Taking the Town Back

Set in the town of Redfall, which bears a striking resemblance to those American towns you see in the movies such as Kingston Falls in Gremlins, Sunnydale in Buffy or Punxsutawney in Groundhog Day. The game plunges players into a battle against bloodthirsty vampires and their army of cultists. Choosing from four unique hunters, each with their own special abilities, you embark on a mission to reclaim the town. The story, while simplistic works fine as a launch story, there are vampires, scientists, cults, government agencies, and private armies. If you swapped out the vampires for zombies you’d have resident evil 2.

Redfall’s missions offer a simple and accessible experience, allowing players to jump in at a moment’s notice. The campaign begins in a local firehouse, serving as your headquarters, where you can choose from a selection of available missions. These tasks usually involve collecting supplies, activating or deactivating objects, or eliminating threats in the area.

Exploring the open world uncovers side content, unlockable safe houses, and collectibles like the skulls of underbosses, which are necessary to progress. However, I can see that by hour 20, the repetitive mission design might make the single-player gameplay feel monotonous.

However, I can’t help but wonder if Arkane missed an opportunity to deliver a more engaging single-player narrative, considering their prior successes in that realm. Potential is the word that I kept coming back to. Redfall has SO much potential it’s ridiculous, go through the Buffy box set, the Vampire Diaries Lost Boys and even 30 Days of Night and you can SO many storylines, missions, and ways this game can go. Similarly, the game can open up local caves, a sewer system, and schools that further expand the game (See my Redfall Content Roadmap Wishlist).

The Highlights: Gunplay and Unique Ideas

Redfall shines when it comes to its gunplay. The weapons are plentiful and unique, and the combat feels punchy and responsive. The looter-shooter mechanics encourage progression through upgraded weapon statistics, constantly pushing players to try out new and more powerful weapons. The tiered system, with weapons classified as common, uncommon, and rare, adds a sense of excitement and rewards exploration and combat. Additional skills and abilities also add to the variety to combat encounters.

The game introduces interesting ideas when facing vampires. For example, freezing enemies to stone with a UV light weapon and shattering them with a melee attack or using two-handed weapons with wooden stake bayonets to deliver the final blow.

The Lowlights: Buggy With AI Hiccups

Redfall’s performance leaves room for improvement, particularly considering the standards set by next-gen platforms. Running at 30fps, the initial frame rate feels adequate until chaotic moments cause occasional drops and stuttering. While not game-breaking, it can be jarring and disrupt the flow of gameplay, especially during intense combat encounters.

AI behavior is another area where Redfall falls short. While the game’s premise revolves around battling vampires, the enemy AI often feels lackluster. Vampires can exhibit odd pathfinding behavior, getting stuck in objects or failing to react appropriately to the player’s presence. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to sneak around the Docks sniping all the cultists but sometimes, the enemy wouldn’t react even if they were standing next to a person whose head just blew up. Then you would get a voice prompt saying that everyone was dead only to get shot in the back by the three people behind you. This inconsistency detracts from the immersion and can make encounters feel less challenging and strategic than intended.

Slaying With Friends

The cooperative play adds an enjoyable twist as you coordinate with friends and prioritize combat to take down hordes of enemies. The open-world exploration is great for gaining XP and leveling up your gear, but only the game host will progress through the story. Again, there is some serious potential here, from the co-op-focused skills you can unlock to the opportunity to build trust between characters through regular play. Vampire nests act as Strikes or repeatable dungeons as they are randomly generated areas in which you must work your way to the ‘heart’ and destroy it to get the loot.

Redfall Looks the Part

Redfall’s art style strikes a good balance between edgy and light-hearted, resembling Buffy’s vampire designs. Character models feature minimal and angular aesthetics, while lighting effects shine during encounters that mostly take place at night. There are lots of weapons skins and costumes locked away for diligent gamers but after 10 hours I unlocked one outfit and three gun skins so I have a long way to go.

I’m Not Giving Up on Redfall

Perhaps it’s my personality to always back the underdog but I am sticking with Redfall and hope that Arkane does to. There is so much potential here, I would like them to dig deep, build upon the game and redeem themselves like No Man’s Sky or Cyberpunk 2077.

Despite its shortcomings, Redfall’s foundation shows promise. With its intriguing setting, unique vampire-themed gameplay mechanics, and cooperative multiplayer potential, the game has the potential to evolve into something truly special with future updates and improvements.

Addressing the AI issues, optimizing performance, and introducing a more varied and engaging mission design could greatly enhance the overall experience. Additionally, expanding on the single-player narrative and adding more depth to the characters and world-building could create a more immersive and captivating adventure.

In its current state, Redfall offers an enjoyable but somewhat flawed experience. Fans of Arkane Studios’ previous works may find elements to appreciate, particularly in the gunplay and cooperative multiplayer aspects. However, those seeking a deep and polished single-player experience or a flawless technical performance may find themselves disappointed.

Ultimately, Redfall shows promise as a unique vampire-themed shooter, but it falls short of reaching the same heights as Arkane’s previous titles. It will be interesting to see how the game evolves and improves over time, and whether it can fulfill its potential as a standout entry in the genre.

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Wayward Strand looks like it has leaped from the comic book pages of Tin Tin. Bold black lines and a cartoon colour palette give this game a vibrancy not seen in many new games. The boxed frame and hand-drawn speech bubbles further enhance this comic book style. The visual style is akin to 13, telltale games or the recently released Forgive Me Father, however, Wayward Strand is much more cheerful. The characters are beautifully designed and all convey their individual personalities and characteristics. Sadly, some clipping and alignment issues mean holding or moving items looks a little weird but it’s not too destructing. The wipe effect used when entering the rooms of the patients gives the player the feeling of uncovering a hidden truth which in some cases is true, as Casey can listen in at doors to achieve the same wipe effect. The graphics of the rooms are detailed enough but anything outside of the airship is vague and blurry so don’t expect to see any grand vistas from the airship’s balcony.

On the whole, it’s the dialogue that really drives this game as you will need to talk to a lot of people about a lot of things. Each person holds the conversational keys to unlock new dialogue options. If one person mentions a missing nurse, you can now ask about it to everyone, miss that prompt and you may find yourself going down a different path. Now in my second playthrough I was really happy (and surprised) to see it go in a different direction to the first. The first time I sat with a staff member at lunch to unlock the abandoned section of the airship, whereas, on the second play through I missed lunch and listened to music with the aging Mr Pruess. The general story is the same but the way you reach the conclusion was different.

The voice acting, on the whole, is fantastic, all the Australian parts such as Casey, Mr. Avery, and Esther are different enough and the characters they portray. However, the German Mr. Pruess sounded more Asian, than European. The story is well written and flows very well considering the number of dialogue options and routes the stories can take. The music is generally serene and unobtrusive and fits the late seventies time period.

Overall, Wayward Strand is a beautiful heart-warming story and a welcome break from the madness of the world and its current crop of the hack, slash, shoot and destroy games. Taking time to talk to the old and infirm has never been so much fun. The mix of 2D roaming and a plethora of dialogue options had me feeling like Nancy Drew discovering clues and pieces together the disparate lives of 10 very unique characters. For those looking for fast action, this is definitely not the game for you as it’s as slow as a slug trudging through peanut butter, but if you would like gaming pallet cleanser to refresh your mind and warm your soul then take the wayward path to find Wayward Strand.

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Rimworld: Console Edition Review on Xbox

The first time I played Rimworld, my little band of soldiers, cave dweller and shopkeeper soon settled into their little wooden hut and started growing rice, everything was peaceful until a rabid squirrel attacked. After the rabid rodent had done its damage and subsequently been killed, they helped a lone traveler and were attacked by marauders. Thankfully, the marauder wasn’t fatally injured and there was an opportunity for him to join the team but in the flurry of battle, I added too many orders one of my team beat him to death carrying out a delayed command. Soon after they ate a tortoise and then other attackers hurt two of my team then burned down my house which them inside…

The second and third time round, none of these events happened…

Rimworld is a really unique game that marries the graphics of the Prison Architect series, the epic stories of Skyrim, and the mountain of data found in Dwarf Kingdom. Players first choose their three crew mates from a random selection of characters, each character has both a childhood background and adult profession, these two elements form the basis of their traits and abilities. The poor little cave dweller might have great mining abilities, but lack social skills, whereas the Comedian will boost morale but be terrible with guns. The multitude of variations is fantastic and sometimes a little dark and it doesn’t stop there (more on that later). Before each game, you can choose your Story Teller. The three options are Cassandra Classic, Pheobe Chillax, or Randy Random. As you might imagine, these are the balanced route in which you are given time between disasters to rebuild, the peaceful route that focuses on building your community, and the random in which you can be struck with blight one moment and attacked by an ancient evil you awoke whilst mining.

If you think you are a peaceful kind of gamer, ignore this bit. The game can descend into madness during some games and you might need to be morally flexible to get through the craziness. Your colony may need to be cannibals sometimes or harvest downed teammates for their organs but its survival of the fittest on Rimworld and the story can take some interesting twists and turns. The emergent gameplay never follows a set path, instead throwing in new twists to keep it interesting. If you set a trap for a marauder and forget it’s there, you might find one dead colonist, wander too far from home and you might meet a giant sloth that can kill. There are just so many things that can go wrong. If two of your colonists start a relationship and one dies, the other might have a mental breakdown and run rampage through the colony. It’s completely bonkers but utterly amazing.

For those who quiver with excitement over mountains of data, Rimworld has it in droves. From temperature, crop yield, medicine effects, social buffs, addiction, and so much more. However, new players to the micro-management simulation genre might find it all a little daunting. The first tutorial will take you through your first 30 minutes but after that, you are on your own. If you are happy to learn the complexities of the game then you will be rewarded ten-fold.

Rimworld has been out on Steam for years and there are additional DLC packs and an active modding community. The game has overwhelmingly positive reviews and has been one of the most popular games on the platform for many years. Now console gamers can enjoy this fantastic experience and access to the DLC as well. Modding is currently not included but may come in the future.

Rimworld Console Edition – Summary

Rimworld is a fantastic game that has SO much replayability. You can choose the ‘Get off the planet’ quest and complete the game, but the joy is simply surviving the twist and turns that the storyteller throws at you. There is a steep learning curve for new players but for those with the patience to work through it, you will not be disappointed. I have called this a first impression, as I am 20+ hours in and the average play time on steam, is 130 hours so I have a long way to go. The graphics may be basic but the emergence of storytelling and randomness of the whole experience makes this one of the greatest games very made. And for all those indie devs out there, it was done by two people.

