Latest Reviews
Review Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition (Xbox One)
Nacho average luchador
Even if you haven’t played Guacamelee or seen it in action, chances are you’re at least aware of its existence. Released as a timed exclusive for PlayStation consoles back in April of last year, this Metroidvania-style action platformer was met with a knockout of a reception, and since then has been heralded by many as one...
Review GRID Autosport (Xbox 360)
Crossing the line?
When Codemasters announced that they’d be reviving the Race Driver series with GRID 2 last year, many people were suitably excited. The original Race Driver GRID was a fantastic game which pitched itself somewhere between arcade racing and simulation, and that provided big, beefy cars battling it out over several disciplines...
Review Sniper Elite 3 (Xbox One)
Blood and broken bones
Ladies and gentlemen, Karl Fairbourne is back. The buff, very American super sniper makes his return in Sniper Elite 3, joining ranks with the allied countries during World War II to help them gather intel and scout areas of interest. Although, chronologically, this isn't a return as such. Sniper Elite 3 is set some-odd years...
Into the darkness
Outlast is a game you can brag to your friends about when finished. It’s also a survival horror adventure that probably shouldn’t be played by those with weak hearts. The tension scales so sporadically that even a half-hour session can leave you exhausted. But rather more importantly, Outlast is a finely crafted, well-paced...
Review Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Xbox One)
Masterpiece theater
Though a few videos have been published leading up to the release of Valiant Hearts: The Great War, not a lot of them did very much to explain what the game actually was. Clearly, we could see that it was being built on the UbiArt Framework and from what we read, we could clearly see that a lot of care and attention was being...
Review Sixty Second Shooter Prime (Xbox One)
A new ruler?
Sixty Second Shooter Prime isn’t officially related to Geometry Wars, but it may as well be. A twin stick blaster, the game sees your triangular ship trying to blast its way through enemy cubes, triangles, and coils. There’s no health bar, and no extra lives. Colliding with something means that your game is over. The goal is to rack...
Review Blood of The Werewolf (Xbox 360)
Murder, she wrote
Blood of the Werewolf is a tough-as-nails action platformer that marries core genre conventions with modern mechanics and ideas. If you took the "try, die, repeat" appeal of Super Meat Boy, the gothic themes of Castlevania, and combat elements similar to those in Final Exam, you’d have a reasonable idea of what to expect here...
Connected chaos
To be blunt, Watch Dogs’ lead anti-hero Aiden Pearce is a straight up smartphone addict. For most of the game, Aiden can barely take his eyes away from his device. And who can blame him really, especially with all the cool things one can do? No, he isn’t checking to see what’s trending on Twitter or playing a round of Candy...
Review Wolfenstein: The New Order (Xbox One)
Nazi-killin' machine
Can you believe that Wolfenstein has only seen four home console installments since Wolfenstein 3D was crammed onto an SNES cartridge back in the mid ‘90s? Being one of the oldest names in the book when it comes to first-person shooters, Wolfenstein has a legacy most brands can only dream of achieving, and it has somehow...
Nut all that fun
With platform holders making it easier and easier for indie developers to self-publish in these modern times, it’s inevitable that we’re going to see a lot of games ported from mobile devices to current home consoles. The first game of this nature to come to Xbox One (outside of Halo: Spartan Assault, which we wouldn’t...
Review Super Time Force (Xbox One)
Time is on your side, yes it is.
Super Time Force is the coolest game to hit the Xbox One and Xbox 360 so far this year. From the beautiful modern-retro pixel aesthetics to the unrelenting barrage of '80s/90s action movie inspirations and references, it’s an always-flashy, funny and frantic spectacle. It’s clear that the people over at Cabybara...
Review The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Xbox One)
Great power. Great disposability.
With another blockbuster film comes another video game tie-in — but is that always a bad thing? With games like Spider-Man 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and even Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay we'd have to say that expecting a lazy cash grab shouldn't always be a go-to reaction. Look back at 2012's...
Review Child of Light (Xbox One)
What rhymes with magnificent?
Child of Light is gorgeous – you know it, we know it, everyone that has seen it knows it. Running on the UbiArt Framework – the engine created to power recent Rayman games – it’s no surprise that Ubisoft Montreal has been able to craft visuals so stunning that still-frame images look like genuine paintings...
Review Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Xbox One)
There and back again
When Square Enix announced late last year that an updated version of the Tomb Raider reboot would be “re-built specifically for next-gen consoles,” we couldn’t help but scoff. For a game that we already called “adrenaline-filled” and “aesthetically superb,” — let alone only being on the market for 10 months —...
Review 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil (Xbox 360)
Back of the pocket.
When EA announced that they wouldn’t be releasing their quadrennial World Cup version of their FIFA series as DLC – which is something they trialled with the Euro 2012 add-on for FIFA 12 – the gaming world sighed. It was an indication that we were going back to the bad old days of paying out the full retail price for the...
Review Trials Fusion (Xbox One)
Man. Machine. The future?
