Cars and coffee, eh? Those are two of the things I like in real life, but now they have come to Forza Horizon 5 and Series 36 of the Festival Playlist Weekly Challenges.
Doug’s Nightmare is almost perfectly middle of the road. It isn’t the worst twin-stick shooter in the world, but neither is it anywhere near the best.
DreamWorks Dragons Dawn of New Riders appears to be set between the events of the second and third films in the series, so is not, and should not be thought of as, a direct port of the film. Does this mean that the whole experience is something more than a cynical cash grab? Is it even a good game in its own right? I spent some time with the latest title from Outright Games and Bandai Namco to find out.
The Grand Tour, Amazon Prime’s "car" show with the presenters from the old Top Gear, has just started to air its third series. To tie in with this, there is now a video game available that puts you in the shoes of Clarkson, Hammond and May, letting you drive the cars in the same situations that they find themselves in. But does this format work as a game, or is it a stretch too far?
Those busy beavers over at KEMCO have released yet another RPG from their seemingly endless back catalogue. The latest, Alvastia Chronicles, was initially launched back in the summer of 2018 on Android and iOS platforms, and now that it has made its way to Xbox One, those roots are certainly showing. With a very retro, pixelated graphic style and many hours of gameplay in store, can this game make a successful leap to the current generation of consoles, or should it have stayed in the past?
How I had looked forward to the VIP demo of my most anticipated game of 2019, Anthem. How I sat there, on my sofa, controller in hand willing the time to click down to the promised 5pm GMT start time. How blue the air was at exactly 5:01 pm as the first of the many messages popped up on screen telling me that the EA Servers were full and for me to kindly sod off and try again later.
After seeing the base game release back in 2017, Deck 13 have released more content for The Surge. Called The Good, the Bad and the Augmented, it is a series of Western themed rooms that are secreted deep in the bowels of the CREO facility and it has a real Spaghetti Western feel. Promising new outfits and weapons to be unlocked and crafted as you progress through the series of rooms, is this DLC too little, too late or the shot in the arm that The Surge needs? Strap on a stetson and let’s find out.
Coming from Dynamic voltage Games is a curious mash up of game styles - Final Star. Playing out as a horizontally scrolling shooter with RPG elements, it would appear to be a fairly unique proposition. But can the actual game live up to the potential, or will it be ultimately disappointing?
If the first Asdivine Hearts has passed you by and you’re jumping in green with Asdivine Hearts II, then you need not worry - KEMCO have thought of this, and helpfully included an in-game booklet to make sure you are up to date with the events. However, should you not wish to read that either, then in a nutshell, Light Deity and Shadow Deity have a scrap, make up, then have to take out the Creation Deity (who made them) to save the world. Make sense? No, me neither. However, what with forewarned being forearmed, I set off into the world of Asdivine Hearts II to try make sense of it all.
It’s that time of year again, when our thoughts turn to all the games we've played in the previous 12 months and how best to rank them. In this list I will share what were, for me, the best games I played and attempt to explain why. The thing is, you won’t be seeing Red Dead Redemption 2 included in here! So, in no particular order, here are my Top 10 Xbox One Games of 2018 - excluding that behemoth!
Battle Princess Madelyn has an interesting backstory. According to the website of developer Casual Bit Games, the creative director's daughter wanted to be in the classic Ghouls 'n Ghosts game. He told her that although he couldn't put her in that game, he could make her one of her own. That game is the one you see before you, a Ghouls 'n Ghosts homage with a female protagonist that harks back to the classic gameplay and graphics. But does replacing Arthur with Madelyn make this a better game, or is it just political correctness gone mad?
Bullet hell shoot 'em ups, eh! When you've seen one, you've seen 'em all. In an attempt to shake up the genre, Spacewave Software and Degica Games have added a new twist to the familiar vertically scrolling gameplay. What if, instead of just dealing with the waves of enemies, there was a PvP element introduced? What if the screen was split vertically, and in addition to firing straight up, you could aim attacks at your rival on the other side of the screen? Welcome to the world of Rival Megagun, where these features are front and centre as you try to survive an alien invasion.
Being an ancient and slightly crumbling gamer, I can remember way back in the mists of time to the early arcade racers, such as Top Gear and the original Outrun. I can even remember playing Ridge Racer in the arcade in a full size Mazda MX-5 - I tell you, that was an experience. Hoping to recapture the glory days is the latest game from Aquiris Game Studio, Horizon Chase Turbo. From the moment I saw it in action via early trailers, it evoked such a sense of nostalgia I knew I just had to play it.
Another entry into the currently popular strategy genre, this time around the game in question is based on a popular series of RPG games from Modiphius Entertainment. The developers, Auroch Digital, have taken the source material and transformed it into a turn based strategy game - Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics. Given the setting of an alternate WW2 universe, where a small team of Allied soldiers have to take on the might of Nazi occult research, does the game work, or should it have stayed in the realms of D20s and imagination?
It seems like we are in the middle of a revival for the tactical gaming genre at the moment, with Space Hulk Tactics, Achtung! Cthulu Tactics and this game, Phantom Doctrine all arriving within weeks of one another. Coming from CreativeForge Games, Phantom Doctrine revisits the Cold War era to relive some of the paranoia and tension that was around in the 1980s, as relationships between the East and the West seemed to be worsening.
Coming from Stormseeker Games, Infinite Adventures is described by the developers as a "dungeon crawling RPG inspired by classic dungeon RPGs; with fresh new mechanics, combat and progression". Promising procedurally generated levels to explore, and a host of monsters and bosses to take down, how does this game compare to those that inspired it? I gathered my party and set out.
For those of you who have been living under a rock or deep in the jungle for the last ten years, the Devil May Cry games feature a protagonist called Dante. And this is Dante when he was just effortlessly cool...
As I've played almost every fishing experience that you can find on the big black box, I thought I'd attempt to rank them, nailing a list consisting of 5 of the best fishing games on Xbox One, if you will.
KontrolFreek have been making Performance Thumbsticks for Xbox for longer than I care to remember, pushing out a multitude of products with varying features, specifications and ideas. You can get high-rise concaved designs, you can caress your thumbs with mid-rise convex options, and you can put the lowest of height increments on your standard controller, giving an increase in grip, surface area, feel and overall user experience. It is with the latter in which the OMNI come into their own.