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At first glance, you’d be forgiven if you thought this was one of the many anime dating simulators on steam. Thankfully, the characters keep their clothes on and costume changes stay relevant to the story. Originally released on Steam in 2012, it has taken 10 years to make the leap to consoles

Long Live The Queen is a game about choices. Each week, you choose classes for the Princess to attend. There is a large class list to choose from covering various topics including history, weapons, animal care, and military strategy to name a few. The player chooses morning and afternoon classes that increase different stats that make up your character’s personality. Each week, your skills are tested through various dramas at the palace. One week it might be a surprise family member or even a murderer possessed by a demon. Each task requires different skills to overcome and you will find yourself winning some, and losing others. Periodically you will so need to fend off assassinations from poisonous snakes to explosions.

It’s up to you what kind of queen you become, from a power-hungry military general to an eloquent diplomat, skilled in resolving conflict through negotiation. The classes you choose shape the story and ultimately the outcome. However, if Elodie isn’t in the right mood, she won’t learn a thing. The mood is based on five sliding scales that can be manipulated at the weekend through a different set of activities. Attending a service lifts your depression whilst playing with toys makes you happy but also lonely. Throughout the story, new options appear and you are able to visit the dungeon, sneak out of the castle or talk to friends and family to discover more about the magical abilities that you have but have been kept from you, as they were the cause of your mother’s death.

Essentially, the game moves between four screens, the classes, the activities, the mood, and the picture book. The story is told through text, which can be skipped, sped up, or ignored. Every so often a big decision is needed and you might fight a neighboring country or attend a festival. Long Live The Queen is strangely addictive and as the story develops it’s easy to rinse and repeat the steps to see where you end up. To complete the game, you need to survive 40 weeks to reach your coronation. In the end, you see what kind of Queen you turned out to be.

Long Live The Queen isn’t going to be for everyone, but the idea is good. I think the mechanic might also work for a President/Prime minister game which would be quite interesting. The graphics are basic and upscaled to fit the screen so the whole experience feels a little dated. As it is only a text-based game, it would have been nice for you to be able to choose your name and create your own princess, in the beginning, to help make that personal connection. At $10 or £7.99, it’s ok, but if you can pick it up on sale it is worth playing if you are looking for something a little different. Hats off to Hanako Games for making the leap to Xbox, with 14 similar story titles on Steam, perhaps this is the first of many.

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The Solar Ring is the story of a knight tasked with the retrieval of The Solar Ring stolen by The Lord of Darkness. The knight must travel between worlds to kill enemies, gather orbs, purchase upgrades, and traverse platforms.

The game… is a game. But it is a game that feels like a solo developer releasing the minimum viable product. It has a character, a basic story, and levels but that is it. The graphics are a mix of Fiverr-made polygon graphics, a mix of assets from the Unity asset store, and bare minimum mechanics that don’t carry over from level to level.

Keep the graphics consistent

The main character looks different from the trees and grass. The Mushrooms are different from the trees. The main character is different from the enemies. All of these inconsistencies make the game feel cobbled together and disjointed.

I don’t know when I can die

Sometimes the player can walk off the island and die, while other times, you can walk through an invisible stream and be fine. When landing on a platform, gravity doesn’t apply. The platform slides away underneath me and I can still jump but it doesn’t feel natural.

The mechanics are inconsistent

The spears don’t touch the enemies and yet inflict damage, the lightning magic rains down particle effects and is overpowered for the level 2 magic item. Jumping should use the A button, but players need to press the right stick down.

Everything is just thrown together

The story is paper thin to fit the demo and there is no explanation why a brave knight must collect light balls to upgrade their weapon (through a multi-click UI system that has no explanation). The achievements in the game aren’t actually top-level Xbox Achievements, but in-game rewards that don’t actually do anything.

Overall, The Solar Ring is a game that you would show at a Game Jam or Dev Club to show your progress, but it could do with more work. Being a mix of game dev tutorials and asset packs, it doesn’t feel like a modern game. It needs another few years of development bringing all the styling together, animating the characters, crafting a better story, and justifying ‘why’ the different mechanics exist. Well done to SM studios for releasing a game, 99% don’t get that far. At only £3/$4 you need to keep your expectations low, The Solar Ring is clunky, unoriginal, and feels like a young developer working through the whole process, instead of a passion project. Sorry SM Studios…

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There are not many games that start with you using a stick and rock to make a rudimentary axe and end with you creating a civilization of people who are able to transcend the physical realm. But somehow, that is exactly what you do in Autonauts. The story is simple, you land on an earth-like planet and through the various tutorials, you start to forage and build. However, the first thing you build is a robot to help with the many tasks. The more tasks, the more robots you need. Before you know it you have created armies of bots that are planting trees, chopping trees, creating boards, poles, wheels, cogs and so much more. Once you have the building mastered, it’s time to create some people, but these people need food, services and so much more. The scope of the game is massive but without being too off-putting.

Coding is at the heart of Autonauts, as each robot needs a set of instructions from which to follow. Each time you build a robot you give it a name and a purpose. Through the use of a code block, similar to that of Scratch; a coding engine used by children at school. You simply act out what you want the robot to do to build up the program. Once completed, you wrap the instruction in a forever loop and off they go working their little circuits off.

As your knowledge increases, further blueprints are unlocked, starting with simple storage units, wheels, and cogs. This then builds up to include vehicles, buildings, and later factories. The more your colony demands, the more resources you need to find until you have spread yourself across the map with industrial areas, farming services, food production, and R&D.

Whilst I am totally besotted with Autonauts, it’s not without its niggles. The first area of frustration is the longevity of the tools. Digging, chopping, and banging all take their toll on the tools and you may find yourself running around replacing tools until you figure out the code for ‘when hands are empty’. This can distract you from the task at hand and you find yourself juggling the needs of multiple robots. The second frustration that is dealt with by level three is the limited memory space of the first generation of robots. The initial robots can handle about one task. Go to an area, do a task, repeat. If you want them to perform a task, pick up an item and then add it to a storage unit, then repeat, it becomes too much for their first-gen brains. Thankfully, this is remedied in later levels but make frustrates new players (especially those with coding experience).

The graphics are very cute and simple and use some eye-bleeding colours to create a friendly world of voxel-style characters. Players can tweak the look of their character with a selection of hats and outfits. The ambient music is pleasant and forgettable (thankfully as you will hear it a lot) and the array of blips and boops work well with the child-like UI elements. However, the UI can be cumbersome as it needs to handle three different menus. The right menu is your tasks, the bottom menu is your character and the left menu is your blueprints. Moving between them can be clunky sometimes and you will find yourself adding ‘move to’ code in your robots when you accidentally click on the code area.

Overall, Autonauts is a triumph. It brings together fun and education and gives players a rich experience of world-building from stone-age tools, through steam-powered trains, and finally human transcendence. It uses a Mincraft-style game to introduce players to coding in an accessible way. Due to its massive scope, it is not without its frustrations. There is a lot to learn, growth can sometimes be slow and the UI can be difficult to use with a controller. But for those with patience and foresight to see the end goal, it is fantastic. For those who can’t wait, the extensive creative mode has everything unlocked from the start and players build train sets, go fishing, or tend to their farm. Autonauts is creative, and fun and offers players endless opportunities.

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I recently got the opportunity to play the first few hours, and this is my first impression of Remote Life on Xbox.

The first thing that jumped out to me on Remote Life was the visuals. The 3D style graphics look great but it was the creature design that caught my attention. The mix of the robotic with the Geiger-style alien gives the game a unique and eye-catching look. Blasting through the hordes of aliens is a joy when the variety of beasts is this good.

The weapons are the biggest visual treat as your ship can be equipped with four different weapon types, a mega weapon, and can also gain additional attachments to beef up your firepower. From simple red lasers to missiles, scatter shots, plasma waves, and myriad more, shooting is sheer eye candy as bullets shower the screen wiping out the enemy waves.

Each level ends with the epic boss battle and oozes retro charm as you move in and out to avoid the scripted patterns of bullet walls.

Unlike its retro predecessors, you don’t have to start from scratch if you die and are outside the three life limit, you can also save your progress at the end of each level. The menu section is a little clunky and basic using mouse-like control to select which level to tackle.

The sound and music are perfectly passable with industrial-techno background music that is easily forgettable alongside a few spoken words to break up all the large text-based exposition. The Sound FX on the weapons all sound great and vary enough to be distinct whereas the explosions are all very similar.

Level design is simple and fun and changes throughout to include the straightforward blaster to convoy missions to keep things interesting. As you circumnavigate the alien hive, there are plenty of crushers, spinning spikes, and doors to get in your way. A steady hand and calm demeanor are needed for the more hectic parts.

With a few hours of playtime under my belt, I know I am going to be jumping back into this a lot over the coming weeks as I work my way to the middle of the alien ship to deliver the mega missile that will save the world. If you are a fan of classic shoot-em-ups, Remote Life looks and plays like a modern game but has all the classic nods to the games gone before it. For a single developer, this is an immense achievement and I look forward to dealing with the all-important death blow in the next few weeks.

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Whisked away into the paintings, you are tasked with solving the myriad puzzles and opening up different parts of this amazing world. But is Summertime Madness a sun-soaked holiday worth taking or a twisted spiral into madness? Here are my first impressions of Summertime Madness.

Summertime Madness on Xbox

The first thing you will notice is the stunning paint-style visuals. The soft tones and bright colours make the world of Summertime Madness a feast for the eyes. The subtle blurring and paint dab-like textures give the world an ethereal dream-like quality compared to the dark war-torn world you leave behind.

There are multiple game types to try from the main 6-hour timed adventure or a more serene time-free game allowing you to explore the paintings and solve the puzzles at your own pace. I opted for the timed game as it was recommended in the start menu. If you are an advanced puzzle game player, you can opt for the three-hour advanced mode and speed run it.

During my initial playtime, I managed to solve the boat and the lighthouse and thoroughly enjoyed it. The game has a Myst-like quality in that it combines exploration with mechanical puzzles without giving you too many pointers. Should you need help solving the more taxing elements, you can trade 15 minutes with the mystery devil to get a clue on how to solve it. This was very tempting at first but once you are in the mindset of the puzzle maker, it is simply a matter of time and attempts to unlock the unfolding elements of the game. Throughout the course of the game, there is also a variety of items to collect in the form of musical instruments and the bedroom at the top of the tower is amazing if you recognise it.

The soundscape is a relaxing mix of music and soft sounds from blowing wind to musical chimes. The whole experience is serene until it becomes frustrating. Some of the puzzles seem straightforward but every so often a puzzle will move from the challenging column to the frustration column and patience is needed to return to it.

