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.
The Ys (pronounced "eese" as in geese) series of games have a long and storied history, stretching right the way back to 1987, when the first game was released on that well known gaming platform, the NEC PC-8801. Through the years, the series of games have appeared on almost every platform imaginable, from the Master System and NES, through Playstation now onto current gen hardware. This particular game, Ys Origin, is, as the name suggests, a prequel to the previous eight Ys titles, taking place 700 years before the first game. It has been kicking around since it was released on Windows way back in 2006, and now DotEmu have chosen to release it to the Xbox One world. So, has the time been kind to the world of Ys, or should it have stayed in the past?
Following hot on the heels of de Blobs first adventure being rereleased comes the sequel, the imaginatively named de Blob 2. Bigger! Better! Blobbier! are all words that aren't in the advertising blurb for this game, but they should be, dagnabbit! This time around, the game in question had previously seen a release on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and was originally released way back in February 2011. So, the big question here is has time been kind to de Blob, and is his second outing worthy of your time?
If a classic JRPG was to be reimagined today, how would it look, and more importantly, how would it play? That seems to be the question the guys over at Pixelated Milk Studios have decided to answer, and with the backing of over 2700 crowdfunding backers, have released Regalia: Of Men and Monsters Royal Edition as their response.
Having played side scrolling brawlers all through my wasted years in the arcades, I was quite excited about the new title coming from Household Games, The Way of the Passive Fist. Having been raised on a diet of Final Fight and Streets of Rage, the idea of a ‘90s side scrolling beat 'em up I could play sat on my sofa without a pile of 10 pences sounded very interesting. I settled in, made myself comfy, then headed out into the wilderness to see what was happening.
The Beast Quest series of books have been a publishing phenomenon since the first was published back in 2007. Adam Blade, the author who appears to be some sort of gestalt entity made up of various ghost writers, has since released approximately eleven million books, and has branched out into Sea Quest, which my son adores. Now though there is a game based around four of the first six books in the series and so I sallied forth to try and bring peace to the land of Avantia.
Metal Gear Survive has finally emerged into the light of day. Given that the game is chiefly known as "the first Metal Gear since the acrimonious divorce between Kojima and Konami", the question in place has to centre around whether the old Metal Gear magic is still found clinging to the series, or is it just trading off past glories? I headed into Dite to find out.
Gravel is the latest in a long line of racing games to come out of the Italian studio, Milestone. I think it’s fair to say that none of the games that have been released so far have Forza fans worried, but given their penchant for off road adventures with the WRC titles, surely Gravel is the game that they have been working towards all this time. Isn't it?
Coming from Level Up Labs LLC, Defender's Quest was first released on the PC way back in the mists of time - February 2012 to be exact. Amazingly, it is sitting with a perfect 10/10 rating on Steam, so now that the game is coming to Xbox, I was pretty excited to be playing it. So come with me and lets’ see what all the fuss is about, shall we?
Have you ever been in the middle of playing one of those bullet hell shoot-em-ups and suddenly thought to yourself "What would increase the amount of fun I'm having, would be to suddenly mix in some colour matching jewel gameplay, ala Bejeweled”? If you have thought that, then you are in for a treat!
Are we alone in this universe? This is a question that has been answered in many different ways both by games and film, and the latest in that line is The Station, coming from the developers at, The Station. Yes, the name of the studio is also the name of the game that they are creating, but this shouldn't distract us from the question that was posed at the top of this paragraph. For the purposes of this game, the answer is no, we aren't alone in the universe. But what should we do with this information?
When a game is done right, when the story and the action is just so, the emotional impact of the experience can be real.
With that in mind, I'm going to attempt bring this together in one article, documenting the games that have had a lasting effect on me - whether for good or bad.
With a history stretching all the way back to 1990 in China, the Xuan Yuan Sword series of RPGs are lesser known here in the West. With 13 games already released, the series can be seen to rival that of Final Fantasy in length and scope, and has also branched out into TV, novels and musical releases. With the wide range of games to choose from, it seems entirely logical that Softstar Entertainment Inc has chosen to release the twelfth game in the series onto the Xbox One. Can it compete with the juggernaut that is Final Fantasy, or will it be steamrollered flat? Come with me to Ancient China and let’s find out!
Circuits is one of those games that sounds very simple when it is explained, but is deceptively deep when you actually get around to playing it. Coming from Digital Tentacle, it has been available on Steam for almost five years already, but has finally made an appearance on the Xbox One. Has the wait been worth it, or should it have stayed on the PC?
The return to the classic Diablo style gameplay with The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 3 is just what the doctor ordered. Lady Katerina also makes a welcome return, and is as amusing as ever, but as the story goes on she reveals more of her back story to Van Helsing, and although I'm not going to reveal any spoilers in here, her tale did make me reconsider my opinion of her...
The Surge, the futuristic Dark Souls type game from Focus Interactive and Deck 13, has had some DLC released. Entitled "A Walk In The Park", it slots neatly into the game and allows you to explore a whole new area, the aptly named CREO World. With the addition of 16 new weapons, three new armour sets and a whole new area, is it worth diving back back into the murky world of giant robots, crazed cyborgs and tech scrap for this expansion?
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.
