Altaria_97

It’s rare if I spend more than $50 for a game.

The only game I did that for last year was with Paper Mario TTYD ($60) and that was to send a message to Nintendo that I want more original-style Paper Mario titles.

So no, I would not buy a game for $80. I’m thinking of getting the Switch 2 as I’m a big Nintendo fan but I’ll only get Mario Kart World if I can get that bundle to save $30.

Seems like the usual positive to slightly above average mix of review scores. This could be a sleeper hit despite it not really impressing me, personally.

If I can find the time to play it with how hectic life has been recently, I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the review roundup!

Mario Kart World looks great but the $70-$80 price tags per game have me second guessing if I’ll purchase a Switch 2 anytime soon. It’s simply too much for me to pay considering I don’t spend as much time gaming as I used to.

I don't play it anymore but that’s because I don’t really play multiplayer games much. I beat the single player campaign and the DLC stories already. I could see myself going back but that would be to restart the entire game and replay the single player content.

@Aniscape @StylesT Couldn't agree more with these statements. I see people complaining online all the time how there are less games this generation and blah blah blah. But I have a huge backlog of games that look insanely fun. But the older I get, the harder it is to find time to play. Work, relationships, cleaning, health, etc. all eat up SO much time. I don't even have kids! I'm more than grateful to have so many games to play and it's actually overwhelming when more games get announced or release.

All this to say I probably won't play South of Midnight. It doesn't look bad, but with so many other games I'm more interested to play and such little time, I doubt I'll ever get around to it. Hope it reviews well, though!

While Avowed and South of Midnight don’t interest me, I’m still very happy with GamePass:

Now: Just started Ninja Gaiden 2 Black
April: Expedition 33
May: DOOM The Dark Ages
July: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

I’m not planning on renewing my Gamepass when it expires in late November, but this is a really nice spring/summer schedule.

I’m not usually one to pay for these things… but if the bonus soundtracks and decks are cool, I might bite. Playing as Doom Slayer would be funny, too. Maybe I’ll start the Microsoft rewards back up so I don’t have to pay with real cash.

I remember seeing articles about this game and never looking into it. Finally read this article and it made me look up gameplay... holy crap! How did I sleep on this game for so long haha. I'm 100% playing this, even crazier is that it's on GamePass.

I doubt it but I hope this means Forza Horizon 6 is coming this year.

Please! I just played and beat the first remaster a few months back and it was one of the best games I played last year. Took me right back to the late 90’s/early 2000’s. This would be the perfect summer game for me!

Good to hear. Companies get too greedy and aggressive. They hire too many people and contractors, then let them go or fire them after games release.

I originally wasn’t interested in this title but I’ll definitely check it out in the near future now. The third-person option REALLY makes a difference for me.

Pretty sure everything recent and upcoming will be brought over at this point. XBOX is still doing well, but they fumbled too hard in terms of console sales. They’re basically a “glorified” third-party at this point… which, while weird, doesn’t bother me as long as their game output is good.

I’ve accepted that XBOX is basically a glorified third-party at this point, at least from a consumer perspective. I’m fortunate enough to own all the modern major systems so this news doesn’t really bother me. In fact, it’s nice more people will be able to play this amazing game.

My only disappointment is with Microsoft as a whole this generation. We’re over 4 years in and I haven’t gotten a lot of the big games released or announced that I personally buy an XBOX for. A lot of the big games have been acquired studios, which isn’t a bad thing, but I was hoping for more from Halo, Forza, Gears, and some other niche franchises like Banjo, Conker, Psychonauts, and others. As it stands, it’s been a solid generation for XBOX but a bit underwhelming as well. Still excited, just thought we’d have a bit more by now.

I didn’t really care for much at all. Not that it was objectively bad. Just not for me… I feel like an old man already lmao

Fully disagree. Why be so pessimistic? There’s been potential for a great, true Banjo 3 for the past 20+ years now. There are so many great developers that could work on it. Why just assume the worst?

Modern 3D platformers like Mario Odyssey, Bowser’s Fury, Psychonauts 2, Astro Bot, the Crash/Spyro remasters, and more have proven the monumental quality and success this genre can bring. I say give Banjo another chance.

Thanks for the update! I’ll check this out on PC gamepass sometime!

The rumor that never dies haha

I’m not expecting it but it would be awesome if true. I still haven’t played the series outside of trying the first couple missions of 4 when it came out. I’d definitely prefer a modern version.

I was gonna say it’s probably for the free showcase version of FC 25 but upon looking, it seems to be the standard addition at a 100% off discount.

Nothing is popping up on my phone but I’ll keep my fingers crossed when I get home later today and open the store on my XBOX.

Wow, last night while in bed I was just thinking “hey, wouldn’t it be comical if the developer direct was just Microsoft announcing layoffs and old games going over to PS5?”

Tonight I’ll think about everyone getting their jobs back and Banjo Kazooie returning lol

I’ll watch the trailer when I get home from work, but I really hope they improved the visuals and commentators. The previous entry looked like an upscaled 360 game with the most monotone commentator of all time. I had a lot more fun with EA’s PGA Tour. Hopefully this game is a big improvement.

I doubt it, but I want the surprise to be Forza Horizon 6.

Not getting it a day 1 but I’ll keep an eye on it. Seems like it could be fun, especially if the stealth is done right.

@Pastellioli Not bad at all, gaming is just a fun hobby and we all go through different phases in life that make us super busy. That said, Shredder's Revenge is a fantastic game. I'm hoping they make another TMNT arcade game!