Whilst I am only two hours into the game, the six-hour time limit is both stressful, but also reassuring as you know there is an end. Myst was around six hours whereas Rivan, the sequel was over double that which was a little too taxing on my simple brain. The fact that advanced players can finish it in three indicates that it might not overstay its welcome.

Overall, my first impressions of Summertime Madness are positive. Beautiful graphics, relaxing music, and an ethereal ambiance make for an inviting game. The story is thin but helps to set the scene. The trading of clues for time is a nice touch but is sometimes sorely needed due to the odd frustrating puzzle. The more seasoned puzzler could complete this quickly whereas younger players may struggle.

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It was the graphic novel-style visuals that drew me to Alders Blood. The visuals are grim with long gaunt-looking hero’s who look long past their best. Players start the game as a single hunter hot of the trail of the source of all the evil. Through this initial mission, players learn the basic mechanics of moving, fighting, and hiding. As the tutorial mission comes to an eye, the hunter’s mind is touched by something ethereal showing him horrors so terrifying he is blinded and left as a jibbering mess and the main reason for the ensuing narrative.

The new posse starts the main game on a mission to retrieve the first Hunter and is entangled in a mystery that spans the map.

What impressed me when playing Alders Blood was the sheer amount of systems at play. On the battlefield, there is the standard affair of turn-based mechanics but they have added new ones such as wind direction that alerts enemies to your smell.

Similarly, when you camp for the night, the different team members can be given different jobs from foraging the area to resting. Players can craft items, trade with local traders and so much more. The mass of options can be somewhat overwhelming to start with. The four different difficulty levels do help to simplify it a little but for those who love detail in their turn-based strategies, Alders Blood has it in droves. My only word of warning is it’s difficult. The wind direction might be a cool feature but it’s also an unpredictable enemy that can cause you to lose a round.

Similarly, as the world is engulfed in darkness, the people (including your trusted hunters) are prone to corruption and can turn on you just as you start making progress.

The graphics are all in 2D and there are plenty of animations for the various characters. The cut scenes use little to no animation and are more akin to reading a graphic novel, using more static panels instead of fully animated cartoons.

The sound is as eerie as the visuals, with a muted soundscape, shrill monsters screeches, and deep grunts. The voice acting is sporadic but well-acted.

Overall, during my four-hour playtime, I was pleasantly surprised at the sheer depth of the game, whilst being darkened by the miserable bleakness of the world they have created. I can see myself losing many more hours exploring this fascinating world but also getting frustrated at the swaying difficulty levels. For fans of turn-based strategies and dark graphic novels, you will find your happy place within the desolate world of Alders Blood but if you prefer you turn-based strategies a little easier (and with a bit more positive energy) then perhaps Phoenix Point might be more your cup of tea.

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Fans of Harvest Moon and FarmVille may rejoice at the fact that the Xbox has a new farming game to enjoy but before you jump in, it’s worth noting that this game came out on steam eight years ago and it is only now the consoles get a port.

So, is Farm For Your Life a game worth betting the farm on, or should this ancient title be left for dead; here are my first impressions of Farm For Your Life.

The look of Farm For Your Life has aged well considering its eight years old, the colourful cartoon graphics and cutesy characters still hold up on the new console edition, despite then looking like Nintendo Mii’s. I wish, however, I could say the same for the controls. The game feels like it was built for a PC or touch screen and feels clunky and cumbersome using a controller.

The story behind FFYL follows a community that was destroyed by a heavy storm. This same storm also caused a zombie apocalypse in the local area unleashing the undead who have a tendency to attack at night. These zombies however are omnivores and are happy to devour both people and vegetables making them a danger to both the villagers and your fruit and veg.

It’s up to the survivors to rebuild their sustainable community, maintain their on-site restaurant and keep the village safe from attackers. Players start by creating their own characters from an array of different looks which is great and they are tasked with rebuilding the village. From planting seeds to milking cattle, it will be a race against time to get your chores done before nightfall.

Farm For Your Life is a Jack of all trades, as it has elements of farming, building, cooking, tower defense and time management. All of these elements work well together, but each mechanic is only skin deep and none really go into much depth. For the most part, you are continually grinding to get the next big item before going back to the grind once again. Once the item is simply a gold version of a tool you already have, the motivation is soon lost. 

The main game takes around 5-6 hours to complete and there is a peaceful mode for those looking to simply farm and remove the zombie defense side of the game.

Overall, I liked the premise of the game and the graphics are cute and simplistic, but frustrating isometric controls and continual grinding for minimal reward won’t be for everyone. It’s great to see more farming games on the Xbox but one made for consoles might be preferred. For a cartoon farming sim without the Zombies, check out my review of Summer in Mara.

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The first thing you will notice is that Rekt! Looks like an open word Rocket League minus the ball and goals. However, on closer inspection, you’ll see that Rekt! is more like a skateboarding game than a driving game.

Review of Rekt! High Octane Stunts on Xbox 

The gameplay feels odd at first as you have the standard driving controls but once you lift off, the right stick controls your pitch and spin which is usually reserved for camera control. However, a few games in and you will get used to the rapid spinning you can achieve. It’s worth noting that as your car gets more and more beaten up, the more difficult it handles giving players a real sense of consequence. So try not to ‘Rek’ your vehicle

Score hungry players need to connect stunts together to get bigger and bigger multiplier scores. Each time you fail to land your vehicle properly, your multiplier is reset and you are audience to the giant ‘Rekt’ text and accompanying voiceover.

Games come with a series of objectives and challenges to complete which keep players motivated and push you on to build up your coin bank. Thankfully, unlocking levels is relatively easy as each new arena costs around 2000 coins which can be accrued pretty quickly.

The play takes place over five arenas of varying eye-bleeding colours. Each arena contains an array of difficult ramps, platforms, and loops to enjoy. When certain score levels are reached, the arena changes colour which is a cool feedback loop, and let you know you landed a particularly tight combo.

There is a tonne of vehicles to unlock through playing and the more in-game points you get the more options you have to get new cars and upgrade the vehicle you have. From better handling and spinning to boosting and jumping, each vehicle can be tuned up for better runs in the future. The vehicles are all suitable zany from flame red muscle cars to suped-up camper vans.

Rekt! can also be enjoyed with up to three friends in the couch coop mode that has three different game types, high score, checkpoint and virus which is basically a zombie mode with cars.

Rekt is great for short plays and I enjoyed dipping in and out of games instead of trying to tackle its challenges over the course of a few hours. Fans of rocket league and Tony Hawk’s will be right at home playing Rekt! And thanks to its extensive collection of unlockables and four-player couch co-op, this is a fun family game that is easy to pick up but difficult to master.

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Having grown up with Bullfrog’s Theme Park and Rollercoaster Tycoon, I am no stranger to the theme park sim. However, the limitations of the time and sometimes by the platform meant that creations were rudimentary by Planet Coaster’s standards. As such, the first thing you notice when playing Planet Coaster is that it is truly massive.

Planet Coaster Review on Xbox

Planet Coaster has a veritable buffet of park customization options allowing for an unprecedented level of creativity. Time-poor players can use the wealth of standard rides or download the myriad creations available from the community. Whereas those who have the time and inclination will marvel at the immense level of details that budding park designers can go to to create their perfect park.

To introduce the new console control system, the console edition has a handy tutorial that is fully voiced and gives those new to the theme park building genre a gentle introduction to the various tools and options. Even if you are used to theme park sims, the tutorials are worth working through as they are both amusing and helpful. The button mapping is hard to understand at first but after your first hour, they make perfect sense. Frontier has done a magnificent job of making every option just a couple of clicks away. For those who struggle to get on board with the new control system, then keyboard and mouse support come as standard.

Outside of the ride creation, players will also need to manage the park as a whole from placing bins, adding food outlets, employing staff, and increasing ticket prices. There is so much for you to get stuck into, it can be caught if at first.

The level of customization is awe-inspiring and makes this the biggest, most ambitious theme park sim to date. However, having so much detail in some areas does highlight a couple of small failures elsewhere. The business management side of the game is much less detailed than the park creation side. For me, this was fine, as the well being and salary level of the dinosaur mascot is not a fun part of the job, for those looking for the most realistic experience of park management, there might be a few who would have liked to see for detail on that side of the game. Similarly, it’s not a big deal, but you soon notice character models are reused for the maintenance man and other workers. Whilst this does help you identify them quickly, the sheer variation in guest models makes seeing the same person over and over again in different parts of the park a little jarring. It would have been nice to have more unique staff, as you are expected to care about them throughout the game.

The vibrant cartoon-style graphics are beautiful and the randomized behavior of the guests gives the parks a life of their own. The ambient sounds of chatter, screams, and music all add to the atmosphere drawing you into that ever so important first-person mode when you can see your park at ground level and try out the multitude of rides.

Overall, Planet Coaster on Xbox is a giant behemoth of a game with a mind-boggling number of customization options. Whether you are playing through the challenge scenarios, creating new parks from the ground up, or just enjoying the plethora of community-created rides and parks, you will never be short of things to do. The new console control system is highly intuitive and becomes second nature very quickly. Players that are new to the genre may be overwhelmed at first but the more you get into it, the more you can get out of it. A truly phenomenal park sim that is well worth the entry fee.

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So What is Empire of Sin

Empire of Sin is a beautifully realized Mafia-building game in which you aim to become the king of Chicago’s underworld, using every conceivable means you can. The strategy element sees you micromanagement of your own underground empire whilst undertaking the intricacies of diplomacy. On the ground, you use turn-based tactics to capture buildings at gunpoint to establish direct control of neighborhoods. Ultimately, you need to build your alcohol empire through the creation of production centers, hideouts, clubs, and speakeasies. The twist here is that everyone knows everyone and this city and recent history between players can crop up and cause issues at the drop of a hat.

“Be careful who you call your friends. I’d rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies.” Al Capone

First of all, its great that players are not some generic gangster characters without a history, but one of 14 colorful characters. They are beautifully rendered and convincingly voiced. Some, like Al Capone, really existed and have had their characters exaggerated for the game, others are movie stereotypes or elaborations of historical figures. Each ‘gangster’ has four unique characteristics:

• Diplomacy – Which affects threats or respect from other factions, swap deals or truce agreements.
• Empire: for example, faster production of liquor, rumor-mongering (such as locations of underground bars, police raids, and casinos with the most profitable casino games).
• Combat: The ability to mark several opponents at once, or allocate a whole area to attack additional thug management.

