A modest success, Savage Halloween on the Xbox slaps a spooky mask on a Mega Man run-and-gunner and chucks in some Battletoads-style racing levels for good measure. What it lacks in surprise, it makes up for in charm, and there’s some challenging moments to overcome. It’s more trick than treat, then, and for £4.19 it’s barely more than a family-sized pack of Haribo.
As a snapshot of a frostpunk future, Dull Grey on the Xbox is evocative, if ineffective. At fifteen minutes long, it’s too short to be anything but a sketch, it offers only one meaningful choice over its runtime, and it struggles to say anything that sheds light on its world or ours. Far from dull, then, but grey in the sense that no clear picture emerges.
Ravensword: Shadowlands on Xbox probably wishes it was 2013 again, but a lot of things have changed since those times, and this isn’t able to stack up to more modern interpretations.
There are two ways of looking at Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia. It is a children’s reference book that happens to be on the Xbox, and as such it’s lovely to leaf through for a few minutes. But while it does a great job of putting names to animals and plants, it does a less successful job of making you care about them, or telling a child anything that might stick. It could feasibly form an hour-long home-schooling lesson, but you’d struggle to make a curriculum out of it.
Given that AntVentor is merely the first act of an AntTrilogy, it does a decent-ish job at setting the scene, leaving you with slight interest as to what the future holds for Florantine.
We worried that we’d never get to play another Actraiser: a game that was foolish enough to twist platforming around RTS bits. But what we have is so much more. Smelter is leagues ahead of its ageing relative and deserves all the success that it (hopefully) gets. Smelter is a belter.
Make no mistake, this is a hard game - overwhelmingly so at times. It’s fair to say that Squad Killer on Xbox isn’t a game for everyone and a lot of people will be discouraged by its difficulty. But for those who decide to stick with it, they’ll find a game that is both dangerously addictive and intensely rewarding.
Tank Brawl 2: Armor Fury on Xbox doesn’t look the best, the pop-in is ridiculous, and the way that foot soldiers are bigger than your tank ruins any immersion. On the flip side, there is something endearing about the game; something that will keep drawing you back to have another go - if only so you can find out if it’s possible to destroy tanks using the Force.
Animal Doctor on the Xbox is less about being a vet than it is helping one, and you’ll be fetching antibiotics from pharmacies more than you’ll be nursing sick puppies. It’s realistic rather than cute, educational rather than fun, and that’s not necessarily what your little doctors ordered. But if there’s still interest, even after those caveats, then Animal Doctor might actually work out.
The Darkside Detective on Xbox will provide you with a decently enjoyable time. It's an old-fashioned game that isn't afraid to use old-time gaming and visuals to tell a fun, unique story; at no point does it take itself at all seriously. Throw in the price asked and there’s a host of content included here, with some great cases to explore.
Tribal Pass on Xbox is an endless runner that feels like a prehistoric boot camp, pushing you to get up, get better and keep going. It’s far from easy, and it is particularly unfriendly in its opening moments. But push beyond them and there are morsels of enjoyment.
Knight Squad 2 on Xbox looks the part and offers plenty of customisation options. However, thanks to the shallow gameplay the price tag feels too expensive to be fully justified and as a result the fun is short-lived.
Octopath Traveler on Xbox is a game that expertly marries a traditional JRPG with more modern ideas. It should be immediately obvious that this is the intention with the “HD-2D” visuals, but even after only a short time playing it feels so well-executed.
You can strip a 2D platformer back to the basics, but those basics have to be in the topmost of drawers. Unfortunately, Acalesia on the Xbox has made a home for itself in the bottom drawer. Shortcomings are papered over with more shortcomings, as the designers try to make up for slippy gameplay with benign levels that barely offer a challenge.
