Xbox One Archives - Page 5 of 27

September 12, 2020September 12, 2020 Dylan Burns 1084 Views Destiny, Loot and Shoot, Marvel, Marvel's Avengers, Online, Superheroes

Marvel’s Avengers, PS4 Review

The best choice Crystal Dynamics made with Marvel’s Avengers was to have the story told from an outside perspective. The Avengers of this universe are already established heroes, legends amid a festival of fanfare and merchandise. The subjects of enthusiastic fan fiction, which is how the main protagonist of this game, Kamala Khan, is introduced.

Her and her adorable dad are on an Avengers Quinjet, alongside fellow writing competition winners. Given the opportunity to rub shoulders with the desultory heroes themselves on their impressive Helicarrier. Kamala encounters several of the Avengers as a young fangirl, geeking out at collecting comic books to gain entry to the VIP area, after which all hell breaks loose and the Avengers are swiftly dealt a master blow that sees their reputation in tatters, their assets seized by the government and the team itself thrown to the wind.

Marvel’s Avengers is a perfectly enjoyable, if not particularly well assembled, superhero action title with looter-shooter influences. A well written main story will give you ten hours of enjoyment.

Gaming Byte Size Review PS4 Video Content Xbox One

September 12, 2020 Gerard Campbell 2151 Views adventure sports, biking, byte sizded gaming, Mountain Biking, PlayStation 4

Descenders, Byte Size. (reviewed on PS4)

There aren’t a lot of video games like Descenders about mountain biking, a sport that I like to partake in as often as time allows.

Perhaps my favourite mountain biking game – and I’m slightly biased here because I backed it on Kickstarter – is Lonely Mountains Downhill, which was made by a small German development studio and it really is marvellous fun, with a gorgeous visual aesthetic and “Just one more go” game play.

Descenders comes from Dutch development studio Ragesquid and while it’s not much in the looks department – to be honest, it wouldn’t look out of place on the PlayStation 3. It does have an addictive quality about it as you test your mountain bike mettle on a variety of downhill mountain bike tracks.

Gaming Game Reviews PS4 Switch Console Xbox One

September 10, 2020 Guy 1442 Views Adventure, rogue-like, Survival, Third Person

Windbound (Playstation 4)

Stranded on a desert island, what do you bring? As much as I would love to say…. “a PS4 and a copy of Windbound”, alas I cannot. Its beautiful art style and fun sailing mechanics, have been scuttled by the tough rogue-like penalties and clunky combat encounters.

Windbound is a survival game built around rouge-like mechanics and procedurally generated islands. Anyone who has played “Don’t Starve” will have a very good understanding of the design philosophy.

Windbound initially presents as a sort of paired down version of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Which, let’s be honest is a great place to start. Windbound will not however, have the broad appeal of Zelda. I think it’s going to be an acquired taste for many gamers as they will need to be patient and forgiving lovers of rogue-likes, to find joy here.

Gaming Game Reviews PC / Mac PS4 Switch Console Xbox One

September 7, 2020September 7, 2020 Gerard Campbell 1772 Views building an empire, city builder, micromanagement, Railway Empire, steam locomotives

Railway Empire Complete Collection [reviewed on PC]

Railway Empire Complete Collection doesn’t know I’ve never been one of those people that has found trains fascinating. Sure, I’ve been on trains but for me they’ve always just been a means of getting from point A to point B. There’s no denying that the steam locomotive was a pivotal instrument in the industrial age of the late 19th Century.

Railway Empire, which first came out in 2017, builds on that pivotal time period and publisher Kalypso have just released the Complete Collection. The definitive edition, I guess, that comes with two years worth of updates, as well as eight pieces of released DLC. Which let you set up train networks in Mexico, the Great Lakes, The Andes, Great Britain & Ireland, France, Germany, Northern Europe & Down Under.

I can see Railway Empire Complete Collection appealing obviously to people who love trains. As well as those gamers who love the city management/tycoon games where you get to micromanage every little aspect of what is going on. If this is you, you’ll find hours of enjoyment in this empire builder.

Game Pass Game Reviews Gaming PC / Mac PS4 Xbox One

September 4, 2020 Barrie Clarke 1182 Views Action RPG, Fallout, Isometric, Post Apocalyptic, Wasteland

Wasteland 3 Review (Xbox One X)

I have made no secret that 1988’s Wasteland from Interplay is my favourite game ever.

It was ground breaking for the good old Commodore 64 and saw many, many hours of play from me. It even accounts for my greatest gaming achievement. So to see a official sequel in Wasteland 2 was just fantastic. A third, Wasteland 3, well, it is definitely a highlight of an otherwise pretty shitty 2020. With names like Deth, Vargas, and Brygo bringing a big smile to my face.