Each gangster has its own backstory and enjoys a dedicated campaign written exclusively for a particular character. For example, Goldie Garnier is a Frech-Speaking Canadian, but carefully hides this fact until one day, her cousin shows up and threatens to blackmail her.

“Capitalism gives all of us a great opportunity if we seize it with both hands and hang on to it.” Al Capone

There are five levels of difficulty in Empire of Sin and players can choose between three to ten districts in the city. You will start alone, in your hideout and you’ll be competing with at least six different factions. As you take over additional buildings, your authority in the district increases so you can create casinos, bars, and distilleries to generate weekly income. However, if you are interested in legal gambling it’s better to check out the newest online casino rather than create your own gambling establishment where you’re unable to play casino games.

There are various types of buildings from near-empty buildings that hold a few thugs to enemy strongholds. Once owned, you can convert them into breweries, bars, brothels, casinos, or hotels. Alternatively, you can loot them and then tear them down so no one else can use them. However, almost every action costs money and there are issues in income if you place too many of the same building type in a small vicinity.

In brothels and bars, the atmosphere and word of mouth are important. In casinos, games are added: the more sophisticated the building, the more games it offers. In alcohol production, the speed of production, the quality of the goods produced, and the capacity of the warehouses are important, respectively. Also, all buildings, regardless of their purpose, have stats around security and detection. The better the security, the easier it is to fend off raids by other factions. Detection, on the other hand, is responsible for the likelihood of police raids. Each upgrade has several levels, and you have to pay for each one. Just like a mobster skill upgrade, improvements take a certain amount of time – unless you want to shell out extra money for the sake of instant results.

“Be careful who you call your friends. I’d rather have four quarters than one hundred pennies.” Al Capone

Being in the Mafia business means you need to have a crew. You can hire various Mafiosi in the game, but prices vary depending on their skill set and experience. There are various character classes to choose from and come in five variations:

• Doctor – Healing
• Con Artist – Sniping & luck
• Enforcers – best health and melee
• Demolitionist – Explosives deal critical damage
• Hired Guns – Marksmanship

When building your crew players may need to take note that some have pre-existing relationships leading to situations when snipers won’t kill ex-lovers or angry mob members leave fights due to prior connections. It’s a fascinating feature that adds an unexpected layer to the game. The fact that each character has his own personal story adds to the overall depth of the game. There are also bonuses to keeping a crew together as the longer they stay with you, the higher their morale and loyalty will be.

As for equipment, players can carry two guns, a melee weapon such as a knuckle duster or a bat, two additional items (such as a first-aid kit or grenades), body armor, and a personal knick-knack.

“The country wanted booze and I organized it. Why should I be called a public enemy?” Al Capone

There are a lot of statistics in Empire of Sin, which is expected when you have a threesome lovechild of Civilisation, Mafia, XCOM, and Phoenix Point, but in all honesty, many can be ignored if your end game is to complete the game. As the win condition is to simply kill the other mob bosses and take over, you can simply ignore many of the stats, fight your way into an enemy’s brewery, then cross the road to their hideout and put a bullet in the boss. But, where’s the fun in that. I’m sure the game will be expanded upon soon but you have to ask yourself if you want to win the game or play the game.

“In this life all that I have is my word and my balls and I do not break them for nobody.” Al Capone

Empire of Sin is a truly ambitious strategy game that isn’t without its flaws. It is really fun to play. But there are some bugs and balancing issues. Diplomacy is a really nice touch but is not fully explored, due to the fact you can’t win the game on diplomacy alone. However, the face-to-face conversations scenes are wonderfully voice-acted. The graphics are great and the overall ambiance of the city is fantastic. It is worth simply wandering the city just to take in the jazz and feel of 20’s Chicago. Gunfights are inconsistent at present but the roadmap of updates looks exciting. Empire of Sin is a truly unique game built on the shoulders of three amazing giants, so if you are happy to overlook the fact this isn’t a AAA production you will have a lot of fun.

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Well, take a look at Speed Limit!

Speed Limit Review on Xbox

Speed Limit is an eighties-action movie-inspired, old-school action extravaganza. It’s fast, furious and hard… you will die a lot, but it’s very addictive.

Don’t be put off by its 16-bit retro styling. If this game would have come out on the Commodore 64 or Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis for some) it would have been an instant hit.

Speed Limit is a non-stop genre-warping arcade experience that never slows down. As you die, you learn and get better, but just as you nail it, the game switches the genre from a side-scrolling shoot-em-up to a top-down driving game and you start the learning process all over again. Speed Limit is a lovingly crafted ode to the history of gaming. 

Each time you die, the game restarts quickly in a Braid meets Meatboy style, so you are always close to the action. Players will fight through a nail-biting side-scrolling shooter, race to the finish in an explosive top-down car chase and take flight in a thrilling 3D dogfight. Part of me wants to see a successful run-through in one go just to enjoy it as an action-packed movie.

Younger gamers might be a little confused by the simplistic two-button controls and old-school graphics but once you get past it, you will thoroughly enjoy it. Older gamers will enjoy the trip down memory lane and stirring up those retro feelings of games gone by.

For those collectors out there, Strictly Limited Games will also be releasing an exclusive limited physical, boxed, version for PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Check out their store here.

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My Review of Trailblazers on Xbox One

Trailblazers is certainly eye-catching. After seeing the beautiful visuals, I couldn’t be more excited to get my hands on this comic book style racer. As it turned out, there was a lot more to Trailblazers than originally thought.

Trailblazers is a co-operative racing game with an innovative on-track game mechanic: paint the track, boost on your colour and work as a team to win. In short, it’s Splatoon on a race track.

Players take control of one of 10 comic book style racers from alien frogs to horn covered mechanics across a range of colourful and varied worlds. Whilst the cars and tracks look beautiful, the racers seem a little flat in comparison, but considering the game was made by a small team on

Being able to paint the track as you race and capture key areas to dynamically change the racing line means that you can then boost on your team’s colour to dominate the race and ensure a final victory.

Trailblazers enjoys various event types such as Time Trial, All Vs All, and Team Racing. There’s also Gate Chase, which tasks you to drive through a required number of gates, and Partner Battle where teams of two battle for high scores making for some challenging and frantic action. My favourite was the team racing mode that pits 3v3 in a unique race that has players try to win as a team instead of going for gold alone.

The UK indie developer SuperGonk have created a fantastic looking game with a unique gameplay mechanic that sets it apart from other racers in the genre, however, the fun-filled multiplayer side of the game is dependent on having a large player base.

At launch, I played countless matches, but a few weeks after the launch and I have had to wait for players. However, the cross-play ability means that as more people buy the game on their console of choice, we should hopefully see an uptake in players.

Overall, Trailblazers is an ambitious racer from a small indie team that looks the business and introduces a new mechanic into the world of racing. The cool indie tunes and borderlands style visuals make this well worth trying, however, the longevity depends on the multiplayer aspect and a growing player base.

P.S. I decided to make a Spotify playlist of some of the tunes in the game as it has an awesome tracklist worthy of listening to in the real world!

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Ever since the father and son duo of Andrew and Rob Hewson announced Hyper Sentinel, I’ve been watching the development with interest. Andrew was the founder of 8-bit video game publisher Hewson Consultants, which created Uridium and later Pinball Dreams among others.

As you can see, Hyper Sentinel is just like a ramped up 4K, 60 frames per second version of the classic arcade shoot-em-up Uridium. The visuals use the same simplistic block style, but this version of the game uses the full-colour spectrum thanks to it not being on a classic ZX Spectrum. The gameplay is fast and furious and there are lots of power-ups to help clear the decks of masses of enemy battle cruisers.

The thumping retro chip tunes are one of my favourite things about Hyper Sentinel and I thoroughly recommend playing it with headphones to really immerse yourself in the gaming history lesson.

I was hesitant at first, thinking that it was even too retro for me, but after I had played for a couple of hours, it didn’t matter that the main protagonist was built from 20 voxels, it was fun. With the classic array of weaponry, generous health bars and eye-bleeding explosions, it doesn’t take long to look past the retro aesthetic and simply enjoy the nostalgic romp.

For more information visit http://www.hypersentinel.com/ 

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After six hours of playtime, I have barely scratched the surface of this deep dive into the farming industry. I had harvested corn, watered orchards, sprayed fertilizer and dabbled in olive groves, rice paddies and coffee plantations. One of the key defining features of Pure Farming 2018 has to be the all-new international farm’s mode. Not only does it have the classic Montana based farm but you can enjoy farms of three additional continents.

Much of my playtime was spent in the campaign mode, in which you attempt to transform your inherited farm into a thriving business. However, the additional game modes such as the challenge mode see you pitted against certain scenarios and the sandbox box mode gives you the freedom to farm at your own pace.

In the campaign mode, players get taken through all the various jobs and use a handy tablet interface to show you the breakdown of tasks, any emails, maps and farm store. In the store, you can purchase additional vehicles and trailers, most of which are fully licensed farming machining brands. Whilst using the machinery has to be one of my favourite parts, they do move slowly so make sure bring your patience with you

The slowness was the hardest hurdle for me to get over at first but once you shifted gear into farm mode, the game was a joy to play whether you are a beginner or seasoned digital farmer. The stunning visuals and array of locales mean that cruising around at 15mph isn’t all bad as it gives you time to enjoy the views and relax to the sound of nature.

Players can try their hand at almost every imaginable aspect of modern farming, such as animal husbandry, orchards, greenhouses, field cultivation, green energy to name a few. However, I barely scratched the surface.

My first impressions of Pure Farming 2018 are hugely positive as it was easy to pick up and play and the love that has gone into the game shows from the gently swaying corn to the mischievous animals. The range of tasks and overall depth is obvious and I truly felt like I learned a lot about real-world farming whilst playing. I would definitely recommend Pure Farming 2018 to those looking for a change of pace and a game that grows on you.

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Whilst our hero sits upon a pretty meaty looking tire, his broken engine means that he as fast a mobility scooter when he puts the pedal to the metal. Thankfully, Defunct has a gravity drive attached that means it can gather speed whilst going downhill if timed correctly. Combine this with an ability to magnetise itself ceiling panels means that he can also go upside-down.

The levels are sprawling open spaces filled with undulating hills, spaceship debris and booster pods that allow Defunct to zoom across the landscape in a similar fashion as Sonic 3D. Similarly, if Defunct get stopped in his tracks by a tree or other obstacle, it can take a moment to find your flow again, like Sonic. However, once you have familiarised yourself with the controls there are moments of real joy when you are racing up and down the swells building speed with your gravity drive, catching rides on zip lines, bouncing off walls and launching off cliffs. There is also something of a ‘skateboarding’ element to Defunct as you find yourself using bowls and hills to pick up speed in order to reach some of the hard to reach areas of the maps.