@Kezelpaso @dskatter
I had to play Where’s Waldo finding the Deluxe edition but I did find it and claimed it for free! Thanks both of you and happy holidays!

I didn’t realize these games were only a one day thing. I said I’d claim Battlefront on XBOX when I got back to my place tonight, guess that isn’t happening. The deals don’t show up on mobile for me

@BacklogBrad Agreed. I’m sure he means an “internal delay” based off the original projected release date… but wording it as just “delay” implies it’s universally known by everyone, or official.

Awesome. I’m guessing it’s going to be Sumo Digital developing it and it’ll play like the last 3 entries. I loved them all, especially Transformed. This was low key one of my favorite announcements, I just wish we saw gameplay and got a release year.

I'm shocked. I went in expecting nothing and I came out hyped for like 8 games. I didn't watch the entire show but from the small bits I watched it was pretty enjoyable.

And Astro Bot winning game of the year was great to see. Not just because I loved the game, but I think it'll push developers to make more cartoon-y games based purely on fun... which is right up my alley.

Maybe these shows really can be the E3 replacement I've wanted over the past few years.

Wow. The gameplay at the end of the trailer look REALLY good... both visually impressive and fun as hell. Looking forward to this!

Forza MotorSport 6 Apex disappeared from my library shortly after it was delisted. I contacted them with the order details and the game data (achievements, playtime, etc) but they said they “couldn’t find it” and I “never owned it”.

I know that was a free game but still… what a crap system.

Ngl, I actually thought this game couldn’t be played alone. Being able to play it like a single-player game AND offline is a lot more enticing. Thanks for the heads up, PureXbox.

I also got the game for free lol, Prime Gaming gave away Epic keys for the game back in July. Maybe I’ll finally try it out this winter. Should run well on my new-ish GPU.

Oh. The difference is actually pretty big. That said, the Series S version still looks good, especially for a console that's usually sold well under it's retail price of $300. But yeah... the Series X version has way better shadows and a noticeably higher resolution.

Agreed with others saying Persona 3 will probably leave. Most ATLUS titles only stay on GamePass for a year. Although it released at the start of February, which is probably why it isn't on this list. I'd be happy to be wrong tho as it's a great game.

I’m in rush to play it. I’ll probably start it up during my PTO around Christmas time!

Keep in mind that a score of 6/10 isn’t bad, it’s still a decent score. Plus most other reviews for it are much higher with the game currently sitting at an 86 for XBOX and an 87 for PC on Metacritic.

Looking forward to playing this one.

No way, the poll says 34% too haha

I use energy saver since I don’t use remote play. Less money spent and apparently it’s more sustainable.

It’s not bad but it’s still a disappointment. It’s still not optimized well on PC. It runs well on Series X, thankfully. The single player is still short. They still focus on “live-service” type events. Only a few new tracks. No crazy fun “fake” tracks like Prague and such. It just feels soulless still. And I still don’t like podium picking mechanics.

All that development time for a game that, imo, is worse than Forza MotorSport 7 by almost every metric. I gave it a 7 for it not feeling much different after an entire year.

It’s a solid game that just didn’t have much personality to it and came out right before the biggest CoD in probably a decade. It felt really good to handle but I just don’t see a reason to play it over Black Ops 6. Granted, I don’t play a lot of online games these days.

Thanks for the heads up. Lego 2KDrive has been toward the top of my backlog so I’ll get started on that this week. 🤙🏼

Crash Team Racing I never bought despite loving Crash Nitro Kart back in the day. I was hoping it would get optimized for Series X then I guess I just forgot about it lol. Looking forward to playing that and Indie soon!

I want the next Halo, the next Forza Horizon, Gears E-Day, Perfect Dark, Psyoconauts 3 and a revival for Banjo and Conker. I also want Fable to not get delayed.

I’m aware I won’t be getting most of what I want lol. I’m still remaining optimistic, though.

@awp69 Thanks for the info!

@awp69 EDIT: This entire time I thought Microsoft published the game. My b, I’ll look up what the deal is about the exclusivity then.

And the tail of Microsoft’s mismanagement of studios and game development continues. I’m still interested in the title but I’m waiting a bit to download it on gamepass until I hear most of the bugs are ironed out.

This really feels like the “Wii U” era for XBOX. A complete lack of direction for the system and games, uncertainty of the future, and a really mixed quality of games with a lot of big franchises just taking forever to show up.

All that is to say I still enjoyed my Wii U, and I enjoy my Series X. But I’d be lying if I said the Series X hasn’t underwhelmed compared to the Switch and PS5.

Glad they’re improving it. It’s a very underrated game but like a lot of other games these days, it released in an unfinished state. Excited to give it another go this weekend.

Too little too late for me. I wanted one of these a bit ago, but I now have a PS5 and PC to divvy up my game library. I don’t mind uninstalling a couple games if I need to every now and then. It’s a good deal for those who still need one, though.

Insert Avengers “What the hell happened here” meme

Anyone that hasn’t played this yet is in for a treat. This is a fantastic remaster of some great old-school collect-a-thon platformers. I enjoyed my time with these games on PS4 Pro back when it released, and if they updated the games code and animations to run at 60fps I’d be willing to replay it.

I got my Series X early 2022, right after holiday 2021. Playing Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, and Psychonauts 2 on a new 4K console at 60fps really wowed and stuck with me. Unfortunately, other than Hi-Fi Rush (and to a degree Forza MotorSport), nothing else has really stuck out for me.