Micetopia on Xbox is a cute platformer that doesn’t dare to try anything new, difficult or deep. It’s what happens when you cut all the flab from a Metroidvania and then keep on cutting. It feels bad to dunk on such a harmless little game, but your money really is best spent elsewhere.
Sleepin' Deeply on Xbox is attempting to be funny with the main character being a drunk and the level designs being as wacky as they are, but for me it’s just not humorous; a bumbling alcoholic walking around burping and mopping up poop just doesn’t do it for me. But you may find that stuff hilarious, and if you do then Sleepin’ Deeply might be just the game for you.
You’ll emerge from John Wick Hex on the Xbox bruised and a little scarred, but ultimately satisfied. It ambushes you with more randomness than you might like and then kicks you while you’re down, but you’ll dust yourself off and get into a flow that makes you feel like a badass. It may not be the game you expected from the John Wick universe, but it’s got enough peaks to make it worth a shot.
Handball! Thousands of football fans optimistically shout that during matches every weekend, but did you know handball is also an increasingly growing sport? Well it is, and the folks behind Rugby 20 - NACON and EKO Software - have teamed up once more to bring the official Handball series back to Xbox for the first time in four years. Can Handball 21 succeed where previous offerings faltered, or should they just blow the whistle on trying to recreate this sport in the gaming realm?
One Word by POWGI on Xbox is another clever take on a classic puzzle idea, and improves on Word Sudoku by giving the words you are looking for a bit more meaning as you try to complete the famous quotes. Once again, if you are looking for a word puzzle with a bit of something extra, plenty of good puns or just easy Gamerscore, One Word by POWGI easily fits all three criteria.
I, AI on Xbox is a decently accomplished shooter that will happily whisk away a few hours of your life. It’s well-priced, it delivers a decent little challenge, and even though the grind is real, for the most part that is okay. If you are looking for something to fill a Sky Force gap, this could well be the vertical scrolling shooter for you.
Should you be in the market for a fun puzzler that never takes itself seriously, PHOGS! on Xbox is the game for you. It works well as a solo experience, but goes up a level when split across two players, whether they be sofa or online-based. A few issues crop up from time to time but for the majority of the playthrough Red and Blue are two of the most well-behaved doggos you could ever wish to meet. You’ll most certainly want to give these two dogs a bone.
With instantly gratifying multiplayer game types and also a substantial single player mode to top it off, Ponpu combines entertaining gameplay with an excellent stylistic presentation like very few games can.
Nine Witches: Family Disruption on Xbox doesn’t reinvent the graphic-adventure wheel, and you won’t find it on any end-of-year lists. What it does do, though, is tell a spooky, kooky story, tickle your ribs as it does it, and wrap it all in a frustration-free experience. Having saved the world with them, we’d happily follow Alexei and Akiro to other supernatural jaunts.
Chronos: Before the Ashes on Xbox may be chronologically set before the events of Remnant, but playing it after the brilliant Remnant: From the Ashes feels like a step backwards. By transitioning to a melee-focused action RPG, it loses a lot of identity that made Remnant memorable and unique.
Did I have fun with Towaga: Among Shadows on Xbox? Yes. Do I wish that there was more to it? Even bigger yes. The alternate game modes and unlockable spells all feel pointless, and the story is lacking in many ways. Yet, despite these flaws, I couldn’t put the game down. Though it doesn’t feel like it lives up to its true potential, Towaga: Among Shadows is a unique shooter that I hope to see more of in the future.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, but no this isn’t going to be a review for the long-awaited third instalment of the Speed film series starring Sandra Bullock. What you should expect however, is an in-depth look at a high-octane racing game from developers Lion Castle, who previously dipped their toes into the genre as publishers for Super Street: The Game. Billed as an accessible and fun transformation of the usually overly technical motorsport games, Speed 3: Grand Prix will be hoping to explode onto the scene to a great reception from the folks who have a hard time with the hardcore sims.
I'm not sure how much of the atmosphere of Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 on Xbox is down to the fact that we are in the tiny shoes of a child, but this game has a much more unsettling vibe than the third one. Trying to keep an eye on the doors, and attempting to keep the little Freddies off the bed, will have you whirling about the place like a dervish, while trying to keep the light illuminating all the darkened places.
Wunderling on Xbox is a fun little puzzle platformer, and even if you’re not too blown away by its bite-sized casual platforming action, then the rest of the presentation will be something that genre fans will appreciate and enjoy.
That’s not to say that Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 on Xbox is a bad game, far from it, but it is like a faded photocopy compared to the original; you can see that you should be scared, and the effects are more polished to make you feel that way, and yet the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