However, there will be many times where you will crash face-first into a rock, tree or spaceship hull and be treated to some screen tearing and shonky camera angles, reminding you that this is an indie game after all. Yet, due to the low price point, its high-score orientated replayability and overall brevity, most players will be happy to overlook to early Xbox 360 style graphics and just enjoy the 2-hour playtime and feel what an open-world Sonic might feel like.

Overall, Defunct will appeal to both younger and old players, as well as the speedrunner community as it’s all about speed. The sounds and visuals are simple yet effective and there are moments of greatness, however, the game is short so value for money will need to be found in seeking out the hidden collectables and rerunning the levels for the fastest speed.

More Information: http://www.freshlysqueezed.se/defunct/

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Since those early experimental days, some games have seen moderate success using FMV. Games such as command and conquer used it for cutscenes and more recently the indie hit ‘Her Story’ used video in a fantastic and engaging way. This seems to have lead to a slight resurgence in the medium. Press X to Not Die is just one title bringing back the medium for all to enjoy.

Press X to Not Die has been in early access for over 18 months and in that time has received a slew of positive reviews. This month sees its full official release with updated content and additional scenes.

The gameplay is a reaction based button pressing game, in which button prompts appear on the screen and pressing the correct buttons within the allotted time moves on the story. Failing to do so ends in death.

The acting is laughably poor, and yet it all seems to work well. The tongue-in-cheek dialogue, over the top actions and parody of gaming tropes actually give the game a light-hearted and pleasurable feel. In some ways, Press X to Not Die, was like playing through the Shaun of The Dead movie (but with a much lower budget). However, the game itself prefers to compare its story to M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘The Happening’ and then promptly criticises. The story revolves around a town gone mad, in which some people have turned into blood-thirsty psychopaths, others are simply death fodder and a small handful are able to survive thanks to the gamer at the controls, you.

At less than £2 to buy, this really is a fun ride worth experiencing. Press X to Not Die is a throwback to all those interactive movies of the 90’s and doesn’t take itself too seriously. A refreshing change from massive open worlds, running and gunning and building civilizations.

Steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/app/402330/Press_X_to_Not_Die/

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At first glance, the simplistic graphics and sparse open levels led me to believe that the game was made on a shoe-string budget, but after playing, I realised that the rainbow colour palette and use of simple gradients are actually a considered design choice and perfectly portrays the isolation and confusion of the game’s narrative.

As a newly sentient robot (and a player) the world is strange and your reasons for exploring it are driven by a series of strange audio journals that slowly explains what and why events had happened.

Along the way, you’ll meet an array of weird and wonderful creatures all out to kill you, in a multitude of colourful ways. The epic quest across the alien planet is mixed with classic 2D side scrolling puzzles from filling rooms with water to redirecting light beams. The pacing is good and it not too hard to progress through this kaleidoscopic planet.

Some have kindly described it as limbo with colour, and the beautiful vector art enhances the retro sci-fi aesthetic.

At almost four hours in, I have enjoyed my experience with Planet of the Eyes and found the adventure serene, engrossing and warmly nostalgic. With solid voice acting, haunting music and an engaging narrative, this is a joy to play.

Don’t let first impressions of simplistic graphics put you off, as Planet of the Eyes is a deeply considered and charming indie game with an absorbing story and enchanting puzzle.

Out September 12th on Xbox One

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Serial Cleaner is a top down stealth game with a vacuum. Set in the 1970’s the story follows the rise of an un-named cleaner who lives with his mother in suburbia, complete with a garden gnome and paddling pool. The art deco inspired cartoon look works well and the use of a limited colour palette gives the game a beautifully unique look.

The music re-affirms the seventies feel using a bass slapping, keyboard grinding, saxophone tooting soundtrack that gives the whole experience a Shaft-style beat.

Another unique element is the lack of offensive actions. The cleaner, despite is no-nonsense dialogue, emotionless face and cold hard dead stare can not cause harm to the other characters on the map. If they touch you, the level resets and you start over.

Anyone who has played the Viscera Cleanup Detail will know what it’s like to clean up after a massacre, but what Serial Cleaner does is use the various cleaning tasks as milestones for completing the level. Clean up 80% of the blood, remove all weapons from the scene and collect key pieces of evidence. Each job is broken up with playable home life scenarios in which you can read the paper, watch TV and enjoy some meatloaf with your dear old mum. I suspect this home map will be used later on in the game.

Having played around three hours of Serial Cleaner, I can happily say I am hooked. The game is reminiscent of the early Metal Gear Solid games or the more recent Volume, but on a two-dimensional plane. It can be frustrating to restart the level after doing so much and I expect this will become more evident the deeper into the game I delve.

Collectibles also include various costumes from Bruce Lee’s iconic yellow jump suit to what looks like Night Fevers white suit. Additional bonus levels can be unlocked that have you cleaning up various movie scenes from Alien, Taxi Driver, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and even the Mos Eisley Cantina.

If you are looking for something a bit different this summer then Serial Cleaner is a stylistic stealth puzzle game worth checking out.

Check out our interview with Krzysztof Zięba, one of the designers at iFun4all, and the primary writer behind Serial Cleaner.

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So is Paladins one to watch, or will it have a battle on its hands? Here are my first impressions of the Paladins Beta.

In the beta release, players have access to five players across the various classes that include:

• Frontline
• Support
• Damage
• Flank

Each character class has their own strengths and weaknesses and feel very different. Support characters do not last long in open warfare and snipers need to be tucked away to dish out the death blows from afar. Only by working as a team can you successfully win the match.

In the five hours of play I have currently logged, I have four different game modes that include:

Training: For learning the ropes

Siege: This involves securing a certain position and once secured pushing a payload to a required location whilst the opposing team try and stop you.

Survival: This team death match enjoys smaller maps and requires teams to outlast the other team. Once dead, you are out. This game type is mad more interesting by an ever engulfing fog that pushes all the players towards the central command point.

The player versus environment (PvE) game was grayed out and unavailable at the time of playing but if they could take a few lessons from the recent Overwatch: Uprising PvE game then it’s sure to please.

When it came to game types, I found objective-based play the best option for trying out the various characters and it’s worth playing them all to find your niche.

Visually, it looks fantastic with so many colourful and varied characters to choose from, all of which have their own personality. My personal favourites were the rifle-toting Victor and the sleek sniper known as Kinessa. However, there were plenty of characters I was yet to unlock. Two characters I really wanted to get my hands on were the Bomb King and little Ruckus with his D.VA style robot. The medieval settings are a great backdrop for the battle, however, the more modern rifles and sniper rifles do feel out of time when compared to the wizards, genies, goblins and thieves.

Being a team-based shooter, players must rely on strategy, character knowledge, coordination and teamwork in order to attain victory. A good team will have a balanced choice of classes that will support each other during the game. After each match, you gain additional cards and loot to change players, upgrade special abilities and customise your characters. The loot chests have a particularly satisfying thud, clunk and shower of loot to give a real sense of achievement.

Overall, I found myself enjoying Paladins a lot more than I thought. Having a high-quality hero shooter for FREE is fantastic news for the Xbox community. Whilst Overwatch still retains it’s high price tag (even in the sale), younger gamers and those not looking to spend money can jump into the hero shooter genre without spending a penny.

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Yooka Laylee

Starting with an obvious one, it’s Yooka Laylee. I have to admit that I was originally a skeptic. The original Kickstarter footage looked bright and colourful but the levels were sparse and I was worried that it wouldn’t feel like the Banjo Kazooie beater we had hoped. However, after a good few plays, I can safely say that it had a well-considered level structure, colourful characters to interact with, and solid controls. With only a week to release, I have definitely been swayed.

The Adventure Pals

What started as a popular Flash game has been reinvented, rebuilt and reimagined for consoles. Colourful cartoon graphics, off the wall characters, and easy to pick up and play gameplay makes this a sure fire hit in my household. The crazy story, flying giraffe and light RPG elements make it the perfect games for young and old and I have no mouth that this is a contender for my top Xbox One games for Children 2017.

Brawlout

The Super Smash Brothers come to Xbox One in the form of Brawlout. Beautifully animated characters battle it out in multi-tiered arenas. Each of the players I managed to see had vastly different combat styles from grapplers to dive kickers. The low-poly 3D environments all presented different layouts changing how you approach the match. Furious four player action that was great fun with friends.

Battle Chasers: Night War

Battlechasers mixes classic JRPG combat with action-packed dungeon crawling all wrapped up in stylish cartoon visuals. Battlechasers boast randomly generating dungeons with various difficulty levels. After raising over $850,000 this looks pretty special and once the 2D animated cutscenes by Powerhouse Animation Studios are in, this has the potential to be an epic adventure.

Figment

I was a huge fan of Back To Bed on Steam with its surreal levels and humorous puzzles. When I saw Figment running on the big screen, it was like looking at beautiful concept work lovingly brought to life. Bedtime Digital is planning to take us on another mind-bending adventure and explores feelings and emotions in a wonderfully colourful world of floating apples, trumpet flowers and windmills.

Little Nightmares

EGX wasn’t short of eerie games. Little Nightmares follows the escape of Six, a yellow coated girl attempting to escape the Maw, an over-sized and creepy place full of troll-like cooks and a janitor who looks like Mr. Tickle after spending too long in Silent Hill. the harrowingly beautiful game had me grinding meat to create a string of sausages to swing on. Whilst I only had 10 minutes of game time, the nightmares will stay with me for a lot longer.

Town of Light

Another dark and creepy game, this time by LKA. The Town of Light is a psychological adventure told in the first person. The story is set in a real place in Italy that has been meticulously reconstructed for this game. Through the exploration and interaction with the environment, you learn more about the history of the main character through her confused viewpoint. It’s also got a creepy doll in as well just to mess with your head.

World To The West

World to the West is set in the same world as Teslagrad. I was surprised to become so engrossed so quickly and after 20 minutes or so I had to be tapped out in order to let others have a play. I later returned to with wonderful top down adventure eager to explore the various stories and mechanics on offer. World to the West looks to have various intertwining narratives all weaved together with exploration, puzzles and fighting. Definitely, one to watch.

Aaero

Speed through stunning, stylised environments tracing ribbons of light, releasing the energy in the music. Battle strange enemies and fight massively epic bosses battles all driven by an incredible heart-pounding soundtrack. There is currently nothing like this out on Xbox One and it will make a fantastic addition to the catalogue.

