Blog

Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 was developed and published by Halfbrick Studios. It was released on March 17, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided by Halfbrick Studios for review purposes.

Who knew fruit could be so fun? Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 is the follow-up to the popular Fruit Ninja Kinect on Xbox 360. As an avid Xbox 360 Kinect user experienced with games such as The Gunstringer and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor, I was used to the usage and limitations on the last-gen device. Fruit Ninja Kinect 2 was my first Xbox One Kinect-only game (Blue Estate being my first Xbox One Kinect-optional game), so I was eager to experience it.

The gameplay is very simple. Slice, dice, chop and cut up fruit to gain high scores. Along the way, different obstacles will attempt to impede your path to success. With the power of Kinect, players will feel like they are in the moment on screen and look good in the process. But can such a simple concept carry a second game in this franchise?

Read More

Life is Strange‘s second episode of five will be launching on March 24. The date was recently revealed by a developer session at EGX Rezzed. When the series originally began developer Dontnod had planned to have six weeks between releases. It’s going to just missed that initial goal by a week for the second episode, so here’s hoping the studio can hit its next release goal since there is no word on changing the prior plan.

Dontnod played a 15-minute section of the latest episode live, which can be seen below the break. Obviously there are spoilers abound, so tread at your own risk.

Source: Eurogamer

Read More

Do you like the idea of robbing people, gaining crazy amounts of cash and buying really cool stuff, but hate the idea of having to sneak around listening to guards’ conversations for hours? Well, then Size Five Games’ The Swindle may be for you.

The Swindle is a steampunk/cyberpunk heist game that takes place in a version of London where the police have the perfect solution to all of the city’s crime: they’re going to use artificial intelligence to surveil all of London. “As a master thief, that will sort of ruin your job,” explains Size Five Games Director Dan Marshall. The police are going to activate this AI in 100 days, which means that’s all the time you have to try and steal it. Every time you do a heist, whether you succeed or fail, the counter goes down.

Players will collect money while on heists, and, naturally, having more money means you can buy better upgrades and tools that in turn increase your security clearance. Your goal is to collect enough coin throughout the game to gain a high enough security clearance to enter the police district and steal the AI before times run out.

Read More

For me personally, one of the most frustrating gaming moments is knowing that an awesome multiplier game is releasing but all my real life friends are either broke, not into it or buying it on another platform. Nothing kills a multiplayer game experience faster than a community that is outright hostile or barren. Eric Doty, Director of User Acquisition at Overdog, puts it like this:

“Xbox One has one of the most active game communities in the industry, but there has been a need for players to be able to connect with like-minded gamers, not just random people. We want to take some of the anxiety out of being matched up with someone online. Trying to find someone that will help you finish a co-op mission in Destiny or build a castle in Minecraft right now that loves watching Red vs Blue? Overdog can find the right person for you.”

Read More

The XBLA Fans Twitch Stream Team has grown drastically in recent months thanks to the support of our viewers. I’d love to personally encourage each of our readers to check out at least one broadcast this week. We will be updating the site on a weekly basis with a plethora of streams for you to enjoy.

In addition to our scheduled streams below we also sometimes do impromptu streams. The best way to stay informed of those is to follow XBLA Fans on Twitter and follow us on Twitch.

If there is a game you want to see streamed, please contact us.

This week we are doing a special Subscribers Only Giveaway. On 3/22 we will do a random giveaway for our subscribers entering anyone who has subscribed automatically. The winner will get their choice of prize from our vault of giveaway codes. Please consider subscribing to support the stream.  We are close to unlocking two more awesome emotes.

All times are listed in EST.

Monday 3/16

• 11a – 2p SMITE with Zero Jehuty
• 2p – 5p Thomas Was Alone with Cuckoolander
• 7p – 10p Ziggurat with K4rn4ge
• 11p – 12a Ori and the Blind Forest with The Snapple Cap

Read More

Wasteland 2: Game of the Year Edition, developed by InXile Entertainment, will be coming to the Xbox One at some point this summer, after launching on PC last September. The game was made possible through a very successful Kickstarter campaign, to the tune of nearly $3 million. Wasteland 2 is a turn-based role-playing game that is known throughout the gaming community as the forefather of the Fallout series and was highly regarded when the original launched in 1998.

