is only one major event in Barry’s segment that might not even happen depending on the actions taken in Claire’s section. Barry’s episode two campaign was very disappointing; however, it’s where most of the major story reveals occur, preventing it from being a complete waste of time.

The story is making good strides forward and has the potential to be captivating — despite being made up of nothing but convenient plot twists and reveals — and the major villain is an interesting throwback to a previous Resident Evil title that very vaguely mentions this character.

Read More

White Night was developed by OSome Studios and published by Activision on Xbox One. It was released on March 6, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided by Activision for review purposes.

It’s so hard to dislike a game as beautiful as White Night. The stark, completely black and white visuals not only look gorgeous but are far more than just a gimmick, actually adding to the dread and atmosphere of this haunted house game. But, unfortunately, White Night just not very fun.

After making it through the first two chapters, I had finally had enough of the frustration and was pretty much ready to throw in the towel. I pushed through begrudgingly, but there are only so many random, pointless ghost deaths a man can handle before losing interest in what started out as such a cool game.

Read More

Resident Evil Revelations 2: Penal Colony was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Capcom Entertainment Inc. It was released February 24, 2015 for $5.99. XBLA Fans’ Michael Cheng purchased a copy out of pocket for review purposes.

As a fan of classic puzzle-style Resident Evil games and someone who has played 270 hours into Resident Evil Revelations 1‘s Raid mode, I had high hopes for Resident Evil Revelations 2 and expected its gameplay to be similar to its predecessor. The kind of high expectations that would fall short.

Admittedly, Episode one is a good game. In fact, it’s the kind of good that fans of Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 would enjoy. The environments feel wide open and danger is ever-present in the form of enemies waiting to ambush around the next corner. Suspense is limited as there is usually enough ammo to handle any situation, and there are mandatory fight segments that require the player to fight back. You will, however, dread of running out of ammo on harder difficulty settings when waves of enemies arrive to cause harm.

Claire’s campaign starts the episode with intrigue. Who did it? Why? Where are we? You’re left to wander around a desolate, rundown detention center while encountering strange humanoid characters that are really happy to bite into you. Barry’s campaign comes in with the intent of having you pick up the pieces from the events of Claire’s campaign. Barry and Natalia venture through the same detention center that Claire and Moira found themselves in before progressing through dark forest areas and eventually making it to the radio tower that Claire and Moira used at the end of their segment. The titular revelation I encountered at the end of all this was, somehow, both expected and unexpected.

Read More

Ori and the Blind Forest was developed by Moon Studios and published on Xbox One by Microsoft Studios. It will be released on March 11, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If I’m ever asked sum up Ori and the Blind Forest in just a few words, I’ll undoubtedly describe it as beautiful, sorrowful, thought-provoking and magical, but it’s also a game which offers a stiff challenge that stretches across a vast and diverse range of environments and offers a lot of replay value. In fact, I’d have to say that Ori is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time and it may even be one of my favourite games ever, despite belonging to a subgenre of platform games of which typically I’m not a fan.

Although Ori is basically a platform game with RPG-lite elements, it features a system of advancement through the unlocking of new and different abilities – double jumping, air-dashing and so on which in turn allow access to previously unreachable areas. This style of game is traditionally likened to Metroid and Castlevania, but due to its graphical leanings and wonderful musical score, Ori is perhaps most alike to Dust: an Elysian Tale among its peers.

As a reviewer, I’m duty bound to tell you what genre a game belongs in, or how it looks and how long it is, but the truth is that Ori is one of those special kind of games that works hard to set itself apart (and boy does it succeed) because almost everything comes together perfectly to create a tight and eminently enjoyable experience which allows it to sit aside from similar games and perhaps even redefine the accepted norm.

Read More

“So much suffering… You don’t even know what to be afraid of yet.”
Read More

Roundabout was developed and published by No Goblin on Xbox One. It was released on February 20, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided by No Goblin for review purposes.

Where do I begin when reviewing Roundabout? The absolutely ridiculous ’70s B-Movie FMV cut-scenes? The insane gameplay? The bonkers music and voice acting? Or maybe with the fact that when I beat the game I was at 29 percent completion — not even 30! Roundabout is an almost review-proof game, but I’m going to try.

In Roundabout, you play as Georgio (of course, played by a woman, because why not), a limo driver who can’t seem to stop spinning. The game has a top-down point of view, and an open world in which you pick up people who need you to take them places and complete wacky objectives. It’s like a cross between Crazy Taxi and the old top-down Grand Theft Auto games — except you can’t stop spinning, which turns everything into a game of figuring out how to maneuver without blowing up.

Read More

Pneuma: Breath of Life was developed and published by Deco Digital and Bevel Studios. It was released on Xbox One on February 27, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If I learned anything from The Road to El Dorado, it’s that it’s tough to be a god. Sure, being worshipped and all-powerful is great and all, but you’ve got to live up to some high expectations. The prospect of being a god is the main conflict in Pneuma: Breath of Life, offering a unique perspective on being an all-powerful deity.

It’s important to emphasize that this isn’t your usual god game. You’re not an omnipresent spirit hovering over society, controlling life forms and building habitats, nor are you slaughtering your fellow divine beings. Pneuma is a first-person puzzler, putting you in the hypothetical shoes of Pneuma. As the creator of a brand new universe, you set out to explore your work and discover your powers. While the set-up may sound captivating, the game doesn’t quite reach god-like quality.

Read More

Blue Estate was developed and published on Xbox One by HESAW. It will be released on February 18, 2015 for $12.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

Four letters can easily sum up my thoughts about Blue Estate: “YMMV.” It’s an acronym used in many internet forums to shorthand the phrase, “Your Mileage May Vary.” Little other explanation is needed for anyone who understands that phrase. Truly, it’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that I had such a hard time commenting on and has also left me both indifferent and satisfied at the same time. Blue Estate is a dark humor rail shooter based on the Eisner Award-nominated Blue Estate comic books from Viktor Kalvachev. While I don’t know the storyline or details within the comic, I can kind of imagine them after playing through this game.

There is one easy way to tell if you’ll like this game or not, and that’s watching a gameplay trailer. After about two or three minutes, you’ll have a good idea whether or not you’ll like the gameplay and can tolerate the humor. If you like rail shooters, chances are you’ll enjoy this game. If you don’t like rail shooters, Blue Estate won’t win you over. Blue Estate never strays far from its core concept throughout the entire game. The game objectifies women, goes through many racial stereotypes and essentially makes fun of everyone and everything. It also doesn’t take itself very seriously, so why should you? As a game that presents itself as humorous, it is very hit or miss.

Read More

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 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