Away – Journey to the Unexpected

Away: Journey to the Unexpected is a colourful first-person adventure game that combines action, negotiation and rogue-lite elements. The most unusual aspect of this one was the mix of 2D characters and 3D gameplay. The cartoon style is reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons and in a weirdly wonderful way, it all works really well.

The Sexy Brutal

Groundhog Day meets Cluedo in this puzzle-and-adventure game featuring intrigue, murder and the (quite possibly) occult! You play the elderly priest Lafcadio Boone who is stuck in a time loop whilst guests of the Marquis Masked Ball are all murdered around the mansion. Roam around the house, solve the mystery and maybe, just maybe you can escape the never-ending cycle. Fantastic concept, amazing visuals and great fun to play.

Snake Pass

Whilst I loved the visual style, colourful characters and overall concept of Snake Pass, I really wanted a couple of hours with the game to truly think like a snake. The unique control scheme meant this game was hard to pick up with only a few minutes of play time but I could sense its potential and I was eager to play more.

Rime

Rime is a third-person adventure game by Tequila Works with an eye-blistering colour palette, a serene and peaceful soundtrack and an unusual shouting mechanic. The game involves a boy who is washed ashore a strange island and is searching for someway to escape. The visuals are stunning and with a fully working day and night cycle, it promises different experiences depending on the time of day. Whilst the game looks like an open world, most of the game I played seemed to have a define push towards a certain path. However, this did not detract from the overall enjoyment.

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The team at Playrise Digital was formed by an elite team that had worked on some of my favourite racing games of all times, including Wipeout, Blur and Project Gotham Racing. In 2013, they released Table Top Racing on iOS to a positive reception, as people yearned for a modern day Micro Machines. Whilst it didn’t win any major awards, it was a step in the right direction.

Table Top Racing World Tour on the Xbox One is the most complete version of this game, encompassing all of the extras and DLC that hindered the earlier versions on Steam and PS4. The eye-popping graphics are crisp and clear with a vibrant colour palette all running at 1080p, 60hz. The stubby little toy cars look the part and include close facsimiles of camper vans, VW beetles, Porsches, pick up trucks and Chargers. There are 16 fully tuneable miniaturised racing cars to choose from and 32 different tracks to race on. However, these tracks are variations of around eight central tracks and with 140 events to work through they will get repetitive in the second half of the game.

As players race their way through the events they accumulate riches to unlock and upgrade their cars. There is also around 540 stars to collect across the various races. These are unlocked by racing through the comprehensive ‘Championship Mode’ and a multitude of ‘Special Events’. Game types include the classic race, battle mode, fastest lap and hot pursuit to keep you interested. For the older hardcore gamer, the short laps and repetitive tracks with begin to grate after a while, but for younger, more casual players, the commonality will give a certain level of comfort. The power-ups in TTR World Tour are the usual fare of weaponry found in most cart racers. Missiles, bombs and oil slicks all feature and whilst they have made some attempt to make these more toy-themed, such as battery acid instead of oil, cherry bombs instead of mines and toy-looking missiles, there was definitely a missed opportunity here to be more creative.

Thankfully, the handling and gameplay are heaps of fun. Your initial run through the amateur events feels fast enough to get you used to the controls, and once you have fully upgraded a car, or moved onto the pro circuits, the game gets much faster and much more difficult. My biggest issue with the game, however, was the lack of an overhead camera view. Table Top Racers was always going to be compared to Micro Machines, so it would have been nice to strum the strings of nostalgia by playing the game from above. Thankfully, I won’t have to wait long for this nostalgic hit, as Micro Machines World Series is also coming out this year.

Table Top Racing World Tour can be extended by going online and racing eight other players in a battle to become the ultimate table top racer. The inclusion of all the DLC is particularly good for this, as it means that all players have the same cars and tracks. The Xbox One version also brings voice support should you want to mention players family after winning a race.

For the budget price, the game looks, sounds and plays great, however, the repetitive tracks will put off some hardcore gamers after a few hours. The various game types do try and keep things interesting, yet the weapons could have been more creative. I can see this being a staple for younger players as its fun, quick and easy to get into. However, I might just have to turn off voice comms before letting my kids play it online. Sterling work from Playrise Digital and I look forward to the definitive third installment that will address a handful of minor complaints. For only £15 on the Xbox Store, this is a welcome addition to the Xbox One’s already fantastic racing lineup.

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After an accident in the factory in which some blue and red paint mixed with the robot mixture, these two sentient robots set about moving from room to room in order to leave the factory. The game is set around four stages, each having various levels per stage. Each stage has increasingly difficult puzzles that include pressing buttons, using boxes and pressing weighted switches. Test areas within the game introduce the player to new skills in a safe environment.

This game is built for two players and couch co-op as each challenge is designed to be solved by using both characters. Shift Happens can also easily be enjoyed in one player as a flick of the lower left thumbstick changes the players control over to the other character.

Whilst I really enjoyed playing this alone, the most fun was either playing with my children or simply letting both my children play together. This has to be one of the best games for young children I have seen on the Xbox in a while. There is no guns, death, scary characters or licensed character. Children simply work together to push buttons and trip switches. At the end of each level, there is a funny dance, complete with falling confetti you can jump around in. It’s good clean fun for children.

As there is no real perma-death, players who drown or get squashed simply turn into a puddle of goo with eyes that can be easily revived using the shoulder buttons.

Whilst many of hardcore gamers will find the first couple of stage overly simplistic, it is pitched perfectly for kids aged five to eleven.

Overall, I found Shift Happens a sweet game that is functionally sound, aesthetically inoffensive and really fun to play. This is sure to make it onto my list of children’s games on the Xbox One 2017 as it’s good, clean fun for adults and children alike and encourages co-operative play and working together.

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The first public closed beta for the highly anticipated Ghost Recon Wildlands arrived with a bang, as the great unwashed took to their consoles to take on the Santa Blanca Cartel in the South American country of Bolivia. After being briefed about the execution of a federal agent, you are tasked with retrieving his body and doing some damage.

The Beta starts out with an extensive character creation system with a slew of beards, scars, vests and camouflage. The character models looked highly detailed and the list of options looked pretty considerable. Thankfully there was no crazy colour schemes or luminous headbands to break the illusion of reality.

Driving was generally solid and there were numerous routes across the expansive map. Trying to take shortcuts across the underbrush was difficult but not impossible and surprisingly the vehicles could take some serious beating… like driving off a cliff beating. Other vehicles included the spritely motorbike and the helicopter which took a minute or so to get to grips. It felt a lot slower than it wheeled counterparts and you could pretty much ram it into the ground without getting a scratch. I didn’t get to try out a boat in my play through but I do know that they are part of the main campaign.

Gameplay was a mix of third person stealth and run and gun action. Initially, players manoeuvre into position and use drones and binoculars to ‘tag’ enemy locations. Once you incapacitate your target and interrogate them for the intel, you can go out all guns blazing and work your way through the minions.

Playing with friends or other real world players was much more fun than playing alongside bots, especially if they were taking the incursions seriously. Coordinating attacks were both easy and fun and you can see the potential in the expanded game. There was definitely a strong ‘Division’ vibe as there were pockets of activity of both innocents and gang activity. During my playtest, I did come across a couple of bugs generally to do with doors and either becoming trapped or just not being able to enter clearly ‘enterable’ buildings. But ultimately it was a beta so bugs are expected.

Overall, I had a lot of fun in the beta and can see a huge swathe of people enjoying the full version. As withThe Division, I can see a lot of gamers squadding up to take on ‘El Sueno’ and his surprising well-structured gang.

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Mantis Burn Racing developed by the clever chaps at VooFoo Studios wanted to create a fast-paced racing game. However, without a budget similar to the likes of Forza, Gran Turismo or Need For Speed, it’s hard to compete in that arena. Thankfully, Sean Read, the creative director at VooFoo, and previous Rare creative, shares my passion for Roll and Roll Racing on the SNES and opted to bring back this long forgotten game style to consoles.

In Mantis Burn Racing, there are various games types that include a 20 hour career mode, a local split-screen multiplayer (for up to four people) and an eight player online mode, so you can race other gamers from across the world. The career mode has three classes to race through, that include rookie, pro and veteran. Events vary and include elimination, knockout, accumulator, time trials and the straight-forward racing. As you work your way through seven seasons you gain money, gears and XP, that can be spent on new vehicles and unlock additional upgrades.

The vehicles range from light weight dune buggies, that handle like a bar of wet soap, to heavily armoured camper vans. Each type feels very different and whilst I would say that the vehicle models are a little bland, the scenery more than makes up for it. The tracks are beautifully crafted and look stunning, from the dusty mountain paths to the dimly lit harbour streets. Of the four seasons I played through, I experienced three different track styles; the mountain pass, the city and the harbour, but the track layouts varied in length and direction.

The gameplay is fast and fun and relies heavily on the drift mechanic to slide around the tracks. But woe betide any driver who crashes during the later races, as acceleration is slow and its extremely hard to catch up to first place, should you crash. The game is very much focused on racing and you need to avoid hitting anything and keep an eye on the racing line to ensure victory. Unlike Rock and Roll Racing and similar titles, Mantis Burn Racing has no weapons, so you can’t shoot other racers or leave an oil click to slow them down. One advantage the heavy class of vehicles enjoys however, is the ability to smash through certain parts of the tracks to open up short cuts.

Overall, I am extremely happy that Mantis Burn Racing exists, as it offers a fun romp down memory lane, whilst respecting the racing genre with tight controls, cleverly designed tracks and eye-popping graphics. The basic car models are a little bland but I expect these to simply be the base vehicle which will be built upon in the future. Personally, I would like to see a Mad Max set and a homage to Rock and Roll Racing Set. The career mode is extensive, but the real fun will be had with friends on the sofa or pitching your skills against the world at large. Fantastic work VooFoo and I look forward to seeing how the game develops.

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The latest incarnation of Carmageddon is called ‘Max Damage’ after its main character and is an update to Kickstarter funded Carmageddon: Reincarnation on the PC. After getting mediocre reviews, Max Damage is an recharged console version that aims to solve many of the niggles of its predecessor.

Whilst there are more game modes, more focus and less bugs it doesn’t quite hit the mark and a compliment sandwich is needed.

The Good

The best part of Carmageddon: Max Damage is the vehicle damage system. All cars can be obliterated piece by piece form losing a wheel to driving around in a crumpled half-a-car. The cars can all take a pummelling and every debt and crash looks fantastic. Add to that a substantial career mode, with more tracks than you expect and three ways to win, that include racing round the course, wrecking the other playing or killing all the pedestrians.

