It may still be early in the year, but the Xbox news has continued piling in on a near daily basis, and to compliment the news, we also have a few reviews hitting home.
Titanfall was a big deal this last week for two reasons. Firstly, there was talk of a lovely Alpha test which originally looked like it was going to be open to everyone. It was a bit of disappointment then that after some early enthusiasm from all quarters, the test in fact turned out to be a very small scale, North American trial. A trial in which very little info would be leaked from.
Better Titanfall news though was the announcement that we would be seeing the first ever limited edition Xbox One controller, fully kitted out with Titanfall livery. Inspired by the C-101 carbine used by the elite IMC Titan pilots of the Frontier, the Titanfall controller was designed by Respawn Entertainment and One owners the world over clamoured to get in on the pre order action. Whether you like the design or not (personally I love it and can’t understand any hatred towards it), you have to admit it’s a very striking bit of kit.
This week also saw the small matter of the Ballon D’Or award being won by a certain Cristiano Ronaldo. Named as the best football player in the world, it was a foregone conclusion that he would find his way into the EA Sports FIFA 14 Ultimate Team of the Year, and so it proved. With staggered announcements throughout the week, EA first detailed the keeper and defence, followed a day or two later by the midfield before teasing the forward line couple of days after that. It was no shock to see Ronaldo, Messi and Ibra taking up the front three positions, and the whole team should be available to purchase for your FIFA 14 Ultimate Team right now. Any players you would like to have seen given a starting spot?
It was also a decent enough week for those taking an active interest in the Xbox Live Arcade. First up, all Xbox Live Gold members had (and still have) the chance to download their free Games With Gold title, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. Taking a slightly different approach than that of the usual Tomb Raider titles, LC&TGOL combines co-op action with an isometric view. First released in 2010, this Lara adventure received fairly favourable reviews and is still holding it’s own amongst the Metacritic crowd with a 85/100 rating. Just make sure you download it for free before the end of January otherwise you’ll find the price back up at it’s usual £10 spot.
There was also the small matter of another Assassin’s Creed game and launch trailer. This time out on the XBLA, Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD follows a new Assassin, Aveline de Grandpré, as she takes in the streets of an 18th century New Orleans. Liberation HD is available right now for £15.99 (or less if you are an ACIV Season Pass holder).
And then we finally get on to two reviewed games that have gone live this last week. Cubicity is an Xbox 360 Indie title that we reviewed back in December. It was unfortunately riddled with bugs and so the dev removed it from the market, fixed it up, crossed his fingers and tried again. This time it works and you can read our updated thoughts in the Cubicity review. Alongside Cubicity, we have also posted our Xbox Fitness review for Xbox One. Many people (yes even Xbox One gamers), will have decided in their New Year resolutions to no doubt get fitter or lose some weight in 2014, and this is where Xbox Fitness comes in. But is it good enough to let you drop your full gym membership? Have a read and see what we think.
As usual, we’ll catch you again next week but in the meantime, why not follow us on Twitter, check out our G+ and Facebook pages or subscribe to our ever flourishing YouTube channel.