I was ready to return to the Wasteland.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac PS4 Xbox One

August 28, 2020September 12, 2020 Dylan Burns 1043 Views DONTNOD, Life Is Strange, Tell Me Why

Tell Me Why – XBOX review

Guest contributor, Dylan Burns makes a welcome entrance:

One might see Tell Me Why (Chapter One) as DONTNOD’s distillation of everything they have learnt.

Sure, there’s DONTNOD’s distinctive sense of place and domestic design, as well as their ability to create the illusion of small town America, but when distilled down to what you actually do in this first chapter, the handful of location changes and flashbacks cannot hide the fact that this is quite a bare-bones offering.

I was impressed by the first Life is Strange and a big fan of the deliberate mundanity of Life is Strange 2, but in Tell Me Why I found myself struggling to get through the languid pacing, boring dialogue and questionable characterisation. Rather than being intrigued, I just wanted the story to hurry up and happen, for the characters to do something other than wander about each location looking at things and remembering the past.

Due to the episodic nature of Tell Me Why, we’ve added Dylan’s review of the following chapters here.

Gaming Game Reviews Xbox One

August 28, 2020 Barrie Clarke 2070 Views Baldur's Gate, CRPG, D&D, turn based

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review (Xbox One X)

Welcome to the Stolen Lands of Golarion. You are the Pathfinder, the Kingmaker. Under the direction of Jamandi Aldori, ruler of Restov, you have the chance to make a fair chunk of these lands yours. All you have to do is assemble some companions and get rid of the Stag Lord and his bandits. Easy enough.

I’m absolutely loving Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Even despite a few glitches it has. The biggest problem it has? Launching so close to Wasteland 3.

Gaming Byte Size Review PC / Mac PS4 Video Content Xbox One

August 25, 2020 Guy 1541 Views First Person, Portal, Puzzler, Relicta

Relicta, PS4 Review

Relicta does not make a good first impression.

The opening puzzles which serve as the tutorial feel very, “seen that sort of thing before”. The tutorial then leads into a fairly drawn out story delivery sequence told by disposable radio chatter. I will admit, I rolled my eyes and did not have high hopes for my next few hours of gaming.

But poor introductions aside, when the gameplay proper kicked off and some headscratcher puzzles where unleashed upon my brain. I completely changed my views on Relicta. It’s actually a super solid wee puzzler.

Gaming Byte Size Review Game Pass PC / Mac Xbox One

August 22, 2020August 22, 2020 Barrie Clarke 1204 Views Battletoads, Gamepass, Old School, Reboot, Turtles

Battletoads, Byte Size Review (Xbox One X)

Rash, Pimple, and Zitz are the Battletoads. Heroes from another era, back to show gamers how we rolled in the early 1990s. Created to take on those other green anthropomorphic creatures of the 1980s and 90s, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Battletoads first arrived in 1991 on the NES.

From there we had several games on different systems and even an attempt at an animated TV series which never saw more than a half hour pilot.

So how will our toads fare today? Will they hop to success? Or will they just turn turtle?

Gaming Feature Article Movie Reviews PS4 Switch Console Xbox One

August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 Richard Armitt 1534 Views Big Screen, Cinema Gaming, Destroy All Humans, DOOM Eternal, Event Cinemas, Ghost of Tsushima, Maneater, Orion Springfield, Snacks, Sound, TLOU2

Cinema Gaming, going large on the Silver Screen

As a young man I had two dreams, one was to own a nice little campsite and the other was to own a boutique cinema. The second was born of a love of movies and the plan for some cinema gaming on the big screen after hours. Neither of these dreams took off, until now.

We probably have to thank Covid and 2020 for the opportunity, as traditional business finds other ways to make its assets work.

I recently spied a Facebook ad by my local Event Cinema offering gaming sessions. How could I not take it up?

For prices and details read on.

Gaming Byte Size Review PS4 Xbox One

August 10, 2020August 10, 2020 Gerard Campbell 992 Views aliens, Cold War era, furon empire, Little green men, Mars Attacks!, space invaders, space probe

Destroy All Humans (PlayStation 4)

THQ’s Destroy All Humans reminds me a lot of Tim Burton’s rather good movie Mars Attacks!

In both the movie and the game, aliens are out to destroy the human race, both adhere to the little green man (kind of) appearance. With many of the human victims are bumbling simpletons ready to give into the alien invasion.

Overall, Destroy All Humans is a likeable remake of a mid-2000s game, albeit it one with humour that hasn’t entire stood the test of time.