The Really Bad

Sadly, the initial cars handle like over encumbered tractors, which puts you off exploring the close quarter elements of the courses. The graphics are perfectly adequate, but frame rate drops and shonky camera controls cheapens the whole experience. Couple this with sporadic pedestrians that include strippers, businessmen, fatties, dogs, cows and people in wheelchairs, you can’t help but feel like it could have done more. With games such as GTA and Watchdogs hitting these highlights with little effort, Carmageddon only feels like a mediocre salute to a retro classic

The Good Again

My inner teenager still giggles at mowing down pedestrians, smashing up the competition and all the adolescence swearing, so some people will still find fun in Carmageddon: Max Damage. The imaginative weapons such as the earthquake bomb, car grabber and electrocutioner are fun and the rooster of colourful cars from an 80’s Delorean to the array of monster trucks gives you lots to unlock. However, some cars are almost unusable due to their handling. These same people will enjoy the 16 player multiplayer, as the single player AI is generally awful.

Overall, the game is perfectly passable with some really enjoyable moments providing you are in the right car. It gets full marks for trying, but low marks for succeeding. The long career mode, variety of unlocks and multiplayer options do give it longevity, if you can look past its many failings. It’s low brow humour is still funny, however, the graphic issues and poor handling leave you disappointed. It’s worth playing if you are a fan of the series, just make sure you go in with low expectations.

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However, as we are currently drowning in shooting games, be it third or first person, single or co-op, cover or hero, we can safely say that the Xbox is covered for shooters. When it comes to management sims, however, the pickings are a lot slimmer.

I was lucky enough to get a review copy of Prison Architect on Xbox One a few days before its official release, so I have had over a week to get to grips with the game. In that time, I have built four prisons and I can happily say I’m addicted.

In Prison Architect, there are essentially three game types, the ‘prison stories’ mode that acts as both tutorial and campaign mode and sees you play through various scenarios. The ‘prison architect’ mode allows you to build and run a prison and the ‘prison warden’ mode gives the player various pre-build prisons to manage. Prisons can be build according to various settings that limits the initial budget, the types of prisoners you allow in and AI elements, such as whether gang culture is allowed. Should you want to enjoy a limitless prison playground you can remove the budget constraints and have a sandbox in which you are only limited by your creativity.

The five scenarios don’t take too long to work through, but you might find yourself sticking around long after you’ve completed the tasks, due to all the time and effort you’ve invested into that particular prison.

It’s the sandbox mode that gives this game longevity, as you can lose hours creating the perfect prison. My first couple of attempts had the basic cells and minimal amenities, but by my forth attempt had luxury rooms with TVs, libraries, gyms and looked more like a hotel than a prison. The inmates may not have deserved such a cushy place, but I never had a riot!

To further increase its longevity, players can also load other people’s creations and play through them and there are some crazy creations to choose from.

There are very few management games on the Xbox One and so far this has me hooked. It’s a great change of pace and for only £20 it’s a steal.

*At the time of writing you could also pick it up on Steam for £5*

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Thankfully, I was lucky enough to get a preview copy 10 Second Ninja X for Xbox One and all of a sudden gaming has just become very fast paced!

10 Second Ninja X is a fiercely fast yet strangely fulfilling sidescroller that tasks you with completing each level in ten seconds or less. You play a cute ninja armed with a katana and three throwing stars, the aim is simple. Kill everything as fast as possible.

There are 100 levels including 40 from the original 10 Second Ninja game that have been lovingly remastered in HD. Each level has Individual leaderboards, unlockables and collectibles.

Think of it like super meat boy with a time limit. It’s fast, infuriating and strangely addictive and I have played it late into the night.

I’m only 20 levels in so far and I’m loving the drop in/drop out nature, as you can play it in short bursts or lose yourself for a while going for the elusive three stars.

I love the fact it was made with Game Maker and now its on the Xbox One

This should be out in July so keep an eye out for it, support those indie developers and have frantic fun in the process.

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As for Overwatch, I went into the beta with high expectations. I loved the vibrant visual style, the CGI mini-stories leading up to its release, and the array of over-the-top characters… All I had to do now, was play it.

The tutorial levels introduce you to the basics and not having the run control on the left thumb stick did feel a little odd for a while. Special weapons are mounted on each of the bumpers and one side had an action such as grapple, repair, traps, or shield, whereas the right bumper has a weapon such as mines, frags, or change into a sentry gun. Once I got used to the controls I barely touched the bot battles and jumped straight into the multiplayer. With so many characters to choose from, it is a little overwhelming at first, but each cluster of characters are grouped together into offense, defense, tanks, and support. I was instantly drawn to Windowmaker, as she had a sniper rifle, grapple, and mine. I could get a lay of the land and hopefully take out a few people in the process.

Matches in Overwatch are fast, furious and lots of fun. I was a little disappointed that many of my early matches resulted in a close-quarter battle with nearly everyone on the offense; a bit like a schoolyard brawl. However, this was mainly due to the skill levels of the players.

As I progressed through the ranks I noticed games becoming more strategic as players learned the maps, the characters, and all the nooks that players could use to their advantage. The ability to change characters when in the respawn area was a little confusing at first and I generally hesitate to switch mid-game. However, I can see this adding another strategic layer to the game when playing as a close-knit team. It might be annoying to some to play with such different styles before ranking up, which is where boosting services could help you skip the hassle of learning every characters. One particular character I was not a fan of was Bastion. This bird-loving mech can turn into a tank and a Gatling gun and when in the hands of a particularly skilled player can not only rack up a mountain of kills but consistently got the ‘player of the match’ award. It seemed a little unbalanced and whilst steps have been taken to balance him out (such as giving him limited rotation making him attackable from behind) it is very tempting to sit in a corner and mow down the oncoming team. Aside from that, the other characters seemed pretty balanced, with different advantages and disadvantages. I played as around eight different characters during my playtime and I am now eager to learn the benefits of my favourites, in order to master and kick some ass.

Voice chat can be an issue, as there was a lot of rude kids, trolls and mouth breathers to deal wit, but this seems par for the course these days. Overwatch is more fun than I expected and it’s great to have a brand new and very shiny Team Fortress game to play into the small hours of the morning. I now realise that I need to get a few game reviews and features completed in the next two weeks, as I suspect you will lose me for a while when it is officially released on the 24th of May.

What were your thoughts on Overwatch, who do you play as and what updates you would like to see, leave a comment, like and subscribe and I will be back with another video very soon.

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How wrong I was…

Battleborn was developed by Gearbox software who also created the awesome Borderlands and the far from awesome Aliens: Colonial Marines. However, they have produced a lot more hits than stinkers, so I think it’s ok to get excited about this one.

Battle born is a cartoon first person battle game in which you can play as one of 21 different characters that have different classes with fixed weapons and an array of sub classes. You can choose to be a sniper for ranged combat or get up close and personal as a tank.

I ended up have so much fun with Battleborn over the weekend. The characters are hugely varied and change how you play the game entirely. I started as ‘Oscar Mike’ as I thought I would be most familiar with the masked soldier gunning down enemy robots theme. Once more attuned to the games mechanics I switched to the sword wielding ‘Rath’ and the game was a whole new experience in which ranged combat was replaced by a more up close and personal affair. I switched again to the puppeteer and puppet known as Shayne and Aurox and the game was more like a beat-em-up My player smashed through the enemy robots toe to toe and felt like a batman game. Finally, I thought it only fitting to play as the robotic British gent called Marquis. This bowler hat wearing robot uses a sniper rifle and pistol to take out enemies from afar. Again, the game changed as you would actively look for perches to sit back and headshot the enemy drones.

Surprise

The biggest surprise was the PvE section that allowed a friendless gamer like me to play alongside other players to complete two story based missions. This is something that Overwatch does not have. The beta has two missions available called The Algorithm and Voids Edge. Both missions took around 40-60 minutes to complete and were great fun. The missions both had ridiculous storylines, a series on mini-bosses and a huge boss at the end. This is where the game really felt like Borderlands. The humour made me care about the characters and the action kept the pace up. Perks and skills to power up for defensive or offensive capabilities could be bought mid game using in-game currency, so by the end of the level you really did feel like a badasss.

There is a huge difference to playing a single player private match to a five player co-op game as the amount of enemies and health bars scale to fit your game type.

Sadly, I didn’t get much experience of the PVP section and only manage to get two games playing ‘Incursion’ which involved destroying the enemy’s two Spider Sentry Drones before they get to yours.

I think like many people, I had put Overwatch and Battleborn together in this newly termed ‘hero-shooter’ genre, but ultimately, they are vary different games and need to be judged on their own merits. From what I can tell Battleborn not only has a single player experience but also borrows many elements from the MOBA genre, whereas Overwatch is much more a team shooter that is akin to Team Fortress 2. I expect them both to be very different experiences and will both have their own fanbase.

These two games join the likes of Gigantic and Smite and and I look forward to playing the full games.

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Gigantic is essentially a power race. Almost anything you do in Gigantic contributes to the race, and learning to win the race consistently will usually mean you win the match but sometimes the joy of simply playing distracts you from the overarching tactics you need to keep in mind. Teams of five players unite along with a magical behemoth known as a Guardian with the ultimate goal to destroy the opposing team and their guardian.

Players, shoot, hit, cast their way across the map which followed the standard MOBO, three channel pattern. along the different channels are gems to collect which all contribute to your guardians overall power. Once powered up your giant overseers enjoy skirmishes of their own allowing us little people to take advantage of the weakened giant and tip the balance of power in our favour

There are around 18-20 playable characters to choose from that range from cute, hulking snow beasts that can skate around the map like iceman to twin pistol wielding soldiers better at ranged combat. Each of the heroes are beautifully drawn characters that emphasise their range of skins from the noble Voden who looks like a cross between a stag and a fox to the crazy old man that is Uncle Sven with his veils and potions.

There was a lot of waiting for games, which was frustrating, but it’s not a slight on the game. When playing the action was fast and frantic, but I did find that due to the colour palette of some the characters and the map being very similar it was hard to see other players without looking for the floating energy bar above their heads.

Also when in battle, I think I have been used to first person shooters as it took a while to actually kill the other players despite multiplying myself, throwing grenade and pummelling their with arrows.

Ultimately, it was fun, if a little unusual. I had put a little time into SMITE previously so I had some experience of console based MOBA’s but this is one of those game you really need to dig deep into in order to get the most out of it. Once you have a selection of creatures, know key points on the maps and can utilise your healing and offensive powers at the right time I could see this being really satisfying. Sadly, during my games there was no online chat but I think it would benefit greatly from more team cooperation.