Wasteland 2 will be releasing via ID@Xbox and will have plenty of new features for console players, among them: updated models, a new quirk and perk system, and new voiceover work. A more complete list of features, as well as the console announcement trailer can be seen below the break.

Source: Polygon
Read More

OlliOlli was developed by Roll7 and published by Curve Digital on Xbox One. It was released on March 6, 2015 for $8.49 for Xbox Live Gold members and will be $9.99 once the release sale ends. A copy was provided by Curve Digital for review purposes.

OlliOlli is an endless runner skateboarding game that prides itself on using buzz words like “rad” and “sick.” It’s not a mixed bag of tricks, though. With no story and no multiplayer except for limited leaderboard options, there is only one thing to do: perform gnarly stunts and survive levels.

As a forewarning, the graphics are very underwhelming and are border on what might be considered the bare minimum to get by. So much so that when OlliOlli was demonstrated in front of a live audience, multiple people were quick to judge it as a “bad game,” in PG terms, for its graphics alone. Graphics shouldn’t define a game in a negative fashion, though: it’s entirely possible to have a beautiful-looking game and still be unpleasant to play. The inverse is also true; a game can be very basic and still be incredibly fun. Besides, graphics often don’t age well. How will a person look at current modern graphics in 10-20 years from now? Likely not as favorably as they do today. With that out-of-the-way, let’s get started on the features.

Read More

After being on the PlayStation 4 for over a year, Octodad: Dadliest Catch will at long last swim its way over to Xbox One’s shores via ID@Xbox, Microsoft has announced. In the game, players take control of an octopus struggling to accomplish the, usually boring, tasks of fatherhood. The game will launch with two free “Shorts” levels available from the start, as well as run in 1080p. And in an era where local co-op seems to be fading away, Daddliest Catch will allow two to four people to play with one another locally. Check below the break for the Xbox One announcement trailer.

Source: Microsoft

Read More

Resident Evil Revelations 2: Judgment was developed and published on Xbox One and Xbox 360 by Capcom Entertainment Inc. It was released on March 10, 2015 for $5.99. XBLA Fans’ Michael Cheng purchased a copy out of pocket for review purposes.

Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 3: Judgment takes players on a ride that includes more action, more action puzzles, more explosions and more ways to die. Players may notice that one or more of this episode’s sections feel like a tribute to the older games in the series.

Claire’s campaign starts off with Claire finding a message left by a character from Episode 2 to go to a factory nearby. Through a series of wild events, players are taken through a few factories, the sewers and eventually into the interior of the island tower before climaxing at the game’s first major non-optional boss fight. Judgment contains more action puzzles than the first two episodes combined, and on the first playthrough, players can easily die if they don’t think on their feet. It’s nice to finally see a real boss fight this time around. A word of warning to streamers using the Twitch app on Xbox One, though: although you can stream the actual boss fight itself, the scene after that is blocked and will show the Twitch pause screen until you reach the result screen. Very disappointing.

Barry’s campaign continues on from the encounter at the end of Contemplation. After the cut-scene plays out, the player starts off in a drained version of the sewers in Claire’s campaign before heading to a deserted mining facility. This segment tries something different: sending the player on an extended fetch quest involving carrying a cube from one location; dropping it on a conveyor belt to be transferred; and repeating a few times before it eventually reaches its destination. Some players may not like the duration of this fetch quest, myself included. It was tolerable the first time and a major annoyance on every subsequent playthrough.

Read More

Do you want a hyper-realistic simulation of the life of a farm animal? Well, we don’t have that, but we have the next best thing. Goat Simulator is coming to Xbox 360 and Xbox One this April.

Goat Simulator released last year on PC and took the world by storm with its non-stop randomness. You play as an indestructible goat with an impossibly long tongue, out exploring an intentionally glitchy open world full of secrets. You must find as many ways as possible to rack up points, whether it be by doing flips, causing mayhem in the streets, or climbing ladders with your head. Check out the trailer after the jump, which contains the most dramatic goat footage you’ll ever see.

Read More