We know that topping Trials Evolution would be no easy feat. As the second game in the Trials series, Evolution hit Xbox Live Arcade back in April of 2012 and was in such high demand that it shattered digital sales records right out of the gate. Not only did this sequel to Trials HD feature tighter gameplay and more varied...
Review Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut (Xbox One)
Interstellar Earth Defenders
Strike Suit Zero: Director's Cut is an arcade-style space shooter that one might compare to Star Wars: X-Wing, or even those Rogue Squadron games for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube. As a war rages on between Earth and the independent colonies of space, you'll play as a pilot in the U.N.E. (United Nations of Earth) with the...
Review Kinect Sports Rivals (Xbox One)
Do or die.
To say that Kinect Sports Rivals is a high-profile title for Xbox One would be something of an understatement. Being the only game (barring the violently bad Fighter Within, which barely passes as a game) available that’s been designed for the much-maligned Kinect device that’s included with every console, people were looking to...
Review Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (Xbox 360)
Stabs itself in the foot.
The modern-day Ninja Gaiden as a franchise has always been known for it's challenge, but it was always fair. It would throw obstacles at you that could be overcome through thought and tactical awareness. Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z however ignores this, going for more aggressive and less balanced approach. You play as Yaiba, a...
Review MXGP: The Official Motocross Game (Xbox 360)
Muddy.
When it comes to messing about on motorbikes in the mud, gamers used to have a fair few options to choose from. Acclaim, THQ, EA, Microsoft and others were involved in publishing games that varied from average to outstanding, but that all fell away as gamers grew bored of annual releases that lacked passion. Now, the landscape is less...
Review Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes (Xbox One)
Sneaking on to next-gen like a Boss!
Metal Gear Solid has been one of the very best franchises in gaming history. Developed by Hideo Kojima and Kojima Productions, each new title has always been able to reinvent itself, bringing fresh gameplay mechanics, in depth stories and pushing the graphical power of consoles to their limits. Now, six years...
Review The LEGO Movie Videogame (Xbox One)
Everything is (not so) awesome
The LEGO Movie Videogame is already the second LEGO game to be released on the next generation of consoles, and with the upcoming awkwardly-titled LEGO The Hobbit just on the horizon, this series has no intention of letting up. Based off the excellent movie, The LEGO Movie Videogame takes the honours of being one of...
Boom time.
To say that Xbox One owners have been waiting for Titanfall to arrive is probably one of the understatements of the year. To say that a few gamers who have been thinking about taking the step up to the Xbox One have been waiting to see how Respawn’s new multiplayer-only FPS would fare is also in the same ballpark, understatement-wise...
Review Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z (Xbox 360)
Is this a Dragon Ball Zzzzzz?
Dragon Ball Z has always been known for it's spectacle of over the top fun, characters, design and action. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Z is no exception in this highly stylized spectacle fighter, which is easy to play, enjoyable to watch, but which can become repetitive before it gets fun. There isn't really any story to...
Review Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (Xbox 360)
Strike three. And you're out!
Final Fantasy XIII had a pretty convoluted plot, and Final Fantasy XIII-2 didn’t help clarify it much. Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning Returns adds even more confusion to the narrative, so much so that it’s very difficult to enjoy the tale it’s trying to weave. However, if you can look past the ridiculous, and...
Review Earth Defense Force 2025 (Xbox 360)
Buggin' Out
Earth Defense Force 2025 takes itself about as seriously a SyFy original film would. Tonally, it’s a little bit Starship Troopers and part Godzilla, offering up non-stop, mindless bug-killing action. Missions aren’t very complex; hundreds of giant enemies are about to drop into the environment…kill them all. And that’s about the...
Can it steal the gold?
Since the release of Thief: The Dark Project in 1998, the Thief franchise has been known as the grandfather of the stealth genre. It's mastery of simple, yet elegant stealth mechanics, sound design and environments have been a benchmark ever since. Now Eidos Montreal have taken the development reins for the fourth installment...
Review Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Xbox 360)
Second time round.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 isn't going to grab your attention as firmly as its predecessor did. The narrative fumbles along and the structure flutters between confusing and tedious. Indeed this denouement to MercurySteam’s take on this cherished franchise doesn't live up to their first foray. However, creative boss...
Review PAC-MAN and the Ghostly Adventures (Xbox 360)
Pac isn't back.
For this first time since the last time, everyone’s favourite spherical pill-muncher is back, apparently. Only this time he has an American “surfer dude” voice. But that isn’t the only change, oh no. He’s friends with some of the ghosts that he was looking to gobble up in the iconic original title for starters and on top of...
Review South Park: The Stick of Truth (Xbox 360)
Great or just m'kay?
Reviewing South Park: The Stick of Truth on a family-friendly site was always going to be a tough proposition. We may have to break a long-standing site rule or two here in order to describe the content and get our point across. After all, it doesn’t matter how much of an accomplished wordsmith you are, you can’t describe...