Whilst I love the look of this game, I worry that the characters are not distinctive enough from the background. However, when your guardian is released and the two titans go head to head its pretty awe-inspiring. I am definitely going to try and play more of this and look forward to seeing it develop before the big release this summer.

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My experience started with the character creation screen which looks pretty expansive, but for the beta, players were limited to a randomised player type. By the look of things, you can change everything from their gender and body type to all the differing layers of clothing. As player characters were not being carried over to the full release I just picked some white guy with some stubble. After being thrown into the action and touching down in Manhattan, I made all the necessary introductions and hit the streets to set up a base of operations. I was really happy with the graphics, as all the dynamic reflections, lighting effects and street furniture was all present and accounted for. OK, it wasn’t as polished as the E3 slice, but I didn’t expect it to be as these are usually pre-rendered for played on a Skynet super computer. The visuals are fantastic, if a little drab in the colour department. The myriad of greys, browns and blacks all help set the scene and New York definitely has that post viral infection feel. Running through the snow covered streets of the Big Apple give you a chance to truly appreciate the time and effort gone into the game. Whilst most shops and building were inaccessible, it was nice to see a few places open to explore and loot. Colour creeps in when inside certain buildings and the one of the early missions to save a virologist end up in a large red cafe. Coined as a third-person, cover-based, RPG shooter it reminded me of a mix of Gears of War, Borderlands and Diablo. Numbers leapt from enemies as you pummelled them with bullets and there are extensive levelling options and skill trees to keep you busy for some time, providing their are enough missions to keep it interesting.

The main upgrades tend to be guns. There are six categories of firearm that include the usual pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, assault rifles, marksman rifles, and light machine guns. Players can equip one primary weapon, one secondary weapon, and a sidearm. The primary and secondary weapons can be any types of weapons, but your sidearm is always a pistol, unless there’s a way to get non-pistol sidearms later in the game. Each of the weapons can be tweaked and customised by improved parts. Gear is a big part of The Division and I found myself changing everything from my bobble hat to my knee pads. General clothing is purely cosmetic, but items such as backpacks, masks and knee pads all come with stat improvements and bonus effects.

In addition to its extensive arsenal of firearms and gear options, The Division has various play styles to explore that each have their own skills, talents, and perks. There are 12 skills total, divided into three different trees — Tech, Medical, and Security — comprised of four skills each, although only four skills (two from the Medical tree and one each from the Tech and Security trees) were actually usable during the beta. I found myself leaning toward the medical tree in order to increase my health boosts. I came across a weird bug where I couldn’t go through up this little step and through a doorway. Despite. trying to roll, shoot and grenade myself up this one single step I ended up having to reboot. Not having a jump button proved and issue in this case.

Anyway, I soon breezed through the missions, took down the boss like character and cleared various points of the map of looters and thugs; it was time to hit the Dark Zone. The Dark Zone is a PvP area with its own score tables and specific loot. I found myself scouring the depths of the subway system taking out bad guys and finding chests I couldn’t open. Once loaded with loot it was time to call in the helicopter and stash it. This is when it got weird. Whilst waiting for the chopper to arrive various other players appear to attach their own stash. At this point you can share the loot or turn on each other. Thankfully, enemies start to appear which do distract the players from killing each other but only for so long. Most of the time I was happy to play nice but on two occasions I accidentally shot another player (whilst shooting at an enemy). This instantly tuned me ‘rogue’ and the whole group turned into blood thirsty psychos… it was great fun. Overall, I was sold on The Division. The open beta is just what I needed to convince me to pick it up on March 8th. The graphics set the scene, the sound fitted perfectly and gameplay seemed balanced and fun. I can see the mission structure could have legs as there appeared to be lots to do and the cover shooting and aiming felt right and accurate. The Dark Zone adds an interesting slant to the multiplayer shooting genre and the plethora of options could keep even the most hardcore RPG fan busy. My only worry is that it might be like Destiny in that the first part has lots to show off but it later just becomes a grind of the same ten missions. We will see in March. Did you play the beta? What were your thoughts and opinions?

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When I finally got a game (after a few minutes in a lobby) it didn’t take me long to figure out the controls. The controls are consistent with most shooters and the Inventory overlay makes it easy to switch from weapons to devices. Weapons included the usual affair of machine guns, pistols and shotguns, with many more locked behind paywalls. Money is achieved experience so I didn’t have much time to gain new gear on my first few games. Devices includes molotov cocktails and other incendiaries and depending on your class you can also create small vehicles.

Once I up and running, I started having fun straight away. The game had clear objectives. Move here, hold this position, protect this area, move on.

Gunplay felt frantic and the weapon inaccuracies actually made it feel more real. Having selected a white male electrician, I didn’t expect to be able to handle a weapon very well and to be honest, ‘we’ couldn’t. If the controls improve as the game progresses then this would be fantastic but I suspect only minor improvements can be made.

Overall, the game reminds me of State of Decay, H1Z1 and other slightly B-list open world shooters. What Homefront did convey however, is a sense of being the underdog. After only a few games, I got the sense that these were my streets and the armoured force that had moved in may be been better equipped and more organised but they were in my house.

I can see a lot of potential in this game and the underlying principle is a strong one. Feeling that you are making a dent, in city wide takeover is strangely satisfying and if handled well could make for a great game.

The graphics are not going to win any awards at present, crafting is yet to be explored fully. The progression system looks strong at the moment and I look forward to how it works. It’s got to be infinitely better than Star Wars Battlefront.

Either way, I look forward to getting some more time with Homefront: The Revolution in the next beta.

Did you get some time away from your other half on Valentines weekend to play it. What did you think?

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OK, so I will start with how I think Trove has built upon the addictive beomoth that is Minecraft. Firstly, the graphics: The game uses shaded vector cubes so it looks cleaner, brighter and less pixelated. It’s beautiful in its own cubonic way. Trove is available for both PC and Mac.

Next is the characters. Trove offers players an array of characters types including knights, gunslingers, ninja’s, pirates and even dracolytes (whatever they are), meaning you can start with an array of weaponry taking it further of the simple pickaxe and sword we are used to.

Travel has also bee added as Trove allowing players to enjoy a multiverse of locations through the use of jump gates and hub worlds. A hub world acts as an airport between the plethora of both user created and ‘official’ worlds.

Whilst both creator and survival mode has keep me pretty busy on Minecraft, I am a man of purpose and I like games that have a storyline which Trove thankfully is happy to supply one. It has something to do with light and dark and takes players from your cornerstone home to the worlds of the light, the dark and the sky worlds.

Talking of Sky worlds, brings me to my next point; mounts. Trove has horses, dragons, ships and so much more which is just the tip of the RPG iceberg that Trove includes. You can customise your player with new haircuts, weapons, costumes, and hats.

Overall, I think Microsoft should be worried as Trove has taken everything we love about Minecraft and added so much more. It was only released in in July 2015 so its still young. This has meant that there has been be few days of downtime and plenty of patches but ultimately it is free-to-play, so gamers have no excuse to get involved. If you were a fan of cube world or if you are looking for more from you Minecraft then I would suggest checking out Trove as it could be your next block building online RPG game.

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The new global beta had three modes, a co-op ‘single’ player campaign set on the lava covered world of Sollus called Drop Zone, A survival co-op mode called survival mission set on Tattooine, and an all out war zone on Hoth called Walker Assault. The game can be played in first or third person. I chose to play in first-person as I forgot about the third person option and there was no prompts.

Having been prompted to play the Sollust level first I dived straight in and was pleasantly surprised, EA and Dice have nailed the look and feel of the star wars universe and the graphics and sounds a fantastic.

‘Survival Mission’ on Tattooine is a single or co-operative mode where you hold off waves of Imperial Stormtroopers, AT-ST Walkers and TIE fighters coming in to attack. The towering cliffs that surround the map make visibility difficult and the level mixes open spaces with close quarter combat. The Jetpack gives it some much needed verticality and taking down a walker single handed is pretty special.

‘Drop Zone’ on the all new planet Sullust, sees two teams of 8 players find and defend escape pods that are crashing down to earth. The side which gets the most, wins. ‘Drop Zone’ is a little more close-quarters by comparison. There’s an Imperial Shuttle in the centre of the map and plenty of lava pools to fall into. On each map there are weapon pick ups that range from grenades to ion cannons.

By far the best map in the beta had to be ‘Walker Assault’ is set on Hoth. This massive map has iconic Rebel fighters and troops fighting against the Empire’s AT-AT walkers. The aim is to destroy the AT-ATs (or, as the Empire, defend them), and gain control of Uplink points for additional aerial support. This mode supports up to 40 players and despite being lots of fun was massively unbalanced. At first I thought this was because the outcome of the game was already decided but after a few play through I realised that if the rebels didn’t work as a team the uplinks points were incredibly hard to secure alone. Also, the Empire have a number of long range weapons (such as the At Ats which can take out swathes of rebels with pinpoint accuracy. Dotted around the map are vehicle pick ups such as tie fighters and Y Wings as well as hero cards that allow you to play as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.

Outside of the main game there are various customisation and load-outs options

There are two types of unlocks in the beta – Star Cards and Blasters. Star Cards are abilities and items you can take into a match, while your Blaster is your main weapon.

You gain access to more of these by progressing your level (up to rank 5 in the beta), and spending Credits (earned by playing the game and completing challenges) to then unlock them. Star Card unlocks are shared between Rebels and the Empire.

There will be 12 multiplayer maps will be available at launch. These maps will feature five locations from the Star Wars universe: Hoth, Tatooine, Endor, Sullust and Jakku.  A $50 season pass will have additional maps, skins and hopefully a small single player campaign based on the existing maps.

I am excited about this one despite not having the time to invest in it to become any good.

[To see my latest article summarising the best Star Wars games up to 2022, click the link]

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19th August 2015 is the launch date for Smite on Xbox One. Here is my first impressions from my first play. I had the footage, I had an opinion, I thought I would throw it into the ring.

Smite is a popular MOBA that was previously on PC that allows up to 5 players online to join forces and take on the enemy. The game takes on the ‘traditional’ MOBA format with three channels or lanes in which players must travel down to reach the enemy base.

Smite offers a refreshing take on the MOBA genre as it moves the camera from a top-down perspective to a third person view.

The setting or theme of Smite is based around mythological gods and includes 51 gods from the muscle bound Hercules to Fenrir, the lesser known wolf god. There are standard characters, characters on rotation (to try out and characters that you can buy with real world currency.

Smite is an incredibly fun and addictive MOBA that is perfect for those who are looking to dip their toe into the MOBA genre.

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