Xbox One

Some players were lucky enough to get their happy on a little early yesterday. On Thursday, April 9 at 5:00 pm PST/8:00 pm EST, Happy Wars for Xbox One …
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Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China, the 2.5D action game coming out later this month, will not be the only entry in the Chronicles series. Ubisoft recently announced two future titles that will take place in India and Russia; these games will feature new protagonists and distinctive settings. Stylistically, the games will stand on their own. The setting in China, for example, is heavily influenced by 16th century China melded with a more modern ink aesthetic, creating what Art Director Glenn Brace calls a “romantic, impressionist vibe.” He goes on to discuss the importance of rich, bright colors in India and how Russia, which takes place in the 20th century, makes use of the advent of “photography, graphics, poster art, [and] constructivism.”

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The April system update rolled earlier this week, adding even more features to the Xbox One. Party chat has been improved to make resolving common problems easier. The new …
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We take a look at Ares’ abilities and a successful build to use in arena mode. Check out gameplay showing how to play him and vs him in this mirror match up. He can be incredibly powerful and fun to play in arena, offering a lot of damage from a tanky-CC guardian that has offensive incentives to buy aura items for his team. Smite is currently in alpha on Xbox One and should move into beta in May.

If you play Smite on PC or Xbox One we would love to know some of your favorite Gods and builds for them in the comments.

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During the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, Lionhead’s head of engineering touched on the philosophy and technology that will be used for Fable Legends‘ cross-platform play. Raymond Arifianto explained …
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Shiftlings was developed by Rock Pocket Games and published by Sierra. It was released on March 4, 2015 for $14.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

The Xbox One is already home to an increasingly diverse range of game genres thanks to the ID@Xbox initiative, and it’s encouraging to see even crazier games like Shiftlings adding to the rich catalogue that already exists. Essentially, Shiftlings builds upon the existing range of puzzle-platformers by adding a unique twist on cooperative play along with stunning cartoon graphics and a slightly dark sense of humour.

Shiftlings is a game about two unfortunate aliens who happen to perform maintenance duties across a range of space installations whilst being watched by a reality TV audience. Why, you might ask, would anyone want to watch the Shiftlings at work? Well, apparently because the hazards involved in performing space installation maintenance are many, varied and often hilarious. The hilarity for the TV audience is presumably heightened by the fact that both Shiftlings are connected to each other via a pipe — a fact that plays a key role in the gameplay for us as players. The question is, can the beautiful visuals, strong humour and lure of cooperative play overcome the inherent challenges and frustrations that not arise in all puzzle-platformers, but also those that are specific to Shiftlings (such as the fact that both characters are literally connected throughout)?

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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?

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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.”

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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.

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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.

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